The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Seventeen-year-old Molly Peskin-Suso knows all about unrequited love - she's lived through it twenty-six times. She crushes hard and crushes often, but always in secret. Because 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. Will is funny and flirtatious and just might be perfect crush material. Maybe more than crush material. And 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 an awkward Tolkien superfan with a season pass to the Ren Faire, and there's absolutely no way Molly could fall for him. Right?
The Upside of Unrequited is a fun, fast-paced book that is nearly impossible to put down. Molly, the main character, is easy to love because her voice is humorous, snarky, and brutally honest. She tells the truth about what it feels like to be surrounded by people who seem to have it all together - people who are more beautiful, successful, and more accepted than you are. Molly tries to see the value in the walls she has built to protect herself from getting hurt, even though it is painful to have need of them. But as her sister pressures Molly to start dating, and as she starts falling for her coworker, Reid, Molly starts to question the validity of those walls.
As an added bonus to The Upside of Unrequited, fans of her previous book, Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda will be thrilled to find Simon's cameo appearance. After all, who doesn't love it when a favorite character shows up in another book!
Overall, I highly recommend The Upside of Unrequited. Not only is it a fun read, but it deals with the important issues of the nature of love and self-acceptance.
Happy reading!
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