The Upside of Unrequited

· Penguin UK
4.6
14 reviews
eBook
368
Pages
Eligible
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About this eBook

Love, Victor is now a major TV series on Dinsey+, set in the world of the hit film Love, Simon

I don't entirely understand how anyone gets a boyfriend. Or a girlfriend. It just seems like the most impossible odds. A perfect alignment of feelings and circumstances . . .


Molly Peskin-Suso knows all about unrequited love. No matter how many times her twin sister, Cassie, tells her to woman up, Molly is always careful. Better to be careful than be hurt.

But when Cassie gets a new girlfriend who comes with a cute hipster-boy sidekick, everything changes. Will is funny, flirtatious and basically the perfect first boyfriend.

There's only one problem: Molly's coworker, Reid: the awkward Tolkien superfan she could never fall for . . . right?

A heartwarming and hilarious story about growing up and learning to be comfortable in your own skin.


Praise for Becky Albertalli:
'The love child of John Green and Rainbow Rowell' Teen Vogue


'I love you, Simon. I love you! And I love this fresh, funny, live-out-loud book.' Jennifer Niven, New York Times bestselling author of All the Bright Places

'A remarkable gift of a novel.' Andrew Smith, author of Grasshopper Jungle

'Both hilarious and heartbreaking . . . Readers will fall madly in love with Simon' Publishers Weekly (starred review)

'A brilliant beacon of optimism and cuteness for LGBTQA+ youth in a genre often bogged down with tragedy and heartbreak. Books like SIMON do change people's lives' Waterstones Darlington Bookseller

'A wonderfully charismatic story about coming-of-age and coming out'. Bookseller

'Funny, moving and emotionally wise' Kirkus Reviews (starred)

'It made me laugh, cry and all the fifty shades of emotions I can think of right now. There is literally no adjectives that would be suffice to describe how brilliant this book is' Goodreads (5 star review)

'I think I just felt my heart explode in my chest' Goodreads (5 star review)

'One of the most electric, authentic characters I've ever read. . . I LOVE this book. LOVE it. Five freaking stars.' Goodreads (5 Stars)

Becky Albertalli is the author of the acclaimed novels Simon Vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda and The Upside of Unrequited. She is a clinical psychologist who specializes in working with children and teens. Becky now lives with her family in Atlanta, where she spends her days writing fiction for young adults.

Ratings and reviews

4.6
14 reviews
Aditi Nichani
25 August 2017
I’ve seen people on the internet RAVING about this book. I’ve seen the hype surrounding its predecessor, both the book and movie version. My closest friend read this book and described it as a book that changed her life and made her fall in love with it. So when a lovely manager at Penguin India said this book would be coming my way, I FREAKED OUT. I was VERY EXCITED, to say the least. I finished reading this book on a long distance car ride just yesterday, and while it wasn’t Earth shatteringly good, this book was one of the cutest and most accepting books I’d read in a while. ALSO, IT MADE ME WANT TO JUMP INSIDE AND EAT MOLLY'S COOKIE DOUGH. Who could even resist? Let me explain it in further detail: MY THOUGHTS: 1. WHY DO WE NOT SEE MORE FAT GIRLS IN YA BOOKS? Fat girls, like me, exist, and I’m SLOWLY (Very slowly) coming to terms with my body. Why is every protagonist out there “thin with legs for days” and “skinny and lanky?” I love the fact that Molly was a fat girl. I love that I SAW WHAT I FEEL ABOUT BOYS AND MY BODY REPRESENTED IN MOLLY. I love that I saw the insecurities, the comparison to other, thinner girls, the ever present shame that nobody could like because of your body. It summed up what fat girls feel like in a world where people are scrambling towards size zero and it did it perfectly. 2. Another thing I loved was how accepted everyone was in this book. There was no coming out or acceptance curve that books are usually about, the instead, things just were. Gay? Anywhere on the LGBT Spectrum? Good for you. Life your life. Love who you want to love. WHICH WAS ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT and it created such an open, comforting environment. (Side Note: HOW DO WE MAKE THE ENTIRE WORLD LIKE THIS?) 3. I LOVED REID. I also loved Reid and Molly together. They were two smol adorable humans made of cookie dough and nerdiness and well, they were perfect together. 4. One of my biggest drawbacks in the book was Cassie, Molly’s sister. This surprised even me because when I started reading, she was my FAVOURITE Character. She was bold and fearless until that turned into her bring pushy, annoying and expecting everyone to bend around her will. She said things like: “Like, you know she’s my girlfriend, right?” and “You need a boyfriend to understand, Molly” and IT PISSED ME OFF SO MUCH. 5. I wish there was more parental supervision. I’m all for liberal parents, but these girls were SIXTEEN? Or seventeen? I’m not really sure but they were mostly allowed to do whatever they wanted which has never been my experience with parents. I LOVED THEIR PARENTS, I just wish they were more involved in the plot rather than the occasional dinner and good morning. And that’s it. I read my first Becky Albertalli book. FINALLY. The Upside of Unrequited is an adorable, diverse book filled with unconditional love, sisterhood and cookie dough. A MUST read.
7 people found this review helpful
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Gillian
8 December 2019
I wish this had been around when I was a teen. I laughed. I cried and I cried some more. Becky wrote such a beautiful, relatable book and I think it's going to be one of my top 15 favourites. Loved it.
1 person found this review helpful
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Hattie
18 July 2018
Loved this book so much, read it on holiday and got up super early to finish it. This book has made me so happy...now I know I'm not the only one....... Please write a book two....PLEASE....
2 people found this review helpful
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About the author

Becky Albertalli is the author of the acclaimed novels Simon Vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda (released in 2018 as the smash hit film, Love, Simon), Leah on the Offbeat, and The Upside of Unrequited. She is a clinical psychologist who specializes in working with children and teens. Becky now lives with her family in Atlanta, where she spends her days writing fiction for young adults.

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