Review: What If It's Us

What If It's Us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Weird. I'm reading a book that Adam Silvera wrote and I didn't rate it five stars. But then, it's also a Becky Albertalli book, and I haven't rated a single one of hers five stars yet, not even the iconic Simon Vs. I just wish this one, which I read as an ARC that I picked up at work, could've been the five-star read I expected from a collaboration between two of the YA community's best and brightest.

That's not to say that this book's a bad one, not at all. A large part of why I'm giving it a good four stars (it's really a 3.5 but I'll round it up) is the hilarious dialogue, especially whenever Dylan opens his mouth ("GENTLEMEN. PLEASE UNHOOK YOUR DICKS NOW.") Also the sheer number of Harry Potter references, proving that this book is part of the Albertalli-verse if nothing else (and not the Silvera-verse where it's Scorpius Hawthorne books and movies instead, though maybe this is one of the alternate 'verses Griffin kept proposing in History is All You Left Me?) And how generally sweet and fluffy the atmosphere was, because of course Albertalli's going to give us something positively theatrical and perfectly capable of - at least temporarily - taking away from my perpetual cycle of love-related cynicism because while there's literally nobody out there for me, at least the universe is determined to ensure Arthur and Ben get together to some degree.

I can tell you that both Harry and I agreed on one thing - the ending was a little disappointing. I mean, it kinda makes sense in context, but it also comes off a little too much like Silvera had his influence and prevented Albertalli from tying it all up neatly with a bow like she usually does. Though given that Albertalli tied things up a little too neatly with Leah on the Offbeat, maybe that's for the best. Not to mention, when the fluff goes out the window, it self-defenestrates while singing "I Am Not Throwing Away My Shot" at the top of its lungs. At least Arthur and Ben get a bunch of do-overs with their initial date fails, but still, some of those date fails felt like they could've been more easily avoided.

There's at least one non-fluffy moment, though, that brought me to actual tears. I guess that's a tad bit Silvera's fault? Of course it is; he's the King Tearjerker of YA. But still, did Silvera have to write Dylan so much like one of my best friends? Did he have to give him a moment that so eerily parallels a distressing story my friend once told me?

Naturally, that scene ensured that like all other Silvera books to date, this one earns the famous crying Andrew Garfield GIF.



I do hope that Albertalli and Silvera collaborate again in the future, I really do.

And I hope by the time they do, I'll finally be proven wrong about my own inability to be loved just like Arthur and Ben.

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