Author: Becky Albertalli
Published:  April 7, 2015
Audiobook

Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: December 26- December 30, 2018
Jessica’s Rating:  5 stars

Book Description:

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.

Jessica’s Review:

I absolutely adored this novel! I think it helps that I live in Georgia, the author lives in Georgia, and the novel also takes place in Georgia.

I adored Simon from the beginning. Somehow Albertalli captured the voice of a teenage boy in his situation brilliantly! I always say there are not YA books out there from the male perspective, added to that from the gay perspective. You can really see how Simon feels about everything and are rooting for him. I also liked Simon’s close knit group of friends, though I least connected with Leah. I was surprised to find out the second book in the series focuses on her. Despite the lack of connection to Leah in Simon I will give the second book a shot as I would like to see what happens next in all of their lives. 

Being this novel is YA, surprisingly for me the teen drama is not ‘full in your face’ like I expected it to be. Yes there is teen drama, but it is all part of the story with the sequence of events. Various social media and the constant need for their phone is all over this novel as it is a normal part of teens lives now. 

I would say this would be for older teens as there is foul language used in the novel, which includes the F word.  There are also mentions to masturbation and there is underage drinking. But it all feels like a real situation.

There is also a bit of a mystery as to who Blue is.  And once we finally find out the answer the story keeps going. 

Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda is highly recommended.  This was my final audiobook I listened to in 2018 and was glad I ended the year with it.

Movie Perspective of Love, Simon:

I watched the movie Love, Simon before listening to the audiobook and  also really enjoyed it!  I adored Simon and his friends and also liked Jennifer Garner and Josh Duhamel as Simon’s parents. There are some changes in various parts of the film, which I actually enjoyed. There was one part of the novel I enjoyed that was not in the movie and wish it was. I surprised myself and started to feel sorry for Martin after the football game…until he did what he did. 

Nick Robinson played Simon brilliantly, especially when it came down to a certain very emotional scene.  This particular scene felt 100% real and I wanted to knock some sense into Martin myself! I would be very tempted to ground my kid for life if they ever did what Martin did to Simon.

I would say watch the movie first as the movie ends while the novel keeps going. It was a fine ending for the film but we get more in the novel. 

Purchase Links:

Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda
Amazon US
Amazon UK

Love, Simon
Amazon US
Amazon UK