Publisher: Balzer + ray
Source: Borrowed from library
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Blurb:
Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised.
With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.
This book was the most heart warming, funny, happy, marshmallow fluffy book I've ever read. It completely captivated me from the first page and I sped through the book in 2 days. And that's pretty impressive as I was super busy but made the time to read the book because I just needed the joy in my life.
The book focuses on Simon, an "in the closet" teen who finds himself becoming closer and close to a boy called Blue through email. Reading about their relationship and how much closer they were getting was so well written and cute. I loved how Albertalli portrayed their closeted emotions and the inner ups and down turmoil they were feeling in terms of self acceptance. Their conversations were totally adorable and I actually found myself re-reading their emails after I finished the book.
The characters of this novel were just completely the most amazing I've ever read. Each and every one of them touched me in a different way and now have a firm place in my heart. I loved Simon. He was such a caring friend, brother and his narrative was perfect to read. I really loved his relationship with Leah and how that was written. I also loved reading about his relationship with is family. The close family bond is so rare to find in YA novels and I loved reading the sibling scenes between him and his sisters so much.
The plot of the novel is mostly driven by Simon writing to blue, learning more about him and wanting to find out who he really is as he falls deeper and deeper in live with him. I found myself becoming so invested and loving all of Simon's wrong guesses as to who it may be. The reveal was shocking to me, which I was glad about because if you know me you know I always guess the secret identity right from the beginning...it's a blessing and a curse!
Another thing I loved about this book was that it continued after the "coming out". Most LGBTQ books are so focused around the main character "coming out" to their friends and family's that it just ends. We don't get to see what happens to their life after that. I was so glad that in this book that was no the case. I feel like more books should focus on the life after, not just the coming out, even though that is an equally important and life changing moment. I also loved how the dad apologised for his homophobic jokes before knowing his son was gay and owned up to that being toxic behaviour and apologising. That was great to read.
If I haven't said it enough, I absolutely loved this novel. I feel like I am just going to push it on everyone I come into contact with because I feel like everyone should read this. It handles complexity of friendships, sexuality, coming out, relationships and being comfortable in your own skin so very well.
I can not wait to read more of Becky's books asap!
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