Molly Peskin-Suso is a seventeen-year-old girl, obsessed with Pinterest and struggling with the fact that she has had twenty-six crushes and exactly zero boyfriends. It's always bothered her that the boys she liked never liked her back, but it was never a serious problem until her twin sister Cassie gets her first girlfriend. With everyone around her falling in love, Molly is lonelier than ever, and she begins to wonder why she isn't experiencing the same things. Fortunately, there are two new boys in Molly's life, and one of them could be more than just crush number twenty-seven.
The Upside of Unrequited is the second young-adult novel by Becky Albertalli, the award winning author of Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. While I have never read Albertalli's first book, I loved The Upside of Unrequited. The author perfectly sums up what it's like to have a crush. There was just the right amount of love and pain, and Molly was an amazing character. She was shy and awkward, and as a teenager, I could easily relate to her. The book was fast-paced and simple, but the topics explored in it, such as feminism and LGBTQ+ rights, made it more than just a basic love story. Although I found it to be a little predictable, I enjoyed reading it. With its diverse cast of characters and generous amount of pop culture references, it was kind of hard not to. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a quick, modern romance about first (or twenty-seventh) love.
Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
-Samantha M (Dusen)Berry Blogger and member of the River Teen Advisory Board
