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Simonverse #3.5

Love, Creekwood

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Fall in love all over again with the characters from the bestselling Simonverse novels in this highly anticipated epilogue novella. Perfect for fans of Becky Albertalli, the movie Love, Simon, and the new Hulu series spin-off, Love, Victor!

It’s been more than a year since Simon and Blue turned their anonymous online flirtation into an IRL relationship, and just a few months since Abby and Leah’s unforgettable night at senior prom.

Now the Creekwood High crew are first years at different colleges, navigating friendship and romance the way their story began—on email.

128 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 30, 2020

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About the author

Becky Albertalli

22 books20.2k followers
Becky Albertalli is the author of the acclaimed novels Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (film: Love, Simon), The Upside of Unrequited, and Leah on the Offbeat. She is also the co-author of What If It's Us with Adam Silvera. A former clinical psychologist who specialized in working with children and teens, Becky lives with her family in Atlanta. You can visit her online at www.beckyalbertalli.com.
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(Photography by Decisive Moment Events)

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5 stars
2,696 (21%)
4 stars
4,276 (33%)
3 stars
4,155 (33%)
2 stars
1,171 (9%)
1 star
290 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,253 reviews
Profile Image for Chelsea (chelseadolling reads).
1,519 reviews20.2k followers
July 8, 2020
It was fun to be back with the Creekwood gang, but I'd be lying if I said that this wasn't pointless? Definitely not bad, just.. pointless. Meh
Profile Image for Virginia Ronan ♥ Herondale ♥.
594 reviews35.1k followers
November 6, 2021
I’m on BookTube now! =)

”117. And a half. Miles away. WHO ALLOWED THIS??
So yeah, email sucks, because I want to see your face (and touch your face and smell your face and put my face on your face) (because I miss you) (I MISS YOU).
(I hate this.)


And I absolutely loved this! *lol* Seriously those 111 pages were like a bright sunray that fights its way through the dark and clouded sky! I had no idea that I needed to read something cute and wholesome so badly but after finishing that short novella I let out a deep sigh and was content to look out of the window for a couple of minutes. It was exactly the kind of distraction I needed and I was very thankful to be able to dive into this universe again. <3

”Okay, I just stopped and counted up the number of days since we’ve seen each other, and it’s been less than two weeks. Thirteen days. I bet you haven’t even done laundry yet, have you? God, I miss you. I miss you every single second.”

“Love, Creekwood” is full of the longing and the love between Simon and Blue and I breathed in every single word. Their yearning for each other was so palpable and it felt so real! Them being apart after spending so much time together almost felt like a physical blow and I felt really sorry for them. But of course they make it work somehow and try their best to see each other whenever possible. It never seems to be enough though and as someone who had long distance relationships when I was younger I could really relate to them. Still, they make the best out of it and their love is so damn strong! <3

”But the truth is, I don’t need you to declare a single thing, because it’s written all over your face. Those are the facts. You come with subtitles, and you don’t even realize it.
Hate to break it to you, Leah Burke, but you’re in love with me.”


The book isn’t only about Simon and Blue though. It’s also about Abby’s and Leah’s relationship and I gotta be honest here: I was totally surprised by how intense it was and how deep their feelings were. Before this book I wasn’t an all too big fan of the Labby ship, but now I definitely boarded it! They were adorable in this and I enjoyed reading their e-mails and how madly in love they were. Also Leah was definitely more open and less anti (probably Abby’s influence *lol*) and that made her a lot more likable than she was in the other books.

”God, I keep going back to what you said about us and physical contact. Not going to lie, Suso, that hit me like a brick to the face. You’re not wrong. I just didn’t really think about it until you said it. I guess it’s automatic at this point. I see your hand, and I have to hold it. Your mouth exists, so I have to kiss it.
You know you terrify me, right?”


Adorable af! XD The last thing I need to mention are the great friendships between all the characters! I loved that they were still in contact with each other, that they were watching out for each other, organized gatherings and met throughout the entire novella. Their bond is amazing and it was good to see that despite everything they tried to keep in touch. =) Plus they were always there for each other and worried and listened to each other’s troubles.

”You always seem so cheerful with me, and that’s great, seriously. But I hope you know I’m here if you ever want to talk through the hard stuff. And same with Leah. We both love you so much, Si.”

All told I really enjoyed “Love, Creekwood”. To read this novella felt like a warm hug of a dear friend you haven’t seen for quite a while. =) If you’re a fan of the “Simonverse” books I’m sure you’ll love this sweet and short addition to it as well.

______________________


This was absolutely adorable and I think I finally kinda boarded the Labby ship too. *lol*
Simon and Blue are the cutest though! <33

Short review to come soon! Stay tuned! ;-)

______________________

So technically it's still October and since this is a short book I'll make it an October read.

I need to return "Love, Creekwood" to the library soon but you can bet I'll read it before I hand it over. *lol* After all I've been dying to read more about Simon and Blue ever since they got together! I need fluffy cuteness and there's no way this is going back unread. Period. XD Fighting!!

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_______________________

Okay, how come literally almost no one has this on their radar?!
Like seriously!!??

If my blogging friend Sabrina wouldn’t have mentioned this in one of her tags I wouldn’t even know this is a thing! So thank you Sabrina for bringing this to my attention!! <333

And yes, I’m writing this to make you guys aware of it too! Because I’m pretty sure there are a lot of fans out there that didn’t know there’s going to be a “Simonverse book 3.5”!!!

Now we can be happy about it together! *lol* =)))
Profile Image for Larry H.
2,774 reviews29.6k followers
July 23, 2020
4.5 stars, rounded up.

Boy, it felt so good to be back in the Love, Simon universe!!

This novella picks up where Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda and Leah on the Offbeat left off. Simon, Bram, Leah, and Abby are all in college now, dealing with being away from home, trying to make the most of their college experience, navigating long-distance relationships and love and all the beauty and insecurities that come with it.

“When we say we want to freeze time, what we mean is that we want to control our memories. We want to choose which moments we’ll keep forever. We want to guarantee the best ones won’t slip away from us somehow. So when something beautiful happens, there’s this impulse to press pause and save the game. We want to make sure we can find our way back to that moment.”

This book is told all in emails back and forth. Some of the emails have a surprising amount of emotion contained in them, and the discussion about finding the memories you want to keep forever, like the quote above, even choked me up a little.

I’ve really loved these stories and these characters, and also adored the Love, Simon movie. I definitely saw the actors in my head as I was reading this. (I also may have watched a few clips from the movie on YouTube once I finished this book.)

I just wish this was longer!! Even though she said before publishing this that she didn't intend to do any sequels or follow-ups, I do hope that Becky Albertalli plans to revisit the Creekwood gang again because I didn’t realize just how much I missed them until I read this.

Albertalli is donating all of the proceeds from this book to The Trevor Project, which is an organization near and dear to my heart, as are so many others I support.

The beauty of my month-long Pride Reads effort continues!!

Check out my list of the best books I read in 2019 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2019.html.

Check out my list of the best books of the decade at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2020/01/my-favorite-books-of-decade.html.

See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.

Follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/the.bookishworld.of.yrralh/.
Profile Image for Kevin (Irish Reader).
277 reviews4,051 followers
July 20, 2020
The way I cried 3 pages into this book

I really enjoyed this and absolutely loved being reunited with the characters, as they hold such a huge place in my heart. This story and this world means so much to me and this honestly felt like a catch-up with friends. Is this book particularly necessary to read? No. Is this book for the fans, like me, that love these characters? Yes. If you love Simon (see what I did there) then you’ll enjoy this short novella. One of my favorite parts about Simon Vs. is the email format, so I really enjoyed reading a book just in emails.

Overall, I loved it and was happy to be reunited with some of my favorite characters. Was it anything spectacular? No. But it was good enough for me!

I also read this during a reading vlog on my YouTube channel, you can check it out here, to hear more of my thoughts: https://youtu.be/_QhBPp1DD88
Profile Image for farith.
347 reviews512 followers
July 11, 2020
pros: becky donating all the profits to a LGBT charity. we love that, we support that.

cons: this book exists.
Profile Image for hillary.
738 reviews1,542 followers
July 5, 2020
This book shouldn’t exist. It’s as simple as that. I don’t really know what I was expecting but it wasn’t this boring mess.

Quick summary:
- this book is only emails with no clear final goal, It felt like a full length novel instead of only 100 pages because I was bored out of my mind.
- Simon mopes for the entire thing because him and Bram are long-distancing in college (would you still call it a healthy relationship after reading this book?)
- I didn’t need a reminder of the fanservice mess that is Leah On The Offbeat. But I got it and I hate that book even more now
- Leah is... Leah. Ugh.

Let’s just say I’ll try to delete this book from my memory and give that space to Love, Victor instead.


******

So,,,
I’m almost done with Love, Victor and I swear that show makes me so emotional. Victor/Michael Cimino is the cutest person alive.
I need this novella right now.
Profile Image for tappkalina.
685 reviews515 followers
September 16, 2022
Let me be clear here.

Simon and Blue are the softest couple and human beings ever.
There's no way in hell anyone can change my mind about that.
They are my children.
Half of my soul gets the will to live puerly from their existence.
If I'm at my worst, I only have to think about them to know there's still hope for a better day and I should keep fighting for my happiness.
They saved my life several times.

And now they are back and saying things like this:
"I can’t wait to forget what missing you feels like."

That's what this book is. It made me forget how much I miss Simon vs. every day even though I've reread it twice this year already.
S: "I want you to miss me, and think about me, and be in love with me, and be happy."

B: "Simon, let me be clear: I miss you. I think about you. I’m in love with you. Happiness is a shifting variable, but those are my constants."

Everything Blue ever did or said made me cry like a baby and that's so unfair. All I want from life is being able to hug him for ever.
I'm just so extremly grateful to Becky for creating them.
"You’re a really great person to be in love with, you know that?

Love,
Simon" 😭😭
Profile Image for Lauren Lanz.
805 reviews288 followers
July 26, 2020
While this was fun to read, it didn’t have a real plot and felt mainly like fan service.

Told through a compilation of emails, Love, Creekwood is a novella following everyone in the Simonverse through their early college days. Simon and Bram are managing long distance while Leah and Abby are fortunate enough to be roommates.

There was never a clear objective to this story, which left me slightly bothered. Besides seeing the characters once again, this novella doesn’t have any substance save for the last two pages. The open-ended conclusion was pretty dissatisfying as well.

This isn’t to say I disliked Love, Creekwood. It was nice to see the couples of this series interacting once again. I just wish Becky Albertali added something more to the plot.
Profile Image for Carlos.
457 reviews20 followers
July 9, 2020
“As I sat there reading this, bored out of my mind and constantly rolling my eyes I couldn’t help but wonder: am I too old for this sh*t already?”

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Profile Image for James.
Author 20 books4,114 followers
March 15, 2024
So, like most readers, I agree, this novella shouldn't have been written. Even the author debated it. That said, it's out there, so we need to think about its impact. All our faves from Creekwood have one off to college, and they keep in touch via email. The whole book is written in the form of emails back and forth, so it's not easy to read without really paying attention. So much sarcasm and wit, you can't always tell the character's voice. Because I love the characters, 5 stars. Because it was truly nothing of substance, 1 star. I met them in the middle. True series fans should read it tho!
Profile Image for April (Aprilius Maximus).
1,143 reviews6,466 followers
September 29, 2020
1.) Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda ★★★★★
2.) The Upside of Unrequited ★★★★
3.) Leah on the Offbeat ★★★★★
3.5) Love, Creekwood ★★★★

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"When we say we want to freeze time, what we mean is that we want to control our memories. We want to choose which moments we'll keep forever. We want to guarantee the best ones won't slip away from us somehow. So when something beautiful happens, there's this impulse to press pause and save the game. We want to make sure we can find our way back to that moment."

representation: gay MC, bisexual MC (own voices), m/m relationships, f/f relationship, Jewish characters (own voices), Black characters, mention of a minor non-binary character.

[trigger warnings are listed at the bottom of this review and may contain spoilers]


★★★★

Awwww it was so nice being back with these babies again! I loved how it was told entirely in emails and that it included the whole gang!! It was interesting and I imagine, relatable for a lot of people seeing their struggles with going to college and dealing with long distance friendships and relationships. I don't think this novella necessarily brought anything new or vital to the overarching story, but if you love the original novels, I think you'll just enjoy this for what it is!
Also I love the crossovers into other books, like the mention of Monty and Percy from Gentlemen's Guide & how Abby and Starr from Angie Thomas's 'The Hate U Give' are cousins! She also mentioned in the acknowledgments that she also borrowed from Adam Silvera's world and Nic Stone's world but I don't know the connections with these (I've only read dear martin and more happy than not in the past for context).

also just a heads up that this contains a lot of hp references... you have been warned.

trigger warnings: mental health struggles.

Thank you to Penguin Teen Australia for the review copy!
Profile Image for Nev.
1,254 reviews179 followers
July 20, 2020
2.5 - Well… this was a thing that I read. Yes, there were some cute parts and at times it was fun to see what the characters were up to after the ends of their books. But overall I just did not like the way this was written.

Having it all being emails between the characters just felt weird. Because there were so many scenes that they’d mention to one another that I wish I could’ve actually read instead of just getting a little summary in an email conversation. Also, there are so many conversations that the characters have through other means, so then when they finally switch over to email we’re only getting part of the story. It was a frustrating reading experience, because they’d reference so many things that I wanted to actually be able to read.

I know this is just a short little novella. And if it was a traditional narrative it probably would’ve been too difficult to include all the POVs of characters off at their different colleges in the limited page count. So I can understand why it was written this way… it just didn’t do anything for me.

I’m not mad that I read it, there were some nice moments. But I feel like this is the kind of story that I’m going to forget within a couple weeks.
Profile Image for Alfredo.
444 reviews561 followers
June 30, 2020
3.5

Um livro 100% GAY sobre os personagens mais icônicos de Becky Albertalli?? Conte comigo!

Eu estava receoso com "Com amor, Creekwood". Já tinha ouvido comentários negativos de pessoas que confio sobre "Leah fora de sintonia", então decidi ler esse aqui de mente aberta. Acho que para aqueles que, como eu, só leram "Com amor, Simon", essa novela pode parecer um pouco fora do lugar. De qualquer jeito, é muito gostoso poder revisitar personagens tão queridos. Já para quem leu "Leah fora de sintonia", essa leitura pode ter uma ótima pedida, já que muita da bagunça que a Becky fez naquele livro é arrumada nesse.

Esse é um livro totalmente despretensioso feito apenas para os fãs do Simonverse. Aqui, vamos ter Simon bêbado, mensagens safadas de Simon e Blue, conflitos amorosos, Leah no dia dos namorados, referências a livros como "O guia do cavalheiro para o vício e a virtude", pequena aparacição de personagens da Angie Thomas e Nic Stone, e muita (MUITA) mensagem fofa! Ele é narrado inteiramente por e-mails que os personagens trocam, o que deixa a leitura muito rápida. Queria que o Nick tivesse aparecido mais nessa história, mas imagino que isso seja parte da bagunça do "Leah...". E, ah, também não temos personagens de "Love, Victor" aqui!

"Com amor, Creekwood" é um livro divertido para ler com um sorriso no rosto do início ao fim. Acompanhamos dois casais LGBTQ+ que se amam muito e não suportam passar um dia longe do outro, e isso é lindo! Curti muito :)
Profile Image for Saimon (ZanyAnomaly).
405 reviews257 followers
July 12, 2020
June 30:
I am... speechless. Becky had no right to do this to me, yet also had every right to do this to me.
I was so happy reading this the entire time, but it also sort of credcendo'd in intensity (?) and I'm just... my brain has short circuited.
I feel overwhelmed.
This was so beautiful.

Will make a video or a longer review soon.
Love,
Saimon

---------------------------------------------
I WANNA SCREAM ABOUT THIS BOOK FROM MY ROOFTOP ALREADY, but it's midnight and my neighbors would whup my ass - ANYWAYS,

all my love and respect for Becky for DONATING 100% of the proceeds from this book to the Trevor project. I know she didn't have to do that - I know she's already a great ally who boosts queer and POC books every chance she gets - but she still did that and that's Allyship ❤️

I will never stop stanning this woman. periodt. pre-order the book, y'all.
Profile Image for Tiernan.
125 reviews1,707 followers
June 28, 2020
Really cute and totally worth the read - it's a good one-sitting visit into how all the characters of Simon Vs. are doing in college. Wish it was a full novel! I especially recommend buying because Becky Albertalli is donating all of her advance & royalties to The Trevor Project. <3
Profile Image for Christy.
4,223 reviews35.1k followers
September 21, 2020
3.5 stars

I love being back in the Simonverse! This novella was told during the first year of college for and was all emails mostly between Simon, Bram, Abby and Leah. I liked this and it was great catching up, but there was no real story to it.
Profile Image for Susana.
341 reviews234 followers
August 2, 2020
2 stars


Y'all this story was a mess. I recently reread Simon vs the Homosapiens Agenda and I was really disappointed that I didn't enjoy it as much as I had two years ago; however, I was still expecting to like this novella. Clearly, this did not meet my expectations.

We can start with the fact that there was literally no point to this story and no plot whatsoever. It only consisted of emails exchanged between Simon and Bram, Leah and Abby, and members of their friend group in which these they discussed events that happened to them since we last saw them and how much they missed each other.

It would have been so much better if we had got to actually read those moments happening instead of a water down version of them which left me really underwhelmed. In addition, I got extremely tired of Simon and Bram complaining about how much they missed each other in every. Freaking. Email. I understand that you're young and in love and whatnot, but the fact that they could not properly live without each other and were totally dependent in one another just made their relationship seem rather unhealthy.

Also, I still do not ship Leah and Abby no matter how much Becky Albertalli tries to shove their relationship down my throat. Their romance in Leah on the Offbeat was already awkward and nonsensical enough, I do not need to be reminded of it (if you want to read a book with an actual good F/F romance, I'd recommend The Falling in Love Montage).

In addition, I found that the author tried way too hard to write like what she believes teens talk like - the Harry Potter references and use of profanities were way too much, in my opinion.

When I found that this was coming out I was over the moon and seeing how much it let me down frustrates me more than anything else. Now I understand why the author said she had sworn she wouldn't write this story... Yikes...



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Pre-reading review (July 2020)

Just finished watching Love, Victor yesterday and it was sooo amazing, I don't have the words to tell you how much I loved it!! So I'm definitely reading this asap and rereading Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda afterwards for the Reading Rush!!
Profile Image for Siena.
284 reviews49 followers
Want to read
May 11, 2020
Is it worth it to put myself through 100+ pages of Leah for the sake of 100+ pages of Simon, Bram, and Abby 🤔
Profile Image for peachygirl.
291 reviews840 followers
July 5, 2021
I did exactly what the blurb said. Fell in love with these nerdy oddballs all over again!
Profile Image for Axl Oswaldo.
391 reviews226 followers
August 1, 2021
Siempre me había preguntado cómo sería leer una novela epistolar ambientada en nuestros días y con esta historia en particular no me quedé muy convencido de que funcionara realmente.

Me refiero sobre todo al hecho de que los mensajes por correo no están contando una historia, sino que los personajes solo escriben lo que se les ocurre o lo que piensan en un día cualquiera, y al parecer todo lo demás sucede detrás de escena, donde incluso ya han hablado por otros medios, como son el teléfono, mensajes de texto, en persona; todo esto me hizo sentir que los correos estaban dejando todo muy por encima y volviéndose innecesarios. Quizá, después de todo, el formato epistolar valdría la pena dejarlo para una época donde no existía el Internet (¿o será que el problema en realidad es esta novela?).

Por otra parte, reencontrarme con los personajes que hace tres años me hicieron pasar buenos momentos mientras leía Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda fue algo que me agradó y de alguna manera fue como revivir y conectar con aquella experiencia lectora.

Por ello, solo me atrevo a recomendar este libro para aquellos que de verdad disfrutaron mucho (muchísimo) la historia original y quieran saber qué fue de sus protagonistas; aunque pensándolo bien quizá hubiera preferido quedarme con mis recuerdos del pasado, pero esto ya no es una opción.
Profile Image for Sam.
584 reviews114 followers
July 14, 2020
Edit:

Honestly, the more I think about this the more I’m kind of disappointed. It felt rather flat. And some of the romance parts were ridiculous, like how Simon and Blue were so dependent on one another. They couldn’t go two seconds without missing each other and whining about the other not being there with them.

And what IS it with everyone needing to be paired up? Why did Nick need to get with someone?

The ending was really quite abrupt. The ending to Leah was a better end for this series as a whole. Much more impactful.

**

Original review:

Cute. Fun. Entirely fluff.

Was it needed? No. But I liked it. I do think the ending wasn’t as emotionally impactful as I wanted it to be. At then end of both Simon and Leah, I was a mess of emotions, but at the end of this one, I was just like “oh, okay.” But oh well! Sad to see this series end, but at least I have Love, Victor still!
Profile Image for BookNightOwl.
1,021 reviews178 followers
August 3, 2020
A little repetitive and boring. I was hoping for a interesting story line for something so short but it was a disappointment 😔
Profile Image for Fer Bañuelos ✨.
796 reviews3,741 followers
September 9, 2024
This was so unnecessary I'm sorry. Se que era para la caridad y todos los trucos pero ese final was so bad porque ni siquiera fue un final. Becky te amo pero por???? Unas cuantas páginas para cerrar bien bien ano hubieran estado mal pero bueno, al menos my queer little heart se mantiene feliz porque todo quedo relativamente lindo.
Profile Image for mjraves.
131 reviews82 followers
Read
April 23, 2020
lazy me is scrolling through Twitter (yesterday) and comes across Becky albertalli’s page. when I read that we were getting a new novella in one of my all-time favorite series, I screamed so loudly my family came to see if I was okay! first of all it is amazing that Becky is donating all of her proceeds from this book to the Trevor project, an organization for LGBTQ+ youth! and this book will also be entirely written in emails! usually I don’t like reading books like this but many of the previous simonverse novels included a lot of emails and that contributed to why I loved them sooooooooooooooooooooooooo much. the characters emails to each other were so sweet, romantic and funny and I LITERALLY CANNOT WAIT UNTIL JUNE 30TH! when love, creekwood takes place all the characters are in college so I’m extremely excited to see the beginning of their adult lives. to directly quote Becky: love, creekwood includes “shenanigans, exclamation points, yearning, Drunk Simon, Nostalgic Blue, Finals Week Abby, Valentine’s Day Leah, big decisions, and MUCH talk of kissing.” a.k.a. every reason for me loving the simonverse so freaking much, those books are so dear to my heart and I will fight anyone who dares to insult them! I would sell my soul for an arc of this
Profile Image for Ethan.
88 reviews30 followers
Read
June 30, 2020
too many fucking Harry Potter references :)
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