Cover Image: Imogen, Obviously

Imogen, Obviously

Pub Date:   |   Archive Date:

Member Reviews

thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley.

EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN THIS WORLD NEEDS TO READ THIS BOOK. I REPEAT, EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN THIS WORLD NEEDS TO READ THIS. Becky Albertalli has written one of the most heartfelt, loving, kind stories about being okay with being who you are. This story had me laughing, crying, and, most importantly, feeling loved and heard. One of the most genuine self-discovery stories out there and honestly should be added to required reading for high schoolers. You can feel the struggles of the characters, and this is such a personal and wonderful story. Yes yes yes read read read.

Was this review helpful?

True integrity and a kind soul!

Imogen is a people pleaser through and through. She goes with the flow and agrees with whatever others want. Her best friend Lily is attending college and Imogen visits her over a weekend and falls right into place with the group. She also begins to question herself and her intentions when she starts having feelings for Tessa who is part of Lily’s college friend group. A sweet, humorous story about accepting yourself.

Likes/dislikes: I like Imogen, the main character. She has true integrity and a kind soul. I appreciate the author and how she represents all people and how no one should feel like they have to label themselves or others.
Language: R for 101 swears and 58 f-words.
Mature Content: PG for kissing with no details, implied sex, and sexual innuendo.
Violence: G for none.
Ethnicity: Imogen is white, Kayla has deep brown skin, and Lily has Brazilian relatives.

Was this review helpful?

It lost me a little at the end, which is the only reason this one isn’t five stars. Because this book felt like Albertalli shoved a hand inside my gut and proceeded to wiggle her fingers around, turning around all those doubtful “am I queer enough?” And “but what ARE my labels?” and “how long have I BEEN queer?” thoughts and bringing them bubbling up to the surface.

It deals with queer community in-fighting (which, ugh, is so frustrating and so awful and so common); it deals with the implicit “queers travel in packs mentality”; it deals with the way that straight, straight-passing, closeted, and questioning people act (and sometimes mask?) in queer spaces; it deals with the weight of internalized biphobia, queerphobia, and “allocishet is the default” mentality. And there’s banter - such good banter, to the point where I wonder if Gen Zers are just that good at banter now when I was an awkward babbler who couldn’t tell a joke even if it was pre-written for me when I was in high school.

Places where this could fall short: it’s a very white-centered experience (which is okay! Better that than trying to force diversity and fail badly), so I don’t know how it holds up to BIPOC audiences; and a lot of the dialogue feels too bantery, almost like it’s scripted (which, duh, but if we’re supposed to self-insert, that’s rather difficult).

I need a shelf copy right now immediately. And also I can’t believe this is my first (and most definitely not my last) Albertalli book!

Was this review helpful?

I love Becky A and I couldn’t help but feel that this book was deeply personal to her. Maybe she has some deep connection to Imogen?

Regardless, this story was amazing! I felt myself relating to so many aspects of the search for sexuality and one’s sexual identity and I loved it so so much!

Was this review helpful?

Becky Albertalli was the defining author of my middle school/early high school years, so I had high expectations going into this. It did not disappoint!

<i>Imogen, Obviously</i> is charming and sweet and super corny (the way all YA romance should be). Like Albertalli’s previous work, it is filled with pop culture references and clichés, but I’ve grown to love it.

This book is clearly so personal to Albertalli; after everything she has gone through, I’m so glad she feels comfortable sharing parts of herself through Imogen’s story.

As nice as it was to be in the exact same stage of life as the protagonist, I really wish this book had been around when I was younger! I can’t imagine how many kids this is gonna help the way her earlier books helped me.

Needless to say, I really enjoyed this and will be SEATED for anything this author releases in the future, just as excited as I was at age 12.

Was this review helpful?

I have to say, I was totally taken with Imogen Scott within the first handful of pages of this book. A soon to be senior who is the quintessential ally to everyone LGBTQIA+. As a straight ally, she fights for the cause and simultaneously questions what her place should be in queer dominant places - something her friends help her understand as she goes. Imogen isn't perfect, she messes up quite a lot actually, but her internal monologue shows her observant and often times hilarious nature that make her an easy character to love.

The whole premise of the book is set around a college visit - Imogen is going to visit her best friend Lili at Blackwell College and meet all of her new college friends. Only, there's a problem. Lili, newly out and insecure about her past, lied about their relationship and all of Lili's friends think that Imogen is her ex-girlfriend that she's on really (really) great terms with. Everyone (obviously) instantly loves Imogen, and talk fairly consistently about the "bi vibes" she gives off - which leads to Imogen not knowing how to tell them she's straight.

Or is she?

Was this review helpful?

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an arc of this book!

I absolutely adored this story! (The cover is stunning, and I can’t wait to see it on my bookshelf.)

As a queer person, Imogen is an incredibly relatable character. I appreciated seeing her journey throughout the novel. The sapphic representation in the book is phenomenal. Imogen and Tessa’s love story is wonderful. I cannot get over them.

10/10 recommend!

Was this review helpful?

I LOVED this book so much. Imogen, full-on bisexual disaster, was infinitely relatable. It was painful to read her constantly question herself and doubt her queerness and her right to belong in queer spaces, because I've been there and done exactly that.

On one hand, this book is a biting critique of queer discourse and gatekeeping. On the other hand, it's an achingly sweet love story. And both of those are somehow perfectly balanced throughout the book.

I love how a lot of it is told through texts, with the accompanying breathless anticipation and butterflies. It's just so sweet.

And Gretchen. Gretchen is an absolutely terrible friend and Imogen should absolutely not forgive her because she was horrid. She was necessary, as a vehicle for the discourse and gatekeeping, but wow was she awful to Imogen. Though those interactions did offer Imogen the chance to grow into herself a bit and learn to assert her identity.

I listened to the audio and found the narration well-done if very slow - I actually listened at 2.5x speed which I never do. The character voices are distinct, the first-love butterflies and giddy breathlessness was spot-on, and Gretchen's parts were suitably awful.

The only thing that I didn't like so much about the audio was the way the long strings of text messages were narrated, with the character's initials at the beginning of each message. I get that it was necessary to make it clear who was saying what, it was just a little jarring to listen to. But that's a minor quibble.

This is probably my favorite Becky Albertalli book (and I've read a lot of them.) Imogen was just so sweet and relatable.

This is an excellent book for libraries and teen classrooms as it handles the queer discourse and gatekeeping so well and that is such an important topic, especially for teens who are just coming to terms with their own identities.

*Thanks to NetGalley, HarperCollins Children's Books, and Balzer + Bray for providing an early copy for review.

Was this review helpful?

This book was very powerful, it was so personal for the author and you can tell she poured her whole self into this novel and it was just such a fantastic read. if you are a Becky Albertalli fan of any sort you will definitely enjoy this heartwrenching novel.

Was this review helpful?

I could not get enough of Imogen and her friends! This story is so well written and unfolds beautifully. The reader finds out things about Imogen at the same time that she herself is finding them out, and you are equally excited and confused and happy for her in all her realizations.

Was this review helpful?

Albertalli strikes gold yet again. Her latest work strikes the reader right in the heart. Imogen and Tessa's tale is smiling inducing. I couldn't put down this book and read it all day late into the night.

Thank you to HarperCollins Children's Books, Balzer + Bray, and NetGalley for providing an eARC for a honest review.

Was this review helpful?

This was such a sweet and funny rom-com with so many sincere and vulnerable moments of hard truths and thought provoking questions. I love the friendship Imogen and Lili protect, when you are lucky enough to find real friends like this, cherish each other. The sisterhood bond Imogen and Edie share reminded me so much of my own sister. The text conversations felt so real and sweet and funny. This book was a great read and I’m so excited for many more friends to read it!

Was this review helpful?

I love Becky Albertalli’s work, and I really love Imogen, Obviously! This story is clearly inspired by Becky’s lived experience as a queer woman who was forced to come out after years of readers questioning her right to tell her stories as a straight-passing woman. This honesty shines through, and is made my heart hurt for Imogen and Becky and every person who has felt like they had no choice but to come out. I think Imogen is so easy to root for, because she feels so real, and so sweet and naive. She feels like me and so many other girls I knew as teen. Her queer awakening is real, sweet and often funny. There are so many times she is wondering if certain things make her queer, and I loved that. This is exactly how so many young queer kids think. They really believe what music they listen to, or how they dress, determines their queerness.

Also, this book has a giant cast of characters. I wish some were developed more, but I loved Imogen’s bestie, Lili and the love interest, Tessa. The romance was wonderful. Tessa had a real Josette from MUNA vibe, in my opinion. I also think Gretchen was a super interesting character but I really don’t like her, but that’s the point. There’s a lot of queer people who gatekeep without meaning to, and Gretchen is that. I honestly got so mad at her, but that was the point! I wish her storyline wrapped up more, but other than that, these characters all had a fun little story.

This is a solid 4.5/5. I wish there was a little more character work, but this tugged at my heartstrings and made me feel very seen. This will be so important to so many young readers.

Was this review helpful?

Imogen, Obviously by Becky Albertalli is SUCH a cute book! I’d already heard such good things about this one, and the book trailer caught my attention, so I was grateful to be able to read it.

This book follows high school senior Imogen, who is spending the weekend with her best friend who is already off at college and came out as pansexual a few months before moving away. Shortly after arriving, though, Imogen finds out that her best friend, in a moment of insecurity, told her new queer friends that she had an ex-girlfriend and that it’s Imogen, something that is completely untrue. And Imogen is such a people pleaser and a good friend, that she decides to fully go along with this lie.

Imogen, who is such an ally and surrounded by queer people in her usual circle, has often seen herself as the token straight, but now, for the first time ever, she gets to wonder if maybe… she’s not. And that’s the story we get to witness over the course of about a week. She’s on campus for the weekend, goes home, and the impact of that weekend stays with her.

This book was very cute and fun AND nuanced and thoughtful in its approach to coming out and the existential crisis of it all. And the characters are lovely and so easy to fall in love with. I wanted to be friends with every single one of those college kids. And I felt so much love and empathy toward Imogen, especially as a fellow people pleaser.

I loved this entire book made space for such different expressions of identity and complicated coming-out experiences and even made space for the antagonist to be somewhat understood.

If you’re looking for a cozy book with incredible characters, this is the book to read.

Was this review helpful?

PERFECTION. that is all this book was. I cried, laughed, and felt like I was right there with Imogen. This was a perfect coming of age novel dealing with identity, love and friendships and nothing could've made it more perfect in my opinion.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for my advanced copy. all thoughts are my own.

Was this review helpful?

3.75

What an adorable book! Imogen stays with her best friend Lili on a college visit and finds out Lili told all of her friends that they used to date, so Imogen goes along with it despite being “hopelessly heterosexual”. Except Imogen can’t stop thinking about Lili’s friend Tessa, which maybe isn’t so straight after all.

I really liked Imogen’s exploration of her bisexuality and how queerness is different from person to person. Yes there are people like Imogen’s sister and Gretchen who know from a young age and who can’t hide it, but that doesn’t invalidate people who are straight passing or people who take longer to realize and/or accept their queerness.

I loved this as a coming of age story and liked the glimpse of the happy for now at the end. I was not a fan of the antagonist sounding like someone who is terminally online just repeating twitter’s queer discourse of the week, but at the same time I do understand that choice because there are absolutely too many people like that.

Overall, this was very sweet and I’m so glad that teens today have this kind of representation!

Was this review helpful?

I see that this one has a lot of support, but I think it is more for Becky Albertalli than for the actual story…if someone read this with no backstory or author knowledge, I think they would find it repetitive, sometimes slow, lacking a compelling plot, and with forced themes. I did like the dialogue very much, but I didn’t attach to any characters in a meaningful way. It seems like Becky put herself in a scenario she would have liked to experience and then wanted it published. It was okay, but not what I have come to expect from her books.

Was this review helpful?

💖REVIEW💖

Title: Imogen, Obviously
Author: Becky Albertalli
Rating: 5/5 ⭐️

Imogen, Obviously has been on my TBR for awhile, but I’m SO glad I finally made time to read it! I loved the story, but I think the author’s letter about her own experiences with discovering her sexuality and coming out made the book even more impactful.

Imogen’s journey toward discovering her sexuality wasn’t an easy one and I really appreciated that readers were given insight into some of her thoughts as she tried to figure everything out. I loved how accepting, positive, and wonderful most of the characters were, especially Lili, Tessa, and Edith. Honestly, I can’t think of anything I didn’t love about this book. I found the characters and pacing to be great, the setting was fun, and the amount of romance was just right.

This is a book that I’d happily recommend to older teens, young adults, and even adults. Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

So, I really loved this for the most part and am so glad it was by first Becky Albertalli book.

Everyone in the friend’s group was a gem and I could honestly read more about them all. Imogen was precious and I just wanted her protected at all costs. And Tessa! Oh my. What a sweetheart. If only everyone could have their first crush/significant other be like Tessa.

I think just about every queer person can sympathize with Imogen and what she’s going through. However, I also sympathized with the overbearing gatekeeper of this story. She’s a teenager and has been dealing with homophobia for a long time. So, although she’s wrong about a lot and goes about things the completely wrong way, I felt like there should’ve been a better ending for her as well.

I recommend this, especially to teenagers. Even though I don’t agree with everything I do think this is a good place to start some important discussions about queerness and gatekeeping.

I received an ARC from Harper Collins Children’s Books / Balzer+Bray via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

Imogen Scott may be hopelessly heterosexual, but she’s the greatest ally to her queer sister and two best friends. She’s such a great ally that when her friend Lili admits she’s told all her college friends that Imogen and Lili used to date, Imogen agrees to go along with the lie. And just like that, none of Lili’s friends know that Imogen is a raging hetero—not even Tessa. Of course, the more time Imogen spends with chaotic, freckle-faced Tessa, the more she starts to wonder if her truth was ever all that straight to begin with.

Was this review helpful?