Here’s To Us
– Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera –
Quill Tree Books
Published 28 December 2021
♥♥♥♥♥
Here’s To Us is the long awaited (okay, it’s only been a couple of years, but it feels like forever) sequel to What If It’s Us. If you have read What If It’s Us, then you will know that if you wanted a happily ever after ending it desperately needed a sequel. And finally, finally, we have been gifted with a glorious, funny, delightful sequel. And that happily ever after? Oh yeah, there’s definitely a few of them this time around. A couple weddings, a few proposals, best friends forever – this book just seeps romance, love and heartwarming moments.
Ben and Arthur fell apart, separated by distance and different lives. They haven’t spoken for months. They both have boyfriends (or sort-of boyfriends). Ben is at college and working with his father. He’s still writing his epic fantasy novel but the highlight of his days are the guy he met in his writing class. Arthur has just landed the internship of his dreams with one of his favourite theatre directors. It means leaving behind his boyfriend, but they are strong enough to cope with the distance, and he’s back in New York for the first time in years. Suddenly, Ben and Arthur keep bumping into each other or find themselves in every spot that has memories of their romance. It’s nice (sort-of, or maybe just complicated?) to relive their first love, but it’s over and they can manage to be friends now. Right?
If their first romance was all about do-overs, this is the do-over do-over. Actually, for the majority of this book, Ben and Arthur are dating other guys, so just be prepared for that when you start reading. I think it’s pretty clear to everyone who exactly they should be dating but I was surprised that I didn’t hate their other relationships and other boyfriends. They are actually pretty amazing. Which of course makes this a bit of a love square? It’s messy and complicated and yes, some people get hurt, but that’s life. It’s real and sweet and powerful.
Here’s To Us does a great job of walking the fine line between young adult fiction, new adult fiction and adult fiction. In some ways, it’s it a bit of them all. We started the journey with Ben and Arthur when they were teens and What If It’s Us is definitely YA fiction. Here’s To Us has the same feel about the writing but Ben and Arthur are now adults, Ben’s at university, working and Arthur has just landed a dream internship. This book is about continuing to grow up but also about adulting – relationships, working, and trying to figure out what they want from their lives. By the end, I felt like I was reading an adult fiction novel. All I’m going to say is, thank you for the epilogue(s)!!
This sequel is not going to disappoint. I mean, you could offer a money-back, 100% satisfaction guarantee because fans of Ben and Arthur are going to love this.
The publishers provided an advanced readers copy of this book for reviewing purposes. All opinions are my own.
More information
Category: Young adult fiction/ new adult fiction
Genre: Realistic
Themes: Romance, writers, theatre, internships, relationships, New York City, LGBT, friendship.
Reading age guide: Ages 14 and up.
Advisory: Frequent sexual references, sexual innuendo and jokes, references to sexual relationships and sex scenes with some details. Frequent coarse language, f*** (84), sh**(39), ass**** (16), bi*** (3), di** (2), pi** (2). References to alcohol use.
Representation: Homosexual relationships, LGBT characters. Puerto Rican main characters, white main characters.
Published: 28 December 2021 by Quill Tree Books
Format: Hardcover, paperback, audiobook, ebook. 448 pages.
ISBN: 9780063071636
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