Thank you to the publisher for providing an advanced copy of this book!

I didn't really know what to expect when I saw there would be a sequel to What If It's Us, which left me totally WRECKED at the end. But the authors absolutely nailed it for Arthur and Ben this time around. All of the elements you loved about the first book and more are present (copious theater references! hot dog ties! post offices!). Here's To Us gives us a lot more character development, especially with the side characters, and results in an incredibly satisfying ending. I didn't ask for this sequel but I am glad it exists!

2.5 stars rather grudgingly rounded up. It was just a tad more than OK.

This sequel to What if It’s Us picks up the story of Arthur Seuss and Ben Alejo two summers after they first met. I loved What if It’s Us and gave it 4 stars but I was disappointed with this and I don’t know if it was me being grumpy or if the book is just not as charming as its predecessor.

At the end of What If It’s Us, Arthur and Ben had gone their separate ways after a magical summer. This new novel picks up 18 months later.

Arthur is now in a relationship with passive Mikey and is at university in Connecticut. Ben is working at his father’s CVS and taking a writing class. He is close friends, but not boyfriends, with dishy Mario. When Arthur gets the opportunity to intern with a famous queer director on his Off Broadway show, he can’t pass it up even though he and Mikey had planned to spend the summer together.

As with the earlier novel, Fate or the Universe, seems to be at work and Arthur and Ben meet up again. Are they destined to be together or are they really meant to be with their current partners?

You can probably guess where this is going and, though it takes a long and circuitous route, our final destination will not be a surprise. But the truth is, I felt I had a ticket to the wrong place - I really wanted the book to end up somewhere else altogether. Personally, despite the very rose-tinted ending, I thought Ben, in particular, wasted his chances.

However, as they say, review the book you've got, not the one you want. New York once again has a lovely glow to it as the young men and their various friends work and meet up across the city. The dialog crackles as it only can in a novel and the friends are funny and delightful instead of overbearing and irritating as they would probably be in real life. Arthur is a nervous nelly but is brilliant at theater. Ben is a brilliant writer even though his fantasy novel, The Wicked Wizard War, sounds like it should be for middle graders.

I did like how the characters navigate their way through modern relationships. When can you call someone your boyfriend? What does commitment mean? Where does sex fit into all of this (sex is mentioned often but no actual sex happens on the page)?

So, as I said earlier, maybe this just hit me at a grumpy point. I think it’s probably a charming gay romcom brimming with the fantasy reality of that genre and someone in search of such a novel will enjoy it immensely.

Thanks to HarperCollins and Netgalley for the digital review copy.

I received a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was really excited to start this story because I loved “What If It’s Us” so much and wanted more Ben and Arthur in my life. Yes, their story didn’t work out the first go around, but if it’s meant to be the universe will step in, right? Right. That’s what seems to be happening with these two while they juggle new jobs and boyfriends (or maybe a will-they-won't-they). I honestly couldn’t wait to start it. And then I kept putting it down. I’d make it through a chapter or two and set it aside because I couldn’t stand the tension and the awkwardness. Once I got past that first initial cringe, I was happier to race through the rest of the book. Arthur and Ben are just too perfect for each other, and I couldn’t stand these two just bungling around each other.

Yet again, this is another Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera book that I loved and will recommend to readers who can push through the awkwardness to get to the happy ending. Obviously, I loved the ending and where the characters ended up, and I’m so so so glad that I managed to get through the beginning so I could experience the end.

I enjoyed What If It's Us and was looking forward to the sequel #HeresToUs by #BeckyAlbertalli and #AdamSilvera. The story picks up after both Ben and Arthur are off in separate colleges, both in different relationships and not talking to each other after their breakup. But when an internship for Arthur brings him back to New York, the two are once again put in each other's path, they have to negotiate their relationship--current and former--as older people in a different part of their life. The same group of friends is there. Dylan is perhaps the most annoying and aggravating character by far. I think he's supposed to be endearing, but he's a distraction. If I were rating this book for myself, an adult reader, I would give it three stars. The magic of the first book just isn't there while it tries to rely on it. It does delve into some deeper ideas of how their relationship would change and how they have changed, but some of the story points are forced and uncomfortable. That being said, for a YA reader, it may carry a sweetness and maturity to it that would be perfect for them as they watch a relationship grow and change over time. Either way, I think it's a likely purchase for all libraries that carried What if It's Us. Many thanks to #NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC.

Ben and Arthur haven't really been friends in a bit. The awkwardness of friendship post-breakup finally caught up with them as they moved on with new relationships. With Arthur returning to NYC for the summer though it seems inevitable that the pair will have to confront lingering feelings while balancing boyfriends and almost-boyfriends.

Albertalli and Silvera are some of my favorite YA authors. Coming back to Ben and Arthur was a lovely callback to a book that was heartwarming and full of joy (I mean, anything that starts with a flashmob is joyful in my mind!). Though I am not certain I agree with where the story ended, I thought this sequel was equally enjoyable and will recommend it wholeheartedly.

What a cute and heart-wrenching and lovely follow up to What if It's Us!!!!! Of course more enjoyable if you've read the first in this duo- but I have to be honest, I forgot most of the details and still loved this. It was a perfect bit of escapism from the last year and a half, and the characters are just as endearing as ever. I especially loved the multiple epilogues to see how the love story truly ties all its end. A great older-YA read.

I was so excited when I saw Here to Us available on NetGalley because I loved What If It's Us and that is one of my go to recs because everyone needs to read it. I am glad that the sequel lived up to it. And I will happily be recommending both books when someone comes to the library looking for a great romance.

I received a free digital ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

I’ve been waiting for more Arthur and Ben since I finished What If It’s Us in 2019, and this ABSOLUTELY delivered! It’s two years later, and both Arthur and Ben have moved on, and are seeing other people. The reader is tugged along on a feelings-minefield adventure as the two reconnect during NYC summer and navigate being “just friends”.

I was laughing and crying and smiling and honestly I might read the whole thing over again just because I can. It’s that good. I can’t wait for the world to read this, too!

I read this book in less than a day. This was an absolutely wonderful sequel to the story of Arthur and Ben, and it was delightful to be able to spend more time with these characters.

Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera have a way of crafting characters who genuinely feel like people that you wish you could know and hang out with, minor characters included They are flawed, complex, an achingly real. As one can expect, the dialogue was funny, witty, and pitch perfect. I felt completely drawn in by both Ben's and Arthur's inner monologues, feeling their motivations, mistakes, and insecurities as if they were my own. I also felt that they seemed just different enough from their 16/17-year-old counterparts to justify the two-year time jump and the year of college and new relationships under their belts.

As with most contemporary realistic fiction novels, the authenticity of these characters are what truly make this book, which is largely about making connections and forming relationships and friendships in a city (or a world) that can seem too vast and overwhelming.

Things of note (CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS---if you want to go in completely unspoiled, do not read on until after you've finished the book):

If you're doing the math, you'll realize that this book takes place during the summer of 2020. Obviously, like many authors of contemporary realistic fiction, Albertalli and Silvera have chosen to not have their book set in a universe where there is a global pandemic happening. This book is otherwise charmingly aware of the time period in which it takes place, mentioning social media platforms by name and referencing current Broadway productions. We do get a bit of a nod to it though, which I really appreciated as a reader (particularly a reader in 2021, during which the pandemic is very much still happening in our universe). For one, Arthur mentions that he had his interview for his internship over Zoom, which is a platform that gained very widespread use during the pandemic. Secondly, the escape room that some of the characters experience centers around finding a cure for a virus that is causing a global pandemic. I loved these little details so much.

Also, I was completely surprised by the twist involving two of the minor characters. I love that there were totally clues along the way that made the mystery solvable, too---I'll have to go back and reread to see how it was all crafted. I know I already warned about spoilers, but I'm not going to say much more than that just in case.

The pride parade scene was pure, unadulterated joy in the best way. I will admit, though, that the description of such an event involving so many people in one place being so carefree made me ache for a future when a celebration of this magnitude will be safe and possible again. It was difficult not to think about how the NYC pride parade in "our universe" was canceled in 2020, and how the one in 2021 was still not fully in person. Still, it was a lovely bit of escapism.

What I loved most about both of the books in this series (and there's a lot to love), are the themes and ideas presented and the motifs used to suggest them. Of course, the overarching theme of the series is the mysterious power of the universe and the way fate seems to take a role in our lives, particularly when we think about the things that happen to us and how elements out of our control can change our lives in drastic ways. But it's also about the choices that we make, and how these conscious decisions on our part are what determine what our lives will be. Fate deals us a hand, but ultimately we're the ones who have to play the cards. There's a recurring motif that runs through the book---this idea of missing something or someone even when it's still happening or even when you're still with them. There's such a poignant truth to this idea that really captures how fleeting some things can be and how important it is to hold onto and appreciate what we can. We take photographs, we keep mementos, we write stories---we hold onto the people we love.