Ben thinks the universe needs to mind its business. If the universe had his back, he wouldn’t be on his way to the post office carrying a box of his ex-boyfriend’s things.
But when Arthur and Ben meet-cute at the post office, what exactly does the universe have in store for them?
Maybe nothing. After all, they get separated.
Maybe everything. After all, they get reunited.
But what if they can’t quite nail a first date . . . or a second first date . . . or a third?
What if Arthur tries too hard to make it work . . . and Ben doesn’t try hard enough?
What if life really isn’t like a Broadway play?
But what if it is? (Pub Date: Oct 09, 2018)
Honest review based on an ARC provided by Edelweiss. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.
Of course I got this book because of the writers and they didn't let me down.
3.5, because sometimes it did lose rhythm. And yet, it was a great read.
Arthur is just staying the summer in New York and despite all his dreams of enjoying the city he isn't doing much besides his internship. It's when he lets the city amaze him that he follows Ben into a post office and falls in love. Ben doesn't believe in the universe, especially not after his breakup and not being able to neither throw away his ex's box nor continue to talk with Arthur. Now the two have lost each other, should they go that extra mile and give their love story a chance?
This book has basically two parts. First, the boys meet and lose each other. When they finally do get together, there's the question of them making it work. One of the great things of this book is that it can be super out-of-a-rom-com-movie at one moment and the next, it gets so real we feel torn. The other win about it is that it manages to be LGBT themed, not about coming out but still keeping the story fresh. Most of the YA's are about coming out and it does get boring over time. And yet, I still love the trope and find most of the other books a little boring. This one managed to satisfy both needs.
And I think the third amazing achievement was in building these two boys. I think this feat can be explained because we have two different authors. Silvera's style tends to be darker, like Ben, while Albertalli's characters are more the cute type, like Arthur. You'll be able to clearly see the best of each other meet and compose the story. It was actually exciting to read it, like I was reading crossover.
Last thing I have to point out is that since they managed to skip the coming out theme, they could explore some others that most LGBT YA's never get to deepen, especially the "how to make things work". I confess established relationships are not my thing when reading but this book made it in a way it's not established at all, that's actually the point. They have this amazing meet cute and they try to do it all over again and again because reality doesn't seem to fulfill all the expectations. Both are too different but does that mean they're incompatible? I find it very interesting not only for teens but to readers of any age (and sexual orientation).
So why isn't it a 5-star read? It started great, the writing is as good as expected, but the book dragged a lot of times. It would recover for a bit and soon it would drag again. It's not an upbeat story at all. I would have never thought of dropping it; it was cute, I cared about the characters. However, I did see that I couldn't recommend this to anyone.
Still, I'm very glad I got to read this book and I'm crossing fingers that these two will get together again to write more for us.
Rating: 4 out of 5.
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