Leah on the Offbeat

By: Becky Albertalli

Narrated by: Shannon Purser

Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

Number one New York Times best seller!

In this sequel to the acclaimed Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda - now a major motion picture, Love, Simon - we follow Simon’s BFF Leah as she grapples with changing friendships, first love, and senior year angst.

When it comes to drumming, Leah Burke is usually on beat - but real life isn’t always so rhythmic.

She’s an anomaly in her friend group: the only child of a young, single mom, and her life is decidedly less privileged. She loves to draw but is too self-conscious to show it. And even though her mom knows she’s bisexual, she hasn’t mustered the courage to tell her friends - not even her openly gay BFF, Simon.

So Leah really doesn’t know what to do when her rock-solid friend group starts to fracture in unexpected ways. With prom and college on the horizon, tensions are running high.

It’s hard for Leah to strike the right note while the people she loves are fighting - especially when she realizes she might love one of them more than she ever intended.

Plus don't miss Yes No Maybe So, Becky Albertalli's and Aisha Saeed's heartwarming and hilarious new novel, coming in 2020!

©2018 Becky Albertalli (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"Narrator Shannon Purser proves to be a great match for the wry, anxious, funny, self-deprecating, snarky, and longing inner voice of Leah... Her whiplashing emotions are always front and center for the listener, which feels endearing, exhausting, and relatable." (AudioFile)

Continued Journey of Simon's friends

This book really gives you a look into the world create in Simon vs. the Homo Sapien Agenda, but from a different point of view.

Loved it!

Great follow up to Simon vs the Homo Sapien Agenda. Loved staying with the samd characters but changing to Leahs perspective.

aaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAA

it was so good but I also wanna cry. you know how I feel, why would you say that

Love, Leah

A wonderful story of hidden feelings. I really enjoyed this sequel. It’s sad we won’t get another sequel

Albertalli is easily becoming my favorite author

it is a cute book, easy and joyful to read and flawlessly follows Simon ATHA

loved it

This book was an awesome sequel to an awesome book and movie. I loved every bit.

Amazing Just AMAZING. Loved it so much. Yeah YEAh

It was amazing, loved it so much. A M A Z I N G. Yeah

So Dope

I really enjoyed this story. I want more lol. I'm a gay man and reading simon vs the homospien agenda was amazing. And this book gives people a different outlook of the struggle growing up feeling different, from the female view point. I loved it, I wish I had stories like this growing up in high school.

Another fun read by Becky Albertalli

I wish there was a delineation for different 5 star ratings. I really enjoyed this book and I would recommend it to most of my fellow YA fans. That said, it's not a terribly deep book and while the narration was enjoyable (and VERY Leah), Shannon Purser is clearly new to the narrating field. If this is any indication, she does have a bright future here.

SPOILERS:

I felt like the love story between the female characters (still trying to leave it a little vague for those of you who missed the spoilers note) could have been developed more on one side of the story. Like there could have been cracks in the male/female relationship she was in to give indication that she was ready to move on. It felt abrupt, forced and a little unbelievable.

It was a fun read that with a little tweaking could have been an epic 5 star YA book to help bridge the understanding of YA readers to the world of bisexuality and self-awakening. I felt like that opportunity was missed.

Loved this story

Lean, Simon’s best friend, is a drummer and artist and out to her mother as bi-sexual but not to anyone else. Senior year is always full of awkward moments and drama. But with college trips coming and friends diverging it’s a true first love romance. Great narration.