The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli

The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli
Published by Balzer + Bray on April 11th 2017
Genres: Contemporary
Goodreads

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?

I received a copy of this book for review, this does not influence my thoughts or the contents of this review.

As a hardcore fan of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, I expected to really enjoy The Upside of Unrequited and I’m happy to report that I was not disappointed. The Upside of Unrequited was absolutely phenomenal and I can’t wait for more people to read it.

Molly knows plenty about unrequited crushes, she’s had over 26 of them. When her twin sister, Cassie, starts dating someone new, Molly can’t help but think of what she’s missing out on. Cassie’s new girlfriend introduces her to someone that Molly could potentially have her first kiss with, but Molly can’t help her connection with Reid, even if he is a supergeeky Tolkien fan. The Upside of Unrequited touches on crushes, changing sibling relationships and the risk of putting yourself out there.

I loved The Upside of Unrequited, and I can definitely say that it was definitely swoon-worthy and cute, just as I expected. If you were a fan of Simon Vs., I can say that you’ll definitely appreciate the cuteness in Upside too. What’s unique to Upside, however, is the relationship between Molly and her sister Cassie. Their relationship really reminded me of my own friendship with my twin sister, which I can’t say I find often in books. I also loved the relationship between Molly and her parents, and I love how close they were.

I found Molly to be so relatable, and I think that many readers will find her relatable as well. All the characters were fleshed out and I found myself rooting for all of them.

Overall, The Upside of Unrequited was a phenomenal sophomore novel and I am so excited for more readers to experience its beauty as well.