What If It’s Us

Author: Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera

Rating: 2/5

Arthur’s in New York for the summer. He runs into Ben at the post office and falls head over heels.

Spoilers ahead.

Detailed Summary

Sixteen-year-old Arthur Seuss is working as an intern in New York in his mother’s law firm. He’s on a coffee errand but sees a good-looking guy in front of a post-office gaping at these twins with handlebar moustaches and he’s like, SAME, and follows the guy into the post-office. The boy is holding a box and with his ex-boyfriend’s stuff but it’s too expensive so he leaves. Arthur is obsessed and wants to find the boy. Ben—the boy—is a Puerto Rican kid who’s attending summer school. He hangs out at his best friend Dylan’s place most of the time. He, too, wants to find the boy from the post-office because the Universe seemed to be putting them together. He and Dylan get coffee at this other coffee place and Dylan introduces him to his girlfriend Samantha. Things are awkward at summer school because Hudson, Ben’s ex, and their friend Harriet are there and act kind of mean. Arthur’s parents keep arguing so he thinks they’re going to have a divorce anytime now. His father tells him to post something on Craigslist Missed Connections. He doesn’t but he puts a notice in a coffee shop. Samantha offers to help Ben look for Arthur and she thinks that he’s going to be at this Yale freshers meet-up. Ben goes but it’s too awkward so he leaves. Later, he finds the notice at the coffee shop and emails Arthur.

They meet up and Ben plans a date at the arcade. Things get rough because Arthur doesn’t like arcades and Ben doesn’t seem very into it. He was thinking of Hudson the whole time. They plan a do-over first date which Arthur plans. They go to a fancy restaurant but that makes Ben uncomfortable so they eat hot dogs instead. They walk around Central Park and Arthur asks about Hudson which makes things awkward. They go on a third first-date at a karaoke place with Dylan and Samantha. It’s not that bad but they leave early together and hang out. Things go pretty well. Ben listens to Hamilton for Arthur. Arthur reads a book Ben is working on. They almost share a bed but it’s too much for Arthur to handle. For their second date, Ben had won the lottery for Hamilton tickets but they reached too late. Arthur is devastated and mad that Ben is always late. The boys sit together and listen to romantic songs together. Then Arthur surprises Ben at the summer school and he’s with Hudson. Arthur is mortified and tells Ben to leave him alone. Jessie and Ethan (his best friends from Georgia) have been trying to talk to Arthur for a while. They finally tell him they’ve been dating for two months. Arthur is even angrier and hangs up. Ben goes to Hudson’s apartment and cries. Hudson tries to kiss Ben but he gets a phone call from Samantha—Dylan’s at the hospital. He has this heart condition and it acted up. Ben immediately takes off for the hospital. In the train, he texts Arthur (it’s his birthday as well) and apologises and all that. He reaches the hospital and Dylan is fine.

Ben and Arthur hang out (Arthur went to the hospital too) at Arthur’s place because his parents are both away. Ethan and Jessie are downstairs. They have a birthday party—Samantha and Dylan and Arthur’s fellow interns come as well (the latter for only a short while). Then the three couples (Ethan and Jessie are dating) sleepover. On Arthur’s last day in New York, Ben organises this treasure hunt visiting important places in their history and gives him a box with memories to remember the summer by. Fifteen months later, they’re at college. Arthur’s got a thing for a boy named Mikey. Ben posted his story on Wattpad where it received thousands of reads. They’re still in touch and all they can do is think that maybe something may or may not happen.

Plot and Pacing: I didn’t particularly enjoy this book nor did I hate it. It was okay. I had very high expectations for it. Becky Albertalli is one of my favourite authors. Simon vs. The Homo sapiens Agenda was just too good a book and it was the one that kind of set young adult LGBTQ+ fiction going. And Adam Silvera is incredibly popular too. I mean, I didn’t really like History Is All You Left Me but millions of other readers do. Anyway, it was kind of disappointing. I felt a lot of the conflict was forced, the whole “Universe setting this thing” felt weird and I didn’t really like the characters much either.

Other than the boys meeting up by chance at the post-office and crushing on each other, the rest of the book was quite realistic and somewhat relatable. The Instagram search for each other, for instance. I don’t use Instagram but damn, if my sister tells me about some boy she’s dating, Instagram is the first place I check followed by LinkedIn and then the rest of the Internet. I found the characters somewhat relatable too which I’ll talk about later.

I think the purpose of the book was to be a cute fluffy romance—which a lot of people seem to enjoy a lot. There didn’t seem to be another point to it. I liked the ending where the two don’t end up together. They don’t take drastic chances for each other such as jeopardising their futures just for the sake of being together. Also, I think it was just something the authors really wanted to write. All those references to Hamilton and Dear Evan Hansen and Harry Potter and Star Wars. It was a treasure trove of nerdy references which I loved and which I would LOVE to banter about with friends in real-life but I don’t have friends with the same brain as me and so a lot of my jokes and references are lost on them. And that’s okay. I don’t expect everyone in the world to listen to Hamilton (though you should because it’s REALLY good). So I felt a bit woozy, happy and sad that these characters knew each other’s fandoms inside out.

Another thing that really bothered me about this book was how relationships were portrayed. I don’t EVER want to be in a relationship if it’s THAT complicated. I already overthink everything I do. I don’t want there to be anymore unspoken rules when you’re in a special relationship. That would just suck.

Characters: Arthur was relatable in several ways. I liked that he was unsure of everything regarding boyfriends. It was his first time for everything and so I’m glad that I’m not the only one who’s totally confused with why people share beds in the first place (other than to make little younglings) and touch their mouths to each other. Bleurgh. Okay, I’m totally immature when it comes to talking about this sort of thing. Anyway, I liked that I wasn’t the only one worried about all those scary relationship things.

I could also relate to Ben. We’re both super competitive. We play to freaking WIN. And we’re both uncomfortable with eating in front of people and insecure about our roots. He’s Puerto Rican but no one seems to think that. And I’m Indian but my extended family all call me a foreigner so there’s that. It has definitely not made the move to India easier.

I liked Dylan because he was funny but I’m not sure I would want a friend like him. He’s a bit too unabashed and free. Also, I still don’t know whether he has his own apartment and where his parents are. Dylan and Ben always seem to hang out but there’s not mention of Dylan’s parents. At first, I thought Dylan was several years older but nope, they’re in the same grade. Samantha was pretty cool too.

Honestly though, I felt all the relationships were really far-fetched. In Bangkok, the majority of my classmates were single and hadn’t done anything like that. Whereas in this book, everyone’s lost their virginities and stuff. I guess culture also plays a part here but I don’t want to write any blanket statements .

Writing Style: I loved the references, as mentioned. Reading this book felt like I was bantering with a friend. I almost felt like Harvey and Mike from Suits. I wouldn’t recommend this book unless you were a massive, die-hard fan of either Albertalli or Silvera. I know that I wouldn’t have finished the book if I wasn’t a fan. Halfway, I was tempted to just stop but I persevered. 🙂 May I have an Oreo now?