‘What If It’s Us’ book review: Authors are Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera

A young love story with a huge dilemma. Each chapter in different perspectives of the main characters Arthur and Ben.

The style of writing from Becky and Adam is good. It’s very detailed. I felt that the writing in each chapter going on with the characters was stronger than the plot / storyline.

To be honest what made me want to buy and read this book was Becky’s CV and history with the Love, Simon movie and her novel Simon vs the homo sapiens agenda originally.

The storyline of Arthur who works at his mother’s law firm briefly in New York but resides elsewhere. He meets Ben in a post office and gets talking to him but fails to get his number. Arthur then goes to drastic methods to find Ben and they start dating. But Arthur must leave town as he is only in New York for the summer and with a few twists and turns, break up and get back together and then finally break up.

The storyline of Arthur trying to find Ben made me root for him and when they were a couple, I was rooting for it to work for them.

At the end they became friends only and kept in contact by phone as they were in different locations. I found it heart breaking when they had to break up and the last date between them was emotional. It was sweet how they were just teenagers but found real love with each other.

What I liked most about the story was the different characters of each perspective from Ben and Arthur. I also liked the bromance between Ben and Dylan. When Ben had his argument with Dylan and stopped speaking to him that was written well. And when Dylan had his heart attack or panic attack that was a major turning point but kind of surprise in the story that brought him and Arthur back together.

I also liked Dylan’s humour, Ben’s wanting to protect Arthur and making everything perfect for him. I really liked Arthur’s determination to find his man. I thought it was romantic.

What I didn’t like about the story was it took a long time for Arthur to find Ben. It was well written that Arthur meets Ben right at the start of the story. Also, it took a while like around 300 pages until the first kiss but the chemistry between them was written right and kept me as the reader engaged.

I really liked the cover art. I received the American version. I liked the American cover better than the British one. On the American cover I liked the arrangement of the typography and the illustration of Arthur and Ben holding the box of his ex’s belongings as that was a crucial point of the story as Ben was trying to get over his ex-Hudson. The side of the book (that was orange) was really bright and would stand out if placed in a library.

Overall, it was 400 pages of good material. It was a good love story with not the typical ending but a sweet ending. I would recommend this book to teenagers and adults.

In my honest opinion I don’t think this should be a movie like Becky’s other written work Love, Simon. The storyline is different to what would be a movie and not effective enough compared to other existing LGBTQ movies. As a book it is a work of art and a masterpiece. A good collaboration between Adam and Becky.

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