REVIEW: Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli

Pages: 343
Format: Paperback
Series: Creekwood #2
Publisher: Penguin
Release Date: April 30th 2018
Genre: Contemporary
Buy The Book: Book Depository

When it comes to drumming, Leah Burke is usually right on the beat - but real life is a little harder to manage. She loves to draw but is too self-conscious to show it. And she hasn't mustered the courage to tell her friends she's bisexual, 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. With prom and college on the horizon, tensions are running high and 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 ...

I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to read Leah on the Offbeat. Simon vs. is one of my favourite contemporary books, so I was super excited to read about Leah in her own story, especially with how much I love her attitude. The book got a little lost in my TBR for a while, but I finally managed to pick it up whilst in lockdown.

It follows Leah through her senior year at Creekwood, preparing to go to college. The very same college that Abby Suso is going to. After Abby breaks up with Nick, she and Leah grow closer as they team up to pay a visit to their future college campus, and Leah struggles to figure out what she should do.

Leah is so torn throughout this story because whilst she may come across as sharp, cool, and collected, she never wants to do anything that would purposefully hurt her friends. She knows what her ever-changing relationship with Abby will do to Nick. She also wants to avoid being hurt herself whilst Abby figures out what she wants.

There are so many aspects of Leah’s character that I could identify with. Her love for anime and fandom, her passion for art, and her doubts about change. All of those things made her such a real character to me because there were emotions present that I FELT IN MY BONES. There were pages and quotes that called out to me so much it was PAINFUL. Leah’s thoughts and feeling about certain things just resonated with me so goddamn much.

I did have a few things that didn’t sit completely right with me when it came to Leah, mostly because of her immediate reaction to Abby calling herself lowkey-bi. On one hand, I can understand how that might come across to someone who has known they are bisexual for a long time. But on the other, Abby is a high school senior who is confused as HELL. As someone in my twenties who still feels confused about sexuality and what, exactly, I should identify as, any high school student has every right to not know how to define themselves, and it’s perfectly okay.

On a quick side note: I LOVED REUNITING WITH SIMON AND BRAM SO MUCH.

• FRIENDSHIP GROUPS. Friends play such as important part in this book, not just in terms of how much they support in each other, but also in acknowledging flaws. When Morgan makes a racist remark, Leah immediately calls her out on it, not allowing Morgan’s hurt feelings to be an excuse. 

• REALISING YOUR SELF WORTH. One of my favourite parts of this story is Leah learning that her art is something she can make money from, and that she shouldn’t doubt whether people would want to pay her for her work. 

• CUTE GIRLFRIENDS. Leah and Abby’s relationship development is beautiful. The prom scenes at the end? THE ABSOLUTE CUTEST.

• LEAH’S HUMOUR. The laughing I did during this book. She has such flawless comic timing.

This was the wholesome, fun read I needed during lockdown, so I’m glad I finally rescued it from my shelf. It’s a story that deals with such an overwhelming time in a young person’s life, and it manages to make the changes of leaving high school look a little less daunting. I loved getting the chance to see Leah and Abby shine in a book of their own.

Royal Rating:

 

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Bookish Christmas Gift Haul

Since Christmas has been and gone, I thought I’d share the bookish gifts I received this year. I’ve never really done any sort of haul-post before, mostly because I never have enough content for one! But since I promised to try writing a bigger variety of posts this year, I decided to give it a go.

First, let’s start with the books! These will be the ones I’ll be delving into over the next couple of months. 

First up is a book that’s been on my to-read list for a while, The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee. I’ve been wanting to read this one for such a long time and thanks to my bestie and fellow blogger, Rachel, I’ll finally be able to! I’ve heard lots of good things, so it’s safe to say I’m excited. 

Next up are the books I received from my gorgeous friend Jasmine. We know each other so well that we ended up getting each other the same thing, the first physical instalment of the online comic, Check, Please! by Ngozi Ukazu! I’d been wanting a copy since it was released, but thought I’d buy her a copy for Christmas first. And then, to my amusement, I woke up on Christmas morning to find out she’d had the same idea. We’re iconic. She also got me a copy of Leah on the Offbeat, which is another book I’ve been dying to read since it was released!

Finally, as queen of buying myself presents, I treated myself to a copy of Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare. Due to being Extremely Broke for the majority of this year, it was the first time since discovering Cassie’s books that I hadn’t bought a copy on release day. I felt pretty empty when the date rolled around and I wasn’t rushing to Waterstones. Thankfully I had some spare cash just before Christmas and was able to get myself a copy while it was on offer.

Whilst I was been busy accepting my Hufflepuff identity in 2018, so were those around me! My parents gave my a Hufflepuff tote this Christmas and my Slytherin bestie added in the adorable Hufflepuff keyring. Though she still likes to bully me with her Slytherin ways. Knowing I’m trash for stationary, my sister got me this gorgeous Marauders Map notebook and I am in LOVE with how pretty it is. 

My cutest bookish gift has to be the letter that I woke up to close to Christmas. I FINALLY GOT MY HOGWARTS LETTER. That’s right, guys, I’m going to be a witch. Fifteen years too late, but there’s a time for everything. 

I also got some Harry Potter pyjamas (thank you, Primark, for affordable merch!) but the box they came in was so pretty that I’ve ended up using it as a storage box. A bonus gift! 

Did you get any bookish gifts at Christmas? 

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