[Review] Honestly Ben (Openly Straight #2) - Bill Konigsberg

Summary: Ben Carver is back to normal. He's working steadily in his classes at the Natick School. He just got elected captain of the baseball team. He's even won a full scholarship to college, if he can keep up his grades. All that foolishness with Rafe Goldberg the past semester is in the past.

Except . . .

There's Hannah, the gorgeous girl from the neighboring school, who attracts him and distracts him. There's his mother, whose quiet unhappiness Ben is noticing for the first time. School is harder, the pressure higher, the scholarship almost slipping away. And there's Rafe, funny, kind, dating someone else . . . and maybe the real normal that Ben needs. (Pub Date: Mar 28, 2017)


Honest review based on an ARC provided by the publisher through Edelweiss, thank you so much for the opportunity.

I was just so happy to go back to these characters! Even though this wasn't as good as the first—which sequel is?—, I have no regrets. In fact, I'm ready for a third book, even if this time it all had closure.

So things resume from where the first book left, as Ben tries to deal with the fight between him and Rafe, and all it has ensued. He now ponders over everything about him and even his family. That's when he meets Hannah, a girl who really catches his eyes even though he knows his feelings toward Rafe remain unsolved.

I think as nice a character Hannah was—or better, a waste of a good character—the plot of Ben falling for a girl was the biggest flaw in the book. For one, no one is buying the romance. The more he said he was attracted to her the more I wondered whether he really was. After all, if we've made it this far, it wasn't to cheer for him and anyone but Rafe. I do see the point but I preferred the author had invested less in this lost cause.

Also, the plot here was much more serious than in the prequel—after all, Ben is an overly-serious guy. In addition to this, they were trying to tie as many loose ends as possible. As a result, there were parts that dragged, others that made me wonder what it was for.

Despite all those objections, the characters were still the same. Every scene featuring Rafe and his friends was made of gold, in my opinion. It's strange how I really like Ben but he didn't do it for me as a main character, I think he's best to be admired from a distance? But that doesn't mean he has changed, unless you count development, which was palpable, really.

Talking about development, I did notice some parts were more like a response to the first book, it even had a great answer to my own complaint—about how Openly Straight criticized labels so much and in the end it still kept everyone in labels. I liked how this discussion came back, even if more subtly.

I think the book could have been more fun, the love scenes used to be hotter in the prequel, but the text was more stable, mature. The author was really taking the themes to the next level. This would make for a great book in a book club.

If you're a fan of LGBT YA's, you can't go wrong with this series. Nonetheless, I don't suggest you start from this one. I can't see it being as enjoyable without reading first where Ben is coming from. So, go first for Openly Straight. You read it and want to know if you really need to read the second? All I can say is that this is a solid release. Read the excerpt to decide; that's basically what you get. As for me, I didn't know how much I needed closure on what happened before, and this provided.

(More like a PS, but I really dislike Levithan's books. I wish I could find more like Bill Konigsberg type of LGBT YA's around... I can't wait for his next!)

Rating: 3 out 5.