He’s central enough that people who loved him in his book (so, everyone) will be happy, but not so central that he pulls focus from Leah. Simon is just as adorable and lovable and geeky as he was in his own book, of which I am glad. She’s somehow both very self-conscious and very self-possessed. She doesn’t let people pressure her to do things that she doesn’t want to do. At the same time, I love how she marches to the beat of her own drum (sorry for the cliché but I had to. She’s very relatable in the timid, anxious way she interacts with the world. Thankfully, when she becomes the central character, she is revealed to be awesome. I have to admit upfront that Leah was not one of my favorite characters from the original book.

But whether she likes it or not, things are moving forward and Leah has to deal with it all. She has a crush on the absolute wrong person. She may have let her perfectionism and hard-edges make her miss experiences she shouldn’t have missed. As the daughter of a young, single mom, she doesn’t have the same financial resources as her friends do. But Leah may have it even harder than the rest of them. Picking colleges, figuring out long-distance relationships, experiencing prom… Leah and her group of friends-including everyone’s favorite characters from Simon: Simon, Abby, Nick, Bram, and the rest of the gang-have to figure it all out, and they’re running out of time. It’s senior year, which means that soon, everyone will be going their separate ways. I think that Simon is better, but Leah is also adorable. the Homo Sapiens Agendaby Becky Albertalli was one of my absolute favorite books from last year, so I was really excited to read the new sequel, Leah on the Offbeat. How great is this cover? Leah is wearing her yellow floral dress.

Leah offbeat