Review: Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli

Leah on the Offbeat
Becky Albertalli
Publication date: April 24, 2018
Genres: YA, Contemporary
Format: Hardcover/Purchased

GOODREADS | AMAZON




Leah Burke—girl-band drummer, master of deadpan, and Simon Spier’s best friend from the award-winning Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda—takes center stage in this novel of first love and senior-year angst.

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.
Okay. *takes a deep breath* Let me start by saying that I adore Becky Albertalli. I think she is one of the most talented voices in contemporary YA and she manages to create teen characters that are flawlessly authentic. Let me also say that Simon Vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda is one of my favorite books ever (regardless of age group or genre), I loved The Upside of Unrequited, and What If It’s Us was a total delight. But (you knew there was a but coming), I just can’t say the same things for Leah on the Offbeat.

THESE THINGS I LOVED:

1. Being back in the Creekwood world. I loved stepping back into the world that gave me characters like Simon, Nick, Abby, Bram, Leah, Taylor and all the rest. I loved the feeling of catching up with friends.

2. The honesty and humor. To put it simply, Becky Albertalli keeps it real. She somehow captures what it feels like to be a teenager and puts it to paper in a way that feels so authentic, not like an adult writing what she guesses a teenager would say and do. She seems to have her finger on the pulse of a generation and shares their voice with compassion and care. Add to that her humor that just speaks to me and creates page after page of laugh out loud moments.

3. Simon + Blue (yeah, no spoilers for the first book here). I was living for every Simon + Blue scene. I read every one with a smile on my face and my heart was just one big pile of mushy goo. Those two are the definition of precious and I couldn’t get enough. I mean, that promposal scene? Gah! So adorable!

THESE THINGS, NOT SO MUCH:

1. Leah. It pains me to say, but I spent most of the book not liking Leah. For someone who could be so self-aware she was always shockingly clueless at times. She was cavalier with the feelings of others which disappointed to me to no end. And when she got on her sanctimonious high horse… look out. My biggest issue with Leah, though, came at a pivotal scene when another main character was sharing something important. Leah’s reaction had steam coming out of my ears and the hypocrisy she displayed had me seeing red.

2. The romance. Sorry, I didn’t buy it. It didn’t feel organic and maybe that’s a weird thing to say because obviously these are Albertalli’s characters and she knows them better than anyone, but the romantic relationship felt forced and I never bought into it. Also, the fact that there had to be a break-up for the romance to happen… meh. It left a bad taste.

3. Characters who no longer felt familiar. Maybe this is just me, but there were a couple characters that just felt so different from who they were in Simon Vs. Most notably, Abby and Nick. It was like they had personality transplants between the two books and I no longer recognized them.

So there you have it. I have to admit, it kind of hurts my heart that I didn’t love this one. But for me it just didn’t have the magic and charm of Simon Vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda. And I discovered that I like Leah better in small doses.

3/5 STARS




30 comments

  1. Great review, Tanya. I enjoyed the book overall, especially the likes you mentioned, but I definitely see where you're coming from on your list of dislikes, especially Abby and Nick feeling like two completely different characters than those we met in Simon vs.

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    1. Thanks Suzanne. I really wanted to love this one but it just wasn’t working for me. I still liked it well enough (3 stars isn’t bad no matter what some think) but Leah was tough to take mst of the time.

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  2. Sorry to hear you didn't love this one. I've heard similar things about Leah. I do want to read it at some point though - mainly for Simon and Blue. :)

    -Lauren
    www.shootingstarsmag.net

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    1. I definitely don’t want to put anyone off reading it. I still liked it well enough. And yes, all the Simon and Blue moments made it totally worth it. :)

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  3. Thanks for your review! I've heard this a couple times about this book... it's too bad. But I do definitely want to read What If It's Us!

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    1. Yeah, I was hoping I would love it, but... it was just okay for me. I definitely recommend What If It’s Us, though! Ben and Arthur are too cute for words! :)

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  4. That’s disappointing. I have this book sitting on my TBR shelf, so I’ll read it eventually. I probably need to lower my expectations.

    Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  5. You lovingly explained why this one didn't work for you, Tanya. :) I'm sorry it was disappointing though. I know you were really looking forward to it. But your list of things that didn't work - well, I can understand your feelings. At least you had Simon & Blue. ;)

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    1. Aw, thanks Brandee. It actually kind of hurt that I didn’t love this one as much as I wanted to. But, there were definitely shining moments and lots of humor and they can’t all be 5 star reads! :) And yes, at least I had Simon and Blue. 💕

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  6. You seem to be in the majority with this one. Leah was such a great character so it's a bummer that people aren't enjoying it more.

    Karen @ For What It's Worth

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    1. I really enjoyed Leah in Simon Vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda so I had no qualms about this one. But I found her snarkiness and her constant judgment to be too much to take. *sigh*

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  7. I've seen so many mixed reviews for this book! I'm sorry you didn't enjoy it as much as Simon Vs. I've definitely heard that Leah was not enjoyable. :/

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    1. Yeah, this one was definitely not up there with Simon Vs. for me. Still okay, but Leah was really just too much for me take at times.

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  8. Bummer. It's really hard to love a book when you don't love the main character and they frustrate you much of the time. Glad to hear you did enjoy getting a glimpse of Simon and Blue, and you had other parts to enjoy. Great review, Tanya. Maybe someday I'll get to Simon Vs. :)

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    1. Thanks Rachel. :) Yeah, when you’re often annoyed with the main character it’s hard to love the book. But I got to go all mushy over Simon and Blue so it was all good. LOL Now you need to go forth and read Simon! :)

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  9. Leah was the worrssstttt. I didn't like her overall attitude and how she treated her mother. I also didn't buy the romance either. Becky had to undone too many things for that romance to work.

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    1. OMG, yes! The way she talked to/treated her mother. That was another thing I couldn't stand. Her mom was amazing and didn't deserve the crappy attitude. Ugh.

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  10. Thank you! That romance was so forced, even when Albertalli was trying to make us think back to Simon and see the "clues". Nope. Why'd she have to blow up the gang to make that happen too? I was actually thinking there were sparks between Leah and Simon's sister, but then it didn't happen.

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    1. Yeah, I wasn't buying it. Sorry, but there was *nothing* in Simon Vs. that alluded to this romance. No "clues." Ugh. I would have been totally fine with Leah and Nora. But this and how it was done? Nope.

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  11. I've seen so many reviews sharing the same feelings too Tanya, that they just couldn't get on board with Leah as a character. I have to be honest, I'm just not a fan of the author after reading What If It's Us and trying to read this one, I just don't think her writing is for me. I'm sorry you couldn't have enjoyed this more Tanya but really enjoyed your review.

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    1. Yeah, it seems like a lot of readers had issues with Leah - and with the way the romantic relationship played out. I actually enjoyed What If It's Us but this one just didn't do it for me. I definitely agree that not every author is for everybody, though. Albertalli is hugely popular but it doesn't mean her writing works for everyone - like you. Jandy Nelson is one that everyone else seems to love but I just don't care for. Thank goodness there's something for everyone! :)

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  12. I still want to read this one for myself, but I have heard similar things about Leah on the off beat.
    Deanna Reads Books

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    1. Yeah, I'd read a lot of reviews that were a bit disappointing but I was still excited for Leah and getting back into the Creekwood world. Unfortunately I had some of the same problems others did and it was just an okay read. I'll cross my fingers that you'll love it!

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  13. I saw quite a few less than brilliant reviews for this one when it first came out which is why I've not raced out to get a copy. I loved the idea of returning and seeing old favourites and exploring new characters... but I just haven't seen anyone rave about this one so I kind of put it off which sucks because I've enjoyed Becky Albertalli's books a lot.

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    1. Yeah, not loving this one kind of broke my heart. I think Becky Albertalli is great, and I loved returning to the Creekwood world, but I wasn't a big fan of Leah or the direction the story took. It was fun revisiting Simon, though! :)

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  14. This sounded like a good book. I am sorry you didn't like that much. I think my daughter would really like it. I did see a bunch of good reviews of of tho. I don't know maybe we will get, it maybe we won't. Thanks for the great honest review of it.

    Mary

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    1. I guess it's like any other - some will love it, so won't. Your daughter might love this one, since she enjoys contemporaries. :)

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