Leah on the Offbeat (Simonverse, #3) in Crazy Challenge Connection

Aug 05, 2018 Daniel rated it liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. So. I was a huge fan of Simon vs..... and I was going into this book totally ready to reconnect with these characters. I don’t know who THESE people are, but they are not the lovable misfits I knew from the first outing at Creekwood High. And, maybe that’s the point? I’m unsure.
This book picks up a year after the events of Simon vs. the Homo Sapien Agenda and focuses on Leah, Simon’s best friend who fell hard for her closeted bff in the first book. Now it’s time for Leah to struggle with her ow So. I was a huge fan of Simon vs..... and I was going into this book totally ready to reconnect with these characters. I don’t know who THESE people are, but they are not the lovable misfits I knew from the first outing at Creekwood High. And, maybe that’s the point? I’m unsure.
This book picks up a year after the events of Simon vs. the Homo Sapien Agenda and focuses on Leah, Simon’s best friend who fell hard for her closeted bff in the first book. Now it’s time for Leah to struggle with her own sexuality as she tries to decipher what her exact feelings are towards one of her female classmates.
The audiobook was engaging and I was never bored. I will say that was a huge plus. I will also say that the Leah in this book bears little to no resemblance of the Leah from “Simon vs..”. This Leah is, frankly, super unlikeable and her shitty attitude through the bulk of the book was a real turn off. Especially when it came across as being a moody teenager for the sake of being a moody teenager. Also, I don’t remember her being fat in the first book. I don’t take issue with having positive plus-sized main characters in YA books. I’m a big guy myself and lord knows, we need as many positive characters in the plus sized community that we can muster. However, it seems like the decision to make Leah overweight in this book simply to give her opportunities to bemoan her size (despite the unrealistic aspect of an insecure chubby girl having not one but TWO popular-ish people vying for her affections) seemed forced and a plot device, at best. Also, some developments in this book make the Leah from the first book appear to be the world’s biggest bitch - given the way things panned out in book one when Simon finally came out to her. I get that her reaction could be a realistic reaction but at the same time it sort of makes me dislike her even more as a character when thinking about the events of the first book.
Basically, I feel like they decided to make her chubby and a miserable twat dealing with her sexual orientation in order to piggy back on the success of the first book and it really didn’t work for me.
That being said, would I read another novel about these characters ? Heck yes! They’re charming in their own ways and I enjoyed visiting with them. And, the writer touches on some very important and very real issues teenagers are dealing with. However, overall this book left a bad taste in my mouth and what’s worse did the same for its predecessor which is one of my favorite YA books of all time.
Best book ever? No. Realistic? Not at all. Enjoyable? You betcha...except for when I was cringing and bemoaning these choices made for what I can only assume was to help sell more books.

3.25/5⭐️ ...more

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