It's not really groundbreaking - I've lost count of how many YA romances I've read with this basic plotline, minus the lgbtq (and poc!) rep - but there's maybe something subversive in that, in and of itself. I was quite happy with who Blue turned out to be;

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I came up with Martin much earlier than Simon did, and I was hoping it wasn't him; I also considered his brother Carter through the same reasoning. Since the characters with speaking lines and known names were limited, I did briefly wonder if it was Bram, so I'm feeling pretty pleased that I was right

. Lots of dynamic relationships, both romantic and platonic and nebulously undefined (parents, siblings, sexuality-incompatible best friends, possible and actual love interests, antagonists and allies...); the cast is also really diverse, most notably with bisexual and black characters.

I noted pretty early on that Simon buys into a lot of stereotypes, and while as a character flaw it's realistic and forgivable I would've liked to see him called out on it (at least, more substantially than

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his surprise about who backed him up after the Tumblr post, or that soccer players like Bram weren't quite who he thought they were

). Also, I didn't feel like the subplot with Leah

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feeling like Abby replaced her in the group

was given enough focus; I get that it was a secondary storyline, but I would've liked to see it given more page-time because friendships are just as important as romantic relationships.