Book of the Month: “Here’s To Us” by Adam Silvera and Becky Albertalli
Here’s To Us, the long-awaited sequel to the New York Times Bestseller, What If It’s Us by Adam Silvera and Becky Albertalli is here. As the book opens, Ben and Arthur are no longer together, despite how incredible their short, whirlwind romance was in the previous book.
In fact, they both have new boyfriends and are trying their hardest to make a go of happiness with other people. As Here’s To Us opens, Arthur and Ben are so broken up that they’re living in different cities and they’re not even speaking to each other at the onset of the story.
We binged Here’s To Us in two short sittings and we’re not even sorry! This is our Book of the Month here at Q+ Magazine in January and we’re hoping you’ll all grab a copy so we can gush together over its cute, yet angsty fabulousness. Here is everything we loved about Adam Silvera and Becky Albertalli’s latest collaboration.
Here’s to us: The 4-1-1
It’s the summer again, and Ben survived his first year of Community College in New York City. He is still living at home, but he has a job now and he is paying his way. College was challenging for him, but he survived, and he made a new friend along the way. Mario is in Ben’s writing class and the two have become more than just writing buddies. As the story picks up the two boys are definitely in the middle of a complicated friends-with-benefits situation which they’re both doing a really great job of avoiding talking about.
Arthur has been in Boston, but this summer finds him back in New York City for the first time in two years. He landed a way-too-cool assistant to the director internship at an Off-Broadway theater. It’s a great opportunity for him, and while Arthur is excited, he is leaving his boyfriend behind in Boston while he spends the summer in New York City.
Despite this, and despite not talking for quite some time, Ben likes an Instagram post of Arthur’s on the eve of his arrival in New York City, and it sends Arthur into a bit of a tailspin. Arthur tries to play it cool but it’s really clear that he is still very much into Ben, regardless of what he is telling himself and his new boyfriend.
When Arthur arrives in New York City it isn’t long before he and Ben are organizing to meet, and we gotta tell ya, it’s a roller coaster of emotions from there on out.
Ben and Mario
When we first started reading, we didn’t know what to make of the fact that both Ben and Arthur were seeing other people. However, it wasn’t too long before we fell madly in love with Mario, and we could see exactly why Ben was into him. Mario is cute, really warm, and friendly, and he really likes Ben.
They have so much fun together, and he treats Ben really well. It’s a point of frustration that neither of them seems to want to have the “what are we” conversation, but it seems to be working for them. Except that it really isn’t. Ben is quite hung up on the fact that they aren’t actually official boyfriends, despite all the lame lies he tells himself at the beginning of the story.
Mario is so cool, that even when he meets Arthur (yes, that happens) he welcomes Arthur warmly into their friendship circle without any sign of jealousy at all. Maybe it’s an “us” thing, but that was a red flag that something was inherently wrong. No desire to label the relationship as official, no jealousy that the ex-boyfriend is hanging around again? We may have exhaled expletives in the book several times because of this.
So when Mario asks Ben to leave his life in New York and move across the country to Los Angeles with him, we almost couldn’t believe it when Ben said yes.
Arthur and Mikey
Mostly, we just feel sorry for Mikey. Despite the fact that Arthur clearly has a lot of affection for the guy, it’s pretty clear from the beginning of the story that he is still very much into Ben. As Arthur packs for New York City, we as the reader can see that this is the case, even if Arthur is not willing to admit it to himself. Sadly, Mikey can also see this, even if he doesn’t say anything to Arthur about it.
Mikey does what most people would do in this situation: he sticks around because he loves Arthur, despite knowing deep down that Arthur probably isn’t going to choose him in the end.
In any other world, Mikey and Arthur would have made an excellent couple. Arthur spends way too long in denial about his true feelings and poor Mikey just gets dragged along for the torturous ride. It’s not that Arthur treats Mikey poorly – at least certainly not intentionally – it just happens by osmosis.
ANGST!
Ben and Arthur
We already know how great Ben and Arthur are together because we got to know them well in What If It’s Us. It’s uncomfortable and awkward to watch them reconnect at the beginning of this story. Their new boyfriends feature prominently in their conversations and honestly, it’s a whole pain fest to read. A good pain fest, but a pain fest nonetheless.
We’re fortunate enough to get chapters from each character’s perspective, so we’re privy to how they really feel about each other, despite what they tell others around them. This is a double-edged sword though and caused us to shriek loudly as their dumbassery played out on the pages before us from time to time.
But it’s Ben and Arthur, yaknow? It doesn’t matter how much we loved Mario. It doesn’t matter how sorry we felt for Mikey, even when it felt wrong to be rooting for Ben and Arthur, we were rooting for Ben and Arthur.
However, life is not always a bed of roses, and neither is fiction! We’re not going to tell you if Ben goes to California with Mario. We’re not going to tell you if Mikey finally comes to his senses. We’re not going to tell you if Arthur and Ben actually admit their true feelings to themselves and each other. You’re absolutely going to have to read the book for the answers to those questions.
We do want you to know though, that we think you should definitely read the book. It’s fun, cute, and easy to read. We read it from cover to cover in about six hours and we’re definitely going to read it again. This is one of those books you’ll talk about over coffee or dinner with your friends for quite some time to come.
If you’ve read Here’s To Us and you want to come scream about this adorable story with us, come join the conversation on Twitter and Instagram!
Here’s To Us is available for sale through most booksellers. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for all queer stuff!
