When Becky and Adam announced that they were teaming up to write a story, I was so excited. At the time, I’d only read one book each of theirs. While I found Becky’s writing lacking, I enjoyed her characters and loved what I’d read of Adam’s work, so it was easy to buy into the hype. As its release date grew nearer, I attempted to read two other works by Becky (both failures) and read another book of Adam’s (a massive disappointment), but I still held out hope that their teamwork would be exactly what I wanted in a cute rom-com contemporary.

I just think you’re meant to meet some people. I think the universe nudges them into your path. Even on random Monday afternoons in July. Even at the post office.

Unfortunately, most of my worst fears for What if it’s Us came true. While the characters have their cute moments, there’s no real plot besides the romance, and worse still, the romance falls short due to a COMPLETE lack of chemistry. The initial meet-cute in the first chapter was sweet and fun, but it immediately went downhill once any semblance of a real relationship began to form.

“Infinite do-overs.” “I like that,” he says. “It sounds like us.”

As you can gather from the synopsis, there’s space between their meeting and their reunion, in which Arthur is brought to the point of slightly stalker-like tendencies in his obsession to find “Box-Boy”. There are some secondhand embarrassment moments and a bit of development into their respective friendships, but beyond that, it felt like a placeholder. Given how long the book is for a YA contemporary, you’d think that timeframe would have involved some legitimate drama, but it’s mostly just a lot of repetitive moments with Arthur pining over Ben, while Ben pines over his breakup.

I barely know him. I guess that’s any relationship. You start with nothing and maybe end with everything.

Once they reunite, the painful absence of chemistry between them is like a train wreck. I thought at one point that the whole synopsis was one big “gotcha!” and they were about to go their separate ways and find their real love interests. Ben spends most of this part of the story treating Arthur like crap. I hated Ben’s perspective chapters for most of the book, because the way he views Arthur is terrible! He’s constantly reflecting on how Arthur is too short, or talks too much, and there’s the fact that there is an entire chapter dedicated to Ben whining internally about how bad Arthur is at arcade games—when Arthur never even wanted to go to the arcade, and Ben only dragged him there because it was somewhere Ben used to go with his ex.

(I’m getting pissed off writing this review because it’s reminding me of how much I can’t stand Ben’s character. I think I just accidentally lowered my own rating another star.)

All I can think about are all the things I want to know about him.

They do eventually reach a cutesy point, but it’s too late, it never feels authentic, and then the ending? I have never raged so hard at the ending of a fluffy contemporary book. I was LIVID over this ending. If you’re going to try this hard to convince me that these two kids need to be together, you had finish on a higher note than this garbage.

I’m right for him and he’s right for me and that feels beyond right—the universe knew it was love before we did.

On a less rant-y note, there are elements that I enjoyed. Dylan—Ben’s best friend—is hilarious and incredibly awkward. I loved the moments with him and his love interest, Samantha, and I loved the fact that he felt like a fleshed-out character who was going through his own issues and growing pains. On Arthur’s side, I thoroughly enjoyed every single scene with his father, who felt like a total homage to Simon’s dad in Simon vs., as he’s super supportive and well-meaning, and really wants to get hands-on and involved in helping Arthur find a boyfriend (that Craigslist scene killed me).

I don’t like that the same world that brought us together is also scaring him.

I also have to mention the representation: Arthur is gay and Jewish, and has ADHD, while Ben is gay and Puerto Rican. There’s not much time spent on Arthur’s family being Jewish, but we do get to spend a little time reflecting on how Ben feels about being Puerto Rican, the pride he takes in his heritage, and how painful it is to have your culture erased because you’re white-passing. There’s also a moment where the boys have to face off against a homophobic father on the train, which is painful, but necessary, as it shows Arthur that there are bigots everywhere—not just in the south, where he’s from.

People like me should come with a mute button.

Overall, What if it’s Us is not a total disaster—and I think with my low rating, at 2.5 stars, I’ll be in the minority here. A lot of people love both Becky and Adam way more than I do, and those people will have a field day with this book. There are also endless references to Harry Potter and Hamilton and Dear Evan Hansen, so if you’re into any (or all) of those fandoms, you’ll enjoy the in-jokes and trivia for sure (though I felt like it reached the point of oversaturation at times).

Sadly, the story overall just didn’t work for me. I feel like I wasted hours of my life that I’ll never get back, and it is with a heavy heart that I confess: I’m probably retiring from reading anything by either of these authors. I appreciate the representation they offer to the world, and I know their stories mean a lot to so many readers, but there are too many queer YA contemporary authors in the world who do a better job.

All quotes come from an advance copy and may not match the final release. Thank you so much to HarperTeen for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

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