Standalone Sunday: Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

Standalone Sunday is a weekly feature created by Megan at Bookslayer Reads which aims to showcase standalone books which you loved or would recommend.

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Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised.

With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.

Simon Vs. may not have been the first YA contemporary book I reviewed on my blog (that would have been My Life Next Door back in January 2016) but it was definitely the book that got me hooked again on the genre. Before picking this book up myself I’d heard plenty of amazing things about it, and as I was reading it myself I fell in love with Simon, Blue and all the other characters I met along the way. Simon Vs. is a fluffy and light contemporary book but there are deep messages in the story as well. Simon goes thought a lot throughout the course of the story, being blackmailed, but there are plenty of people still on his side.

“It is definitely annoying that straight (and white, for that matter) is the default, and that the only people who have to think about their identity are the ones who don’t fit that mold. Straight people really should have to come out, and the more awkward it is, the better. Awkwardness should be a requirement.”

You can check out my review for Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda here.

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What did you think of Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda? Have you read it yet or is it still on your to-read list? Let me know in the comments and let me know if you took part in this week’s Standalone Sunday as well.