"Leah on the Offbeat" by Becky Albertalli

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 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 the more than she ever intended. 

"Imagine going about your day knowing someone's carrying you in their mind. That has to be the best part of being in love - the feeling of having a home in someone else's brain."

THIS BOOK! OH MY GOSH. I don't even know where to start with this because there was so much that I loved about it. But I think I'll start by addressing the complaint other people seem to have which is that it seems a bit fanfiction-y. Personally, I didn't think the love story in this was fanfiction-y since people fall in love with unlikely people all the time and I liked how this love story turned out.

As for the fact some people have said that the characters didn't seem exactly the way they were in Simon vs. The Homo-Sapiens Agenda. Well, of course they weren't! That was from Simon's perspective and this one was from Leah's and they are vastly different people with different perspectives. I know that Leah may come across as a bit negative, but I found her very relatable.

As someone who has struggled a lot with the shut-everything-down-if-anything-goes-wrong complex, I totally understand how Leah acted often. And she certainly becomes more positive as the story continues especially with that adorable romance. Speaking of, I am so obsessed with the romance in the book!

I'm not going to spoil anything which means I can't say too much, but it was such a sweet romance. I love when *teeny tiny spoiler ahead* a female/female romance gets a happily ever after. There just aren't enough of those. This may have been what I appreciated most about this book. Along with the bisexual representation.

Becky Abertalli does such a great job with respectfully handling things like sexuality, religion, and race. She certainly does a good job with it in every book. I'm also a big fan of how she always has Jewish characters. As a Jewish girl, it's hard to find a lot of characters like me in books and I take what I can get. I appreciate Becky Albertalli always throwing me a bone on that.

Overall, I loved this book so much! Queer romances, high school nostalgia, and well done diversity all make for a great book.

Rating: 5 stars