Leah Burke—girl-band drummer, master of deadpan, and Simon Spier’s best friend from the award-winning Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda—takes center stage in this novel of first love and senior-year angst.
When it comes to drumming, Leah Burke is usually on beat—but real life isn’t always so rhythmic. An anomaly in her friend group, she’s the only child of a young, single mom, and her life is decidedly less privileged. She loves to draw but is too self-conscious to show it. And even though her mom knows she’s bisexual, she hasn’t mustered the courage to tell her friends—not even her openly gay BFF, Simon.
So Leah really doesn’t know what to do when her rock-solid friend group starts to fracture in unexpected ways. With prom and college on the horizon, tensions are running high. It’s hard for Leah to strike the right note while the people she loves are fighting—especially when she realizes she might love one of them more than she ever intended.
5 STARS
My review for the first book in this world, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. Both books are stand alone novels, however they exist in the same world with the same characters with different main characters. There's another book The Upside of Unrequited that is in the same world but a completely new set of characters. All are stand alone young adult contemporaries and I recommend all three.
Despite Becky Albertalli being a literal cinnamon roll and one of my favorite young adult contemporary authors and me giving five stars to her last two books, I was worried about Leah on the Offbeat because I wasn't the biggest fan of Leah in Simon vs. the Homo Sapien's Agenda. I found her character to be over dramatic and self centered. However, I am pleased to say I loved Leah's story as much as I loved Simon's and Molly's.
Leah was just as stubborn, over dramatic, and even often self centered as I remembered her, but being in her point of view made it a different experience for me. I understood where she was coming from, and I realized a lot it was just her coping mechanisms with her own insecurities. She is a fantastic drummer and artist but doesn't think she is as good and assumes any compliments she receives are a result of people being nice. She assumes she is being forgotten about, left behind, and often replaced in her friend group. She wouldn't admit it because of her pride, so instead she comes off incredibly moody and tries really hard to act like she's nonchalant about it all. It's very real and often can be annoying but also incredibly relatable. Insecurities and sometimes even self loathing can make a person look and act in a way that is not a true image of themselves. She's also dealing with being a closeted bisexual and despite knowing her friends would accept her she is having a lot of struggles with showing a vulnerable side to herself and telling them. Which I also found incredibly relatable. I loved Leah's self confidence when it came to her body. She is a fat teenage girl who unapologetically loves her body. And I love her for it. She's a huge Harry Potter nerd, another thing I love her for. She stands up for her friend Abby when one of their friends makes an racist comment which made me love Leah so much more. Her passion and fire to stand up for not only her friends but for what is right made me happy to see. I was actually really shocked at how much I related to Leah. There's a scene with her and her mom, and one of Leah's flaws is that when she gets angry or upset she escapes. She shuts down and she immediately is done. It reminds me of something not only I can do but something my mom does also. It's a flaw I am working on, but to see it in another character made me feel a bit better about it because it's something I dislike seeing in myself.
I loved seeing Simon again, especially now that we get to see him with his boyfriend from his book (I won't be saying his boyfriend's name so anyone who hasn't read Simon's story isn't spoiled. He will just be called Boyfriend.). They're so incredibly cute together. In Simon's story we only get to see them as a couple for a sliver of time because Boyfriend isn't revealed until close to the end. So now we get to see Simon and Boyfriend really be a couple and oh my god they are adorable. It's disgusting how adorable they are. In Simon's story we are introduced to his best friend, Nick, who we don't see much but we see a lot more of him in Leah's book. And I am honestly not a big fan of Nick as a character. He's written incredibly well but he drove me insane. His motives and reactions were realistic to the things he was going through, but god he bothered me. He was selfish, rude to his friends, and incredibly self centered. I really liked Abby's character. I loved her in Simon's story and I love her here. I think she's incredibly sweet and although she is perceived as "perfect" to the outside world you realize that you never really know what someone is going through.
Becky Albertalli is a wizard at writing young adult coming to age contemporary stories. Each of her books are little pockets of sunshine. I cannot help but laugh, beam, and cry when reading her stories. The dialogue had me cackling, and I found myself bawling by the end of the story. Someone mentioned on social media that this was the end of the Simonverse, and if that is true I think the ending is satisfying but also incredibly heartbreaking because I am so attached. Albertalli is so great at writing amazing teen characters but also putting them in the most unique situations. There is one scene where the main cast of characters go to a dinner before prom and it felt straight out of a movie. It was so incredibly charming and funny. I wish I could be plopped into these stories just so I could be friends with these characters.
Overall I cannot recommend all three of these books more. Although you can read them all separately I definitely think you should read them all. They all fit together so perfectly like a puzzle and it expands the stories so much. Especially when it comes to Leah and Simon. Becky Albertalli has become an insta-buy/read author for me because she always shows up and never disappoints. These books are great fun summer reads that will pleasantly surprise you.
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