Review: Emmy & Oliver by Robin Benway

Edition: E-Book, 352 pages
Published by: Harper Teen, 23rd June 2015
Genre: Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Romance, Young Adult
Rating: 3.5 stars

Oliver’s absence split us wide open, dividing our neighbourhood along a fault line strong enough to cause an earthquake.

An earthquake would have been better. At least during an earthquake, you understand why you’re shaking.

Emmy and Oliver were going to be best friends forever, or maybe even more, before their futures were ripped apart. But now Oliver is back, and he’s not the skinny boy-next-door that used to be Emmy’s best friend. Now he’s the boy who got kidnapped. A stranger – a totally hot stranger! – with a whole history that Emmy knows nothing about. But is their story still meant to be? Or are they like the pieces of two different puzzles – impossible to fit together?

Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Edition: Paperback – Borrowed, 303 pages
Published by: Penguin, April 7th 2015
Genre: Coming of Age, Contemporary, GLBT, Realistic Fiction, Romance, Young Adult
Rating: 3.5 feathers

Summary courtesy of 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.