Review of What If It’s Us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera

Synopsis: 

Meet Ben and Arthur. Ben is a battered dreamer who’s shipping his ex-boyfriend’s things back to him. Arthur is new to New York and struggling to fit in. After an memorable meet-cute in a New York post office, the boys lose touch only be be brought back together via a ‘missed connection’ advert. Is it fate? It looks like it. But after a series of disastrous first dates, Ben and Arthur may have to accept the universe should’ve minded its business.

Release date: October 9 2018

Price: $16.99

My rating: 4.5/5

My thoughts

Characters- Ben, a Puerto Rican New Yorker, and Arthur, a Jewish boy from Georgia, were both adorable protagonists and their individual romantic and platonic relationships were complex and refreshing. Each character was built from numerous unique character points that really set them and their story apart from other ya teen romance novels that I’ve read. Ben, for example, was  writing a novel and stuck in summer school with his ex-boyfriend, while Hudson was an intern for his mother’s law firm and an obsessive Broadway (specifically Hamilton and Dear Evan Hansen) fan.

Plot- Despite featuring the cliched boy-meets-boy trope extensively, the novel still felt new and unique. Admittedly, I was a little worried about the length of the novel and feared that it would end up dragging. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised, and found that each of the 400+ pages was not only necessary to the stories’ development, but was fulfilling and undoubtedly enjoyable.

Point of view- My least favourite aspect of the novel would have to be the point of view, which alternated between Ben and Arthur’s perspectives. Although I’ve thoroughly enjoyed 2 POV novels previously, I just found this one confusing.

Overall, What If It’s Us was a sweet young adult romance novel filled with loveable characters and a fun, action packed plot. 

*I received an eArc of this novel in return for an honest review.*