Leah On The Offbeat vs What If Its Us

Hey everyone! So, I read both of these books recently (although not that recently. My to – review pile is massive) and as they’re of a similar genre, I thought I’d pit them against each other:

Leah On the Offbeat

When it comes to drumming, Leah Burke is usually on beat- but real life isn’t always so rhythmic.

The only child of a single mum, and her life is less privileged than her friends. Her mum knows she’s bisexual, but Leah hasn’t mustered the courage to tell her friends, not even her openly gay BFF, Simon. With prom and college on the horizon, tensions are running high.

Can Leah still strike the right note, when the people she loves are fighting?And how can she cope knowing that she might love one of her friends more than she ever intended?

I really wanted to love this book… and I mostly did. Expectations were high as I’d been looking forward to reading this for literally years. Whilst I LOVE Leah and all her snarkiness, I didn’t adore all of her actions. Part of what made her so great was how feisty she was, but a few times this meant she made extremely annoying decisions.

However, I loved all the subtle reference to the other books in this world, and the whole gangs back together (woo). Leah On the Offbeat tackles some real problems but with humour and Becky Albertalli’s (amazing) style. It was readable without being cringeworthy / unrealistic – and I devoured it in literally a day.

The pace was a bit strange, jumping days past important events; Leah didn’t really develop much as a character. I don’t know if the romance had all of Becky Albertalli’s usual magic, although it was very cute and I can’t wait for Love, Creekwood.

What If It’s Us?

Arthur is only in New York for the summer, but if Broadway has taught him anything, it’s that the universe can deliver a showstopping romance when you least expect it.

Ben thinks the universe needs to mind its business. If the universe had his back, he wouldn’t be on his way to the post office carrying a box of his ex-boyfriend’s things. But when Arthur and Ben meet-cute at the post office, what exactly does the universe have in store for them?

But what if they can’t quite nail a first date . . . or a second first date . . . or a third? What if Arthur tries too hard to make it work . . . and Ben doesn’t try hard enough? What if life really isn’t like a Broadway play?

But what if it is?

THIS BOOK KILLED ME. In the best possible way. Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera are some of my favourite authors and I was so excited for their a collab. I knew it would be amazing but nothing couldn’t prepare me for the cuteness this book delivered. I would willingly die multiple times for this book.

At first, it started slow. The boys meet near the beginning but took a while to find each other again which I thought was a pretty confident move by the authors. However, once I got into it, I couldn’t stop (No one really saw me for a few days). The ending was just perfect – although I’m not sure what to think of the epilogue? I need a Book 2.

My favourite parts of What If It’s Us are either the characters (Dylan was just perfect) or the PHENOMINAL amount of musicals references in it. The whole thing just made me smile. And laugh (and cry a little bit).

This was a happy (mostly) without being too cringey (mostly) book. It’s less realistic/ gritty than Leah On the Offbeat, but I loved the whimsical-ness in that sense. I would recommend it to anyone and everyone – and believe me, I’m trying to 🙂

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Are you not sure what books to read for summer? Would you like to take part in a really simple and fun Reading Challenge?

Find the prompts here, and then borrow, buy, steal or ebook books to fit them. I’d love for as many people as possible to take part in my first original book tag. Happy Reading!