What If It's Us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera

Title: What If It's Us
Author: Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Source: HarperTeen
Goodreads

Arthur is only in New York for the summer, but if Broadway has taught him anything, it’s that the universe can deliver a showstopping romance when you least expect it.

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?

Review by Nara

What If It's Us is a collaboration between two excellent contemporary authors, Becky Albertalli & Adam Silvera, and it pretty much lives up to what you would expect from them. Hilarious banter, cringe-worthy but relateable awkwardness and all the adorableness and feels.

I might end up being completely wrong, but I think it's pretty clear who between Becky and Adam wrote Arthur (Becky) vs Ben (Adam), if you've read their books before (also was it coincidence that the characters and the authors have names starting with the same letters lol). Adam especially has a pretty distinct writing style where he basically attacks you in the feels, although this book is considerably less devastating than his other books that I've read.

While I really liked the novel as a fluffy contemporary, I did feel that the novel was basically just focused on the romance. I guess because these are such big names in contemporary YA, I somehow expected a bit more? That was pretty much the only negative that I could find in the novel, because the rest of it is quite excellent.

As a sidenote, I have to admit, I'm not really a huge fan of musicals, but the many Hamilton references in this book made me go look it up and listen to it on Youtube (and it was pretty good, actually).

Definitely a novel that I would recommend to any fans of contemporary novels.

Really liked it

Ratings
Overall: 8/10
Plot: 4/5
Romance: 4/5
Writing: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Cover: 4/5