Die Geschichte von Simon kannte ich schon, da es für mich ein reread war. Die Chataktere und deren Entwicklung, vor allem Simons kann man in diesem Buch sehr gut erkennen und haben mir sehr gefallen. Allerdings mochte ich Martin nicht so wirklich und der hat dann eher genervt. Im queeren Kontext ist das Buch vor allem wegen den vermeintlich lustigen Sprüchen, die Simons Vater immer mal wieder zwischendurch sagt, wichtig, weil diese Simon verletzen und durch das Fremdouting. Jede Person sollte nämlich das Recht haben, selbst zu entscheiden, wem sie davon erzählt und wem nicht. Der Schreibstil hat mir wieder sehr gefallen, da er recht locker und leicht ist, sodass man nur so durch Buch fliegt. Auch die Hörbuchsprecherstimme von Michael Crouch fand ich sehr angenehm. Insgesamt eine schöne Coming out story, die es sich auf jeden Fall zu lesen lohnt

I want to give it 4.5 stars but there are no half options. It was a really quick read and kept my interest throughout. There were just some moments that were a bit too cheesy for me. Also, I felt the ending was pretty abrupt. When I turned the page I was expecting another chapter and not the acknowledgements page. Overall a very good book and I’m glad I finally read it.

*Herzaugen-Emoji* Das war SO TOLL. Ich konnte mich so gut mit Simon identifizieren, immerhin mag er Tegan and Sara und Harry Potter *hust* Ich liebe einfach solche Geschichten, die einem beibringen, sich so zu akzeptieren und zu lieben wie man ist. Eine bessere Message kann man ja gar nicht überbringen, oder?

I don't read much YA anymore these days but I really wanted to know what it was about this book because everyone seems to love it. And I get it. In some parts it was a bit "cutesy" for me but even as someone who isn't big on romance plots, I think this is a great book. I pretty much read it in a day and I completely fell in love with Simon and his friends right from the beginning. I would have liked more backstory about pretty much all of the characters but the story worked regardless. I will be checking out the author's other works.

Easy and quick read, decent book, very cozy and unrealistic plot. You can tell it's targeting younger audiences by the way it's written. Some things that stood out to me as very questionable were: Simon thinking 'lesbians/girls just have it much easier because guys think it's hot' and the way it's never brought up again/contradicted, so there's never a learning. Especially because this book was written by a woman. Leah. The way she is treated by Simon and her other friends, the fights, her being excluded because 'she was killing the mood by being insecure' and how these fights are mentioned however we never see them actually talk through it. Also the way she "loves gay guys" and is lowkey obsessed with them.

Ich habe mir dieses Buch eigentlich nur wegen dem Film geholt, da ich den Film liebe. Deswegen war ich auch sehr gespannt, darauf das Buch zu lesen. Das Buch ließ sich schnell lesen, ich habe das Buch in drei Tagen ausgelesen. Simon als Protagonist war sehr erfrischend, man merkt das ihm seine Freunde und Familie das wichtigste sind. Und die anderen Charaktere, habe ich auch sehr gemocht und ins Herz geschloßen, vorallem werde ich mir das Buch zu Leah holen. Und das Ende hat alles übertroffen, hätte ich den Film nicht schon gesehen, hätte ich auch im Buch nicht gewusst wer Blue ist. Das Ende war so dermaßen Süß, es war echt perfekt. Ich gebe dem Buch 4,5 /5 Sternen.

This. This is the book we all should read because it is amazing and funny and real and sad and I fell in love with the characters, loved with the characters and found love with the characters. So if you haven't read it, go out, get this book and get it! You will not be disappointed.

"Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda" ist ein nettes Buch für Zwischendurch. Es ist eine wirklich cute Lovestory, allerdings hat es mich nicht vom Hocker gerissen. Ich habe leider keine Verbindung zu den Protagonisten aufbauen können und war somit nicht emotional in die Geschichte involviert. Eine Sache die ich sehr geliebt habe waren die E-Mails, aber auch hier habe ich relativ schnell vorhergesehen welche Person hinter Blue steckt. Wie schon gesagt fand ich das Buch süß und nett für Zwischendurch, aber das war es eben auch schon.

Ich liebe das Buch. Keine Ahnung wie oft ich das Buch schon gelesen habe aber ich liebe es. Es ist eins meiner Lieblingsbücher. Es ist einfach eine schöne Coming of Age Story mit einem ungeplanten Coming Out. Das Format mit den EMails finde ich auch sehr schön. BlueGreen ist mir sehr sympathisch und ich liebe es jedes Mal nach neuen Hinweisen auf seine Identität zu suchen, auch wenn ich mittlerweile genau weiß, wer Blue Green ist. Simon Says auf Französisch finde ich aber jedes Mal sehr witzig liebe es, dass BlueGreen da nicht früher darauf gekommen ist. Die Dynamik mit Abby finde ich auch sehr spannend und wie schnell sie und Simon eine so tiefgründige Freundschaft entwickeln, trotz des BlackMailings. Leah kann ich aber sehr gut verstehen, im Bezug auf Simon. Einfach eine ganz große Empfehlung, sowohl Buch als auch Film.

First the swear words and sarcasm kind of weirded me out. Simon has kind of a catch phrase: “now that’s f*cking awesome” *sarcastically*. But after a few pages I made peace with it. I quickly got obsessed who Blue could be and if blue and the blackmailer could possibly be the same person. So I found myself glued to the pages, for I read the book in 2 days (warp speed for me). So all in all: big recommendation for a light read. Note: this review is from me in my late twenties, so I am not quite the target audience.

So, I finally got around to reading this book. The movie was just ok for me, and everyone told me the book was much better, and it was, but I still don't get the hype around it 😅 There is nothing bad about it. It's a cute and interesting story. I liked it, but I wasn't overly excited about it. The book has like 3 big topics: Simon being blackmailed about his sexualitiy, coming out, and the mystery of Blue's identity. Outside of that, not much happened. It's also about his friends, but besides Abby, they feel kinda distant. Nick is just kinda there, and Leah made me so angry omg. Her whole thing is being mad/jealous about Abby, which was really annoying. At least she wasn't in love with Simon, like in the movie, and the drama was mostly with her (in the movie they were all kinda mad with Simon for not coming out to them sooner, which made me really angry). Also, I hated Martin the whole time. That was almost like incel behavior, and idk how Simon still had some sympathy for him. The coming out topic was probably the best thing about the book for me. Some stuff was relatable, like it being harder to come out to people you've known longer. I just don't know why he kept saying his parents make a big deal out of everything when they didn't 😅 In the movie, it was a way bigger deal, especially with the dad. I think that was the only change I liked because that conversation was nice. Then, the lovestory part. I really liked their emails, especially because of the humor (but the talk about fried oreos actually made me nauseated). The thing with this mystery setup, though, is that we otherwise have almost no interaction up until the end, when his identity is revealed. For me personally, that's just not enough, but I guess the love story is just not the focus here. All in all, more of a "chill" book that was fine to read, but nothing special for me. I hope I'll like "Imogen, Obviously" more, cause that's already on my tbr 👀

soooo i can't even completely tell you why but this is one of my favourite books. for me it's like a hug from a friend you've known all your life. even though it's a well written story with a good plot that deals with important topics and has a cute romance, that's not it. it reminds me of what i miss about school (i was a theatre kids haha!), what i love about living in the suburbs, what my teenage experience was like combined with the things i missed out on during some times of my life. let's just say, this book makes me so so happy. it's cute, it's heartwarming and i love everything about it.

This book was really what young LGBTQ+ people needed. It portrayed our struggles in a realistic, relatable way, without being too angsty. Simon was just a normal teenager and I loved the email love plotline. The writing style is very enjoyable to read because it's light-hearted but also captivating and full of variety with the change between emails and real life. The plot is lovely, not predictable at all and really modern and unique. One of my favourite books ever.

Plot Simon Spier is a normal 16-year-old teenager with one big secret: he's gay. So one day, when the school's gossip Tumblr uploads a written post by an anonymous "Blue" who outs himself as gay and added his E-Mail address in the post, Simon decides to write to him. He opens up to Blue as Jaques, that he is gay and therefore outs himself to a stranger for the first time ever. Simon and "Blue" become best friends over E-Mail, when one day, by accident, Simon leaves his E-Mail account open on the school computer. Fellow classmate Martin Addison seizes the opportunity to screenshot the private E-Mails Simon writes to Blue. He tells Simon that if he doesn't become best friends with Simons friend and popular girl, Abby, he might or might not post these screenshots and expose Simon to the whole school as gay. Simon, not ready for being out to basically everyone and scaring Blue away, tries his best to introduce Martin to Abby. But since friendship or even love, can't be forced, this ends up being more difficult than expected. My opinion Apart from the fact that Simon is gay, he behaves like a normal sixteen-year-old boy with a crazy family. To me, he appeared a bit of a rough guy who also is naive and kind of blind to his surroundings. At some point of the latter half of the book, Simon notices how he doesn't know a lot about his friend's backgrounds and admits to himself that he might have been too wrapped up in his own worries and problems that he forgot to ask about his friends. Which appears to me as character growth, since Simon most likely wouldn't have said that at the beginning of the book. Also, Simons acts a bit too pushy for my taste when it comes to wanting to know who Blue is. We know that since Blue has posted on the school's gossip Tumblr that he's a fellow student of Simon, yet he is too insecure about himself to reveal himself to Simon. He basically wanted more time to adjust and it felt like Simon didn't respect that, no matter how often he wrote that he understands it. Simon describes himself as a nosy guy, yet one, who only cares about stupid nosy things. Not about, as mentioned about, his friends' real problems and worries. Then there's this blackmailing thing he never tells anyone. Such things never end well in any case, which might be cliche but whatever. It could have been avoided easily. On the other hand, this Martin guy wasn't really an easy person to talk to. I also love how his friend Leah is constantly pissed at Simon, yet no one seems to talk about the real issues and just keeps avoiding the "elephant in the room".  Which seems realistic, so nice job there, book. Although it really is just annoying for the reader. My favorite scene was the one at the bar where everyone is shoving drinks to Simon's direction and he simply drinks it. No one is asking him for an ID or anything. That low-key gave me anxiety, but good. I liked that scene because Simon, for once, seems like the most care-free person we ever got to experience him in the book. Usually, he's a bit cynical and everyone was beating around the bush with everything, it had such negative energy. NOT IN THIS GAY BAR THOUGH! (Okay, it was a bit of a restaurant as well). Last but not least. this book is described to be a romantic teenager novel when all I read is the beginning of a romantic relationship and some physical hands-on stuff towards the end. Nothing in this book gave me that vibe except for that last bit, so okay. Label yourself as a romantic book, for me, it will be a teenage contemporary with a side of romance. Conclusion I give Simon VS. the Homo Sapiens Agenda 3 out of 5 stars because although it addresses coming out as gay, it still felt like the average story you can read in every other teenager-high school novel. Which doesn't make the average teenage-high school story any better, because that's the exact reason for why I don't like them, so I pin for every book that goes out their way to avoid cliches. either.

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda is one of the most honest books I've ever read in my entire life. I kept seeing this book everywhere on Instagram; I heard people raving about it so much that I really wanted to find out myself what this fuss was all about, so thanks to a fellow bookstagrammer, who kept recommending the book to me, I finally picked it up and read it. Sometimes I hate being an adult; sometimes I hate having a job tho because If I hadn't I could have spend all day and all night devouring this awesome story about Simon - and Blue. It took me maybe 10 pages for me to fall in love with this book. Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda was fantastic. It's one of those books that does everything right. It's entertaining, it's funny, it's heartwarming - it's perfect in any possible way. Reading this book put me in a good mood; it just made me happy. It's such an uplifting read that - I'm sure - will give you all the feels. I won't be going into much detail because I don't want to reveal any spoilers but there are so many reasons why everyone should read this book. This book is so diverse. There have been a lot of discussions going on concerning diversity in books and if you are looking for diverse books with diverse characters, this one is the right book for you. Not only is our main character Simon gay, but we also have two side characters that are African American and also two side characters that are Jewish, as well as one side character who's bisexual. This book explores homophobia, religion and interracial relationships which I loved. I've been looking for diverse books for such a long time, especially with interracial couples in it and I finally found one and this book does everything so brilliantly. Also the characters are glorious and fabulous. Simon's parents are very important to the story and very involved with him and his life. They care about Simon so much and try to support him as best as they can. They aren't a picture-perfect-family though. Although his parents are always trying to be and do good of course they aren't perfect and this is one reason why everything in this book feels so real. They always listen to their children and they for sure accept and respect their children, no matter who they are and who they want to be. Also especially his dad is really really funny and sometimes reminded me of my own dad so much it was glorious. His parents really grew on me. His amazing friends also always stand up for him. Which brings me to another reason why everyone should read this book: friendship. In this book it's not like it usually is in High School books or movies. It's not all geeks vs. the athletes or whatever. The cliques in this book are all mixed, like it is in real life. There aren't many stereotypical characters, well actually there are none and no matter what, his friends always support Simon and accept him for who he is. All these characters were so different from each other but they made such a great team. I don't think there was one character I didn't like. I loved them all, even the jerks and idiots, even Leah who really annoyed me from time to time. Their friendship felt so real. Everything felt so real, the story, the characters - it just made me feel like being a part of their amazing group of friends. It didn't take long for Simon to become one of my favorite characters ever. He's so funny and quirky and witty and he's smart and relatable in so many ways. I loved how much he cared for all his friends and family, I really enjoyed being in his head for a while, listening to his thoughts because he is hilarious. The romance in this book was also absolutely adorable. I mean we don't get many kisses and such but love is not only kisses. Love is so much more; it's getting to know someone in a way that makes you feel lost when they aren't with you. The love in this book was so real and honest and adorable and perfect. I really loved the email conversations between Blue and Simon; I loved them so much that it actually felt like I was the one receiving all of Blue's messages. I couldn't wait to "receive" a new email from him because I was so excited to find out what he had to say. I wanted to find out more about him; wanted to see if I would manage to find out who he really was and I did. It took me quite a while though. We do meet a lot of male characters and it could have been any of them but at some point I was sure I knew who it was and when Blue revealed his real identity in the end I was right and I couldn't haven been happier because the way he did it was just perfect. Everyone needs this book in their life. Everyone. It's so important and honest and real and deals with some heavier issues which actually makes it so important in the first place. Do you sometimes start crying reading a book not because of something very sad that happened but because you just love the book so much? This book made me cry, not because I was sad or something or it broke my heart; I cried because I felt so happy. This book made me happy and I'm sure it will make you happy too. If you haven't read it yet you should change that because this book is pure perfection. This book deserves all the stars; I would rate it a million stars if I could, it's that perfect. I finished the book last night and I'm still smiling and I can't seem to get my mind off of Simon and Blue and awww I need more. I need more of these kind of books so if you know any, please, please, please let me know. And let me know how you liked the book.

It was okay, I guess. Partly cute, partly ultracheesy, partly weird. The way bullying was handled but not as I would liked. I would have liked less drama for the sake of resolving the friendship and bullying issues more. Because not everything is resolved with saying sorry. I 'guessed' Blue in that way that I didn't tought about the options Simon saw. I knew it was someone of the sports group but the name of the president twist was done quite well. It was ok but not an extraordinary read for me.

It's horribly cheesy and they're all just so, well, teenagers that I honestly thought this would be a pretty awkward read at first. Weirdly enough, that faded so fast that I'd almost forgotten about it by now. It's also kind of predictable, especially re: who Blue is, from a certain point on, but you know what? I don't even care. Because it's also so goddamn cute and it left me ridiculously happy and I'm pretty sure I was grinning like an idiot during at least the last couple of chapters.

Für die Lesechallenge 2023 sollte ich im März ein Buch lesen, das mit dem Anfangsbuchstaben meines Vornamens, also L, beginnt. Sofort fiel mein Blick auf ein bestimmtes Buch: Love, Simon von Becky Albertalli aus dem Jahr 2016. Ich besitze die Ausgabe zum gleichnamigen Kinofilm. Vor der Verfilmung war das Jugendbuch als Nur drei Worte bekannt, worunter Albertallis Debütroman auch den Deutschen Jugendliteraturpreis 2017 der Jugendjury erhielt. Nach dem Kinofilm mit Nick Robinson und Katherine Langford in den Hauptrollen erhielt das Buch mit Love, Simon einen neuen Titel. Im Original lautet der Buchtitel übrigens Simon vs. the Homo sapiens agenda. Hauptfigur ist Simon, ein homosexueller Teenager, der Angst vor seinem Coming Out in der Highschool hat. Der noch 16-jährige Simon Spier wohnt mit seinen Eltern, seiner jüngeren Schwester Nora und dem Golden Retriever Bieber in Shady Creek, einem Vorort von Atlanta im Bundesstaat Georgia, wo er die Creekwood Highschool besucht. Eigentlich ist Simon ein ganz normaler Junge. Er hat bloß ein Geheimnis: er ist schwul. Bisher hat er es niemandem erzählt. Vor seinem Coming Out hat er große Angst. Der Einzige, dem er sich über Mails anvertraut, ist Blue. Simon findet in dem Unbekannten einen Seelenverwandten und verliebt sich in ihn. Die Mails bedeuten ihm alles, doch dann fallen diese in die Hände von Simons Mitschüler Martin, der ihn um sein Geheimnis erpressen will. Simon muss sich entscheiden, ob er sich entweder outen oder riskieren will, den Kontakt zu Blue zu verlieren. Insgesamt ist Love, Simon ein sehr lesenswertes Jugendbuch, das die Geschichte von einem homosexuellen Jungen erzählt, der gleichzeitig ein typischer Teenager ist. Ich kann verstehen, warum dieses Buch aus dem Jahr 2016 den Deutschen Jugendliteraturpreis gewonnen hat. Es setzt ein Statement für Selbstverwirklichung, Toleranz und Vielfalt. Für einen Debütroman schafft Becky Albertalli es unglaublich gut, ein ernstes Thema mit einer lebensfrohen Atmosphäre zu verbinden. Es ist eine lockere Lektüre, die mit tiefgründigen Figuren zu überzeugen weiß. Beim Lesen gab es keine Längen und es hat einfach Spaß gemacht, Simons Entwicklung mitzuerleben. Allerdings gibt es vereinzelte Passagen, die mir im Film sogar besser gefallen haben. Und wenn man ganz ehrlich ist, hebt sich Love, Simon primär dadurch ab, weil der Protagonist homosexuell ist. Das ist wichtig für die Repräsentation, keine Frage. Die Lovestory selbst oder das Highschool-Setting stechen allerdings nicht wirklich hervor. Man hat es hat so schon hunderte Mal gelesen. Wäre Love, Simon eine heterosexuelle Liebesgeschichte, hätte sie vermutlich nicht dieselbe Popularität erzielen können. Das ist allerdings Meckern auf hohem Niveau. Deswegen erhält Albertallis Debüt von mir vier von fünf Federn. Obwohl mir dieses Jugendbuch sehr gefallen hat, werde ich vorerst keine weiteren Bücher von Albertalli lesen. Zwar hat sie mit Leah on the Offbeat und Kate in Waiting ebenfalls Erfolge in Deutschland erzielen können, aber irgendwie reizen mich die Werke nicht. Vielleicht auch, weil ich Leah, Simons beste Freundin schon hier nicht wahnsinnig sympathisch fand. Außerdem wirkt es mir ein wenig zu erzwungen, dass Simons Kindheitsfreundin nun bisexuell sein soll, was aus Love, Simon überhaupt nicht hervorging.

Ich habe mir das Hörbuch via Audible geholt und konnte nicht aufhören, zu hören. Danach musste ich mir das Taschenbuch zulegen und werde auch das alsbald lesen. Da ich aber einfach nicht mehr warten kann mit meiner Rezension, schreibe ich zumindest zum Hörbuch eine. Bin sogar ein wenig nervös, was sonst echt selten ist. Inhalt (in meinen Worten): Nur drei Worte. Mehr sind gar nicht nötig und doch bedeuten sie die Welt. Drei Worte, die alles ändern können. Simon schreibt Mails an Blue. Sie wissen beide nicht, wer der andere ist – denn auch Simon benutzt ein Pseudonym, um sich zu schützen. Doch die Mails sind so toll, dass Simon bald mehr will und wissen muss, wer Blue ist. Durch einen echt dummen Zufall aber, entdeckt ausgerechnet ein Typ aus seinem Jahrgang die Mails und erpresst Simon. Erwartungen: Oh, Mann! Ich hatte schon so viel über „Love, Simon“ gehört. Ich konnte es nicht mehr länger aufschieben und hab Hörbuch beinahe an einem Stück verschlungen. Charaktere: Simon. Och Mann, süß, lieb und total toll. Seine Gedanken sind klasse und er hat sich so fest in mein Herz gebannt, dass ich kaum glauben kann, dass ich das nicht vorher schon gelesen/ gehört hatte. Blue. Ach Blue. Ich weiß jetzt, wer er ist und das macht die Sache umso interessanter. Ein toller Junge, der echt schöne Mails schreibt. Simons Freunde. Es ist interessant, wie lange man mit jemanden befreundet sein kann und doch nicht alles weiß. Irgendwie beängstigend und regt wirklich zum nachdenken an. Sprecher: Unglaublich, wie toll die Stimmen passen. Wahnsinnig gut. Sowohl zu Simon, als auch zu Blue (wenn die Mails vorgelesen werden) und seinen Freunden. Fazit: Obwohl es die gekürzte Version ist, hab ich nicht einmal das Gefühl gehabt, etwas zu verpassen oder nicht mitzubekommen. So eine unglaublich tolle Geschichte, voller Sehnsüchte und Liebe, Liebeskummer und Geheimnisse. Was wissen wir wirklich über unsere Freunde? Was können wir ihnen anvertrauen? Was zumuten? All das wirft dieses Buch auf und noch viel mehr. Ein Teenager, der irgendwie damit umgehen muss. Nur drei Worte und doch bedeuten sie so viel. Auch wenn es seltsam ist, wie wir das alles in der heutigen Zeit aufnehmen. Ich habe jede Minute gefeiert, mich jedes Mal gefreut und geärgert, wenn etwas nicht nach Plan verlief. Diese Geschichte muss man einfach lieben und in sich aufsaugen. Ich brauchte das Taschenbuch, nachdem ich mir das Hörbuch zugelegt hatte. Ich musste es einfach besitzen und weiß, dass ich es nicht nur einmal hören/ lesen werde. Lieblingsbuch. Ja, das schwirrt im Kopf umher. Lieblingsbuch. Kann es „Stolz und Vorurteil“ toppen? Das wird sich zeigen, wenn ich auch noch das Taschenbuch gelesen habe. Doch alleine vom Gefühl des Hörens her: Es hat sich einfach in mein Herz katapultiert. Mit voller WUCHT und doch vorsichtig, leise, zart und sanft, bis es nicht mehr zu vermeiden war. Es ist eines jener Bücher, die auf der einen Seite gehypt und doch unterschätzt werden. Es ist ein Kinofilm geworden (DVD muss ich mir noch zulegen), aber dennoch hatte es seine Zeit gehabt, als es erschienen ist und dann wieder abgeflaute, nach und nach, bis es gänzlich in Vergessenheit geraten ist – wie das oft der Fall ist. Aber dieses Buch muss gelesen werden. An Schulen. In Leserunden. Zu Hause. Jungen, die nicht wissen, was mit ihnen los ist und sich vielleicht sogar schämen, weil sie nicht ins typische Bild passen (müsst ihr nicht, alles ist vollkommen in Ordnung). Mädchen, die sich in ihre beste Freundin verliebt haben. Jugendliche, die möglicherweise wissen möchten, warum sich der Kumpel so verhält. Eltern, die eine „Vermutung“ haben oder gerade ein Geständnis erhielten. It’s not a big deal, right? It’s a big deal! Denn jeder von uns hat gewisse Vorstellungen von unseren Freunden, Kollegen, Bekannten, Familienmitglieder. „Jeder verdient eine große Liebe“, steht auf dem Cover und das stimmt auch. Unbedingt. Besonders Simon. Denn er hat sich so in mein Herz gebrannt, dass ich immer wieder das Buch anschauen muss und es nicht mehr so leicht loslassen kann. Gesamtbewertung: Cover: Es ist die Filmversion. Zu sehen (von links nach rechts): Simon, Abby, Leah, Nick. Titel: „Nur drei Worte“ oder auch „Love, Simon“, so schön. Inhalt: Habe ich schon erwähnt, dass ich dieses Hörbuch einfach verschlungen habe? Bei Audible kann man die Schnelligkeit einstellen. Manche Bücher höre ich daher mit 1,5 oder gar auf 2 oder schneller. Doch dieses hier hab ich nicht verändert. Es bedarf keinerlei Schnelligkeit, um die Geschichte zu hören. Bedacht hab ich jedes Wort aufgesaugt, jede Handlung verinnerlicht und jede Mail mit Freude verfolgt. Und während ich die Rezension zum Hörbuch schreibe, schiele ich immer mehr zum Taschenbuch hinüber und weiß, dass es nicht mehr lange dauern wird, bis ich auch das gelesen habe. Nun aber kann ich mögliche Hinweise verfolgen. Hinweise auf Blue. Oder auf etwas anderes. Hinweise, die mich zum Schmunzeln bringen und wissen lassen, dass es manchmal so offensichtlich ist und wir doch im dunklen Tapsen, wie Simon. Aber genau das macht diese Geschichte aus. Sie ist warmherzig, liebevoll und regt zum nachdenken an, ohne aber zu dick aufzutragen. Wir wissen, worum es geht. Doch die Gefühle, die Simon mit uns teilt, sind umso intensiver. Ach ja, was die Oreos mit dem Buch zu tun haben, verrate ich nicht. Nur, dass ich ständig Appetit darauf hatte und hinterher meinem Mann geschrieben habe, er solle mir welche vom Einkaufen mitbringen 😉

This book was huuuuge. And so hyped, I ... didn't read it back then :D Which was kind of stupid because I really enjoyed that book. I listened to it but I'm going to buy the print, too. The whole idea was just really cute and well executed. The characters were all great, even though I didn't like Leah as much as everyone else. She grew on me a bit at the end. Simon was totally relatable and I loved his friendships. I also enjoyed how he outcalled Martin to show the readers how wronf outing someone is. His relationship with Blue is just ... well. I'm so in love with it. I had some problems with the beginning because I felt like I missed a few chapters and it was hard to keep track with all the information. I actually thought that the film did a great job here filling these blank spots - even though I hated the last 30 minutes of the film and prefer the book so much more there. All in all it's just a great book and I can't believe I waited so long on reading it!

Ih liebe Das Buch nur drei Worte. Und auch der Film ist dem Buch sehr gut nachempfunden. Simon hat es schließlich nicht leicht, denn sein Vater ist jemand der gerne geschmacklose Witze über Schwule ablässt. Das macht es Simon natürlich nicht leichter sich zu outen. Aber Das Ende im Film sowie im Buch ist immer wieder gleichermaßen überraschend und einfach nur großartig!

What an amazing book! Absolutely loved and enjoyed it. I basically smiled throughout the whole book because it is so lovely written, so funny and relatable, so modern. It has so many Harry Potter references which I loved. The protagonist is just extremly adorable and witty and amazing. It was such an easy read because it was so amazingly written. I highly recommend it and will keep this beautiful story with me.

I freaking love that book! It is honestly better then Oreos! ;) No now lets be serious. I love how well written and easy that book is. It is so easy to read and very funny. The Characters are well elaborated. They feel real and you can totally relate to all of them. I will not dive into the Story arc. Or the Characters because that would be spoilers! Go and read it yourself folks. No Spoilers here. But i want to recommend this book to all the people out there who like to read about LGBTQ+. It is funny, real and very very Sweet. So go People have fun with this book!!

Eine süße, spannende Geschichte, die Herzklopfen auslöst! Der Schreibstil der Autorin war sehr angenehm zu lesen, man hat fast gar nicht gemerkt wie die Seiten einfach so dahin geflogen sind. Simon war mir von Anfang an sympathisch. Oreos und Harry Potter? Damit sind wir schon fast Seelenverwandte 😂. Ich fand sein Verhalten sehr nachvollziehbar, konnte seine Gefühle absolut nachvollziehen, habe mir ihm gelacht, geweint und war mit ihn und für ihn wütend. Auch seine Freunde waren ebenfalls absolut genial. Sie brachten die perfekte Mischung zwischen Ernst und Spaß in die Geschichte. Denn sie waren als Gruppe einfach lustig und wunderbar und einfach toll. Die Sache mit den Emails fand ich wirklich spannend, ich habe die ganze Zeit über mitgerätselt und war am Ende trotzdem überrascht und dann hat es doch so viel Sinn gemacht. Und als das Geheimnis dann gelüftet wurde, Leute! Das war diese Art von süß, die einem zum Quietschen bringt. Kennt ihr das? Denn genau das ist mir auf den letzten Seiten passiert. Mehrmals sogar. Weil es einfach so unglaublich süß war und ich glaube, ich habe mich ein bisschen mit verliebt... Deshalb ist das Buch auch absolut empfehlenswert und hat die 5 Sterne absolut verdient!

Now that the film has been released to great reviews and I'm finally going to watch it tomorrow in a preview (because of course, the movies I am anticipating the most are always released three months later in Germany than in other countries), I decided to revisit the book and realized once again what a great coming-of-age book this is. My original review didn't pay Becky Albertalli's book justice and was pretty badly-written anyway, so here is a little rewritten version of it. The story is rather simple and if you have read a few reviews of the book or the film before, then you will probably know what it's about anyway. The book's main character, sixteen-year-old Simon Spier, is struggling to enter the world of adulthood with all the problems romance may bring into a teenager's life, and it's no 'typical' way of entering, because Simon is gay and has to decide about whether or not to come out to his friends, his family, his school colleagues. Becky Albertalli emphasizes the issue of coming out and raises an important question: If gay people have to come out, why don't straight people? Why shouldn't everyone have to come out, no matter which type of sexuality they identify with? Or let's put it another way: why should anyone have to come out? Why create such a big thing out of it, why not make it possible for people to say, "by the way, I like men" or "by the way, I like women" or "by the way, I like both genders" or all the other possible forms of sexuality? I'll try to include a little personal back story now; if you aren't interested in that, don't continue reading. This book has shaped me a lot. It supported me during a period of some personal struggles, and even though at the time I didn't realize it yet, it helped me a lot during my process of coming out myself. Here in Germany, compared to other countries, coming out as gay isn't much of a problem anymore, at least it isn't in the urban parts of the country, but anywhere else, it's still pretty much an overlooked subject. A lot of people just don't give it a second thought, hang on to their preconceived belief that since gay people are different in one certain matter, they are worse human beings. Coming out still isn't simple. It may be for some people, but there are always exceptions in a positive as well as a negative direction. I believe that many people share the point of view that it's okay as long as they are not bothered by it, and that's part of the problem, in my opinion, especially in rural parts of the country. I don't care if people feel bothered by others, as long as they remain silent about it if they are not personally affected by the matter, but why are there so many people who can't accept that others are happy with the kind of life they're living? What I'm trying to say is, stories like "Love, Simon" are so incredibly important: they raise awareness of the subject, because even though it's always an argument that there are more important problems in the world and gay people already have enough rights, things just aren't that simple. Coming out simply isn't that simple. I learned that myself, and others may have had even more difficulties. “But I'm tired of coming out. All I ever do is come out. I try not to change, but I keep changing, in all these tiny ways. I get a girlfriend. I have a beer. And every freaking time, I have to reintroduce myself to the universe all over again.” “I mean, I feel secure in my masculinity, too. Being secure in your masculinity isn't the same as being straight.” “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.” (I totally agree with that last quote; awkwardness is basically the one part of coming out which is constantly accompanying you.) This book made me incredibly happy when I read it. Is it the most realistic story? No. But it's a feel-good story the LGBT community really needed, and everytime I think about it, I still find myself smiling, even though it has been more than two and a half years since I first read it. Because, in its very own way, this book was perfect.