I was so excited when I saw this come across on my NetGalley - a cute LGBT book by two of my favourite authors!

This is a super adorable book about a boy who meet-cutes another boy by following him awkwardly into a post office. Both boys are instantly drawn to each other, but both leave without so much as knowing a name - the hunt begins.

Becky Albertalli's cliches shine through very strong in this novel - right down to the Elliott Smith references which I found super off-putting, you don't need to mention the guy in every book you write, surely you like another artist?

Adam Silvera's signature emotional heartbreak doesn't have as much punch here - I'm quite disappointed that I didn't feel a connection to either of the characters and ended up   quickly skimming through the last pages of the book just to get it over with (don't even talk to me about the ending).

I expected big things from this book due to the reputation of both author's but it left me feeling apathetic, but I'm sure there are many people who will feel quite differently as the relationship between the characters is pretty cute, even if it does take a bit to develop.

Rating: 3.5/5

You can see the Netflix series playing out in your mind as you read this rather lovely book.

Arthur is working for his mum in her law office in New York, the family have moved there for the summer and Arthur has an internship doing the filing. He has cool gossipy workmates who are incredibly entertaining, they look out for him and make the job interesting and fun.

Ben is stuck in summer school, not his ideal way to spend the summer. He has broken up with his boyfriend, it is hard, he is a bit broken. Worse the ex is also attending summer school so he has to see him all the time and that is sad and hard.

Arthur meets Ben at the Post Office in the midst of a flash mob, it is the cutest thing. Love at first sight but then they spend the next while trying to find each other. They don’t have many clues, but this is love, they need to find each other. So investigations take place, they get everyone involved in the search and of course, when all seems lost they find each other. Ohhhh my poor wee heart just went all gooey! Now we have them working through all the stuff of the past, thinking about the future and dealing with life as it plays out for them. This is the summer of dreams but sometimes it is the summer of angst. There are heaps of lovely references to gay culture, musicals, coffee shops that are amazing – though I’ve had plenty of coffee in New York and I’m skeptical about these – this is a New York story with a thoroughly New York state of mind.

I feel a bit bad for the 3 stars, it is really a firm 3.5. I felt that it was just a bit wordy. It took a tiny bit too long for things to happen and while the chat in the book is so brilliant and witty and on point, there is just too much of it. The cuteness is just so lovely, the banter excellent, the families of the boys are so nice, so accepting of their interesting and complicated gay kids. I loved it when the two families had dinner together. Seriously, this is so nice! Like a romantic froth of powder blue tulle! Like puppies and kittens. Like my dog on Insta! It just needed a bit of substance.

I think this will be a huge hit. And I’m so pleased that books like this are becoming mainstream. Here are the authors talking about it.

Adam Silvera and Becky Albertalli are two of my favourite writers. I don't read the blurbs when I see a new book by either of them; just pick it up. So when NetGalley offered me the chance to read this one in advance, I leaped at the chance. Thanks NetGalley!

It's a dual POV book about two guys, Ben and Arthur, who meet by accident at the post office. Arthur is only in New York for the summer, and Ben lives there year round. Arthur adores Broadway shows and believes in love even if he's never been in it. Ben is more cynical, having just broken up with his first boyfriend. Which was the reason he was in the post office to begin with - he was trying to return his ex's stuff.

The book follows Ben and Arthur through the rest of the summer as they meet, part, reunite and try again and again to make their first date perfect. Then a second. They are quite different people and even though they really like one another, their differences start to grate on each other. Ben is always late, which irritates Arthur. Arthur doesn't like arcade games which Ben loves. Ben is in summer school while Arthur has been accpted at Yale.

While the pair struggle to figure out how to make their lives fit together despite their differences, both boys start to wonder if maybe the universe doesn't mean for them to be togther.

But maybe it does...

I really enjoyed this book. The meet-cute was adorable, and everything that came after was too. I found myself reading with a grin on my face most of the way through. Arthur and Ben are great characters and the supporting ones, especially Ben's bestie Dylan, are pitch perfect.

If I had one quibble, it would be that it was hard to distinguish the two different voices. Even though this book was written by two authors and I imagine each wrote one POV, both boys sounded very similar, despite being distinctly different characters. When I put the book down and came back to it, I often had to check to see whose POV I was in because it wasn't immediately apparent until one boy referenced another by name.

But overall, I loved this book. Even the ending which I won't give away here. Sometimes an ending can be happy even when it isn't the ending you expect. This one felt very realistic which was refreshing in a romance.

So, I definitely recommend this one.

This was too cute!

I love that Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera collabed on this! I really enjoyed the characters and the overall plot. The writing was easy to follow, which can be difficult to achieve in books with more than one author. I think these two pulled it off beautifully and I'd love to see another collaboration between them.

I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

What If It’s Us is a cute co-written novel from Adam Silvera and Becky Albertalli. I’ve read and loved most of Adam’s previous novels, and I also enjoyed Simon vs.the Homo Sapiens Agenda from Becky. Going into this I did not know who wrote each perspective, though I have my suspicions now after finishing. The characters personalities were generally distinct enough for me to tell them apart, and the writing style wasn’t different enough for it to be jarring. I’m impressed with how well their writing styles blended together. Usually I am hesitant to read multi-perspective books since I end up waiting to get back to my favourite character’s point of view. This wasn’t the case with What If It’s Us. Each character had interesting relationships with their friend groups. I had a lot of run reading about their interactions and daily lives outside of the relationship.

The pop culture references were fun (I think I understood most of them too!). I haven’t listened to Hamilton yet and Arthur’s love of it made me want to do so immediately. I almost stopped reading the book to go listen to the soundtrack but I couldn’t bring myself to put it down for long enough.

I had a few issues with the formatting, which I am assuming was an issue with my kindle copy rather than something intentional. However, there were some scenes where there weren’t enough dialogue tags and I found myself losing track of who was actually speaking. I’m hoping this is something that is not an issue in the final copy.

Overall, I found this a really feel-good book. For the first half I couldn’t stop smiling and laughing. The second half of the book definitely had its great moments too but the strength of the book was in the meet-cute and the tension when I was wondering how they would reunite after the initial post office encounter. The ending fell a bit flat for me and it’s another case where I think I might have been better not reading the epilogue at all.

"I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review"

I really enjoyed this book and finished it in a day. It was cute and kind of what I expected after reading Becky Albertalli. Arthur and Ben were both well written, and I felt like they were easy to relate to. At times I felt the dialogue was a little cheesy, especially towards the end, but overall, I really enjoyed reading What If It's Us.

Love these authors? Then you’ll love this book. I continue to enjoy the more diverse range of contemporary YA that is being published. Silvera and Albertalli deliver authentic characters and an engaging plot. Probably my favourite ending from a YA romance in the past couple of years.

While I loved that the intertextual references made it feel like the characters were part of our world (and I related heavily to pretty much all of them), they did feel a bit overdone. Sometimes it felt a bit like ‘how do you do fellow youths’. They’re all things that I’m a fan of, so it’s hard to say they bothered me...it’s more like they took me out of the story too often.

My only other gripe is that the authors writing styles are very similar - and while that works overall, sometimes you’re in the middle of a chapter thinking ‘who’s narrating this again?’. I read this as an ebook, so I hope they set the two different POVs in different fonts or something in the print version.

Seriously, if you like diverse contemporary YA, then this is a no brainer. It’s very much a product of that genre, and it’s a fun, light read. Thanks again to netgalley and the publishers for providing me a copy to review!

*Thanks to NetGalley and HarperTeen for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.*Becky Albertalli, who brought us 'Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens' is back and has teamed up with Silvera to bring the world another wonderful YA novel. As with a number of other offerings from Albertalli, 'What If It Is Us' focusses on the love lives of star-crossed adolescents. Who just happen to be gay. What I love about these books is how they normalise gay characters, but at the same time, do not shy away from tough topics. For example, in 'What If It's Us', the protagonists, Arthur and Ben are confronted by an angry homophobic man when trying to take the subway home. The book focussed on two teenage boys, Arthur and Ben and their unlikely summer romance. A chance meeting at the post office has unseen consequences and leads to a wonderful story. Here's hoping there is a sequel coming.

Arthur is in New York for the summer doing an internship. Ben is in tatters following the breakup with his boyfriend. When the two cross paths at the post office, their lives will be changed for ever.

From the moment I picked this book up I was hooked. Ben and Arthur cross paths when Ben is trying to post a box of his exes stuff back to him. When Arthur discovers that Ben also likes boys, his world changes. But what does he do? Forgets to get his number. What follows is a beautiful romantic gesture to get the two back together. It is the thing of movies, the dream! When they finally meet again, they have a rocky start but quickly find their feet.

Despite absolutely loving the book, the ending really let it down. When Arthur goes back home, he and Ben are still so in love. Ben organised a big romantic gesture to enjoy their last day today. But the epilogue? They’re mutual “best friends”, Arthur has hooked up with other people and the two seemed to have made no effort to see each other. If they are both so in love and have both gone to big efforts to show it, why did they not make the effort afterwards? They clearly still love each other....they never “broke up” with each other, so why are they suddenly just best friends. Was a bit let down at the end to be honest and it left me a bit angry....I JUST LOVE LOVE OK!

What an absolutely charming read. I came into this book with the expectation that I was going to love it and I wasn't disappointed. Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera perfectly capture the anxiety and not-so-perfectness of a new, budding relationship set against the backdrop of today's social media driven world. I think everyone has had that moment where they briefly meet a perfect stranger and wonder "what if", well this book is that "what if". Arthur and Ben were written beautifully - both relatable and so damn cute. My only gripe is that I sometimes found myself getting confused when perspectives changed, particularly as I was just getting into the book, as the boys seemed so similar. Occasionally I had to go back to the start of the chapter just to double check who I was reading about. However, once I got more invested in the story it wasn't an issue (especially because I couldn't put the book down!).

I will definitely be recommending this to my friends.

Cute, fun, packed with emotion, Albertalli and Silvera's new novel is a wonderful combination of their trademark skills--storytelling, powerful youth voices, pop-culture references, and genuine, compelling characters--all working together to tell the story of two young guys coming to know each other, themselves, and the world around them for one beautiful, romantic, heart-warming, thought-provoking, soul-crushing, ultimately life-and-love-affirming summer in New York City. A wonderful book, a realistic book, a story that shows the ups and downs of romance, and one with which many readers will surely identify. 5 stars.

“I think you’re meant to meet some people. I think the universe nudges them into your path.”*

This book has been sitting in my to-read list for almost a year, so you can imagine my excitement when it popped up on NetGalley for request, and then when that request was approved! Many, many thanks to Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera, Simon & Schuster Australia and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book started with a bang and sucked me right into Arthur and Ben’s world. I loved their story, and their connection. The surrounding characters were also very colourful and fun, and the kind of people I’d want to hang around with.
The writing was excellent, and seemlessly woven together by the two authors.

Having read previous works by both Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera, I can honestly say that this one made me think more about the idea of destiny and people coming into your life at a particular time/place, it may be forever or it may be a short while, but those important connections stay with you even if the relationship/friendship is no longer.

I enjoyed this book, it’s cute and funny, and I positively consumed it in one sitting, but I am left feeling unsatisfied by the ending. This feeling is the only reason that I didn’t give it a full 5 stars.

*quote from an uncorrected proof and may not reflect the final published version.

Even though I was slightly disappointed by the ending, it did and didn't make sense, I really enjoyed this book.

Ben and Arthur are really loveable, as are their friends and families - in particular Dylan.

Told from alternating perspectives, the story rolled along, with ups and downs, laughs and tears, but remained grounded and believable.

This was a great read, and left me wanting more.

I don’t know how to feel or process that book. It was just so real, and all the situations had me cringing and realising that this was REAL. I loved the writing, big fans of both authors. There were some cringing phrases ‘you’re cancelled’ etc, but overall really enjoyed the flow of it. Never would have guessed there were two seperate authors if I hadn’t known.

It was funny, a little try-hard sometimes, but warming when you least expected it. I’m still not over that ending and would kill for a sequel, but I got the message behind it all.

Very enjoyable read. Would recommend over and over again.

Oh. Wow! I loved this book, I adored this book, I never wanted this book to end. It was sweet, it was beautiful, it was funny, it was a bit sad, it was angst, it was everything you wanted in one Hamilton loving, Levain cookie eating package.
Arthur is fantastic. Funny and sensitive.
Ben is just as great. Hilarious and a little self deprecating but oh so cute.
The supporting cast, especially Dylan are the icing on the cake.
This book made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me smile so much! I loved it and I think you will too!

[REVIEW] – What if it’s Us {4.5}⭐️
ARC provided by @simonandschuster via @netgalley. Thank you ❤️
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[WARNING]: Cuteness overload😍
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Not very often we see two authors co-writing a satisfactory book so I was extremely pleased when I finished the book and I thought: Adam Silvera and Becky Albertalli just created an incredible book. I had big expectations about this book because I’ve read all of Adam Silvera’s books and I knew this had to be good; I was not disappointed.
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In this book we have the opportunity to meet Ben and Arthur; to guys who meet briefly at a post office in New York. The story develops with these two extremely cute and adorable boys first trying to find each other and then, getting to know each other however, let’s not forget Dylan because oh my God, I would love to have a best friend like him.
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The insight from being inside Ben and Arthur’s head and getting to read from both their perspective is a big plus. Both have a story to carry before meeting each other and because of that, they have to overcome their own fears and insecurities to try to spend a short summer together. These characters are so relatable and freaking real: I just found myself wishing I could hug them many times whilst reading because that’s how cute they are.
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This book is not only about a cute summer love; is also about confronting changes in our lives, forgiving ourselves, learning to listen to our friends and learning how to be brave enough to take huge leaps of faith. What else could you expect for an amazing contemporary YA? Romance, diversity, New York and the humour! This book will take some smiles from you I assure you.
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And, ladies and gentleman, let’s not forget the constant references to Harry Potter, Pokemon anddddd (my favourite one:) The Sims! If you’re not convinced by this then I don’t think you’re human 😂

What if it's us is a beautiful tale of two boys who meet in the most unlikely way, and have to fight to find their way back to each other once they are pulled apart. The first 2 chapters will pull you in and from there you will be hooked. Every emotion is experienced in this novel, you don't want it to end as you reach the last few pages. The themes and references are relatable to the youth of today with many pop culture references. It's a very sweet, cute and charming tale for all ages especially for LGBTQIA+ youth.

My standards for a Becky Albertalli novel were set quite high thanks to ‘Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda’, which probably explained my disappointment reading this novel.
I loved the ideas behind it, and the ending of the novel was the sweetest, but everything beforehand was a little meh.
Ben and Arthur had the most annoying communication and their romance didn’t feel right to me.
Unfortunately I wasn’t as immersed in this novel as I would’ve liked.
I would still recommend this to people because I can still see it as a good novel, it just didn’t feel right to me.

'What If It's Us' is a collaboration between popular young adult authors Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera, following a summer romance between two teenage boys in New York City. Arthur, who is enchanted with the city and everything in it, and a believer in all things being good at heart, while the object of his affections, Ben is cynical about love and the universe following his last break-up. The love story drawing the two boys together is creative, heart-warming, and altogether lovely. To read the story from the interchanging perspectives of both boys allows for a deeper attachment as a reader, and Arthur's narration especially is a breath of fresh air in the often disillusioned and pessimistic world of young-adult fiction. The authors draw the story together in three acts, each named for a song in the Broadway musical 'Dear Evan Hansen', and musical theatre seems to pervade the entirety of the story, which even plays out like a musical: the first act of hope, the second of bittersweet tragedy, and the third, returning to hope. The musical theatre references, although perhaps only appealing to a targeted audience, certainly added to the magnetism of the novel for me. I first read a preview of this novel in Albertalli's 'Leah on the Offbeat' and was enchanted by the musical allusions included in this alone. However, the novel falls flat in its attempts to emulate the relationships between teenagers - being of the same age as the characters, I can attest to the fact that it is probably unheard of to describe pokemon fanfiction you write to a total stranger on your first meeting. This lack of understanding of the age group does, in some ways, prevent total enjoyment. The conclusion of the novel, although intending to provide hope, also falls flat. In spite of this, books concerning teen lgbtq romance are too important to discount, and this particular text achieves a rare goal, in telling a romance that is about gay people, rather than just being gay, while also addressing social issues. The character of Dylan alone should be a suitable incentive to read.

When two of YA ‘s biggest authors come together to write a novel, the expectations are high. Well fear not this fantastic romantic, realalistic novel is worth the hype.
You will fall in love with Ben and Arthur and there battle to find out if there fate meeting is real .