Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (Simonverse, #1) in 2016 Hub Reading Challenge

Nov 14, 2015 Lucie rated it it was amazing

Loved this book so much that I ate it up in a day - so sweet, and strangely cathartic to read! It was long listed for the National Book Award, which I was initially surprised by but now have to agree with. In some ways "Simon" is a light read, since at heart it is just a super adorable romance. However, there are deeper nuances about friendship and coming out which make it powerful at times. I really appreciated the complicated relationships Simon had with his friends and family, not just Blue.

I ...more

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Dec 30, 2014 Ellie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: teen, favorites

Love love love. This book caused just the right amount of nostalgia without sentimentalizing high school. There is strong character development for even the most minor characters, which I appreciate. I may be biased as a former theater kid, but I adored those scenes especially. The emails between Simon and Blue add depth to the story (thought it's certainly not a fluff book without them), and I enjoyed that the book shied away from a lot of conventional tropes. The blackmail aspect did get a bit ...more

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Jan 13, 2016 Julie Trapp rated it it was ok

The reviews & descriptions of this book had me excited to read it. Reading it changed my enthusiasm to boredom. It was very blah. Simon had a very real family - everyone had their own faults. He should have known they would support him and should not have been so timid. However, why wasn't he more upset with the blackmail? And when they finally meet, it was like they never communicated before. Not my favorite LGBT book. ...more

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Dec 17, 2015 Ms. Pansulla rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2010s, american-authors, surviving-high-school, lgbtq, morris-finalist, morris-winner, southern-lit, love-stories, yalsa-hub-challenge-2016

The perfect mix of angst, humor, romance, and classic American high school concerns (the politics of cafeteria seating, the insular world of theater rehearsals, diner chains that serve breakfast all day), driven by utterly believable characters getting themselves into circumstances both emotionally wrenching and entirely relatable. I'm always extra-happy to find love stories woven organically into a larger tapestry of social goings-on, and Simon's maneuvering with his friends were just as compel ...more

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