the romance in this is one word: soft. imogen starts having these feelings for tessa, which she finds difficult to interpret at first because it’s towards another girl, but she comes to grasp them and unconsciously accept them. the development felt smooth and natural enough. it’s teenage love, after all, but i found myself hopeful. it’s sweet and emotional, tender due to the first experience imogen is having. there’s a few doubts, a little bit of misunderstanding, and a heap of love. the shy glances, tentative touches, and uncertainties felt so open and vulnerable. i loved seeing how imogen came to accept her feelings, even if she started doubting and questioning towards the end. tessa is respectful, consenting, and in no rush. while she’s experienced, she understands the situation imogen is currently facing. i don’t blame imogen because i, too, have a crush on tessa. because this is ya and has more than romance focusing on the story, there isn’t anything graphic, but i can’t begin to state my appreciate and adoration for this girl. The premise of this book is that Imogen goes to visit her childhood friend, Lili, at Lili's college. When she gets there, Lili pulls her aside and says she lied to her friends about something: she said that Imogen and Lili dated when they were younger. Awkward, since Imogen is straight and the two of them definitely didn't date, but Imogen is totally cool with it... Which, for some reason, Lili tries to convince her that she's not? sometimes i put off reading a book if i feel it’ll hit too close to home. this wasn’t the case. i knew it would hurt and it did. very much so. but i dived in anyway. more than anything it eased something in my soul, the way every single albertalli book has. And again, while it's obvious that this is coming from a personal place with Gretchen, there's just something so grating and irritating about the way she does this that it makes it hard to see her side in any way and she comes across as bitter that Imogen is getting close to the girl that Gretchen has had an incredibly random crush on throughout the book. I wish this book had a been a little less pointed. But I think it comes from a place where it was hard not to be. But it was equally hard at times to get through this; maybe because of the authenticity. There were a lot of feelings. Not all of them good. Which is fine, it's real. It just made me glad there were silly heart-eyes moments of sweetness with the texts. But being in Imogen's head, being suffocated by certain forces around her, yeah, it's a lot. She's so busy being the perfect ally, the straight friend, that she's never given the opportunity, or the space, to explore anything more. Until college changes everything. But even then, it's not smooth sailing.

I love everything about this,” I say, settling onto Lili’s bed. “Ha—thanks.” Lili plops down beside me. Then she stares straight ahead for a moment without speaking. “Okay, we gotta talk,” she says finally. Obviously this book is one of the most anticipated and absolutely the best YA fiction/ romance novels of 2023 with realistic LGBTQ representation!While Gretchen is a semi-frequent presence in this book, ultimately, Imogen knows herself and knows that she is queer enough. YA contemporary is typically not my genre of choice, but WOW, I absolutely ADORE this book. For any young queer girls who have experienced imposter syndrome in accordance with their identities; ‘Imogen, Obviously’ is a love letter to you. Reading it felt like giving my younger self a warm hug, and I couldn’t be happier that I decided to give it a chance!! Unfortunately, the self-policing from Imogen never felt particularly natural, even though she was written to be an overthinker and deeply insecure about this journey she was on. Even after a romantic dream she had that she could've just forgotten about and never told anyone about, Imogen lays awake and accuses herself of being an entitled straight woman who was appropriating the queer experience in her sleep. So that’s Kayla,” says Lili. “Tessa and Mika both had girlfriends in high school. Actually, middle school too, for Mika—they were with their ex for, like, five years. And Dec’s from Manhattan, so who even knows? He’s on a whole other level. It’s hard not to feel inadequate, you know?”

Although not everyone wants to read those stories, there are people out there going through that every day and books about how confusing and weird that can be are relatable to them (and hey, even me, who went through that several years ago could reminisce on some of Imogen's confused feelings and that-wasn't-a-crush-we're-just-friends-right?-ness). I feel like the fact that Imogen was surrounded by so many LGBTQ people in her life and constantly just believed herself to be straight -- and was told by all those people that she was -- but was a proud ally to them and trying her best to learn about their unique issues added something to her journey of self-discovery. I'm bi. It feels bigger than I want it to be. Do I really have to announce this? Can't I just feel something and live inside it while it's happening and not analyze it to death?" I feel terribly sorry for her, being outed is horrifying and scary and I wouldn't wish that on anyone. This also applies to Imogen. The entire book is about how you can't infer sexuality from stereotypical traits someone has and that being bi doesn't have a certain lookthere’s something beautiful there—a hand holding yours as you figure it out. knowing that when you’re ready to say the words, someone is there.

It’s not that.” Lili frowns. “Not exactly? I just feel like such a baby queer sometimes. I’d only been out for three months when I got here.” she pauses. ‘you know. if you ever had something you wanted to tell me, i could make space for that too.” There’s a lot in this book to love. I loved the explorations of relationships. I loved how the issues of gatekeeping was brought up and handled. And I loved Imogen. Sweet Imogen who second guesses every little thing and is so, so careful to be as good of a person as she possibly can be. She treats everyone fairly, gives them the benefit of the doubt, even if I, personally, would very much rather hurt them exactly where they’d feel it, perhaps with the skillet the world’s largest pancake was made on (iykyk). I also loved the way that Imogen was struggling with the fact that one of her closest friends growing up was now off to college with new friends, new inside jokes, and a new life. That's such a relatable experience growing up and I could definitely relate to Imogen feeling like Lili had become a brand new person since she went to college and the way she felt guilty of being jealous over her new jokes with her new friends and feeling like she wasn't sure where she fit into that anymore.I recommend this, especially to teenagers. Even though I don’t agree with everything I do think this is a good place to start some important discussions about queerness and gatekeeping. I praised Going Bicoastal for having a character who is already openly out of the closet and proudly bisexual at the start of that book, but I think there's still definitely merit too books where the main character is discovering their sexuality. Everyone in the friend’s group was a gem and I could honestly read more about them all. Imogen was precious and I just wanted her protected at all costs. And Tessa! Oh my. What a sweetheart. If only everyone could have their first crush/significant other be like Tessa. It feels bigger than I want it to be. Do I really have to announce this? Can’t I just feel something and live inside it while it’s happening and not analyze it to death? Okay, but let’s say you like a girl, and then it turns out that she’s faking it. What would you do?”

Edith lets out a startled laugh. "This is wild. I don't think I've ever seen you just, like, completely lose your shit like this." I let out a laugh as soon as Lili opens the door. “So when you said it’s the size of a closet, you meant Kylie Jenner’s closet.” When her best friend Lili told her friends they’ve dated before, her pretending bisexualism turns into a real search about her own sexual choices. She even finds out she likes Lili’s friend Tessa a little more than she can admit. tessa is downright funny, supportive, and kind. her adhd mind spirals a lot and boats out random things, making reading the text messages very entertaining. she’s a joyous person, trying her best to lighten the mood. we don’t get her pov, but i didn’t think it was missing it either. we learn a lot about her from imogen, and the necessary information is given. i loved her character from the beginning. she’s mature, intelligent, and always finding a solution for problems. along with that, the other side characters (who are her friends too), were a fantastic addiction to this. we don’t learn almost anything about them besides the very basics, but again, considering this is a coming of age story of imogen and finding her new love, it didn’t feel necessary, or like something was missing. i will admit, sometimes the group did fit a tad bit too young, as if they weren’t the college students they were, and i’m not sure if that comes from not knowing who they really are, or if that’s just how they really are.

Tessa’s so close, but I press in closer, and she lets out the softest-edged sigh. Her hands trail the hem of my waterlogged shirt, and I swear it feels like taking off sunglasses. Clarity and brightness. It's so important for this story to exist, much in the way of RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE with Alex's journey with his sexuality, and so many others I am completely blanking on at the moment, because knowing that it's safe to come out, to be fluid, to evolve, at any time, at any age, is.. well, important. There is no one singular experience. And I hope this is helpful for anyone who might need to hear that right now.