This book is so good the movie rights have already been acquired.
What If It’s Us begins outside a post office in New York, where Arthur - nervous, Jewish, intern at his mum’s law office - is on his way to pick up coffee for the real lawyers. Arthur, who I’m not sure if I was friends with in high school or if I was in high school, impulsively ducks into the post office when he encounters Ben.
Ben - awkward, Puerto Rican, in summer school because ADHD + hot boys = no studying - is trying to mail a box of things back to his ex so he can avoid ever having to deal with that whole mess, which is also intensely relatable.
They meet, they cute, but then they separate without learning each other’s names or phone numbers, and even though I knew from the blurb they would find each other I died inside. This turned out to be common throughout this book.
There are a lot of good morals about having healthy (and unhealthy) relationships here, woven in with the story of two strangers trying to get to know each other and themselves. There’s a lot of honest portrayal of how it feels to be LGBT(QIA) and trying to live your life, perpetually slightly worried that someone will somehow sense your queerness and attack you for it.
I have read literally all of Becky Albertalli’s books so it’s no surprise that I fell right into the writing style, which although I sometimes laugh at the sheer density of pop culture references, is as familiar as my tumblr dash. I have not read any of Adam Silvera’s books, but I think now I’m going to have to fix that.
Finally, and totally self-indulgently, I need you all to know that at one point in the book one of the side characters idly tells Arthur that she identifies with the SAME LABELS AS ME. THAT’S ME, YOU GUYS. I CRIED. I’M CRYING AGAIN NOW TELLING YOU. NEVER LET ANYONE TELL YOU REPRESENTATION ISN’T IMPORTANT.
