Love, Creekwood: A Simonverse Novella Hardcover – June 30, 2020

If "Simon vs. The Homosapiens Agenda" moved you in any way, "Love Creekwood" is a great follow on. Practically epic. Be warned, there are some very significant spoilers for "Leah On The Downbeat" if you have a yen to read that novel as well.Becky Albertalli definitely has a way of peering into the mind of a young adult that is almost psychic - or at least I want to think that way because I'm anything but a young adult. But who can forget their teenage/early twenties angst?My only crit of the book is that there's a bit much in the way of repetition of some of the dialogue and lovey-dovey goo. But then again, these are all emails and emails between lovers and exceptionally close friends. We have to have some tangible indication of the feelings because the emails are the only lens into their thoughts.I won't give it away, but I stuck with the book until the end. There are a few key hints and very neat concepts shared along the way - deep insights and cool analogies and near tragic mistakes. But if you ended up loving the Spier-Greenfeld bandwagon by the end of SVTHA, you don't come away from "Love Creekwood" feeling any differently. And there's a lot to think about here from Ms. Albertalli - what's said, and what's not said. Becky, as she prefers to be called, rawks! (She can write a great FAQ too - on her website).These characters are engaging and you end up wanting to know that they lived happily ever after. It's a pity that real life ain't that way, but when we get to enjoy fun stories like Becky Albertalli's, it becomes a welcome diversion from reality. And if you're paying attention, you can make your reality a better place to be too.

I would love to give this book five stars, but I think my big problem with the book is that I don’t think it became interesting until about half way through. It took me a while to get used to the e-mail formats but when I did finally get used to it I felt like the storyline kind of just ended. I would have loved to see some more e-mails or to have seen a little more of the storyline. I imagine the author ended the book the way she did to leave open the possibility for a follow up. If you are a fan of the Simonverse I think you will enjoy this. It is a quick read and just be aware that the whole book is a collection of e-mails between the characters so at first it is a little confusing to keep track of whose e-mail you are reading but Becky does a good job of changing the tone for each character. You quickly become aware of each person’s different writing style and the general tone of their e-mails. Again, my biggest criticism is that it was just so short and I wanted more at the end or perhaps to have even seen more e-mails between the characters.

A few short months after Leah on the Offbeat and a year after Simon vs. the Homosapiens our favorite characters are off to college. Some, like Simon and Blue, are in different states, and some, like Leah and Abby, are at the same school, and even the same dorm room. Navigating a relationship is hard enough, but navigating a long-distance one brings a whole new set of difficulties.It was really strange seeing a book set all in email when we don't really use email for regular communication anymore. We have phones, smartphones even, and texting is still the more common go-to for communication. Regardless jumping back into the Simonverse was a lot of fun with this set of characters and it was nice to have a follow-up on them. It's a great book if you want to immerse yourself back into the world, but otherwise, there's not a lot to the story.

You simply must read the first book, Simon and the Homo Sapiens Agenda and it will help greatly to read the second book, Leah on the Offbeat, before you read this. It landed on my Kindle a few minutes past midnight and I began immediately and finished it in less than a day. Becky knows her way around a story and once you have gotten to know these characters, you are immersed into their universe (or as it is named the Simonverse). Through a series of emails, we follow Simon and Bram and Abby and Leah through their first year of college. We get to "watch" them fall even more deeply in love even though Simon and Bram are 117-1/2 miles apart. The writing is emotional but everything is so genuine with these characters. I love the film Love, Simon but I truly love the two novels and now the novella even better. Even though I am much older than the characters, it was incredibly validating to me. Prepare to laugh, most certainly cry, but even more, to fall more deeply in love with these extraordinary characters. I reread Simon and the Homo Sapiens Agenda often. It is hard to find anything else where the exposition of the romance is better written. That said, and only on the basis of one read, this novella takes that already exquisite romantic writing and takes it to a much higher level.

I want more of Simon and Bram! Other writers have written books that cover a series of years. To quote Simon and Leah "Harry Potter". Please Becky you wrote to awesome people into a living breathing couple. We need more Simon and Bram. Love your writing. 😀

This is basically an extended epilogue to the Simonverse novels that begin with Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, so I enjoyed it even though it doesn't really have a plot. Simon et al. are off to their first year of college, and this tiny novella is written in the form of their emails to one another. The main conflict is that Simon misses Blue, so there was a bit too much angst at first, especially since the problem was entirely Simon's own doing.Still, it was good to see all these characters again. I enjoyed the humor and the memories and the satisfying ending. It's always sad to come to the end of a good book, and I wish more authors would create fluffy little extras like this for their fans.

**3.5 - 4 Stars**This isn't going to be for everyone. In the way novellas aren't for everyone being short and sweet and "not a lot happening"For me though it was like a warm hug. My reading is non existent so I needed this familiarity. I love these characters and loved checking in with them again.And that's what this is.It's in the form of emails back and forth between the characters so you get a feel of what's been going on but frustratingly you're not quite there and missing out on the moments but you're getting the cliff notes of those moments. And you're left wanting more and I'm not sure the author is doing more of these characters. It's definitely bittersweet of catching up with the guys but not quite being in it.I missed them. I love them all. These characters are young and in love and figuring life out. The angst if it's to be labelled that is around long distance and if it can work with the guys off to college and all the characters being madly, grossly, adorably in love with each other.

I pre-ordered this book as soon as I heard there was going to be a novella featuring the Creekwood characters. The book is told entirely through emails between Simon, Bram, Leah, Abby, Nick, Garrett and Taylor. It's cute, it's sweet, it's moving, it's funny and it's the perfect antidote for how much I've been missing these characters. I really enjoyed getting a small peek into how things are going now that high school is over and everybody is now in college. I hope there'll be more from this series, especially after that ending, I can't seem to let these characters go!

I never thought I’d give a Becky Albertalli book anything less than 4 stars, let alone 1 star. But here we are.I love that all the profits for sales are going to charity, but I was so disappointed in this book.Firstly, I don’t really know what the point of this book was? I was ready to DNF at 50% because it was all mushy pining and little plot. I didn’t DNF but instead I flicked through the rest of the book, to realise that not much happens in the final 50% either. I was glad I didn’t spend the time reading it in detail.I also wasn’t a fan of the fact it was all written in emails. I get the connection to the original Simon Vs. book. But I missed the prose. I felt disconnected to it all because of it and I think I’d have enjoyed it a lot more if it was in prose.I’m just really disappointed.

This book isn't what I expected but, to be honest, that's okay. It's easy to identify the characters from either imagination or movie but what doesn't sit with me is all of the swearing... it all seems a bit out of character.I'm pleased to read tge book but disappointed in the constant obscenities.

The perfect pick me up. Yes, it's short but it's worth every penny. I adore the characters and every time I read anything in the Simon-verse I can feel echoes of my experiences of relationships and college. If you loved the novels I would recommend this, how could anyone resist catching up with these characters? I read it today and miss them all over again.