Confession: I bought this book a year ago. Exactly a year ago today. Thanks Amazon! When I have the $ and Amazon is having one of their sales (a year ago it was Black Friday), I buy a bunch of books, forget I have them, and then rediscover them when I’m looking for something to read. I do love my Kindle. This book was just adorable.
Other confession: I read the last two pages after I read the first page, so I always knew Blue’s identity. I don’t care. That’s how I roll. It didn’t ruin the book for me at all. But, I won’t reveal Blue’s identity to you. You get to decide how you want to learn.
This was a lovely book to read. There were secrets, betrayals and hurt feelings, but no huge tragedies.
Simon is 16. He lives outside of Atlanta, and he is gay. The only person who knows is his secret, anonymous pen pal, Blue. Blue is also 16, gay, and goes to the same high school. Simon and Blue are each other’s support in navigating high school with a secret. The book opens right into Simon’s main source of conflict. Another classmate sees their email correspondence and blackmails Simon into helping him get close to the new popular girl, Abby. Simon’s best friend, Nick, has a crush on Abby and it’s creating stress with their other best friend Leah. Simon has to decide how to handle the blackmail, when and how to come out to his friends and family, how to navigate increasingly complex friendships, and how hard to push Blue to reveal his true self. Not everything goes well. Some people are jerks, and Simon isn’t always the kindest. But in the end, every one has changed a little, grown a little, and the future looks mostly promising.
I really hope they don’t mess up the movie adaptation of this, because the book is so lovely and I want the film to be just as awesome.
Me too.