In this lovely sequel to What if It’s Us? Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera bring back Ben Alejo and Arthur Seuss, two years into the future. Arthur is away at college, with a new boyfriend, Mikey, and Ben is still living at home, working under his father at the Duane Reade drugstore, while going to college. One day, as Ben is with his friends Dylan and Samantha, they are in the park and, coincidentally, come across a wedding – the one for which Ben and Arthur witnessed the flash mob proposal on the day they met. This prompts Ben to un-block Arthur’s Instagram and discovers that his former love is returning to New York for a summer internship with an off-Broadway director.
Told in alternating points of view between Ben and Arthur, Albertalli and Silvera take the reader once again through the rekindling of the friendship between the two young men, a friendship challenged by old feelings still unresolved for each other, as well as the unresolved feelings Arthur has for Mikey and Ben has for his friend, Mario.
The sequel is just as fun and fabulous as the first, and the roller coaster that is the will-they-or-won’t-they of the relationship between the two main characters is wonderful. The plot paces perfectly and this definitely feels like a new chapter for Ben and Arthur rather than a rehash, which sometimes can happen in a sequel. Also returning are Arthur’s friends Jessie and Ethan. It’s a great story and fun to find out what has happened to all these characters in the two-year span between the end of What if It’s Us? and the beginning of Here’s to Us.
A definite must read!
Share My YA 