Book 34/30.
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
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.
I bought this because I have had Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda on my Goodreads Want to Read shelf since April 2017, but judging from the Goodreads reviews, Leah (the book and the person) is no Simon (the book and the person).
I found it difficult to connect with Leah’s character, and her constant negativity and occasional rudeness often frustrated me, especially when her reactions seemed disproportionate or came out of nowhere. She rarely took responsibility or apologised, and the way she treated her mother was particularly unpleasant. It is possible to understand her behaviour as a reflection of her anxiety, self-doubt, and insecurities, and I can appreciate where some of it comes from. But still. Those struggles do not excuse treating people like shit whenever things fail to go the way you want.
Another issue I had with the book was its plot, which felt somewhat scattered and difficult to follow. At times, it was hard to identify a clear central storyline, and the pacing occasionally dragged, making the book feel slow in places.
I will definitely read Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, but I am not sure the same can be said for The Upside of Unrequited (book two in the Simonverse Series) as Leah on the Offbeat did not do it for me.
** A guide to ratings **
1 star – did not like it
2 stars – it was okay
3 stars – liked it
4 stars – really liked it
5 stars – it was amazing