I will not be giving feedback on this book as I couldn’t really get into it but I think others may enjoy it.

I adored this book! It is exactly the book I needed when I was a teenager. Becky Albertalli's writing is incredible, so enticing. Particularly of note were the excellent body positivity and bisexual representation.

While this was a good book in some aspects, a few of the scenes really put me off the whole experience as a whole, and I wanted better.

Another great look into the Simon universe. I loved Leah so much in Simon VTHSA and I love her even more in this. More please, Becky. More more more!

I really enjoyed Love Simon (the book and the movie) so this is a great insight into one of the supporting characters - Leah, Another brilliant coming of age book from Becky Albertalli. Thank you to the publisher for providing a free ecopy for review.

Like everyone else who loves YA, I read Simon Vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda and fell head over heels in love with it. Therefore I was quite scared when I discovered that there was a sequel but it did not disappoint. Leah On the Offbeat is a wonderfully YA that I love and wish that I could push into the hands of everyone. Definitely one of my favourites of the year! I wish I could give it all the stars!!

I think that one of the best parts of the book obviously the fact that it is told through the eyes of the characters we know and love. Of course, this is Leah who I love throughout the book. She is fun, interesting and lovely to read about. I especially like the fact that her Mum is from a lower economic background as this is something that you see in YA and definitely explores those troubles. I also loved the way that her weight was dealt with in the book especially from someone who is overweight themselves it was great to see myself represented in a book that way. Also, I loved Leah's Mum to death and she too was a great character which is nice to see as many of them YA parents are not developed in this way.

You, of course, have the gang back together and it is interesting to read about the different dynamics that are seen in the book that are different to Simon Vs. I especially loved reading out the relationship between Simon and Blue seeing it develop of the course of the story because obviously, not everything goes to plan. There is of course also Abby and Nick and I really love how Abby developed through the book and developed in her relationship with Leah. I had all the feels. Although I love the book to pieces I did find that Nick was slightly off in the book. It was completely understandable to the plot but it was a little weird but did not prevent the overall plot for me.

There were many things that I also really loved about the book. Leah having a hobby for a start which she was passionate and good at. It's the little things. There is also a couple of Love Simon references which were a nice touch and definitely made me laugh. I also adored the fact that there are also references to YA books throughout which was meta but also great! The book also tackles racism in a small way which was nice to read about especially with Leah calling out another character in the book. The relationships were definitely the thing that I loved seeing develop in the book and were the best but it was also lovely seeing the struggles and trials of school and university being tackled in the book. I just loved everything about it and it was so damn cute. Just read it!

The Verdict:

Leah On The Offbeat is everything that a sequel to Simon Vs. needs to be. It's cute, it's funny, it's heartwarming, it's the book that everyone needs to read. Like now.

All I managed to say on Goodreads was this:

"Oh no. This was so cute I basically combusted, like, four times at least."

Which basically sums up my response to this book. I've been trying to find the words to write a proper review, but I think I'd have to reread it to manage that, hopefully with less combusting, and sadly I'm a little bit too bogged down to find the time. But as you can see, I really enjoyed it, and I found it extremely adorable. It's funny, too, which I always enjoy, and it was nice to see familiar characters (like Simon) -- I recently reread Simon Vs, which wasn't exactly *essential* to following what was going on, but definitely helped me remember the character dynamics.

I remember having a few issues with it, but I can't remember what they were (yikes, my memory is terrible, it hasn't been *that* long since I read it), so.... sorry about that, this is a complete failure of a review.

I AM STILL NOT ENTIRELY SURE HOW I GOT LUCKY ENOUGH FOR AN ARC FOR THIS BOOK.

Confession time! I wasn't that big on Simon. Yeah, I know but I think it got overhyped for me. But I loved 'Upside' and I wished for Leah on a whim, never suspecting that I'd actually get it. I don't have that kind of luck.
I was apprehensive, sure. This was basically the most anticipated book of the year, especially after Love Simon.

AND IT WAS AMAZING. Leah is perfect and I fell in love with her instantly. She's cute and sarky and vulnerable. She's unapologetically herself which is great from a YA character. She's never sorry for how she is. She is also terribly unsubtle. Leah, sweetie, we can see that crush from a mile away. It's so easy to relate to her for a variety of reasons. Bisexual representation and she's just such a likeable character. Everything is changing for her and it's scary and there's some high school drama that made me tense up. It just feels so much like high school, the traps and pitfalls of navigating friendship groups,

And Blue/Simon update! The cuteness is nauseating. The prom thing! Simon writes fanfiction! Bestie support!
Ugh. This book was amazing and I bought the paperback immediately. I am now fully converted to a Becky fan.

When Zoe asked me for a title for the NoSaferPlace book club I jumped at the chance. It seemed like such a fun idea and to be asked was a huge honour. But which title? Zoe gave me free range of ideas - as long as it was YA, would be a wonderful. But I had much stricter rules: I wanted it to be published within the past 12-18 months, didn’t want it to be a second/third book within a series, something that has huge amount of diversity and it had to be fun. I wanted a fun read for everyone involved.

After a week of thinking and changing my mind, I keep coming back to Leah on the Offbeat and went “This is perfect!”

In this sequel to Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda (or Love, Simon if you prefer the movie title), we follow Leah about a year later. Leah is good on the drums and is good with drawing, but her real life isn’t as rhythmic. With prom and college round the corner, her solid friend groups begin to fracture and, while her single mum knows about her being bisexual, Leah can’t find the right way to tell her friends, not even her openly gay BFF, Simon. And with her feelings towards someone taken an unexpected turn, Leah is walking a tightrope…

I only read Simon Vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda a few months back (I kept putting it off as I was worried that it wouldn’t live up to the hype and my expectations to it - I didn’t need to worry. I adore this book). But the one thing that bothered me in Simon was Leah. I felt she got a bit of raw deal and there was more to her story that met the eye, so was glad to read this.

But Leah is an odd creature. It’s a sequel, yet it’s not at the same time. Plus, you don’t need to read Simon or The Upside of Unrequited (which I haven’t read, but plan to soon) to read Leah, in my opinion. It’s a companion novel. And that makes things more tricky.

On the one hand, I’m thrilled to return to these characters. I missed Simon and the other characters. I wanted to see where their lives go. Plus, I liked reading from Leah’s point of view most of the time. Her humour and her snarky made me fly through the pages. Plus, it’s refreshing to read a plus-sized character who isn’t worried about their weight, on a diet or it being used as a plot device like we see in books, TV shows and films where we’re told if you lose weight, you will get your happily ever after (excuse me while I tear my hair out). Nope. If that troupe was used in her, I think I would have DNF this very quickly.

But on the other hand, I don’t think I could be friends with Leah. While I love that Leah can be strong-willed on her conviction and she’s a funny character to read, some of the comments she says makes her come across, at times, as a bit of a bully and quite rude. There were several times this happened - two jump to mind: once with her Mum about the guy she was dating and another with someone over their sexual identity. Am keeping this vague as I don’t want to put spoilers on this but I didn’t agree with Leah’s reaction and I believe people should identify themselves on the LGBT+ spectrum. Don’t let anyone force you to say you’re one thing when you know you’re something different.

The romance. Now, I am in two minds about this as, while I totally shipped it, I kinda wanted more. I wanted more lingering looks. I wanted more hand holding. I wanted more kisses. I wanted more. And while this was happening, I wasn’t sure I approved over Leah’s treatment to someone who clearly fancied her. Yes, I get why, but still… it didn’t sit right with me for some reason.

Plus, it was interesting to see the characters from a different point of view and in a different position, to see how they all reacted. Though, some of you guys will be upset on the characters and how they would behave.

But I did enjoy myself reading this. I did laugh out loud and I had fun. Which is the most important thing I wanted. I wanted a huge dollop of diversity and I wanted fun reading this. Which I got in equal measures.

My thanks again to Zoe for inviting me to pick this month’s NoSaferPlace book and I hope that you all enjoyed (or didn’t - no shame in admitting that this book didn’t rock your boat) this read. Both Zoe and I will be fascinated and excited to hear all your thoughts on Leah on the Offbeat - the good and the bad!

I'm having<strong> very conflicted feelings</strong> about Leah on the Offbeat. I had actually hoped that this would be another 5 star read like Simon vs. the homosapiens agenda, since it features the same cast of characters with Leah as the narrator. However, that sadly didn't quite happen. While I really enjoyed reading the book, it didn't reach my love for Simon VS. as it does have a few issues that I will address later on. In the end I gave this book <strong>3.5 stars</strong> instead of a higher rating because of the amount of things that I wasn't a fan of that I had reflected on after a few days. By no means does that mean that I no longer like the book - I'm very <strong>excited that a book with a bi lead and a f/f pair made the NYT bestseller list and that a lot of people could relate to Leah</strong> - it just means that while I had an enjoyable reading experience there were some points keeping me from giving the book a higher rating.

<u><b>What I liked</b></u>

<strong>✔️ I related a lot of Leah's out-of-place feeling</strong>. I have to say that I didn't quite expect it, because Leah and I are very different when it comes to certain characteristics and her life situation. However, something I could fully relate to was how she often felt out-of-place in her friendship group and was getting insecure. That's something I fully experience a lot as well, so it made me very emotional seeing Leah struggle with something that's very familiar to me. Feeling out-of-place is never nice, but I loved that Leah also had a lot of support from her friends despite having her doubts from time to time. Still, she does a lot of things I relate to as well: like being surprised when people remember her, the awkwardness of talking to people you don't know well and catastrophize things. I do that from time to time too: wanting to give up, because something minor happens, that however, seems a lot bigger for me. So while Leah was also cynical and often lashing out, I understood her too. She is more of an unlikable protagonist, but that's very realistic given that we are all flawed ourselves.

<strong>✔️ I was living for the Simon VS. cameos</strong>. I'm beyond excited that we got another book set in the Creekwood universe, as this will sadly be the last one. Since Leah is our narrator we get to see the old characters again, which was another highlight of the book for me! We saw Simon again and got to see more of his relationship with Blue, which was so precious and sweet! Not only do we get to witness their romance, we also see Leah's and Simon's friendship, another of my favorite relationships from the first book that made me very happy to see here. Though they don't appear too often I liked seeing Leah's friendship with Simon's sister Norah as they are in a band together (that does face a lot of challenges too) with a few other girls that she considers her squad. Those are not the only characters we see, we get to see Abby, Nick (and unfortunately) Martin again.

<strong>✔️ There were so many references and talk of fandom</strong>. Be it Harry Potter, music or other books, there were a lot of fandom references and talk of things like Tumblr, that I'm always here for in contemporaries! I love when the incorporate fandom and other media, as it makes the book a lot more relatable and as we're all fans of something ourselves that can have a huge impact. Another things I especially love is when the references are about very current books like e.g. Six of Crows!

✔️ <strong>I'm glad that we got to see a lot of rep + a f/f couple</strong>. I loved that we had a lot of representation in the book our lead is a fat bisexual girl who is not ashamed of her body and calls out body shaming on page. We also have the bisexual love interest and of course Simon and Blue from the previous book. Another thing I loved is that we get to see a cute f/f couple which is something not nearly enough hyped up in YA, so I was glad that Leah on the Offbeat made the NYT bestseller list a few weeks ago!

<strong>✔️ I loved the college theme of the story.</strong> The characters are just about to graduate therefore there is a lot of talk about college and upcoming plans, a theme I really liked explored, because this is something that still feels very  close to me (even though I graduated two years ago ... oh no it has been this long already). We see everyone struggling a bit as well, be it from having to choose colleges, the fear of not getting in or especially long distance relationships. The latter was a huge focus in the entire book and I loved seeing that addressed, because getting into different colleges and not seeing each other daily can be really tough. I also liked that the book highlighted the struggle between wanting to be close to your friends but also wanting to do what's best for you regardless of how far away that is. Time if flying by fast when it gets to the end of high school and it can be very terrifying to attend your last classes, check out colleges and prepare yourself for so many upcoming changes. I loved that we got to see this so very much!

<strong>✔️ Of course the writing style is amazing and very easy to get into</strong>. I mean it's Becky Albertalli and her writing style is so easy to get into that I read this book in one sitting. it was a very addictive read and I couldn't put Leah on the Offbeat down until I had finished it completely. Becky's books are always fast-paced and so easy to read: the perfect contemporaries if you need a comfort read on your hand that is quick to get through. I was basically flying through this book and read it in one evening, something I did with Simon vs. the homosapiens agenda too. Both books prevent you from taking a break because you get so sucked into the story and need to reach the end.

<u><strong>What I didn't like</strong></u>

<strong>✖️ The way Nick's character was handled didn't sit well with me</strong></big>. I'm not going to spoil things, so let's just say that with college on the horizon a thing happens that really throw him off and it makes Nick behave in a way that majorly annoyed me. I actually thought that his sudden character change was a bit too extreme given the circumstances (at least that's my personal opinion). It felt like I was reading about a totally different character and while I understand that people can change, the way this was done didn't really convince me. Basically Nick is acting ... sorry to say it, but like a major jerk, especially towards another characters.

<spoiler>The reason Nick suddenly acts like a douche is that Abby breaks up with him as she does not want to do long-distance and has more complicated feelings as well. What I hate is how Nick didn't accept that breakup and kept trying to get Abby back, which is my #1 pet peeve in YA. IF SHE SAYS NO IT MEANS NO. Trying to drag Simon and Leah into manipulating Abby into getting back together with him is gross and makes Nick seem like he feels entitled for her. Abby owes him nothing and it makes Nick's behavior is extremely uncomfortable to watch and later even escalates.

What I also found weird is that Abby was SO unaffected, too unaffected  for my taste. He literally insulted her multiple times and made snide comments that must have hurt her, yet Abby never seemed bothered by them. That was a bit unrealistic in my opinion. Then later he suddenly gets together with Taylor and totally is out of Simon's friendship group? That felt a bit too sudden given that they had been such a good team. I didn't like that we did not get to see Simon and Leah coping with him changing between the last chapter and the epilogue.</spoiler>

<strong>✖️ The way Leah dismisses her love interest's questioning sexuality.</strong> I have an excellent <strong>own voices Review by Marianne</strong> <a href="https://boricuanbookworms.com/2018/05/06/leah-on-the-offbeat-very-very-offbeat-and-hurtful-to-me/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">linked</a> for a very good explanation (with quotes!) why the scene I will mention was harmful, very hard for her to read and something bi readers should be aware of going into the book. What happens is that Love Interest, called X here, comes forward about her sexuality. Now X is still questioning and it's a very big deal for her. She came out to her family and is currently identifying as "lowkey bi", as she is still not 100% sure. The problem is that Leah dismisses that X still is questioning and invalidates the way she chooses to label herself, telling X that she is either bi or not and not allowed to be in between. I get that Leah is insecure in this moment and unsure about their relationship, but it <strong>doesn't give her the right to police someone elses sexuality</strong>. The main problem here is isn't that Leah made a mistake and lashed out but that <strong>this is never brought up or challenged</strong>. Everyone makes mistakes, but the book ends without Leah apologizing or the girls even talking about this scene again.

<strong>✖️ Look I liked the pair, but it didn't quite hit it off with me</strong>. Part of that is because of the character constellation (more under the spoilers Tag), but what I can say without spoilers is that there was not enough build up. The romance itself could have had more chemistry and been better with a little more time invested in setting the girls up. I wouldn't have minded 100 more pages if we got more development, because the relationship had potential itself! So while I liked the two girls together, their getting together could have done with more scenes.

<spoiler>What I have to say is that I also wasn't 100% down with Abby and Leah getting together given their very rocky relationship. I don't mind a bit hate to love as you know, but again: the missing buildup would have been crucial for them. Leah has had problem with Abby since Simon VS. (something I never liked) and while we get more insight why here (definitely appreciated that!), I personally couldn't quite see their chemistry together. I think this relates to how I have seen too much of Leah having problems/rivalry with Abby to 100% unconditionally root for their romance. Like I mentioned before I liked them together, but Abby wouldn't have been my choice as a love interest.</spoiler>

<strong>IN CONCLUSION: </strong><em>Leah on the Offbeat</em> <strong>wasn't a 5 star read like I hoped it would be, but still a very enjoyable read</strong>. I loved that we saw a lot of representation and got to meet the Simon VS. characters again, that definitely felt like coming home. However, there were also some issues I had with the book including a <strong>hurtful bi comment</strong> that wasn't called out. Overall, I would recommend Leah on the Offbeat, but be aware of that comment going into it, as said scene can be very hard to read!

I enjoyed this book! A lot! It was funny and snarky and everything Leah is. But I'm not going to pretend like it doesn't have any problems - because it does. And I'll be talking about some of those issues. But still; it's a book about a fat, bisexual MC who gets the girl! And it's on the NYT bestseller's list! So yes. I loved it :)

- Leah. She was... everything I expected. And a bit more. Wonderfully sassy, wonderfully snarky, and wonderfully Leah: but sometimes she seemed a little rude? Especially to Abby. I get that it's her character, though; so I'm (mostly) okay with it.
- The fat rep. I love how the main plot was not about Leah "coming to terms" with being fat or whatever, and also how she hardly mentioned it but it was still an important part of her identity? Does this even make sense? I don't know, but the fact that there was a fat, queer MC (something you hardly see in YA) made me really happy.
- The other characters! oh my GOD Simon and Bram!!! I died!!!!!!! I love seeing them all happy and cute and sdsjshjh!!!!!!!! Also Abby is an angel and we must protect her from everything. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
- The writing style. It was easy to read, and also I breezed through the book in two hours. Uh. I really loved the writing.


Okay, so let's get into some of the... issues I found. Spoiler alert!

- The "low-key bi" conversation. Basically, Abby mentioned to Leah that she didn't know exactly what label to use for herself, and said that she might be "low-key bi". And Leah SNAPPED. She went on a huge tirade on how she couldn't be low-key bi, how she had to be either bisexual or straight or gay and I found it. Hurtful. Absolutely no queer person would ever say to someone who was questioning - it can be really degrading and harmful. And yeah, maybe Leah didn't mean that, but it's worth noting. I don't understand how it got through queer sensitivity readers, though?

- Abby x Leah. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love them! Honestly, they're absolutely adorable. But for some reason, I feel like it was sort of... forced? In this book. I mean, there was development! But most of it was in the past? And Leah was referring to things that happened ages ago? I don't know; Leah was really rude to Abby as well. Meh.


tl;dr: a good book with an f/f romance! has a few issues, but I still adored it.


thank you to Harper Collins for providing me with an e-ARC!!

This book lived up to the hype and was at the same standard as Simon!

I loved the voice of Leah she is hilarious and feels like you best friend.

The f/f relationship is portrayed amazingly. And as always It shows how different people deal with coming out to family and friends.

Although it was a big friendship group all the characters were relatable and memorable so it wasn't confusing at all and was a really easy read . I loved the emotions experienced around them all going off  to different schools.

Its a great LGBT young adult read with friendship diversity as a key theme. Which i thoroughly enjoyed and would recommend to all (especially if you're currently in a reading slump!)

I never had much interest in Leah's story. I read Simon earlier in the year and didn't consider her a stand-out character that I wanted more from. I did, however, want more of Simon and Blue. They was my sole reason for wanting to read this book, and there they were as adorable as ever. However, that ended up not being the only thing about the book I enjoyed.

If I'm being honest, I didn't like Leah in Simon. I found her quite annoying and didn't like some of the things she did. Strangely, she felt like a completely different character in this book. Perhaps this was because we were able to get to know her better and find out more about her life. I actually kind of liked her, and definitely related to her more than I did previously.

I didn't really like the friend group in general in Simon, but again my opinion changed this time. That could also just be because we were getting to know them better in this book. I actually really loved this friendship group and I think there was more of a focus on friendship in this book, particularly with the build up to prom and graduation. Leah's friends are all so different and I really loved getting to know them all more, I just wanted to be a part of the group.

Leah's friendship with Simon was possibly my favourite thing about this book. I adore the two of them together, they have such a genuine, loving friendship that it made my heart melt. They reminded me a lot of myself and my high school best friend so I think that made me love them even more. I was so rooting for them to stay friends through college rather than drifting apart like my friend and I.

As well as the friendships, I also really loved the relationship in this book. Leah's love interest is not who I would have expected after reading Simon but I was definitely on board with it. I thought the two of them were adorable together and I loved the questions around sexuality that were raised. The one thing I didn't like, though, was that the relationship appeared to come before friendships at one point, which I wasn't happy about.

My only other complaint was that I wanted a little bit more. The ending was a bit abrupt and didn't really explain how things happened. I also really wanted to get to see more of Leah and love interest following the pretty dramatic ending. We did get a little insight into that but I just wanted more. I could read about these characters all day.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book despite not being a huge fan of Leah going into it. I loved diving back in to this world and getting to know the diverse cast of characters a bit more, as well as catching up with Simon and Blue. I liked Leah a lot more in this book and loved seeing her learn more about herself while falling for the girl she, and I, least expected. It was just as adorable as Simon and just as enjoyable.

I really loved the relationship in this, I wish this book could be 100 pages longer about Leah and her love interest at college, oh man. I would throw good money at that.

I also loved how everything continued from Simon's book, getting to see him being happy with his boyfriend, ahhh! I literally watched the movie this morning and couldn't stop imagining the final scene and having the cast play out this book in my head. (There was major Leah and her love interest sub-text in Love, Simon. You can't convince me otherwise.)

But, some of the representation of bisexuality was just...off for me. Leah was policing how her love interest identified when it's perfectly okay to feel like a label doesn't fit 100%. The ending definitely redeemed some of my qualms with the book while I was reading it (though all the unnecessary coupling-up of literally all Leah's friends was a bit like ???) Overall, if you liked Simon Vs, I'm sure you'll like Leah, but it might be a good idea to look into some OwnVoices reviews of the book after reading.

Okay, confession time, Leah was never my favourite character in Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda, but now having read this I feel like I finally understand her, and I love her so much for it. She has a lot of shields up to protect herself from getting hurt, which means she is often misunderstood, she's fiercely loyal but there's also a vulnerability underneath. She is very aware of the ways that she is different from her friends, especially when it comes down to money. She has a lot of feelings that she's not comfortable expressing.

I loved the way this book focused on the end of high school, and the challenges of deciding your future, and how moving on to college can put strain on relationships. I also really loved seeing all the friendships (and relationships) that I loved in Simon's book from another angle. I'm not going into specifics because I want to keep this review as spoiler free as possible, but there are some really cute scenes in this book that made me really happy.

One thing that I really appreciated was Leah's body positivity in this book. She is fat, but she feels very positive about her body, and often internally challenges peoples anti-fat remarks. It's so refreshing to read books like this, because so much of the media is full of anti-fat messages, and it can really effect ones self-esteem. It took years for me to accept that my body will never be skinny, and to learn to love my shape, so characters like Leah really mean a lot to me in that respect.

I really like the way that Leah's sexuality was handled in this book. She knows who she is, and has done for quite some time. She just can't bring her self to open up to other people about it. It's not something that you see very often, especially in a female character. Having said that there is a scene in this book that could be harmful for some readers. There is a certain scene where one character says she is a little bit bisexual, and she is told there is no such thing, rather than given support. This is harmful, suggesting that she isn't queer enough, and is unfortunately unchallenged in the book, it has hurt some readers, understandably, so please be aware of it going in.

Overall, if you enjoyed Becky Albertalli's other books then I definitely recommend picking up this one too. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and read the whole thing in less than I day. It gave me a lot of feelings, had more than a few cute moments, I loved revisiting the characters I loved so much in the other books, not to mention finally getting to know Leah much better.

If I’ve learnt anything from Becky Albertalli’s third book is that I know now that she’s going to be one of my insta-buy authors for many many years to come. The story of Leah, Simon Spier’s best friend, Leah On The Off Beat is the book I needed and the book that I wanted.

Honest, real and captivating this book will make you leave it and then make you return to it within minutes as it sweeps you up and pulls you in deeper with fantastic characters, a great plot and some fantastic messages. This book is now bookmarked to my favourite moments so I can relive them again and again, this book is that good.

Just read it. Read it now.

Oh, my little bi heart is crying. Is it blasphemy to say that I loved this book even more than its predecessor SIMON VS THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA? Because it’s true. I did.

LEAH ON THE OFFBEAT picks up where SIMON VS THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA left off, but instead switches the focus to Leah Burke – the snarky BFF of Simon Spier. So while the narrator has been changed, there’s still plenty of Simon, which should please anyone who wanted to see more Simon/Bram cuteness (I know I did!)

But enough about Simon. This book is foremost about Leah. Bisexual, fat, snarky, hilarious Leah. She’s in her final year before graduation and still isn’t out to any of her friends – even Simon, who she knows would completely understand…if only there wasn’t that one little complication in everything.

Abby. Leah feels weirdly about Abby – she doesn’t like her like her, does she? Sure, Abby is gorgeous and sweet and smart – but she’s dating Nick, and she’s totally straight.

And things only get more complicated from there.

Leah is one of those characters that feels intensely real – she’s very flawed and can act pretty selfishly (her mother is in a fairly new relationship and Leah makes no secret of how much she doesn’t approve of the boyfriend), but on the other hand she isn’t afraid to stand up for people, even when it will drive a wedge between friends – one of my favourite aspects of the book is how she defends Abby from a comment made by another of her friends, Morgan. She doesn’t back down. Girl has a SPINE. She’s a great bundle of good and bad things, and I couldn’t help relating to her – not only am I also bisexual, but I like to draw (Leah has a Tumblr where she posts her art).

The most remarkable thing about LEAH ON THE OFFBEAT is how simple it is. It’s a love story about a girl with a crush on a friend – a story that’s been told a million times. But it’s new and fresh, because it’s about a fat, bisexual girl who falls for another girl – which I’ve literally never seen in a book before. Maybe there is one out there somewhere, but the point is that these kind of books aren’t given the same kind of platform that books about skinny heterosexual girls are. Why can’t we have both? This is a sweet, romantic book with a happy ending – something that shouldn’t be so groundbreaking, but it is.

I personally wish that this kind of book had been around when I was 13 – I had what you might call a “gay panic” when I realised I had a crush on one of my friends, but I didn’t really understand what was happening because I knew I liked guys too. I didn’t know what bisexuality was until years later, and starting ID-ing as such when I was about 18 – and this was after light teasing from queer friends that I was the “gayest straight person” they knew. Seriously. I have a “Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?” t-shirt somewhere. Even though it doesn’t make sense any more, it still makes me laugh.

But that’s what makes LEAH ON THE OFFBEAT special. It’s sweet and it’s funny and it’s unflinching about the problems Leah faces – whether it’s about people making comments about fatness, or her not having as much money as her friends, or how she can’t bring herself to tell Simon or any of her friends about her sexuality. It doesn’t gloss over the hardships in her life and so manages to avoid becoming saccharine, but GOD if those romantic bits aren’t cute as heck. And it’s not just Leah – there’s plenty of Simon and Bram being mind-numbingly adorable too, so if you pick up this book hoping to see the next stage in their relationship, you’ll be happy.

This is a perfect summer read and I dare you not to love this book.

How I Felt Before

Which, spoiler alert: the very last thing I was at any given moment leading up to me opening the document and reading Leah On The Offbeat was calm.

The wait for this book, man. The waiting seemed to take forever and then I had gotten that email that told me my book had been shipped (WEEKS before the UK release date, I still don't know how that happened) and I was just impatiently checking my mailbox every. single. day. for the physical copy - which arrived the day after I read the digital copy. So yes, this was me.

There are authors out there where you know exactly that you're going to get hurt over and over while reading their books - both the good and bad kind of hurt. And Becky is one of those authors for me. So yeah, I knew what I was getting myself into.

How I Felt About Leah

I feel like I've said it a million times at this point, but MY GOD does Leah as a character speak to me? The number of times that I would read something she was saying, feeling or thinking and be reminded of myself is so, so high! And not just the good things. Oh, no. So many of the more negative things Leah feels are things that I have said or done more times than I would care to admit.

But unlike with myself, I absolutely adored Leah for all of it. I will get annoyed with myself for being too stubborn, for letting what others say about themselves affect how I feel about myself (especially body-image related things), etc. Reading about Leah was like someone putting up a mirror in front of me for most of the book.

So, so many of my little notes are some variation of me being like 'SAME LEAH.'. And I'm already excited to go back in and reread this book and actually take my time with it all (unlike the first time when I flew through it).

How I Felt About The Character 'Cameos'

It shouldn't come as a surprise to most of you guys that I love, love, love the characters from Simon VS The Homo Sapiens Agenda, right? I mean, when do I ever shut up about that book? So obviously I was super excited about being reunited with pretty much everyone and seeing where they were a year later.

The only character that pissed me off - and pissed me off a lot, was Nick in this book. I don't know what happened to the character if I'm being honest. At times it was difficult to remember that he was the same guy as the Nick in Simon VS because he was acting like such an asshole and at times so disrespectful - I wanted to slap him.

Overall, I loved being reunited with these characters and I loved getting to know Leah's mother a bit more and see what that dynamic was like. Also, Leah's mom probably had one of my favorite quotes in the book which also happened to hit a bit too close to home for how I react to situations too often.

How I Felt About The Story Itself

Honestly, this book was a roller coaster of emotions - from start to finish. I mean, I was an emotional mess pretty much from the second I got that email and then all the way until the end of the book. I was crying, I was laughing, I was swooning, I was getting angry with characters and on behalf of characters - all of it. Within the few hours it took me to read this book.

I've come to realize that I really, really love reading about characters journey during their senior year in high school - Always And Forever, Lara Jean was my favorite for exactly that reason. Especially with American novels, it seems like they'll often include prom and the excitement leading up to it which is something I love. I 100% blame the hundreds of high school set movies I watched as a teenager. There's even a reference to a particular scene in She's All That in this book which basically resulted in this

Which seems like such a meta thing to do? You're referencing a movie reference to say that you understood another movie reference. But obviously I can't use a GIF in my physical book, so I just quoted Steve Rogers but still. You guys get the full experience! ;)

And now that I googled what movie I was thinking about, I suddenly want to rewatch the parody Not Another Teen Movie because it has Chris Evans in it and when do I ever not want to watch Chris Evans in movies??? *hurries up so she can watch the movie*

I think most of us probably know that Becky can write swoon-worthy material quite well, and let me tell you guys. She had me sitting in front of my laptop looking an idiot so, so many times - not that I'm complaining! I loved it. So, so much. Just picture me reading this book like this

And it didn't even matter if it was because I was feeling sad or super freaking happy or just swooning, that was the face I was making for the majority of this book. I should've filmed myself reading the book or something - that would've been hilarious to watch back.

How I Felt After

I'm sure you all know that feeling when you finish reading a book way too quickly and suddenly you realize that that's it. You've read the book. You know what happens. AND YOU DIDN'T TAKE YOUR TIME WITH IT, YOU IDIOT. Which then results in tears - or, even more tears. Can you believe we won't get more stories set in this universe from Becky??? That was it? Which leads me right to my next emotion:

I'm just, I'm not ready to say goodbye to these characters yet? Or their stories? I guess the only good thing is the fact that I still haven't seen Love, Simon yet (my German self has to wait until the end of June... ) so I have that story to look forward to. Positive thinking, right?

I'm sure a good deal of you guys have already read this book or plan on reading this book without me having to throw it in your face - but just in case, GO READ THE DAMN BOOK. Thank you.

I received an advanced copy of the book by the publishers via Netgally in return for a truthful review.
I had just finished reading Love Simon which I fully enjoyed so was over the moon to get the chance to get to straight into the new book.

The book takes place one year after the events of the previous book Love Simon (I won't get into the in and outs of the previous book for those who havent read it yet, but it's a brilliant book and I would strongly recommend reading it before you start this). Whereas the previous book is focused on Simon (and is told from his point of view) this book is told from Leah (one of simon best friends from the previous book) point of view and tells her story (but don't worry Simon fans he is in this book so you found out what happend to him from the previous book).

Leah like Simon has a secret too which no one knows and she is struggling how to come to terms with it.
On top of this Leah has more problems from family live (coming from a divorce family, having a teenage mum who has working full time & doesn't have time with her along with dealing with her mum new boyfriend).
Applying for high school, the up coming school prom along with dealing with her friends and how there friendship will survive once school out and everyone moves on.

Apon reading I thought I would not enjoy this book with it being from a girls point of view however it didn't bother me and I still related to the characters and what they were going through.

Becky has done it again another classic teenage coming of age book, which I fully enjoyed. I didn't want to put down. I strongly recommend this book and I can't wait to see if there going to be a third installment to the series to find out what happens next.

I'm going to try to write a coherent review, but in all honesty, all I want to do is sit and stare at this book while grinning like a fool. And reread it, of course. Leah on the Offbeat made me feel known in a way so similar to Simon vs., it's uncanny.
This book follows Leah Burke as she navigates falling in love with the girl dating one of her closest friends. But it's also about friendship, friends saying the wrong thing, family relationships, and communication. And love - complicated love.
Leah's the odd one out in her friend group - she comes from a single-parent household, doesn't have a lot of money, and lovingly calls herself "your resident fat Slytherin Rory Gilmore." If you haven't guessed by this point, this is a nickname I will henceforth be known by.
As someone who's been that person in loads of groups of friends before, Leah was the most badass character I could have imagined following, and absolutely refreshing. To read about someone who comes from a poor background, who feels silly for spending money on things they really want, who wants to make her mom's life easier but also has a lot of anger issues resulting of that life..it's pretty amazing how well Albertalli handled this topic. Anyways, even though this was only part of the story, I felt it added a lot to the plot.

The Plot:
+ this basically follows Leah during the remainder of her senior year
+ There's a road trip. A ROAD TRIP. I'm sorry, but two people falling in love on a road trip may be one of my favorite tropes in YA. It''s just so cute watching the angst and tension get to a climax (no pun intended) during a road trip.
+ There's prom. Not only Simon and Bram in adorable tuxes, but Leah in a freaking gorgeous, (b)iconic outfit that I will 100% recreate.
+ one of Leah's friends makes a racist comment - and has to be held accountable for it.

The Characters:
+ All hail the most wholesome couple to ever exist in the world of fiction: Simon and Bram *waves Oreos and Elliott Smith vinyls at you*. I don't even know what to tell you. Becky could write an entire book of just Bram and Simon conversations and I'd read it. But seeing them out and about as a couple from Leah's point-of-view was like the cherry on top of a freaking amazing ice cream sundae.
+ Abby. What even. I mean, I liked Abby a lot in Simon vs., but as we get to know her more in this book (and find out some new developments), she really grew on me.
+ Leah. Leah freaking Burke. My one true love. The bisexual queen/hero of YA we all needed. Leah's humor is hilarious, her deadpan comments had me laughing out loud, her true insights and struggles as she comes to terms with her feelings for a girl - the girl - was a rollercoaster of emotions I'd ride for eternity.

I'm sorry. Whenever it comes to Becky Albertalli's writing, I just can't write coherently. Anyways, this book was great and definitely made me hope for some more Creekwood High books. Whether you have read and loved Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda or not, Leah on the Offbeat should be on your summer reading list - it'll make you laugh, it'll make you tear up, and it will definitely make your week!