sorry but i can't handle this book anymore. I found it extremely boring. From the beginning I already knew where the story would go. The author introduced so many characters to the book that it seemed unnecessary since I was confused to what relationship they had with our four main characters.
It might not be my type of reading, but if the premise catch your attention you may like it.
thanks to netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review

This book was light and a great summer romance read. It was easy to read but had to understand sometimes. Characters were referenced without any sort of acknowledgement of where they came from for awhile and I was also very confused to where the story was going but not in a good way. I think the characters could've been developed a little better and their connections established a little more.

This was sweet and charming and compulsively readable (I flew through it in two sittings), but it also had a lot of depth. I so appreciated the discussion on how it can be really fucking scary, but ultimately so freeing and rewarding, to be yourself and to admit, both to yourself and others, what it is you truly want. The depiction of friendship was great, too— and you know I’m always a sucker for a boarding school book. I really 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. A great debut, and I look forward to reading anything else this author publishes in the future!

I am numb as I am writing this. I am possessed by emotions, my heart is filled and cannot take anything more.
I received an arc approximately 6 hours ago and I started reading it as soon as I could. By the time I was ten seconds in, I knew the story was undeniably going to become my favourite of this year, and I was exactly right.
Apart from that, let’s talk about the book itself. We have Sage and Charlie, best friends since childhood who people believe will end up together at some point, however, Sage likes Nick, Charlie’s twin and Charlie is gay.
Moreover, we have Luke. a new student who immediately catches Charlie’s attention. I cannot begin to explain how consuming their relationship is, most of my notes are about them; they’re adorable, heartbreaking and wholesome.
Whereas Nick and Sage were cute too, not as much as them. Nick made some mistakes that infuriated me but they still produced many screams that came from my mouth.
This book was absolutely perfect. The friendships were SO loyal, it was endearing to read; they cared deeply about each other (I cried many, many times) the romance was engrossing; I was a doomed fool who knew what she had in store yet reacted with wonder every single time.
In brief, the book is a work of art, it’s real and foolish at some points (they could have fixed numerous problems BY TALKING) that you begin to recognize how something can be perfectly imperfect, it’s a 5/5 and it’s obviously going on my favourites from this year.

I was quite excited for this book and started reading it almost immediately after it downloaded on my kindle. But it turned out to be pretty boring. I didn’t find any of the characters likable enough, Sage and Charlie didn’t treat anyone around them properly and I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to root for their romances when they were quite rude to their love interests most of the time. The book also had a couple of tropes I don’t particularly like which was a disappointment.

You’ll probably enjoy this more if you want a light hearted book with slightly superficial characters. I like mine with a bit more depth and I found it missing here.

This book was the right kind of addictive. I loved how the characters developed. It was a perfect book to read at the end of the day. Highly recommend!

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC!

I really enjoyed the character dynamics in this novel. Sage and Charlie are such great main characters and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them.

Initially, I was a bit confused as to the set up of the book as it dove in head first (not a bad thing) and the vast number of characters introduced. I would say it takes about 25 pages to fully understand what is going on (even now some terms don't make sense to me but that might have to do with boarding school terminology) and maybe another 50 to get invested. So it is definitely something you need to stick out and not something you get into easily.

I really believed Sage's motivation for not wanting to get with Nick - it's absolutely heartbreaking, her backstory, but it's so believable and one I think a lot of people can relate to.

I had a more difficult time to empathize with Charlie but I will say that as a straight woman I would never understand the challenges an LGBTQ+ person would face and therefore cannot speak on this matter or how he handled his choice. I did love his relationship with Luke, however, and the way they easily fell into one another.

This book was unique and interesting, but I felt that it was a bit immature for me. I do enjoy some young adult fiction, but this one did not do it for me. I had a hard time connecting with the characters, I felt their personalities did not develop well enough. The relationships were interesting, and seemed a good reflection of school these days. I feel that a younger reader may have enjoyed this more than I did.

(Actual rating 3.5 stars.) When I first saw the cover of this book, I immediately liked it! And then I read the synopsis and I was just so excited because it seemed like a fun contemporary read for me. I was right!

If We Were Us is a fun and entertaining read, with similar vibes as Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda!

What I love most about this book is the fact that it's funny, light-hearted, but can still be very gut-wrenching in some parts. It explored the characters' flaws and issues, and their insecurities and mistakes. It was good to see these characters try to deal with them and overcome them by the end of the book. I also particularly adored the friendships and the dynamics between several characters! There's Charlie and Sage, Luke and Sage, and Nick and Charlie!

I did, however, feel like it lacked in the romance department. I wanted more build-up, I wanted more flashbacks, I wanted more details, especially when it came to Nick and Sage's relationship. Nick claimed he had feelings for Sage even before, but I didn't see that nor did I feel it. I needed romance that's believable, romance that will sway me. But in the end, I wasn't fully convinced. So, I was disappointed about that.

Another thing is that, the writing style was okay, but sometimes it left me confused. Several times in the book, there were references to something or someone or some place or event, but those things/persons/places/events were not explained or given primary details.

On the other hand, I love how this book perfectly captured the ridiculously frustrating stereotype/idea that a girl and boy can't be close friends without having feelings for each other. In the story, it has affected families, friends, the whole Bexley school body. This needs to stop, and this story just proves how bad that mentality can be.

Overall, If We Were Us was an entertaining read! I recommend this book to those who are looking for cute, short reads! (And those who are looking for books that has the same vibes as Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda!)

Review on blog to be posted by April 19, 2020.

This book was absolutely incredible. I read it in one day and couldn’t put it down. I loved all four of the central characters so much and that is so rare for me. I can’t wait for young queer kids to read this book.

This novel was such a page turner! I became absolutely engrossed in the lives of Nick, Charlie, Sage and Luke!
It was fun, sad and honest, it reminds me of Becky Albertali’s novels but uniquely K.L. Walthers too!!
I definitely recommend this novel to anyone interested in YA romance.

Wow this debut novel knocked it out of the park with everything I expected this book to me!
Such a great book with writing that made me feel so connected to the characters and e everything they were going through.
I give this book more than 5 stars if I could!

I found the beginning of the book a little lacking with a slow plot and a large cast of characters that felt pretty flat, but ultimately ended up enjoying the story and how easy a read this was

I really enjoyed the lightness to this story the characters were very easy to understand and feel for however I found that they were just a few two many of them and it was hard to keep track of who was who and their relations with the other characters in the story. I did however find that this novel was the perfect book to just pick up, it makes the reader just fall into the story instantly and lose all track of what is going on in the world around them. However at the same time I was expecting more substance to the story I found it a little flat in places and very different from what I was expecting going into this book. This book kept me flip flopping through the whole story so that made it hard to get into. Not my favourite read however it did have some really cute moments
that I really enjoyed, I just wish that there were more of them. I really enjoyed the ending of this book however it was very good at keeping me interested and it was then that I really got involved in the characters. Not to bad overall.

I absolutely LOVED THIS BOOK! The authors writing style lets you slide right in to the story seamlessly and immerse yourself in to the lives of Sage and Charlie.

Sage and Charlie have been best friends their entire lives. Everyone thinks they should be together, and they love each other, just not like that. Charlie is a serial dater. He jumps from one girl to another, and everyone assumes its because Sage is end game for him, but that could be farther from the truth. Charlie has a secret, and it isn't until Post Graduate, Luke, shows up to Bexley that is becomes harder to keep his secret.

Did I mention, Charlie has a twin brother Nick? Sage has always been friends with both, but Charlie has always been her person. Something changed the summer before their senior year at Bexley when a game of spin the bottle had Sage kissing Nick and feeling things she hadn't quite expected. Charlie knew Nick has a crush on Sage for a few years, and being the protective brother, told Sage not to break his heart. After watching her parents marriage fail and taking her mothers advice not to get serious young. Sage tried to keep Nick at a distance.

Going through the ups and downs with both of these characters, their relationship with each other and their relationship with the people they love was such a roller coaster of happy feelings, giddiness and quite a few (actual) laugh out loud moment. I would highly recommend this book if you love a good YA contemporary!

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to review this ARC.

I loved this novel and will be recommending it to everyone I knew, including my students. K.L. Walther's book tells the story of Sage and Charlie, who have been best friends since they were little and are in their final year at boarding school. Charlie has a twin brother named Nick, who has been in love with Sage forever, but the feeling around campus is that Sage and Charlie are meant to be together. Then we add in a new boy, Luke, who is completing a post-grad at the boarding school. The reader watches as Charlie falls in love with Luke and Luke with Charlie, but this is something that Charlie is afraid to admit to his friends, family, and, most importantly, himself. I do not want to give to much away about the plot of this novel, but if you are a fan of Becky Albertalli, you will LOVE this story. I could not put it down, and I want to read the next K.L. Walther book immediately.

It starts off slow and kind of dense, but once the action begins, it's hard to resist the story as it drives forward. It reads as a true epic, one that makes you feel the world really has been reshaped as you read it. Would recommend.

I absolutely adored this book! If you love Simon vs the Homosapiens Agenda, then you should definitely check out this book when it comes out June 1st!!

It is honestly amazing, another book which I'll definitely be buying and rereading more than once.

From friendships and love to hidden truths and secrets, If We Were Us, is a brilliant story following, best friends, brothers and their lives that are unwinding as they prepare to face a future of college applications and acceptance of where life will take then and of who they are.

This was such a great book about teenage friendships, love and having to be something you are not. This book centers around two friends - Sage and Charlie and their quest for true love and the obstacles they have to face to get there. Sage and Charlie were "destined to be together" except Sage isn't in love with Charlie and he is secretly Gay. This book was beautifully written with great character development - I loved seeing how full and vibrant each character was and how their stories are so intricately tied together. I enjoyed how the author wrote Charlie's struggles with coming out and the struggle between "who he is" and the man he loves. Definitely a 5/5 for me and I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys YA and who is going through teendom.

First loves and senior year- another boarding school romp that warmed my heart. The friendships and the romanceships are real and heartfelt, messy and amazing.