Imogen, Obviously

Imogen overthinking was really annoying. Also didn't like jumping between her overthinking/remembering past interactions and the present story line. NO THANKS!

is this fucking play about us?

This was a really hard book for me to read. And I'm not talking about quality; Becky Albertalli is a fantastic writer, and I absolutely loved the book (more on that later). But it brought up some memories; of being a freshman in college, surrounded by my brand new, very queer friend group. Questioning myself, but hiding the very, very obvious truth beneath layer after layer of imposter syndrome. Feeling like I wasn't queer enough, because I hadn't always known, and I wasn't visibly queer, even though deep down, I knew that I wasn't the kind of person who craved visibility.

So yeah, reading this book pushed me back through a rollercoaster of emotions and memories I'd mostly forgotten about, a chapter of my life I mostly skip over, the good and bad. Imogen is an extremely compelling character, and Albertalli's writing does an excellent job putting you right in her head. Imogen's journey is extremely compelling, managing to feel extremely relatable without feeling generic. I'm not usually a fan of books that can feel a little heavy handed with discourse, but Albertalli carefully navigates a subset of queer discourse so expertly, that I couldn't help but get engaged, no matter how close to home it hit.

I'm glad I read this though I'd mostly disliked the first Simonverse book. I really liked Imogen getting a chance to figure out what feels right and the overthinking is sooooo relatable. And gatekeeping is a thing of course, and it is good to have that discussed/shown as really obnoxious and useless. It's a quick book, Lili's other friends other than Tessa are kinda flat - but considering it's set over roughly a week, how could they not be? 
It was cute, it's good to have more “you don't have to have always known you're not straight” stories.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, queer YA hits different when you're a grown adult just figuring sh*t out. 
Imogen was so relatable. From being the best capital A Ally to being a people pleaser who wants to fit in the boxes and then overthinking everything including her questioning. I love her and she deserves all the nice things
Gretchen needs to touch grass and call her therapist instead of condescending to the people she calls friends. 

it was so sweet !!

4.5. This was so cute, funny, and endearing. This isn't going to necessarily hit the same for everyone, but I found Imogen's character so relatable. This is a book about a very enthusiastic LGBTQ+ ally coming to terms with the possibility that she might actually be queer. I love bi stories (in general), but I especially love ones that discuss the nuances of that experience even within queer groups of people. There are discussions of bi erasure, biphobia, other people wanting to gatekeep queerness, and a bunch other problematic issues. However, this is ultimately a story about acceptance, love, and the importance of having a community of people who love you and respect your journey. I laughed and screamed a lot as I was reading it (maybe it was hitting too close to home). I recommend it to anyone! A very sweet depiction of this identity struggle.

I had a very difficult time rating this book. Not because I didn't love it, but because it felt so close at home, I was just comparing it to my life and my coming out.

Whether this is meant to be read by YA who struggle with their identity, folks like me, that discovered their identity at an older age, allies that want to understand or whoever who just stumbles across this book, it doesn't really matter. It suits all!

What Imogen went through a bit before starting college, I went through at age 28. And her thoughts, questions, went through my mind at exactly the same way!

For me this is an anthem to bisexuality, to people coming out or discovering who they are at an older age. This is a book that only teaches that it is OK to be who you are, whenever you find out, and however you find out who you are!

The only reason it misses a star from me, is the slow beginning as the first chapters weren't interesting or moving fast enough!

This was so...beautiful?!?!!
From start to finish, I literally loved everything about it

Ohh this was so sweet and yet also emotionally tense. Imogen is such a sweet main character and her intense self-doubt/flagellations were hard to read at times. Parts of this felt a little like, lecture-y but in a relatable way–I think most people, especially Gen Zers, know at least one person who tends to speak in all Discourse like Gretchen does. And (as Becky Albertalli's own life experience indicates) there are a lot of messy Discourses within and without the queer community regarding coming out etc. I think this will really resonate with a lot of queer and questioning readers (teens but not only).