The Upside of Unrequited
Author: Becky Albertalli
Published: April 11, 2017
336 Pages
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: January 24-31, 2019
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
Seventeen-year-old Molly Peskin-Suso knows all about unrequited love—she’s lived through it twenty-six times. She crushes hard and crushes often, but always in secret. Because no matter how many times her twin sister, Cassie, tells her to woman up, Molly can’t stomach the idea of rejection. So she’s careful. Fat girls always have to be careful.
Then a cute new girl enters Cassie’s orbit, and for the first time ever, Molly’s cynical twin is a lovesick mess. Meanwhile, Molly’s totally not dying of loneliness—except for the part where she is. Luckily, Cassie’s new girlfriend comes with a cute hipster-boy sidekick. Will is funny and flirtatious and just might be perfect crush material. Maybe more than crush material. And if Molly can win him over, she’ll get her first kiss and she’ll get her twin back.
There’s only one problem: Molly’s coworker Reid. He’s an awkward Tolkien superfan with a season pass to the Ren Faire, and there’s absolutely no way Molly could fall for him. Right?
Jessica’s Review:
Please Note: To shorten the review instead of saying the entire titles throughout the review, I have shortened them to one word:
Upside- The Upside of Unrequited
Simon- Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda
Leah- Leah on the Offbeat
Upside is not part of the ‘Simon’ series, but it is in the same universe as Molly is Abby’s cousin. I listened to the audio of Upside after listening to Simon and Leah.
I liked Molly; she is what Leah could have been. Also being a ‘fat girl’, Molly has had many crushes (26 exactly), but nothing ever came about them. Then suddenly two guys come into the picture: One Molly meets via work and the other via her friends. I know who I was rooting for Molly to end up with by the end.
I enjoyed how Upside was connected to the other books through Abby; She and Simon even make some appearances throughout the novel! I did not like the narrator’s portrayal of Abby: she made Abby seem whiny with the way she narrated Abby’s voice. I enjoyed the narration of Abby’s voice much more in Simon.
I really liked Molly’s moms and enjoyed hearing from them; they are just as important to the story as Molly is.
As with the other two novels, Upside has foul language including the ‘f’ word. The language is not as extreme as it was in Leah. Of course, Of course, this series is about teen drama so be prepared for lots of it; if that’s not your thing it may be disappointed.
I enjoyed reading these three books, Simon is my favorite. If you read and enjoyed Simon, give Upside a read. Becky Albertalli: Please write more books with these teens! I really enjoyed them over the course of the three novels!.
The Upside of Unrequited is recommended.