“Leah on the Offbeat” by Becky Albertalli • Book Review
Young Adult, Contemporary Danielle Brown Young Adult, Contemporary Danielle Brown

“Leah on the Offbeat” by Becky Albertalli • Book Review

“You can't just like Harry Potter. You have to be balls-out obsessed with it.”

★★★ (3 / 5 stars) Maybe it’s just because I’ve been reading so many contemporary books back-to-back, but I’m kind of tired of the nothing-happening-pining-from-afar-while-filler-plot-takes-place-until-crushes-are-confirmed-with-a-dramatic-kiss stories... While I enjoyed Leah’s less-common, pessimistic narrative, it didn’t quite save the book for me.

Why do we keep writing teens who deny their own feelings to themselves? This is not something I did when I was young, so when an entire book relies on that very repression for its plot, I just can’t relate.

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