Words I Write Crazy: Week 26 Reviews: Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda, The Upside of Unrequited, Leah on the Offbeat, Love, Creekwood

Saturday, June 28, 2025

Week 26 Reviews: Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda, The Upside of Unrequited, Leah on the Offbeat, Love, Creekwood

From Goodreads:

Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn't play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone's business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he's been emailing, will be compromised.

With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon's junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he's pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he's never met.

From Goodreads:
Seventeen-year-old Molly Peskin-Suso knows all about unrequited love. No matter how many times her twin sister, Cassie, tells her to woman up, Molly can't stomach the idea of rejection. So she's careful. Fat girls always have to be careful.

Then a cute new girl enters Cassie's orbit, and for the first time ever, Molly's cynical twin is a lovesick mess. Meanwhile, Molly's totally not dying of loneliness—except for the part where she is. Luckily, Cassie's new girlfriend comes with a cute hipster-boy sidekick. If Molly can win him over, she'll get her first kiss and she'll get her twin back.

There's only one problem: Molly's coworker, Reid. He's a chubby Tolkien superfan with a season pass to the Ren Faire, and there's absolutely no way Molly could fall for him.

Right?

From Goodreads:

When it comes to drumming, Leah Burke is usually right on 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 is bisexual, not even her openly gay BFF Simon.

So Leah really doesn't know what to do when her rock-solid friendship group starts to fracture. With prom and college on the horizon, tensions are running high, and it's hard for Leah when the people she loves are fighting – especially when she realizes she might love one of them more than she ever intended...

From Goodreads:

Fall in love all over again with the characters from the bestselling Simonverse novels in this highly anticipated epilogue novella. Perfect for fans of Becky Albertalli, the movie Love, Simon, and the new Hulu series spin-off, Love, Victor!

It's been more than a year since Simon and Blue turned their anonymous online flirtation into an IRL relationship, and just a few months since Abby and Leah's unforgettable night at senior prom.

Now the Creekwood High crew are first years at different colleges, navigating friendship and romance the way their story began—on email.

My first review of Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda, The Upside of Unrequited
My Review:

Author: Becky Albertalli

Series: Simonverse #1, 2, 3, 3, Creekwood #1, 2, 2.5
First Read: October 29th, 2015, November 1st, 2017

Read: June 21st, 22nd, 22nd, 22nd, 2025
Source: Bought, Own, Ebook.bike
Reason Why: Rereading, and they're Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2025 Books, and Love, Creekwood is a End of Series 2025 Book!
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Published: April 7th 2015, April 11th 2017, April 24th 2018, June 30th 2020

Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda: