2 stars

I'll start with full disclosure and note that I marked this book "DNF" at 30%.

Typically, it takes me a day or two to read a YA novel of this length and style. I love them, and I tear through them. In this case, it took me three weeks to make it to the 30% mark and finally give up altogether.

I am SO down with a queer romance plot, especially in YA, but even that could not make up for how incredibly boring I found the characters, events, dialogue, setting, and focal points. NOTHING HAPPENS. There are long stretches during which the characters are just snacking and chatting about nonsense. Boarding school does not have to be a completely expected setting for exactly THOSE characters: Frankie Landau Banks, anyone? As hard as I tried - and I DID - I could not grip on to any part of this novel.

For its focus alone, I'm going to two stars here, but if we're talking development, excitement, engagement, didacticism, or anything else, this was a one-star, not for me kind of joint.

I hope this resonates with you, Dear Reader, more than it did with me! :/

SUCH. STILTED. WRITING.

I really liked the premise of the book, but the characters were incredibly two-dimensional and shallow. I got zero sense of their personalities - even though it was in first-person. There was nothing to majorly differentiate the male POV from the female one, and they both felt like puppets doing random illogical things because the author wanted them to. E.g. Sage, the heroine, was a lot less conflicted over lying to her supposed best friend than I would have expected her to be; the author did not draw out the level of angst suited to the situation in order to make it properly emotional. Ergo, puppets.

I loved the way this book was structured. It’s like the typical romance with two MCs and alternating points of view, but instead of the two MCs being a couple, it’s two best friends. The two couples that result are intermingled enough that it doesn’t feel like one is getting more air time than the other, and the reader can equally root for both of them.

The book does a really good job of exploring romantic love and platonic love at the same time. Sage and Charlie are as much a couple with their own plot as the romantic couples, Charlie & Luke and Sage & Nick.

It was a refreshing take on the structure of YA romance, and I would love to see more authors go this route.

So, why three stars?

First, the straight MC feels a bit heavy handed when it comes to being an ally. (For the record, I’m also a straight girl like she is, so my opinion on this should be taken with a grain of salt.) At one point, she looks at an actual closet and thinks, No one should have to hide in there, and I cringed. She also bluntly asks one of the boys if he’s gay because he doesn’t want to go to Homecoming with a girl who has been literally, and I do mean literally, throwing herself at him. This is the first time in the book he says he’s gay out loud, even though it’s very clear to the reader before then.

The pop culture references were way, way too much for me. It got to the point where it felt like lazy writing. “My cheeks were as red as Taylor Swift’s lipstick” is just an unnecessary sentence. (This is coming from someone who had Taylor Swift as her Artist of the Decade on Spotify, so… come on.) Instead of comparing things to Taylor Swift’s lipstick and the feeling of meeting Harry Styles (yes, that’s a real one too), just… actually describe it? Please, for the love of literature, stop using pop culture references to describe a character or a scene. Please.

Last but not least, this book was 38 chapters, and it should have been about 25. There’s only so much back and forth rehashed drama a reader can take, and by about chapter 27, I was ready to bid the characters goodbye.

**SPOILERS BELOW**

The tension between the m/f pairing lasted too long. I LOVE a good jealousy plot, but it got to a point where it wasn’t tense anymore. It was just sad. A lot of the m/f problems centered around the fact that Sage didn’t want to out Charlie to his brother, who she’d been dating. It went from that sexual, jealous tension that readers crave to, “Nick, just shut up and trust Sage when she says she’s not in love with your brother and trust your brother when he says he’s not in love with your girlfriend so we can be DONE with this.” It took Charlie outing himself to Nick for Nick to trust Sage again and apologize. Not a fan.

Now for the other couple. This is one of the books where the main drama between the m/m couple is that one of them is closeted and the other isn’t. There’s a lot of back and forth between the two. They start out with a “is he gay or am I imagining it?” dynamic that shifts to “oh he’s gay and I’m not ready to admit I’m gay so I’m going to ignore it” dynamic, which then shifts to “ok I’m gay but we’re going to keep this between us,” which then shifts to “be proud to be with me or don’t be with me at all” it gets to a point where it feels too drawn out and overdone. I’m pretty sure this author hit every single m/m trope she possibly could. When a reader wants their pairing to be happy, can’t you just let them be, without cliched, homophobic drama?

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the opportunity to read and review If We Were Us. I liked to diversity of the book and the characters.

I LOVED these characters, but felt like the story skimmed the surface of what it could've been. Like I really wanted more from basically everyone... there were so many characters that it just stayed surface level. BUT what is there is still super cute! I think fans of Gossip Girl will love it.

Read in one sitting. This is such a beautiful story of friendship, love, and figuring out what you want out of life.

This was a super cute YA with a great premise. I think teens will really enjoy it, but there were a few moments that fell a little flat for me, especially with the intro chapter. Once I got through to the next chapter I really started to enjoy the story. I loved Sage & Charlie's friendship, and I loved the way the stories developed. Overall, it's a really enjoyable read that I think will be immensely popular with younger readers.

For some reason, this one didn't grab me the way I hoped that it would. There were some cute relationships and strong friendships, but for me it just fell a little flat from the start. The jumping around from character to character was a bit confusing and that may have just been due to the formatting on the arc. I do think that some of my students will enjoy this read though. Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.