Cover Image: Here’s to Us

Here’s to Us

Pub Date:   |   Archive Date:

Member Reviews

I really enjoyed this book and am so thankful to have an early copy! You'll love it! Thank you so much to netgalley for this advanced readers copy!

Was this review helpful?

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me a free eARC of this book to read in exchange for my review!

Was this review helpful?

After the events of the first book, I was GEARING UP for this one! Arthur and Ben are swetiepies that need to be protected at all cost! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!

Was this review helpful?

I will definitely be adding this to my classroom library. It’s a great follow up and keeps all the magic and romance of the original. We need more swoony representation for our LGBT kiddos!

Was this review helpful?

I generally love both of these authors but I think just enough time passed between the first book and this one that I was no longer interested in the story.

Thanks to NetGalley / Edelweiss and the publisher for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for a review.

Was this review helpful?

Thank you to Netgalley and the published for giving me an advanced copy of this book to read and review.

Was this review helpful?

I have a hard time keeping characters apart when I read same gender romance stories. It’s my own issue. No fault of the author. This plot was drawn out and slow.. the comedic relief of Dylan was much appreciated.

Was this review helpful?

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book. The first book was enjoyable although I did wish for a happy ending even though the ending was very realistic. So I was excited to see what would happen moving forward with Arthur and Ben. Overall I found this book extremely enjoyable. It was easy to read with a light subject matter and so few teen books are like that these days. While I loved seeing Arthur and Ben stumble their way back to each other I found some of the character development problematic, in that there wasn't any. Even though two years have passed since the last book they still seem like high school students. Also, the book just felt long in places. I feel like they could have edited it down a bit.

The real strength of this book was the secondary characters and plot lines. Dylan might be my favorite part of this book. He provided much-needed comic relief to the relationship angst. Samantha and Dylan have one of the healthiest relationships I have seen represented in teen fiction.

As I said overall, I enjoyed this book and loved seeing Ben and Arthur fall in love and the peak into their future together and with their friends!

Was this review helpful?

I loved this follow up to What If It's Us? Arthur & Ben are such great characters, I would love to read more about them!!

Was this review helpful?

“Here’s to do-overs, right?” “Here’s to us.”
👨‍❤️‍👨
A return to Ben and Arthur from What If It’s Us finds both guys in relationships with other people. Arthur is spending the summer back in NYC for the first time in two years working with a director on an off-Broadway play while his boyfriend Mikey stays back in Boston. Ben is taking writing classes in college and in a sort-of relationship with the gorgeous, but casual Mario. When Ben finds out Arthur will be back in town for the summer it throws him for a loop. The two talked a lot after their summer together until things petered off and it’s been months since they’ve so much as texted. When they start spending time together, though, both wonder if they’re with the wrong people.
👨‍❤️‍👨
SWOON! I was going to post this YA duology in one post, but I found myself absolutely gagged after finishing book 2! I loved book 1, but the sequel? Couldn’t get enough! Dylan is probably my favorite side character ever and his relationship with Samantha was EVERYTHING! I loved how realistic @beckyalbertalli @adamsilvera made Arthur and Ben’s relationship. It doesn’t always end with a happy ending (see book 1) and sometimes the person we’re supposed to be with is with someone else (see book 2), but I am obsessed with these books and so angry it took me this long to dive into them! Grab both titles now—you won’t be disappointed.

CW: homophobia, outing, sexual harassment, cheating, alcohol, vomit

Was this review helpful?

I was so so happy when I found out about this continuation! I loved the first book so much but was disappointed with book 1's ending. I am so happy to have had the opportunity to read book 2.

Was this review helpful?

This was a great book and I haven't found a book by Albertalli or Silvera that I didn't like! I will definitely be reading more of them!

Was this review helpful?

What a beautiful sequel.
After months apart and very little to talk about, Arthur and Ben find themselves back in NYC together, albeit in new relationships. Their desire to reconnect as friends allows them to see each other in a new light, and to peruse their individual dreams. Older and wiser, there is a new sense of maturity to the characters that I appreciated from the first book. As a reader, who was anticipating this sequel, I felt that the authors truly put the characters on the right path and allowed them to grow individually and together.
I would recommend this feel good story whole heartedly.

Was this review helpful?

Loved this follow-up to What If It’s Us! Again Albertalli and Silvera let their voices shine through and all of the characters were lovely. My students have loved WIIU, so I will absolutely be adding HTU to my classroom library!

Was this review helpful?

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC! 4.5-5 stars
This book was an emotional, nerve-wracking ride. I can't say too much else without spoilers, but I loved being back with this crazy crew.

Was this review helpful?

I remember liking the first book What if it’s us, but I don’t remember much about it. This book Did a lot of reminiscing about the first book while leading to only one possible conclusion but took seemingly forever to get there. Not much of a plot, way too much dialogue and tons of completely pointless side characters. This left me mostly just bored

Was this review helpful?

A great follow up to book one. It feels a bit like fanfiction, but that's just the way the book is written. It's a cute continuation of an equally cute LGBT story. I'd say read both books! Teens who like Heartstopper will enjoy this series.

Was this review helpful?

Amazing amazing sequel! The second did not leave readers dissatisfied. I'm hoping some day Becky and Adam write a third!

Was this review helpful?

My boys are now old enough to be in the new adult category. Once again more new adult books, please. I do love my young adult literature but I also love when my children go to college, or don't go to college but are college and post-grad age. AKA I love when my characters, my sweet sweet children, are older than 18 or sometimes even in their early to mid-20s. But that is besides the point we have a book review to get into.

I cannot explain how comforting it was to be back in the heads of Ben and Arthur. I feel like so many of my actions are similar to Arthur but anytime I was reading Ben's chapters I was like this is the inside of my head. There is a whole portion of the book where Ben was talking about feeling like he was the one that was missing out or left behind because he stayed home during college while all of his best friends left to go other places. That was definitely an experience that I identified with since I stayed home and went to a college near my house while all of my friends got to go away to these different colleges and have the college experience while I was commuting.

I'm not going to say which character this happened with because it is a spoiler but I would also like to say that there was a character coming out as bisexual in this book and when they explained what it felt like to come to terms with their sexuality I almost started crying because it was so incredibly validating to have words on paper to explain my experience. They basically explain it as a late-in-life allergic reaction. Where it's something that has always been a part of you but you don't realize it until you're older and something triggers it. And if that was not my coming-out experience freshman year of college I don't know what it was.

It was so nice to get to see all of Ben and Arthur's friends from book 1 make their appearances again. I love Dylan. He cracks me up so much. But even more than that I loved the two new characters that were brought in as then and Arthur's relationship/situationships at the beginning of the book. Despite the fact that I was rooting for Ben and Arthur to get back the entire book I was still rooting for the individual personal success of Mikey and Mario.

This book felt like a great big hug from one of your long-time best friends and the epilogue destroyed me in the best way possible. There were parts of the book where I was screaming and crying. This bug genuinely broke me and put me back together all in 448 pages. As well as however long it took me to listen to the audiobook because I had to listen to the wonderful audiobook while annotating my physical copy.

Thank you HarperCollins Children's Books, Quill Tree Books, and NetGalley for giving me access to an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

While I loved the first book in the series, this book did not meet my expectations. That being said the book itself is a fine book, just missed the magic the first book had.

Was this review helpful?