Becky Albertalli has written another great book. It perfecting explores bi-ness and what it means to be queer with a group of relatable characters finding their way.

This book was so personal and so honest, I really loved it! The discussions about discourse felt so important, both to the author and to this story. I was obsessed with the pop culture references and the nuance and vulnerability of these characters. It’s also just a really cute queer love story!

Imogen, Obviously is a sweet, charming, story about finding your truth. It's about the fluidity of identity and the strange sense of uncertainty that comes with not feeling like you know who you are. And it's also about students being students, with plenty of wit, sarcasm and dramatic group chats.

Imogen is living a lie, pretending to be the ex girlfriend of her best friend, and in doing so, figures some things out about herself. Although this could be shelved as romance, at the core of the story is friendship. There are some beautiful examples of happy, silly, supportive young adult friendships, that are just a pleasure to read. I hope every queer young person finds their family in friendships like these.

Recommended for all fans of YA fiction with great LGTBQ+ representation.

‘A people pleaser walks into a diner with five other people, and every single one of them wants her to be someone different.’

This is my favourite line from this book and highlights the main issue of this story. Imogen has a diverse set friends and all have their labels well and truly established. More importantly, her role in each of their friendships is also ingrained.

We are taken on a journey of exploration through Imogen’s thoughts which is complicated, thorough and reflective of the world we are living in. It provokes thoughts about our ‘labels’ and the tensions it can cause if we realise ours maybe isn’t the one we would like for ourselves.

This feels like a deeply personal book for the author based on the her well-documented previous experiences. When reading you realise the importance of Imogen’s thoughts and it makes you want to digest every word fully. I thoroughly enjoyed it and believe it will help a huge number readers who are both going through a similar thought process, but it also demonstrate us all that labels are changeable. The world is ever changing and so are we!

I enjoyedthis story. Really cute characters and a lovely message to share about bei g yourself and about friendship

4.25/5

I wish this book had been even longer! I didn't want it to end. It was so cosy and comforting and important, it has claimed such a special place in my heart.

Thank you Netgalley and HarperCollins UK, Children's for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Imogen, Obviously is such a heartfelt story. It's instantly clear to see how much passion and purpose Albertalli has put into it. She shares very personal emotions through Imogen, she pushes people to reflect on their actions and beliefs, she fills every line with her heart and soul. And she does this incredibly well, this is such a perfect queer coming-of-age story.

Ultimately, Imogen, Obviously is full of queer joy. I adored the characters, their relationships were all so brilliant. From their friendship groups to their families, you could always feel the care and love these characters held for each other. There were relationships that grew and some that fractured, however all of them developed with great arcs and poignant themes.

Simon Vs. was one of the first queer books that I ever read and it will always be so special to me. Albertalli writes that if Simon was her attempt to throw a ball into the air, Imogen is her attempt to catch it. I adored this sentiment and I definitely think Albertalli's writing and storytelling has come full-circle with this book. Alongside her growth as a writer, I believe that some of her personal beliefs have also changed and I loved the social commentary within this book.

Imogen, Obviously boasts such a vast cast of diverse characters that exist in the loving queer community that they've made for themselves. There are challenges and disruptors of this peace, but it is a safe haven that holds strong throughout. I adored the little family that they made. I think this is an amazing book to devour and let comfort you.

— 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 —

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: Imogen, Obviously
𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬: N/A
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫(𝐬): Becky Albertalli
𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: LGBT YA Romance
𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝: 2nd May 2023
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 4.5/5

”Maybe I’m more liquid than most people are. I always seem to take the shape of my container.”

I seriously loved this bi awakening story. It was so cute and the banter was top-tier comedy. The sausage drama was ridiculously hilarious and the texts between Imogen and Tessa had me smiling down at my kindle app like I, too, had a secret crush.

It wasn’t just Imogen and Tessa who had fabulous character dynamics, though. I loved the relationships between Imogen and 99% of the characters. The friendships had me envious to be honest, I simply love that feeling of unconditional support.

So, this story is very personal to the author. This is made clear by the authors note at the beginning that this book is essentially BA responding to the discourse she received for coming out, and also a way for the author to express themselves and say ‘this is my experience and no one should put it in a box’. I didn’t know that this discourse was a thing so it was pretty eye opening for me, but it did make me think of Kit Connor and how the Internet essentially forced an 18 year old to come out to the world before he was ready. In mental health, there’s a term called ‘toxic support’ where a person says something thinking they’re being supportive, when in fact they’re being harmful, for example, telling someone with depression ‘it could be worse’. Telling someone that they should have come out sooner to help their fan base would also qualify as toxic support. It helps no one and invalidates the non-linear shape that all our lives take.

I liked the way the author justified Gretchen’s behaviour. It validated the negatives of being queer whilst demonstrating that actually, Gretchen’s behaviour is a projection of her emotional trauma and her beliefs are an extension of that too.

Imogen, Obviously explores important topics such as internalised biphobia, labels, bi awakening, sexuality invalidation and as previously mentioned, forced outings. I think every person should read this book. I feel like a better person just for reading this book. I also feel seen.

There are so many positives to this novel; lots of queer rep, Imogen being so damn relatable with her people pleasing, and basically all the characters. Reading this book is like coming home from a long, miserable, wet day and changing into pyjamas and fluffy socks. It’s so comforting and I found myself really sinking into it.

𝑲𝒂𝒚𝒍𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉 @ 𝑾𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒉 𝑩𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝑭𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒚
🧚‍♀️🤍

“Like finding Waldo and realizing he was never really hiding.”

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children’s Books for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Imogen Scott may be hopelessly heterosexual, but she’s got the World’s Greatest Ally title locked down. She's never missed a Pride Alliance meeting. She knows more about queer media discourse than her very queer little sister. She even has two queer best friends. There's Gretchen, a fellow high school senior, who helps keep Imogen's biases in check. And then there's Lili—newly out and newly thriving with a cool new squad of queer college friends. Imogen's thrilled for Lili. Any ally would be. And now that she's finally visiting Lili on campus, she's bringing her ally A game. Any support Lili needs, Imogen's all in. Even if that means bending the truth, just a little. Like when Lili drops a tiny queer bombshell: she's told all her college friends that Imogen and Lili used to date. And none of them know that Imogen is a raging hetero—not even Lili’s best friend, Tessa. Of course, the more time Imogen spends with chaotic, freckle-faced Tessa, the more she starts to wonder if her truth was ever all that straight to begin with. . .

Imogen is an extremely likeable and relatable character. She apologises a lot, wants others to be happy - perhaps sometimes at her own expense - and has a great sense of humour. And in this book, she goes on quite the journey. I loved her interactions with others, both family and friends, and seeing the subtle changes in her as the story went on. Most noticeably, how she began to feel more self-assured and confident in herself and her actions. Her relationships with her sister and her friends felt so meaningful and I felt a whole range of emotions alongside Imogen, wanting only the best for her. You can’t ask for more of a character than that!
Tessa is wild and free - and certainly someone I would love to be friends with. Her quirks add to her personality and she is easily a beacon of fun! Her energy and confidence drew me in to her character and I knew I liked her from the beginning. She was very well written and makes me wish for a Tessa in my life!

This story is incredibly personal to Albertalli and you can really feel that care and attention to detail as you read this. A lot of moments of the story really resonated with me - especially with how I realised what my thoughts and feelings were and the realisation that I was bi. It really struck a chord with me but it made me enjoy the story even more. The flow was fantastic, I could scarcely put the book down and I had to force myself to slow down, to pace myself, so I could really take the time to enjoy the story. The characters felt well rounded and perfectly fleshed out that they all stuck out and felt carefully considered - no one was an afterthought or minute inclusion. The ending was pretty damn perfect in my eyes as well. Sure I have one or two questions after that ending but those don’t matter at all when I got to read what I have. I don’t think words can express how much I loved this story! Well done Albertalli!

Overall, Imogen, Obviously is such a deeply moving and important book that I highly, highly recommend!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children’s Books for an advanced copy of this book. Review will be live on my blog on release day.

Imogen is absolutely certain she's straight. She's a loud ally for the LGBTQ+ community, super supportive of her LGBTQ+ friends and sister, and always trying to learn more and be a better ally.

Her two closest friends are Lili and Gretchen. One of them I loved; the other, I would happily drop-kick off a cliff into the North Sea. I'll let you decide for yourselves which is which.

Imogen goes to stay with Lili for a weekend to try out college life before moving there. She's really nervous about meeting Lili's other friends and wanting to fit into Lili's new life; Lili has complicated things by telling her friends Imogen is bi and that the two of them dated. It throws Imogen a bit, but she's a people pleaser who would do anything for her pal, so she goes along with it. In the process, she meets someone who makes her question her entire identity. Because, she's absolutely sure she's straight...but what if she's not?

Imogen spends so much of the book interrogating herself and her thoughts, looking back and wondering about things that happened in the past, questioning her motives and wondering if she's appropriating queerness in thinking she might have feelings for a girl.

For those who have encountered the discourse about who should be allowed to write queer stories, there are a lot of familiar points in this book. People (one particularly) try to tell Imogen who she is, everything she's doing wrong as an ally, and want to gatekeep who gets to be part of the community. It made me so cross for Imogen. I felt genuine rage. I loved that she had other open and supportive friends to get her through this.

This is such a gorgeous, emotional rollercoaster of a read, and a lot of people (myself included) are going to feel very seen. It's not often I want to reread a book the second I close it, but that's exactly how I feel about this one.

I’m a massive fan of Becky Albertalli so I was super excited to get my hands on a proof via NetGalley and she did not disappoint! The story follows Imogen, who is visiting her childhood best friend at college. Problem is, her friend has a new group of entirely queer friends - and has told them that Imogen is bisexual, even though she’s straight….or is she?

What follows is a funny, uplifting coming of age story that really celebrates queer culture and queer found family as well as addressing the (often overlooked) toxicity within the community - something I know Albertalli has dealt with on a personal level - all with her usual charm and wit.

The writing is just so gorgeous, I immediately fell in love with the characters as they just feel so vividly imagined and fully realised!

I would highly recommend this book to any fans of queer YA, particularly fans of Adam Silvera, Casey McQuiston, Simon James Green, Sophie Gonzales etc (I really could go on forever)

It’s just such a wholesome, hopeful, and emotional read (I will admit that I cried!)

Imogen is surrounded by queer friends and thinks of herself as the token straight friend, until she goes to visit her best friend at college and meets all of her super cool, super queer friends. Is she really just an excellent ally? Is she faking these feelings she has for a girl? Or is she actually queer too?

I would love to know how different my life would be if I’d had this book when I was younger. Not only does it perfectly encapsulate the worries about going off to college and having to prove yourself to new people, but it’s funny and cute, with flirty banter and mischievous hijinks. I loved all of Lili’s friends - the group really had that found family vibe that I got from Heartstopper, One Last Stop, and Honey Girl. But it also does an amazing job of putting into the words the questioning aspect of realising your sexuality. The ‘is this a real crush or just like a ‘girl crush’ crush?’ feeling that I know only too well. It covers biphobia and the topic of forcing people to come out before they’re ready, and it’s so amazing, especially knowing how this happened to Becky Albertalli.

I saw so much of myself in this book, and hope that it does for budding bisexuals what it would have done for me years ago.

Well done Becky Albertalli - what a winner we have here in lovely Imogen and her band of friends in 'Imogen, Obviously.' I wasn't a huge fan of Simon and think Albertalli has gone from strength to strength in her subsequent books. She starts the story with a preface about her own coming out journey and the inspiration for Imogen's story. You can tell Albertalli has infused the narrative here with something so personal and real to her - there were no wasted words and I raced through such an enjoyable story.

Imogen is straight (obviously) but she counts herself as a strong ally to the huge number of LGBTQ+ people in her life, including her sister and best friends Gretchen and Lili. Lili is off at college living a newly 'out' life, leaving Imogen at home with Gretchen (who Lili hates with a passion!). Gretchen sees her role in Imogen's life as schooling her in everything LGBTQ+ and keeping her biases in check - everyone needs a friend like that right...?!

Imogen visits Lili at college and meets Tessa who is charming, chaotic and gels with Imogen immediately. Suddenly, being straight does not seem so obvious anymore.

Everything about this story was lovely - Imogen coming to terms with her queerness, the flirting with Tessa and rediscovering her friendship with Lili. It is heartwarming. The only thing I passionately hated was Gretchen - she serves an important point to the narrative, embodying everything toxic people online, in reviews and in life have ever said about Albertalli. Gretchen is self-righteous, selfish and completely unwilling to change her mind on anything. The way she treats Imogen is horrid and just gets worse and worse. A necessary antagonist but also her comeuppance is the thing you are desperately hoping for from her first appearance on the page.

Overall, an easy 5 stars. You will love it. *****

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher who provided an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Imogen may be hopelessly heterosexual, but she’s got the World’s Greatest Ally title locked down. And when she visits her best friend, Lili, at college who is newly-out, newly-graduated, and newly thriving, with a cool new squad of queer college friends, no one knows that Imogen’s a raging hetero – not even Lili’s best friend, Tessa.

Of course, the more time Imogen spends with chaotic, freckle-faced Tessa, the more she starts to wonder if her truth was ever all that straight to begin with…

Firstly, the representation in this book was just so so heartwarming. The queer friendships and allies and just the LOVE in this book truly warmed my heart. The characters I just loved so much, especially Imogen (obviously), Tessa and the queen that is Lili. I wanted to be their friend too!!

It was also very realistic and it was one of those books that I just got totally lost in, I was truly living inside this book. I fully believed in the characters and their stories, and found so many of their struggles so relatable. The way that the characters' insecurities were truly laid bare and how their struggles were really not shied away from, especially Imogen as we are in her head.

I was totally invested in this story, despite it being quite simple plot-wise, and the romance was just SO beautiful and made me feel so excited and hopeful and it was just STUNNING. The setting was also very well constructed and just a joy to be in!

My only critique is that I wanted to see perhaps some development and change in Gretchen, and perhaps even a sort of resolution with her, because I thought her character was left in a bad place, and I wanted everyone to be friends again (the idealistic and naive person I am).

The queer house party and Rainbow House was just the biggest bundle of joy and I truly felt a part of something when reading this! The way that being bisexual was explored was very interesting, especially when exploring people's opinions and biases around this topic.

There were also some great discussions around queerbaiting and internalised biphobia/homophobia, which was equally fascinating and made me think about certain things in a very different way.

Overall, this was a very special read, and definitely one I will consider getting a physical copy of for a reread. I absolutely can't wait to read more of Becky Albertalli's books!

****

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC! My review will be published on the 29th April on my blog. The link (not yet activated) will be https://zbestbooks.blogspot.com/2023/03/arc-imogen-obviously-by-becky.html .

This felt painfully realistic to me, and not only because I know that it draws significantly on Albertalli's own experiences of queer gatekeeping and accusations of appropriation. I've seen a lot of this discourse play out over and over again online, and I've seen first-hand the damage it can do to people trying to figure themselves out.

Sometimes I'm jealous of kids now, who have the vocabulary to explore their identities when they're still at school, but I'm not sure having access to more labels would have helped me as a teenager -- I think, like Imogen, I would have felt like none of them were mine to claim. I was once an over-invested straight ally, and then an over-invested cis ally, and I had my various awakenings at seventeen and eighteen, so I appreciated seeing a story about somebody who didn't "always know". Somebody for whom it wasn't obvious from day one, but who gradually starts to see their life through a different lens as they learn more about themselves.

And I think we all know, or at least know of, That One Queer Person who is so obsessed with explaining to you all the ways you're being Problematic, it never occurs to them that they're shutting down every avenue for exploratoin, or the possibilty of multiple experiences co-existing in the same space. Yeah, shared experiences are important. But queer spaces are about embracing difference.

I couldn't ever quite relax while reading this, because queer discourse always carries a sting of hurt, fiction echoing the real world a little too closely. But I think it raises some important questions. It pairs well, imo, with Simon James Green's "Gay Club", which is also a story about how gatekeeping in the interests of "safe" spaces ends up excluding the very people those spaces were supposed to be for. So if you liked this, check out that one, and vice versa.

thank you to netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars rounded up

i think this is my favourite becky albertalli book to date. so many people are going to relate to this book (from either Imogen’s or Gretchen’s side) and it’ll be very eye-opening. i was hooked from page one. i like how it tackles how realizing one’s sexuality isn’t linear, and that there’s no one way to realize.

this book is about imogen, the token ‘straight’ person in her friend group. even though she identified as that for years, a weekend away with her friend lili and her friend group from college has her questioning everything. i love imogen so much as well as lili and her friends.


some her thoughts were a little too relatable and that diner scene made me step back a bit because the emotions

gretchen also annoyed me (as she was designed to do), especially with her insistence that you have to experience homophobia to be queer, or that knowing you’re queer is innate and you have to know when you’re young. all of her toxic thoughts had imogen questioning every little thing and unfortunately there are people who think like gretchen in real life. i’m glad imogen had her friends and sister who taught her that what gretchen says isn’t always right.

i’m not sure if it was just me, but i felt that the ending was abrupt. but i’m also the type of person who wouldn’t mind if a story went on forever.

this is definitely one of my new favourite books and i can’t wait to get a physical copy of it once it comes out. everyone should read this!

A smart, affirming, and thought-provoking coming of age story. As always, Becky Albertalli writes with both heart and humour, and Imogen's story features a lovable cast of characters.

I absolutely adored this book in every way !!! I said Id only read a chapter or two before bed and instead devoured the entire thing. It's incredibly sweet and very realistic in the pain and inner turmoil of realising you're more than the box you'd put yourself in. I wish I had this book when I was 18 and goimg through the same damn thing. You can tell that this is a very personal book for Albertali and that it comes from a very raw and emotional place. Also it does a great job of illustrating the line between "wokeness" and toxicity and how destructive that line of thinking and speakiny can be to closested and questioning queers. No one owes you their coming out, no one owes you who they are.

Imogen, Obviously by Becky Albertalli

A coming of age story about identity and finding yourself. The book is obviously a very personal book for Becky Albertalli and is written to perfection.

We’re immediately introduced to Imogen, who is nervous about visiting her best friend Lili at college. When she arrives, Lili confesses to Imogen that she told her friends that not only are they best friends - but exes.

As the weekend begins, Imogen meets Lili's friends and is surprised to find that she feels welcome and belongs in the group.

When Imogen returns home she continues to text Tess, but as the week goes on Imogen begins to question her feelings for Tess and whether it could be more than just friends. She decides to confide in her friend Gretchen, who completely shuts her down.

Ah, this book. I loved it so much! My heart broke for Imogen whenever she was around Gretchen and was begging her to put her in her place the whole book. This book should be on high school reading lists for students and parents.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing an ARC through NetGalley.

Very cute for a YA audience. I really think this will resonate with many young teens. Powerful story told with heart