Thursday, March 5, 2015

Review: Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Title: Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda
Author: Becky Albertalli
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Source: Balzer + Bray via Edelweiss
Goodreads



Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised.

With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.

Review by Nara

That was so freaking adorable I can't even.

I'm writing this review several weeks after having read the book and I can still remember very clearly how freaking adorable it is.

Okay, so maybe several weeks doesn't seem like much to you, but to me, with possibly the worst case of book amnesia in recorded history (sometimes I forget the names of characters literally seconds after finishing a book, or can't remember how exactly a book ends within hours of finishing), Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda was so memorable (read: so freaking adorable) that I can still remember most of it now.

Part of that may have something to do with how I, as soon as I finished the book, just had to go back and read bits and pieces of it that I enjoyed (read: that were freaking adorable).

Part of that may have something to do with how Simon Spier is one of the most interesting, realistic, hilarious and grammatically correct characters I've read in a contemporary YA. (And also endearingly adorable)

Part of that may have something to do with, despite the fact that the book is freaking adorable, it touches on a lot of serious issues and deals with all those big issues in a delicate and realistic manner.

Part of that (a huge part of that) may have something to do with THE FREAKING ADORABLE ROMANCE THAT OMG I CAN'T EVEN AKEFHLJELWJF SERIOUSLY ERMAHGERD.

Because seriously, this book. I can't even begin to tell you coherently how fantastic it was, and really, I don't think I even want to do a proper review for this one because you should go into it mostly blind to experience the fabulousness (read: freaking adorableness) for yourself.

Are you sick of the word adorable by now? BECAUSE YOU WON'T BE ONCE YOU READ THIS BOOK FOR YOURSELF BECAUSE THERE IS NO OTHER WAY YOU'LL BE ABLE TO DESCRIBE IT PROPERLY.

/Nara out.
Incredible
Ratings
Overall: 9/10
Plot: 5/5
Romance: 4.5/5
Writing: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Cover: 4/5

This post is a part of Contemporary Conversations, hosted by The Thousand Lives and Talking Bookworm.
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