What If It's Us

More like a 3.5....

This book has been on every anticipated list since the day it was announced. Though I've never actually read any Adam Silvera book and only the Simonverse books by Becky, even I was all ready to read this cute fluffy contemporary, but I had to wait all these days due to the long waitlist at my library. And now I'm not exactly sure how I feel about it.

This is definitely a very cute story for the most part. The way Arthur and Ben meet for the first time gives us all the feels of an adorable meet cute and increases our anticipation about how they would meet again. Even though the way Art tries to find Ben again might feel a bit stalkerish, I think it's par for course in this social media age. How they find each other again is a cute story in itself and I was very excited for their love story to begin.

Arthur is sixteen year old Jewish boy with ADHD who is spending his summer interning in New York. I totally adored his character. He is fascinated by all things NY and plays the perfect tourist. He is also a complete over the top romantic and I heartfully felt for him, because I definitely had that side to myself at that age. He goes full throttle for whatever he wants, has no filter when he wants to say something and I thought that was quite realistic for an excited teenager.

On the other hand, Ben is quite cynical even for his age. He is Peurto Rican who is proud of his heritage but feels that's not enough because of his being quite white passing. Also, due to his recent breakup, he also feels like he is not worthy and isn't sure why anyone would want to be boyfriends with him. This feeling is also exacerbated because of him being in summer school and struggling with his studies.

Their relationship is instalove but I felt it. It's OTT and adorable and what I really expected from young love. I felt all the excitement that Arthur felt for all his firsts and it was nice to see Ben want to give him all that. They also have quite a few disagreements, but the resolutions also happen fast and it was good to see not a lot of angst. Both of them also have a great group of friends, but my favorites were Ben's BFF Dylan and his new girlfriend Samantha. They are so funny and bring a lot of laughs to the proceedings, and the slightly broody Ben definitely needs them.

What I didn't really enjoy was the repetitiveness of the story. Ben and Arthur want everything to be perfect, so there are a lot of do-overs that happen. Even though I thought their dates were sweet, it was sometimes the same thing all over again. The story felt slightly dragged on towards the end, though I can't pinpoint exactly why. I also happen to fall in the camp of those readers who didn't like the epilogue, but I did see that coming. There are also a lot of pop culture references and while I really enjoyed everything about the HP fandom, I know nothing about Broadway and all the puns about Hamilton and Dear Evan Hansen went totally above my head. I don't think it took away from my enjoyment of the story itself, but if I knew about them better, maybe the impact on me would have been different.

I got all the fluffiness and cute characters that I would expect from Becky but I think I may not be cut out for reading Silvera's work. This is a YA contemporary and more often than not, I'm here for a happy story. But, despite Arthur believing throughout the book that the universe brought them together and telling us readers the same over and over, the way it ended made me feel cheated of that experience. Maybe it's realistic and maybe I'm being unreasonable, but I cried because of that ending and not the good kind of tears. However, I think this is still a well written teenage love story with some amazing moments and all of you should definitely give it a chance. Maybe it will surprise you.

3.5 ??????

It was a bit too meandering for me, and I didn???t like all the cultural references (especially regarding real people). There were some cute moments but I think the first few chapters were the best. I lost interest during the last chapters. Most other books would have ended it sooner.

The audiobook narration was excellent though, so if you have the option, I???d recommend that as the best way to read.