Friday 21 April 2017

THE UPSIDE OF UNREQUITED BY BECKY ALBERTALLI

Rating: 5 stars

Goodreads Book Description:
Seventeen-year-old Molly Peskin-Suso knows all about unrequited love. 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. 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 a chubby Tolkien superfan with a season pass to the Ren Faire, and there's absolutely no way Molly could fall for him.

Right?

My Review:
IT’S SO FLUFFY I’M GONNA DIE

This was the first book I’ve read by Becky Albertalli and I can’t even begin to explain how much I loved The Upside of Unrequited. I’ve heard so many wonderful things about her other book Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and therefore The Upside of Unrequited was very hyped in the book community.

There are so many reasons why I’ve fallen utterly in love with The Upside of Unrequited, for example: the way Albertalli embraces the idea of diversity. It is shown not only in sexuality, but in race as well. The beautiful thing about this book is that the majority of characters are part of the LGBTQIA community. Mentions of pansexual, bisexual and asexual are all acknowledged in different ways, and Albertalli doesn’t stick to the typical stereotypes and races.

Secondly, I admire how raw and realistic The Upside of Unrequited is, it deals with so many issues faced by both teenagers and society nowadays. I love how open Molly’s family is, her parents handle arising issues with ease and both Cassie and Molly are always able to talk to them about anything at any time. They discuss topics such as birth control, drinking, first love, anxiety, etc. In YA, we expect these issues to be glossed over but in The Upside of Unrequited, Albertalli brings an accurate representation of how all these talks play out in life.

The protagonist of this story, Molly, is not your typical stick-figure YA main character. She’s fat. Allow me to repeat that, Molly is fat. And she’s always grown up being larger than most girls in her town and school but she’s slowly learning to accept that. However, her anxiety and self-doubt quite often get in the way, making her compare herself to other girls. And she’s a virgin, unlike many of the characters in this book, and she’s surrounded by constant conversations about sex, love and drinking, all things a 17 year old should experience, right? Wrong. Yes, Molly is self-conscious that she’s had barely anything remotely close to love or let a single drop of alcohol touch her lips. But she takes charge of her life; she tries her hardest to not let society’s standards sway her judgement. She is her own person.

It was fluffy, relatable and a really quick contemporary read. From Molly’s Pinterest personality and Cassie’s sassy attitude right down to Reid’s blinding white sneakers.

A beautiful story about two twin sisters and how love works its way into their lives. The Upside of Unrequited is definitely a contender for my favourite read of 2017!



Think Lovely Thoughts xo

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