This follows a pretty standard, expected plot. It makes gestures towards progressive thought with lgbt relationships. The problem is, that lgbt plot essentially becomes strictly a coming out story. There's no more complexity than that. With familiar elements organized in familiar ways, this doesn't really stand out from the crowd.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this book.

DNF

Unfortunately, the writing style is really not my cup of tea at all. I feel like the author expects me to know tons of information about the characters without explaining anything, too many people were introduced at once and they all blended into one, and the plot jumped around too much for me. I definitely see why people would like this, unfortunately, it just wasn't for me.

If We Were Us is a pleasant, well-written romcom.

Let’s start with the writing style. Well it was utterly pleasant. I dove into the book pretty quickly and in a couple of hours I was already in the middle of it.

The relationships between the main characters are interesting in the sense that they’re built on diverse things (other than love). The friendship between Sage and Charlie is adorable, with no implied feelings to each other and I miss having great f/m friendships in YA literature. The only flaw is that they seemed a little bit « too much » alike. When I was reading a chapter, I found myself wondering for a second wether I was reading Sage’s POV or Charlie’s.
2.5/5

I could tell if the rep were good (for the gay and the half Japanese characters) but something bothered me along the way but I couldn’t put my finger on it exactly. Maybe I’m getting tired of reading gay men struggling with their masculinity and fake-dating girls in order to drown the fish, especially when the book is not written by an ownvoice on this topic. At the end, I was a bit ill-at-ease with Luke’s take : not wanting to be with someone still in the closet seems a bit rough to say, especially when all the characters are in the twenties.

The four main characters are likeable. Maybe a bit too much. They’re not very deep, very two-dimensionnal in their reactions and their habits. They are not helped by the lack of strong storylines because the book is basically just about romance and friendship. It’s ok though, I could have enjoyed that, but I got bothered about a lot of stuff with Charlie’s chapters and Sage’s ones were just meh.

It’s overall an okay book and I will probably read an other one from this author, but the flaws in this one disturbed me and kept me to really enjoy it.

I did enjoy this book. It was a light hearted, YA story about love.
The characters were very run of the mill. I didn’t really warm to them, but there wasn’t anything to dislike either. The story worked well, and had a predictable ending, which sometimes you need.
Overall, a decent 3 out of 5 stars.

This was sweet and charming, but it also had a lot of depth. I really appreciated the discussion on how it can be really scary, but ultimately so freeing and rewarding, to be yourself and to admit what it is you truly want. The friendship in this was really well done too. I grew to love these characters, and I think lots of contemporary readers will be just as enchanted by Sage, Charlie, Nick, Luke, and their friends as I was.

Well written and entertaining. This story has lots of feels that will keep you happily turning the pages. In the uncertain times that we are facing it's books that will keep us sane. That will give us the distraction we so desperately need. Pick up this winner of a book. It's a must read. Happy reading!

This was a pretty middle of the road read for me. I didn't love it, I didn't hate it. It's nothing we haven't really seen before, plot-wise, and the characters are a bit cookie-cutter and sound alike. I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend this to a customer, but I'd lump it in with similar titles if someone was looking for something to read.

there may be slight spoilers in this review, so read at your own discretion, but i have some things to say.

i just… mmm i’m disappointed. other people may like this book and that's fine, but this has harmful queer representation.

i don’t even know where to start. this cover looks like a cute read but i was just upset reading this, for two main reasons among a few others. firstly, you don’t have to be “out” or even queer to write these storylines, and i don’t know the author’s identities or anything and she definitely isn’t required to disclose anything, but as a queer person myself I was uncomfortable and angry reading this.

this story alternates between two best friends: Charlie and Sage. Sage is straight and in love with Charlie’s twin brother, Nick. Charlie’s gay and later says “I’ve known for years” but dates so many girls for a few weeks at a time before dumping them, and generally treating them like shit. this is my first complaint. Charlie claims he’s known for years that he’s gay (said as a senior) and that he dated all these girls to hide the fact that he’s gay and because he “had a reputation to hold up”. it’s one thing to date a few girls if you are struggling to accept your sexuality and are still figuring things out, but he treats these girls like shit and barely feels bad about it. i could get past it if he acknowledges that being closeted doesn’t excuse his shitty behavior. even when he first gets with Luke, Charlie doesn’t treat him that well at times.

AND THEN Luke pulls the “we can’t be together if you won’t come out” card, which pissed me off. stop putting this in books unless you’re going to facilitate a discussion about why this is toxic!!! you should NEVER pressure anybody, let alone the person you are dating and supposedly love, to come out just because you want to be with them publicly. that is the shittiest thing to do. AND the book never addresses this. Luke never apologizes. Charlie only goes home and comes out to his parents because Luke broke up with him for not being out to everyone. i’m so fucking tired of reading this in lgbtq+ books, and they’re almost ALWAYS written by non own-voices authors. i’m not even sorry for all this swearing because i am so upset and tired of reading this in books but especially YA books. yes, Charlie’s parents were accepting of him and not homophobic (expect for a few side comments), but not every household is like this. not every lgbtq+ child can come out safely and to have this message that you have to be out in order to date someone in YA books is so fucking harmful. people deserve to come out on their own time when they are comfortable. coming out is not some grand romantic gesture so please stop writing it like that!!! i’m going to scream!!

also this book just screams “look at me i’m such a good ally!!” it’s full of little comments in scenes from other characters after Charlie comes out that are so cringe worthy. there’s a joke about someone hiding in the closet and then a comment of “nobody should have to hide in the closet”. shit like that.

anyway. the writing? this read like a wattpad published first draft. the time skips were SO annoying. every chapter had like 5+ time skips where things just happened off page and you get no sense of development for these characters. the scene would end abruptly and jump ahead and then past conversations would get referenced but we don’t see them happen.

and the two POVs?? useless. there was no differentiation between the characters monologues and this was first person so it was incredibly confusing. i couldn’t tell who’s POV i was reading half the time. i got zero sense of their personalities, and they just read like puppets bouncing around doing things because the author made them. the only character i actually liked was Nick.

This was a very up and down book for me. I loved the sound of the summary when I requested it on NetGalley and that part of the book I loved. But there were a few tropes which were not my favourite.

This book is about Charlie and Sage being best friends and everyone in their friend group and their school thinks that they are together. But new boy, Luke, shows up and Charlie is very interested in him. Sage, on the other hand, is interested in Charlie's brother, Nick. They are in their last year at school so they're talking about where they're going for college afterwards and their plans when they split up. 

This book made me feel so many emotions and I loved it for that. I adored Charlie and Sage as characters, I found them interesting to follow and I loved their friendship. You could see they actually loved each other completely, just not in that way, and it was so lovely to see a platonic relationship like this when it is made very clear that they are incredibly important to each other and it was never going to be romantic. The main focus is the relationship between Sage and Charlie and how they can manage it when they split up after high school, but there are also relationships with the love interests to consider.

This is where this book let me down. I loved the building of Charlie/Luke and Sage/Nick that happened throughout the first half of the book, how they got together and the growing pains they had in their relationships as they got used to having people they were serious about. It felt very realistic for the troubles Nick and Luke had with them and I was interested to see how they would deal with it. While internalised homophobia is not my favourite trope at all, I sympathised with Charlie and how he felt like he was letting everyone down by being someone else to who they thought. I also sympathised with Luke, who was forced back into the closet again because of this and understand how he could be frustrated when he didn't see any problem with it. What I didn't like was how solving the problem came across as if Luke was holding up Charlie's coming out like an ultimatum (especially when it was only for three months) and how no one once said to Charlie that he didn't have to come out if he didn't want to, that it was his decision to make. It wouldn't have taken much to change the resolution of that conflict, to make it about how it is a hard position for anyone to be in and Charlie and Luke not managing to be with each other despite wanting to support one another. But we didn't get that and it made this book very frustrating.

Another quibble with this book, though this one was far more minor, was how there were suddenly all these characters on the page without being introduced to any of them. I can't remember half their names but they were the group of friends Charlie and Sage hung out with and they all became very indistinguishable from each other, despite having a lot of screentime. I wouldn't have minded this for the minor side characters, like Dove, but they were far more major and had a greater part to play in the book and I can't remember even one of their names.

However, one thing I loved about this book was the boarding school feel of it. It was such a fun setting to play up, especially when we got introduced to how things worked at the school and how it diverted from the rigid roles of popular/unpopular kids, by just having groups of friends, some more well known than others.

This, combined with the writing style, made me wish that one conflict above was reconciled because I could have really loved this book.

3.5 stars!

This book was a bit of a bummer. I was looking forward to a cute high school romcom with an LGBT+ angle to it, but If We Were Us just fell flat to me. The bar is getting higher and higher for YA fiction: there are countless books written for young audiences that combine romance with self-discovery, social commentary, and humor. This wasn't one of them.

Frankly, the book could be summed up in one word: predictable. The main characters are flat, not whole people - I couldn't connect with them, even from the very beginning. The book is told in rotating perspective between Sage and Charlie, two childhood best friends and seniors at the prestigious Bexley School. Their chapters sound exactly the same, despite them supposedly being very different individuals. I found myself searching for their character flaws and things that make them more human, but they always did exactly what I predicted them to do. Once you know the initial premise, you can guess almost exactly what happens in the whole book. The dialogue is stilted, the life of boarding school very Zoey 101-stereotypical, and the romances lacked chemistry. I was more interested in Charlie's storyline, but even that had some issues in my mind and lacked the sparks that I was hoping it would have.

Overall, this is a pass for me. Thank you to Sourcebooks for the ARC!

Now let’s get down to business and talk about the things I loved within this book.

The friendship between Charlie and Sage, as well as Sage and Luke was definitely a plus. They seemed stronger together than apart and were the glue holding each other together until secrets got a bit in the way.

Charlie is a conflicted character, who I deeply felt for throughout the course of the novel. While some may not like stores of people unsure of their sexual identities, as someone who struggled with mine for so long, it’s comforting to see a story so like my own. And seeing someone overcome it is even better, especially when they are supported.

Does Charlie do dubious things during this time? Yes, and while I do not support the actions of the character I do, in a way, understand it. Everyone is created differently and feels differently.

Sage’s story is different, and it took a while for her motivations to be explained. I do with that her half of the story had been a bit more fleshed out. It would’ve helped me understand her better as I was often confused by her actions and her lack of honesty about why she was behaving the way she was.

Overall this book was a good read, almost comforting to me in how it was written, and I would recommend it to someone who wants a YA coming of age story that is a quick read.

firstly thank you to netgalley and the publishers for the Earc In exchange for review

before going into this book I was so excited to dive in and I wanted to read this one when I first heard about it as the premise of the book sounded great and something I would enjoy. sadly this book fell flat for me and was just a okay read.

I'm not one for doing negative reviews so I will only say the positives of the novel will a little critique because there definitely were moments that I enjoyed throughout such as this is set in a boarding school setting which is a nice feature in books that I love.

the friendships I really enjoyed too and how really supportive they were to one of our main characters Charlie who is currently in the closet and is too scared to come out to friends, family and the school because of the repercussions he thinks it will have on himself and doesn't want anyone to treat him differently. I will say Charlie was a great character but from time to time he did annoy me (just my opinion)

and finally I really like the cute romances we do get but I wished we got so much more from them as I felt that throughout the whole story we only got snippets of romance and felt it was never fully touched upon. yes don't get me wrong we do see build ups to the relationships but I felt something was missing.

overall if we were us was a good read just wasn't on par to what I thought It could of been. I will say it was a really fast read for me and went by very fast. if your looking for something light and cute definitely read this one if you are interested.

I really enjoyed this romantic, boarding school story. It was light, and while our dual narrators mostly focus on teenage drama, and somewhat frivolous stuff, for example, dresses for prom, and spending time with friends, there is enough serious material to engage readers on a deeper level.

Sage and Charlie are best friends forever. So much so that almost everyone expects them to wake up and love in love. Both of them know that’s never going to happen – Sage is secretly in love with Charlie’s twin brother Nick, and Charlie is deeply, deeply in the closet. When Luke arrives, there’s a bit of a stir in the group of friends – good looking, personable, popular – which girl will snag him?

The boarding school setting is as you’d expect – elite, preppy and mostly rich kids. There are many characters to indicate the many friends Sage and Charlie have, and how many girlfriends Charlie has, and while they serve the purpose of offering a range of opinions about each other and the entanglements of romantic interludes, they really are just backdrops to our focused four.

Walther doesn’t explain everything either. Readers have to keep up with Sage’s breezy monologues, and Charlie’s intense regime of academic excellence, student leader, sporting commitments and getting together with and then quickly breaking up a string of beautiful peers. He’s quite exhausting, and as the story progresses and we watch the way he struggles with his attraction to Luke, we understand why he maintains so many commitments. Sage’s secret romance with Nick also seems like it’s a hot minute from disaster, and we’re not surprised when everything is turned on its head.

It is so easy to engage with Sage and Charlie. Their loyalty and love for each other is infinite. Even though they think they are keeping secrets from each other, they’re really not. They know each other too well. They are observant and keep a protective eye out. It’s a fascinating bond, and when Sage loses everything to keep Charlie safe, and Charlie realises what Sage has done for him, they are truly insightful moments for these kids, and we sympathise and cheer them on.

Talk on the review sites mention the terrible ways Charlie treats his girlfriends, and subsequently Luke. But Walther does a good job of showing us why he is so fearful about his sexuality. Nick too develops beautifully as a character. He has to come to terms with a lot about both Sage and Charlie, and his forgiveness is everything.

But Luke is the character that stands out for me – brave, resilient, extraordinarily strong. He puts up with a lot from Charlie, and it’s important that he draws a line on the treatment and holds his ground. But since predominantly, this is a romance novel, the grand gestures are predictable, and readers aren’t required to deal with too much angst or darkness.

Thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Fire for the advanced copy. Recommended for readers who like books that focus on romance and friendships more than social issues and commentary. It doesn’t try to be more than it is, however, there’s some thoughtful conflict in there among all the typical high school hi-jinks. It’s funny too, so it doesn’t take itself too seriously. Highly satisfying conclusion. If We Were Us comes out on June first 2020.

Sage and Charlie are THAT couple, the two people who are so clearly made for each other but so far have been strictly best friends.

As they begin their senior year at a boarding school, Sage finds herself feeling a connection with Nick, Charlie's twin brother. That seems rather problematic, non? Does she like Nick because she can't have Charlie, who seems determined to date a different girl every month--and none of them her? And then there is Luke, the new guy whom Charlie finds irresistibly interesting.

K. L. Walther may not address anything new here, but she writes in a way that makes you relate to her characters and story. We've been Sage, the stalwart best friend who might just fall in love with a guy who's perfect for her. But is she ready? If you love someone that intensely when you're seventeen, where does that love go? She overthinks, too consumed with worrying about what might happen to let herself fully feel what is happening.

We've been Charlie, feeling pressure to live up to others' expectations. We want to be true to ourself, but we can't. What if we let down the people who love us? What if we lose our friends?

We've been Nick and Luke, loving people who resist loving us in return. We have so much to give them, yet they push against us, too afraid to accept how fully we want to love them.

Dear reader, there were times I wept. Hard. There were times I laughed, and there were times I just felt happy. Walther's pacing needs some tweaking--right as you get in the groove with some characters or story, there is either a lull or perhaps some repetition. Yet you get caught up in Sage and Charlie's relationships, and you need to find out how things turn out for them.

I need to get a copy of this for my class library because I can see students inhaling Walther's story. I can also see them finding themselves in her characters.

If We Were Us by K.L. Walther


Sage Morgan is starting her senior year at the The Bexley School, along with her best friends Charlie and Nick Carmichael. Everyone thinks that Sage and Charlie would be perfect together, but Charlie is a serial dater and they’re strictly friends. Besides, Sage secretly kissed Nick at a summer bonfire on Martha’s Vineyard.

There’s also a new student at Bexley: Luke Morrison, a PG (post-graduate). He and Charlie form a connection almost immediately, but Charlie has always dated girls and he’s worried about what people will think if he starts dating Luke.

This book takes place over the course of the school year and unfolds from Sage and Charlie’s dual perspectives. The pace is a little slow at times, but this is exactly what boarding school is like in real life. There’s a whole lot of status quo, punctuated by moments of high drama. Needless to say, friendships are tested and the characters have to figure out who they are and what they want out of life.

Besides, even though there isn’t a lot of action, the character development is always building upon itself. At first, I thought it would be interesting to have Nick and Luke’s perspectives, but then I realized that they are constants in this equation. They are fleshed-out characters, but the decisions they make are based the actions that Sage and Charlie make. Also, having their direct perspective would take away some of the mystery of the book; this way, the reader doesn’t have any more insight about what Nick and Luke are thinking than Sage and Charlie.

Sage and Charlie are excellent narrators. They have similar wry personalities, and I can see why their friends think they would make a good couple. While Sage changes over the course of the book, Charlie is the one who really has to figure out his identity; being attracted to another boy is something he hasn’t contemplated before, and there are tons of feelings to accompany a revelation that big.

I would recommend If We Were Us. Walther absolutely nails boarding school life, which is no surprise since she’s a boarding school alumna. This was a sweet and tender book, with a quartet of characters who mean well, even if their actions don’t always show it. I am looking forward to reading more from Walther in the future.



I received a copy of this book from Sourcebooks Fire/NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When I requested this book I was super excited to read it, but I think I may have been a bit confused with the summary, because I didn’t end up liking it at all. Before writing this I went and read some reviews to see what others thought, and it seems like others had the same problems I had. I love a story with queer characters, which is what drew me to this in the first place. However, I hate when someone is treating the other person in a relationship horribly, for whatever reason. It really made it tough to read. I also really HATE when someone is forced by another to come out of the closet. It is a personal, stressful decision and no one should ever force another into it.

The writing style wasn’t bad and the pacing was good, I just didn’t love the story line. I know I saw others that loved it, and that is great! The problems I had were just too much for me to be able to get into it.

I was given an advanced reader's copy via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own

I was provided the e-ARC by the publisher (via NetGalley) in exchange for an honest opinion.

I really like reading queer narratives which is why I picked this book. I don't understand why there was a need for two couples in this book when it heavily focuses on Charlie's relationship. I think the friendship between Sage and Charlie also doesn't seem quite credible to me, because all of its formation and development and even evidence lies off the page. Their friendship is only used as a tool for Sage to help Charlie out when he is in trouble.

While I understand that it is true that people like to remain closeted and do things to come off as straight, I absolutely despised the storyline of a straight person having their heart broken to help their closeted friend remain closeted.

Also, can we please stop YA novels with couples who end up together forever when they are in school. Sage, who is vehemently against having her life disrupted for the sake of love and starting a family does exactly that when she is JUST graduating from high school. I understand falling in love, but I cannot imagine someone doing a complete 180 and suddenly wanting to have kids with a person when they are 18 years old.

The writing was also pretty confusing because almost every chapter/POV has a flashbacks and there is no formatting to tell us when it begins or ends.

I only kind of liked this book because of how endearing Charlie and Luke's relationship is and Luke is the only one who behaves like a reasonable person.

I love you, just not that way. Sage Morgan and Charlie Carmicheal have been best friends before starting their senior year at Bexley School. Everyone predicts that they will eventually hook-up, but these two pals have other plans. Sage has her eyes set on Charlie's twin brother, Nick, while Charlie fights his affections for new post-grad, Luke Morrissey. In order to keep their true feelings to themselves, Sage and Charlie will protect each other before anyone finds out the truth. Walther tells a story of forbidden romance in a present day setting, especially when it comes to young adults trying identify their own identities. Told from Sage and Charlie's perspectives If We Were Us can certainly be enjoyed by young adult readers who enjoy best friends protecting and advising each other through the hardships of first loves.

I loved this book! Its a great YA novel that follows two best friends (Sage and Charle) through their last year of boarding school. The point of view shifts back and forth between them, which I enjoyed after a few chapters. The characters are interesting and their relationships are sweet and real. It shows them dealing with issues of identity and love at a time when many things are changing for teenagers.. It was funny, sweet, and sad at times. I highly recommend this novel if you enjoy contemporary YA novels. I could not put it down.

I received a free advanced readers' copy of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

WARNING: This review contains spoilers.

Thanks to Source Books Fire for providing a digital ARC of If We Were Us in exchange for an honest review.

The SECOND I got the notification that I'd received an ARC of this book it moved to the top of my TBR. A fun, unique, high school contemporary with a queer lead? The dream. Until it wasn't.

Every single character in this book is the worst (except Nick. Good for Nick he should leave all these people behind). Let's start with our straight perspective character because while she was the worst, at least she wasn't also pushing harmful messages to the queer community :).

Sage has no personality. She likes watching movies with people. That's it. She treats her secret boyfriend Nick like absolute garbage for basically no reason and even though her whole story line is just "I don't want Charlie to know I'm dating his brother" she never actually seems to feel guilty about the secret so there's even less of a reason for her to be treating Nick like that.

Our other perspective is Charlie. Who's cool and popular (and a theatre kid because imagine having a contemporary gay teen character who's not a theatre kid) and closeted. Charlie's described as having a new girlfriend he dumps every two weeks and barely anyone calls him out on it. When he comes out another character goes "so that's why you pretended with all those girls, that must have been so hard for you" (paraphrasing) as if it wasn't also hard for the slew of girls he was using? You can be gay and still be a womanizer. One does not cancel out the other. Charlie's also garbage to his love interest but it comes mainly from a place of insecurity and worry of being outed.

Which brings us to his boyfriend, Luke. Who was pretty meh for me until abruptly breaking up with Charlie because he wouldn't hold hands with him in public. Don't get me wrong, you're allowed to be frustrated that your SO isn't out but if I have to read one more book that blames a character for ruining a relationship because their closeted (especially when Charlie sucks in so many other, extremely valid ways) I'm probably not going to do much but I'll be angry.

I don't know why non-queer (or at least as far as I could find) authors love turning coming out into some grand romantic gesture but can we stop? Please? A lot of people stay closeted for a lot of very valid reasons and it is in no way someone's partner's place to demand they come out to the world after a few dates.