Now these kids are a lot more relatable to me. Parts of this book was like watching an eighties teen movie, in a good way. Simon is a gay teenager living in suburban Atlanta e-mailing with another young man called Blue who goes to his school. Neither one of them are out yet to anyone which is a problem when another student accidentally accesses Simon’s e-mail and then uses the information to blackmail Simon into getting a girl to go out with him.
Now I know that sounds bad but I swear the blackmailing portion isn’t a huge part of the book and he could have been blackmailed for money or something.
I liked Simon, I liked his family and I liked his friends. We get inside his head and it all makes sense to me. These kids are smart, funny, up on pop culture and just trying to grow up. Yes when the- you- know what hits the fan there are reverberations including some seriously hurt feelings. This was a quick read and rather consuming. I was only going to check out a chapter and then read something that had been on the backburner for a while but I really wanted to see if it worked out for Simon and Blue and all the supporting characters as well. Heck in the end I even felt sorry for the blackmailer (Martin) although not that much.
Downsides: I went back and forth on whom Blue was but halfway through the book I had it so that wasn’t much of a surprise at the end. Also I’m not in any way a romantically inclined person. I’m happiest when a story ends with happily ever after and several relationships in this book including familial ones get all sappy and gooey so I was rolling my eyes a bit there at the end but that’s just me. Possible Warning: Not everything goes easy for Simon. There’s a couple very harsh instances that happen that might upset people if they’ve ever been the victims of bullying but it’s dealt with quickly by teachers in the school.
Recommend: Yes. This is a very different book then Solitaire or a lot of YA I’ve been reading recently. I have to be honest though they are very relatable characters and I really enjoyed reading something for once that skewed toward the uplifting and happy.
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