Leah On the Offbeat

Leah Burke—girl-band drummer, master of deadpan, and Simon Spier’s best friend from the award-winning Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda—takes center stage in this novel of first love and senior-year angst.

When it comes to drumming, Leah Burke is usually on beat—but real life isn’t always so rhythmic. An anomaly in her friend group, she’s the only child of a young, single mom, and her life is decidedly less privileged. She loves to draw but is too self-conscious to show it. And even though her mom knows she’s bisexual, she hasn’t mustered the courage to tell her friends—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 in unexpected ways. With prom and college on the horizon, tensions are running high. 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 really enjoyed Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda when I (finally) read it, and I heard that this companion novel was so good. I was excited to read this for one of my book clubs!

I liked this book about as much as I enjoyed Simon. I really liked Leah but at times it was really difficult to be in her head. I think in some ways she reminded me so much of myself (stubborn, ‘burning things down’ when they aren’t just right / perfect), so maybe that’s why I found her a little frustrating at times!

This was a really sweet book, and I loved the relationships in it. I also liked the way Becky Albertalli wrote about the end of school, time passing, things changing. Even if it doesn’t feel like it, it flies by.

I don’t know if there are plans to write another book in this world, but if there is another book in this series, I will definitely read it!