I recently read Unrequited and was excited to see that the author wrote the other side of the story here in Requited. When you only have one narrator for a book, it’s always fun to get to see the other perspective like this. I loved being in West’s head for this one. And it truly felt like you were in West’s head. I commented in my review for Unrequited that the writing style in these books makes it feel like you’re reading this character’s diary or something. It’s very focused on the feelings of the various events that happen, there’s virtually no scene setting – which I actually thought was pretty cool.
In the first book, you really don’t know where West’s head is at while poor Andy pined over him endlessly (and fruitlessly) for so many years. I mean, we knew West loved Andy but we assumed it was just in a best-friend way – after all, for much of the book we are operating under the assumption that West is very much a straight man. But getting into his head in this book, we see that Andy’s crush wasn’t as unrequited as it seemed. West had his own reasons for not making any moves on Andy for so long but we get to see how tortured he was over his feelings toward him. It really makes you see so many things that happened in the first book in a whole new light. I loved it.
As the blurb suggests, however, this is not simply a retelling of the events of the first story. The thing I loved most about this book was that it actually explores what might have happened if West just made one decision differently. And holy cow – what a HUGE difference that one thing makes. I loved exploring this alternate outcome, it kind of makes the pair of books a choose-your-own-adventure story! I will say, I preferred the path this book took vs the path we got in the first one. However, I think it’s absolutely necessary to read the first book and see how hard-fought that path was so you can better appreciate the way things turn out in this one. This ending almost felt like a prize for getting through the hard stuff in the first book (and yes, both stories end with a happily ever after). I loved the epilogue in this one too, it was a great way to end everything.
So yeah, that last paragraph was pretty vague, I know. But if you’ve read Unrequited, definitely continue on and read this one, it’s absolutely worth it! I’ve enjoyed the time I spent with West and Andy and I’m delighted I stumbled upon these books.
The Book Boyfriend Addict 