Leah on the Offbeat

I received an advanced copy of the book by the publishers via Netgally in return for a truthful review. I had just finished reading Love Simon which I fully enjoyed so was over the moon to get the chance to get to straight into the new book. The book takes place one year after the events of the previous book Love Simon (I won't get into the in and outs of the previous book for those who havent read it yet, but it's a brilliant book and I would strongly recommend reading it before you start this). Whereas the previous book is focused on Simon (and is told from his point of view) this book is told from Leah (one of simon best friends from the previous book) point of view and tells her story (but don't worry Simon fans he is in this book so you found out what happend to him from the previous book). Leah like Simon has a secret too which no one knows and she is struggling how to come to terms with it. On top of this Leah has more problems from family live (coming from a divorce family, having a teenage mum who has working full time & doesn't have time with her along with dealing with her mum new boyfriend). Applying for high school, the up coming school prom along with dealing with her friends and how there friendship will survive once school out and everyone moves on. Apon reading I thought I would not enjoy this book with it being from a girls point of view however it didn't bother me and I still related to the characters and what they were going through. Becky has done it again another classic teenage coming of age book, which I fully enjoyed. I didn't want to put down. I strongly recommend this book and I can't wait to see if there going to be a third installment to the series to find out what happens next.

Like everyone else who loves YA, I read Simon Vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda and fell head over heels in love with it. Therefore I was quite scared when I discovered that there was a sequel but it did not disappoint. Leah On the Offbeat is a wonderfully YA that I love and wish that I could push into the hands of everyone. Definitely one of my favourites of the year! I wish I could give it all the stars!! I think that one of the best parts of the book obviously the fact that it is told through the eyes of characters we know and love. Of course, this is Leah who I love throughout the book. She is fun, interesting and lovely to read about. I especially like the fact that her Mum is from a lower economic background as this is something that you see in YA and definitely explores those troubles. I also loved the way that her weight was dealt with in the book especially from someone who is overweight themselves it was great to see myself represented in a book that way. Also, I loved Leah's Mum to death and she too was a great character which is nice to see as many of them YA parents are not developed in this way. You, of course, have the gang back together and it is interesting to read about the different dynamics that are seen in the book that are different to Simon Vs. I especially loved reading out the relationship between Simon and Blue seeing it develop of the course of the story because obviously, not everything goes to plan. There is of course also Abby and Nick and I really love how Abby developed through the book and developed in her relationship with Leah. I had all the feels. Although I love the book to pieces I did find that Nick was slightly off in the book. It was completely understandable to the plot but it was a little weird but did not prevent the overall plot for me. There were many things that I also really loved about the book. Leah having a hobby for a start which she was passionate and good at. It's the little things. There is also a couple of Love Simon references which were a nice touch and definitely made me laugh. I also adored the fact that there are also references to YA books throughout which was meta but also great! The book also tackles rascism in a small way which was nice to read about especially with Leah calling out another character in the book. The relationships were definitely the thing that I loved seeing develop in the book and were the best but it was also lovely seeing the struggles and trials of school and university being tackled in the book. I just loved everything about it and it was so damn cute. Just read it! The Verdict: Leah On The Offbeat is everything that a sequel to Simon Vs. needs to be. It's cute, it's funny, it's heartwarming, it's the book that everyone needs to read. Like now.

For those of you whom have read Love, Simon this is the book for you. OK so Love, Simon was from a males point of view and this is obviously from a females point of view. Do not let this put you off. If you lov d the first part then you will love this. The author, Becky Albertalli had yet again written an award winning read. It’s. Thoughtful, truthful, you will laugh, you will cry. It’s amazing. For Simon fans don’t worry he does still appear heavily in this book so all is good. This time we look through the eyes of Leah, Simon’s best friend. You will go through her turmoil of starting college, whom she meets on her way and her blossoming relationship with Garrett! The first book as turned into an major motion picture and I am looking forward to seeing the same done with this book.

Leah Burke, a character previously met in Simon Vs the Homosapiens Agenda, is prickly, stands up for what she believes in and secretly, a bit of a marshmallow on the inside. As she gets ready to graduate high school, Leah starts dealing with crushes, figuring out how to come out to her friends that she’s bi, and might realise other people have surprises up their sleeves too. I was so nervous going into this book because number one: I’d already heard a lot of middling reviews and a lot of people that loved Simon felt disappointed by this one and number two: I really didn’t like Leah in Simon. BUT this book totally made me a Leah person. I now love Leah, who would have ever guessed that! The pairing in this book was a shocker for me too when I first realised the romantic coupling. They’re not people I would put together and it seemed totally off to me (and also wonder why there couldn’t just be new people added from the same town or HS) BUT I loved them. I really felt like the chemistry was there, the adorable awkwardness and by the end I totally shipped them. This book just blew me away and took me by surprise. Leah could definitely have been a bit nicer to people in this book, especially her mom, and she has a tendency to take things too far sometimes (even when it’s not always her place) but I still loved her despite it all. That’s just Leah, take her or leave her. I understand people’s frustrations over the bisexuality conversation that Leah had with another character in this book and what Leah said about dismissing someone’s label and challenging them on their identity was wrong, no doubt about it. And I wish she could have acknowledged that properly by the end of the book but in my eyes, an older, wiser Leah who has spent more time in the LGTBQIA+ community will eventually look back on that conversation and see where she went wrong, and might actually apologise. One can hope.

Becky Albertalli has cemented herself as one of my favourite authors. For someone who keeps saying she doesn’t like contemporaries (but still seems to read them anyway), I will happily devour anything she releases. Do you need to read Simon Vs The Homo sapiens Agenda before reading Leah On The Offbeat? Absolutely. From the get-go this book is riddled with spoilers as, after all, it is a sequel. Leah very much appears to be the outsider of the group at times. She is often the one looking on while everyone has their in-depth discussions and she rarely adds her own input until she’s with certain individuals such as Simon. It’s senior year and, as to be expected, conversations and plot are peppered with college worries, the concept of friendships ending and prom. Leah, just like possibly everyone who’s ever been a teenager, is worrying about everything. She is also having her own internal battle with her sexuality. She is bisexual and only out to her mum. As a fat bisexual girl myself, I was able to relate to Leah in the way that she is quite comfortable with her sexuality but feels like she missed the window in which to declare it to the world; as the title implies, she’s offbeat. She doesn’t quite understand why she is unable to tell people, especially her best friend Simon who is out as gay. However, there is one particular scene that really does not sit right with me (for the sake of preserving the experience I have changed the name to Kelly). During a heart-to-heart with Leah, Kelly comes out as “low-key bi” and in response, Leah completely shuts her down, invalidates the sexuality of someone who is questioning and proceeds to storm off in a huff. In a time where LGBT books are reaching the mainstream in YA, it seems a very odd and harmful thing to include in a book. Normally I’m fine with problematic things as long as it’s called out within context and it isn’t. Leah never apologises and the scene just becomes a footnote in the overall plot. If I had read this book when I was questioning, it probably would’ve had a negative impact and I hate the idea of a questioning teen reading this book and feeling the same. It just seemed a very odd choice for Albertalli to make and I’m not sure how it slipped past editors. There is also an instance of racism towards Abby which Leah is quick to step up and shut down and while it was lovely to see and appreciate, once it had been solved and Abby expressed this, Leah continued to hold a grunge. But, moving on. I liked seeing Leah and Abby getting to know each other better outside of their friendship group obligations and it was nice to see some references to The Upside of Unrequited. I did struggle getting into this book at first as I reread Simon for the film and a few characters in the book are not present in the film, so once I found my feet again the book started to flow better. Another thing that bugged me was the formatting of the Ebook. A few conversations take place through text messages and there were no bold or italic sentences to make it clear what was part of the message and what made up the narrative. This was one of my most anticipated reads for the year, and sadly, it missed the beat.

'For the readers who knew something was up, even when I didn't' JK Rowling take note: if you're going to respond to fan theories, this is how you do it. This book is the perfect end to the Simonverse, I love it endlessly and know I will be rereading it many times. I loved it even more than Simon Vs. the Homosapiens Agenda in a way; it's so lovely to see a character I relate to on such a personal level in a book.

This was so much fun!!! I wasn't sure how I was going to get on with Leah - she can be quite abrasive and her negativity and snarky behaviour could be a bit frustrating in the first book. But I really enjoyed this book - all the little references to fandoms and ships, and the way that Leah's friends accepted her for who she was, negativity and all. I found myself really growing to like Leah - I feel that when you're inside her head, her behaviour is easier to understand. The romance in this book is so cute!! No spoilers, but when I found out who the love interest was I wasn't sure I was going to get on with it, because I couldn't see these two characters together at all. But as soon as things kicked off, I was completely invested. They were the cutest, I was so in love with them. I also felt the ending was a teensy bit rushed - we're aware that the two characters getting together has potential to cause drama within their friendship group, but we never see the repercussions. I'm all for happy endings for wlw, but I would definitely have liked to see more of the impact of their relationship and how that conflict was resolved. It felt as though everything was just bundled up and tied in a nice bow without really exploring it, and it felt a little bit unsatisfying - but I understand that it's enjoyable to see ladies loving ladies get a happy ending without all the negativity. Overall I thought this was a great book, it was cute and feel-good and I really enjoyed it!

I bought this book immediately after finishing Simon Vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda which I loved. This book focusses on Simon's best friend Leah and her struggles through high school, struggling with feeling socially accepted, her weight, feels of not being good enough, not having as much money as her peers, moving to university and realising that she has feeling for one of her closest friend's girlfriend. Leah is not as easy a character to love as Simon, she is certainly more challenging and more abrasive, rude and determined to make herself unlikable but for all of these reasons I couldn't help but find myself rooting for her. Her struggles throughout the book are far more realistic than Simon's and I think the complicated mess that comes out of falling for a friend who is most likely straight is something that will resonate with LGBT readers everywhere. I know that the story here certainly reflected more accurately some of the trials felt by friends of mine and therefore I think it is a book that is of equal importance if not more importance than Simon's story. Ultimately the book has a happy ending, we get to find out more about what happened to our other favourite characters from Simon and is a great pairing to the first book. You could read it as a standalone as well but I got far more pleasure from it already knowing the characters.