Amelia, if only.

Thank you so much to Harper Children’s Group for the advanced copy of this book.

Becky Albertalli is a master of the young adult voice. Her collections of characters feels like an ode to queer joy and normalizing individual paths to coming out. Amelia and her group of friends are no exception.

Immediately, I was drawn into the way Amelia‘s feelings and thoughts jump off the page. One of the things I appreciate most about the writing in this book is how well it captures the teenage voice. The roundabout way they get to the point, the way they joke with each other, the pauses, and the inflection; you can feel the emotions, even just from reading the words. The writing here is wonderful and reminded me of her previous books.

I enjoyed the idea of parasocial relationships and the way we discuss content creators in the online spaces. Both teens and adults need to think about how we perceive others online and how we cannot truly know someone just from engaging with their content. I did struggle with this book, as I felt the central conflict did not become clear until 85% of the book. By then, I felt we did not have enough time to wrap it up.

I enjoyed all of the “Reddit”-like threads, the incorporation of text messages, and the way this friend group loved each other. I thought the connections to Imogen, one of my previous favorite characters, were really well done and did not feel forced.

Overall, I enjoyed this one. Imogen, obviously, will remain my go-to author for those looking to read this author. I would recommend this one to those looking for experiences of queer joy, bisexual acceptance, and stories about the transition between high school and college.


3.5

Sometimes I think I'm done with YA books, but then Becky Albertalli will pull me back in. Amelia, If Only, follows high school senior Amelia, a fan of a famous Youtuber and bisexual mess. When the Youtuber, Walton, does a live show nearby, Amelia drags all her friends on a road trip across the state. Amelia herself can be little annoying, but most Becky main characters are. She definitely grows by the end. I really liked the discussion of parasocial relationships, and the journey Amelia goes on with her's. I think a lot of teens can connect with this. I know I would've.

I also loved the supporting cast, another Becky signature. Amelia's wonderful, funny, queer, friend group kind of made the book. I have two characters in mind that I'd love to see Becky write about next! The love interest was great, but I'm not sure I ever saw the connection, and it took kind of a long time for Amelia to realize her feelings. Still, I'll always recommend books by this author.

As an Imogen Obviously fan I was very excited for this book. However it made me feel old and grumpy. I have never been a super big fan of fictional famous people in books, this one took it way over the top. Amelia said "Walter" or "Walt" over 200 times I think?? It was excessive. I thought the humor was fun but not very natural feeling and all of the friend drama was exhausting.

I loved how Amelia was so extra and she loved it, all the nicknames she has for her friends were hilarious! And everyone went along with it because that’s what friends are for!
I captured very well what it is to be about to have big changes as a teenager and desperately trying to hold to everything as it is but sometimes you have to embrace change and you will be better for it!
Great portrayal too of parasocial relationships with celebrities, people really need to step back and let these poor people be!
Walter was adorable as well as Mark, Zoya and Edith, it was great to see Imogen and Co. and Natalie with all patience in the world!

There's something you should know about Becky Albertalli's books and me: I have never read one where I did not think "holy crap I relate to this/them/etc" at least several dozen times whilst reading. Like- even if I have little in common with a character or situation, there is always some little gem of sheer feeling seen in every one of her books. Obviously, Amelia, If Only, was no different.

Amelia is about to graduate, and she finds out that a YouTuber who she's had a huge crush on forever is doing an event in her state, so she and her friend group heads out for a road trip! This is legit such a strong, healthy example of a friend group. And frankly, we need more of that, because I think a lot of times, folks don't realize what healthy, appropriate relationships are supposed to look like. It wasn't that the friends didn't have flaws and that there were never problems, on the contrary, the characters are very realistic and their relationships took work and navigation.

Amelia too has plenty of flaws, but she is also willing to learn and grow, which made me love her. She's also incredibly funny and caring, as were her friends. She's basically following them to college, which um, may have been something I did too. (Luckily, Amelia does this in a far healthier way than I did, but I digress.) She also has to explore some of her other feelings, including those of a romantic nature. There is also a lot of discussion about mental health, sexuality, and just self-discovery in general as the group moves into the next chapter of their lives. I did think that the romance part felt a little out of left field, but since we are only with the characters for a short period of time, it does kind of make sense that more would occur off the page. Regardless, I loved it, and I will always, always want more books in this world/from Becky's brain.

Bottom Line: If I could pick any author to time travel back when I was a teen and needed their books, it would be Becky Albertalli.

When her favorite YouTuber is coming to town, Amelia enlists her group of friends to go on a weekend getaway before they start college. Like all of Becky Albertalli’s books, this one is filled with loveable characters. It’s a sweet, fun story that shines a light on parasocial relationships and how we think we know everything based on what we see online, yet someone’s online persona isn’t an exact replica of the real-life person.

While this is a standalone read, it does take place within the same world as Imogen, Obviously, which I really enjoyed. We even get to hear from Imogen and Tessa, and one of Amelia’s best friends is the girlfriend of Imogen’s sister. I wanted to love this one as much as I loved Imogen’s story, but I was hoping for more depth and character growth.

Overall, this is a quick, sweet read of friendship and young love- and all the moments that happen in between. Thank you to NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

what a truly lovely and adorable addition to the so called "Imogenverse"! I love how this book tied into Imogen, Obviously, and loved the way Amelia's feelings were written, almost missable until her feelings for Natalie are revealed and then it all clicks so perfectly together. I loved the discussion of queerbaiting and how out of hand speculation can get online and as always - loved the addition of the mixed media parts of the story! I hope we can expect more from the Imogenverse from Becky Albertalli soon!

thanks to NetGalley for the eARC

⭐️=3 | 😘=2.75 | 🤬=4 | 15+

summary: bisexual friends to lovers yearning with a side of fangirl roadtrip?

thoughts: so like, there’s a lot to love here—it’s kind of classic upper YA contemporary, thematically, as far as like the pre-university existential crisis goes, and Amelia is very charming. I enjoyed all the use of verb tenses to describe how time passes, or rather how we process time passing, the memory of feelings et cetera. love that. but! there were moments where it was literally the main friend group bantering and being semi-funny (except not always as funny as I think the author thinks they are) but it didn’t feel like it was progressing the story at all, just like it was a scene that Becky Albertalli liked and wanted to keep in because apparently teenagers joking about calling themselves MILFs is hilarious?? weird choice, but then there were also some genuinely sincere and moving moments, so like?? i do love friends to lovers sapphic yearning though! but also Becky Albertalli you need to learn to kill your darlings as far as excessive extended banter-ridden not-actually-that-relevant scenes go.

Having read Becky Albertalli before, I knew to expect heartfelt characters and sharp emotional insight—and Amelia, If Only absolutely delivers. This sweet, queer coming-of-age story blends self-discovery, friendship, and a touch of romantic tension in a way that feels both fresh and deeply relatable. Perfect for fans of Love, Simon looking for something tender, thoughtful, and full of heart.

I loved getting to read Albertalli’s next book “Amelia, If Only” especially after having listened to some really interesting podcasts on parasocial relationships from the celebrity point of view who fans have shipped in queer relationships. I didn’t find that I connected very deeply with Amelia but I liked her and her kind of chaotic way of moving through the world. I definitely felt like screaming at her to stop and listen to Natalie more but in an endearing way, from one friend to another. I really really wish that there had been more story after the final climax. I felt like I waited so long for that and hoped so long for that but then didn’t get to live as long in the happiness as I wanted. What there was though was amazing though!
I wish there had been a lot less o lines discourse overall. I think the point was made and then I just ended up skimming through a lot of it in the hopes of getting back to the characters I was invested in.

I loved Imogen, Obviously, so you can imagine my excitement to get my hands on this one! Amelia has a crush on a YouTuber named Walter and posts them quick deletes a video asking him to her prom. She then convinces her friends to go with her to a nearby college to a meet and greet he is hosting. Will he love her back or is what she's been looking for been right in front of her all along?

I enjoyed this one, but I do think that Imogen was a better book. I enjoyed the banter between the friends and the pacing was excellent. I also think the commentary on shipping and Fandom and how toxic they can be was really well done. At times Amelia was a little annoying but not enough to put me off on the book. I'd recommend to those who love a good queer romance!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for gifting me a digital copy of this book. My opinions are my own.

It's been a long time since I've been in Becky's world and I missed it so much!! I don't read YA too much anymore but for Becky I'll drop everything. This was such a fun road trip book with sweet friendships and realizing maybe the one you need has been there all along. Becky always writes friend groups and friendships I wish I had in high school and I feel nostalgic for those joy rides and conversations and the feelings that feel new and fresh and fun. Another great one!!

This was cute... but I will admit it made me feel old hahaha. Lots of gen-z talk and pop culture references that I probably didn't quite catch - but what I did enjoy was the commentary on internet fandom and how the concept and practice of celebrity are different when someone is an internet personality versus an actual Hollywood figure a little more removed from their fans. I really enjoyed all of the representation in here and would definitely recommend this to a YA audience or anyone who is interested in an internet-age YA coming-of-age contemporary romance story!

This was a great addition to the Becky Albertalli collection. I loved this story and just how funny Amelia was during the story. I like how during the story the reader could definitely sense Amelia's true feelings. I love the idea of meeting your online heroes/crushes and they are just normal people with everyday problems like we all have. I also enjoyed how this connected to Imogen, Obviously. I think I liked Imogen, Obviously just slightly better, but Amelia, If Only was just as great. Loved this story, the characters, the rep, and found this to be a new favorite of mine. Definitely a must.

An ARC review of “Amelia If Only” by Becky Albertalli

I am captivated by the way Becky Albertalli writes her plots and characters onto paper. In her books, I have the ability to be able to relate to all her characters in a way I cannot find in every single author out there. I understand and feel for her queer characters especially, because I was once that kid that did not know who she was and what she wanted. “Amelia If Only” was no exception to her incredible writing. I absolutely loved the premise of this story and genuinely appreciated the representation and care that went into writing it in the first place. I also admired the love story. However, I do think there could have been more lead up to the realization of said love. Readers got a couple scenes to see the unfolding feelings, but there could have been a few more to really set in stone the blossoming of a beautiful relationship. “Amelia If Only” was a great read otherwise that does discuss important topics and issues regarding queer love and the community.

After being such a huge fan of Albertalli’s Imogen, Obviously, I had the highest hopes for Amelia, If Only. The premise is cute enough; a group of friends embark on a road trip to meet a famous YouTuber. However, this book was very light on the romance and heavy on the discourse about parasocial relationships. Without spoiling, the two characters we’re meant to believe are in love at the end just weren’t believable as a couple, only because we sing really see them interact in a way that’s any different from any other two people in the group.

This book is SO queer and so adorable and so full of hilarious banter and moments that made me laugh out loud, but also full of tenderness and sweetness and discovery. Albertalli has such a special way of talking about queerness - it is so relatable and so true to my personal experience. Sometimes you don't know you're queer UNTIL YOU KNOW, but there's no wrong way to discover new parts of yourself. This is a book I wish I had as a teen.

This book celebrates queerness and the awkwardness of being a teen in the internet age. It celebrates that queerness can be messy and weird and comes with lots of questions! It is so validating to read books like this.

I also loved the cameos from characters from KATE IN WAITING and IMOGEN, OBVIOUSLY!

I've enjoyed Becky Albertalli’s books in the past, and Amelia, If Only was no exception. It’s heartfelt, funny, and full of the authentic teen voice Albertalli is known for. A charming, relatable read that lived up to my expectations!

This was a fun, YA road trip bisexual disaster type romcom that sees a group of friends travelling to see Amelia's bisexual influencer/youtuber/idol, Walter. There's lots of shenanigans along the way, flashbacks to past interactions between Amelia and Walter and some new revelations about her feelings for her newly single best friend. Lighthearted, sweet, good on audio with some Jewish rep thrown in, sibling relationships and a great queer friend group.

Recommended for fans of authors like Sophie Gonzales or Dahlia Adler. While I didn't like this one as much as Imogen, obviously mainly because the romance was more of a backburner part of the story, it was still an enjoyable read/listen. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

A little over two years ago, I fell in love with Becky Albertalli's Imogen, Obviously. In it, Albertalli explored what a bisexual experience can look like, in a character who struggles to understand her own identity. In Amelia, If Only, Albertalli continues exploring the themes of what a bisexual person looks like and how that identity is experienced. This time with a character who has been comfortably out for a long time, but who still struggles to determine where the line between friend and crush is.

Amelia Applebaum is a true chaotic bisexual. She has a tiny parasocial crush on YouTuber Walter Holland, and on a dare she has asked him to go to prom with her. When she doesn't get a response she decides to cut her own hair in the bathroom right before prom. And that is just the first chapter. Soon, she has pulled her friends into a road trip upstate to meet Walter, with the excuse of needing to distract her friend Natalie after her explosive prom breakup. A breakup which Amelia is maybe a little too thrilled with, for reasons she isn't going to think about too hard.

I was initially apprehensive that so much of this book focused around Amelia's parasocial relationship with Walter. In this age of social media, we all have parasocial relationships in some way, shape, or form. I would say I have parasocial relationships with some of my favorite authors (Amelia fangirling over the time Walter responded to her on Instagram admittedly did remind me of how I felt the time Becky Albertalli responded to me on Instagram). Amelia's feelings about Walter needed to be strong enough to drive the plot forward, but not so strong that they put the reader off. That balance had to be continually struck throughout the book, and I think it was sometimes successful and sometimes not. There were a few times where I felt myself cringing at Amelia's over-the-top dedication to this crush, even if I do recognize that it is a bit of a defense mechanism for her. But I do think that Albertalli stuck the landing: when Amelia finally does get the chance to meet Walter, she treats him like a human, not an icon (even if she is flustered at first).

What drew Amelia to Walter in the first place is their shared bisexual experience. Even though Amelia was already out when Walter posted his own coming out video, she describes that video as life-changing, because it put her thoughts and feelings into words so perfectly. Now though, even if Amelia can't see it, she is definitely using this crush as a way to focus her feelings in a safe direction, instead of acknowledging the butterflies-in-her-stomach, world-stopping-glitch that sometimes happens when she is with Natalie.

The book flew by in both a good and a bad way. It was fast-paced, and I found myself reading late into the night because I just couldn't put it down. However, I also think there was room to dig deeper into the themes of the novel. While it did touch on themes of queer identity, community, and the highs and lows of being a public figure on the internet, they were relatively surface-level. They were more like sprinkles on an ice cream sundae: they are pretty, but not having a substantial impact.

That being said, we deserve good ice cream sundaes! Ultimately, I would describe Amelia, If Only as a fun and fluffy road trip rom-com. You get a vibrant cast of characters that you will quickly come to love, in addition to cameos of favorite characters from Imogen, Obviously. You get Judaism and queerness effortlessly woven into the lives of our characters in a wholly positive way. You get a romance that will hopefully give you butterflies the same way it does Amelia. You are along for a joyous and silly ride with Amelia, If Only.