Amelia, If Only by Becky Albertalli: Review
Welcome to my review of Amelia, If Only by Becky Albertalli! I’m a big Becky fan, so I was all too excited to read her latest release.
Title: Amelia, If Only
Author: Becky Albertalli
Genre: YA Romance
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pub Date: 06/10/25
Description
Amelia Applebaum isn’t in love with Walter Holland. He just happens to be her favorite moderately famous, chaotically bisexual YouTuber. Who she just happened to invite to prom. (But it’s fine. No, for real. If you delete the post, it didn’t happen.)
Okay, maybe her friends are right: She’s slightly parasocially infatuated. But Amelia just knows sparks would fly—if only she could connect with Walter for real.
If only he would host a meet and greet.
If only it were just a short road trip away.
And if only Amelia could talk her best friends into making it the perfect last hurrah before graduation—even her newly single, always-cynical, guitar-toting best friend Natalie.
One thing’s for sure: All roads lead to butterflies.
But what if Amelia’s butterflies aren’t for Walter at all?
Review
I love a Becky Albertalli book, but I haven’t read one of her releases in a hot minute, so I was excited to pick up Amelia, If Only. It had some of the hallmarks of her writing with Jewish rep and discourse around pressure to come out or being outed. What I loved most about the book was the conversation around fan culture and parasocial behavior and the effect they can have on the celebrity.
This story was really fascinating from the perspective of someone who doesn’t stan anything or anyone anymore. Humans are fallible, and that’s way too time consuming. I like to casually enjoy things. But as a teenager, I was all about a parasocial relationship. Justin Bieber. 1D. 5SOS. Cody Simpson. Mindless Behavior. Small indie bands. At one point, every single inch of my walls was covered in posters from teen magazines. So, I could understand the draw Amelia had to Walter because of how she related to him.
The latter half of the book was my favorite because there was some serious tea spilling that had me fully invested. Being famous can sound like a horror story at times, and I truly can’t imagine what it feels like to have people think they know every facet of your being.
Amelia herself was a lot, and I think where the book lost me was with the humor. There was a lot of banter in the book that didn’t land without knowing all the lore and inside jokes of the friend group, especially since Amelia was constantly joking throughout the book. I also didn’t care much for the romance part of the story. It felt a little tacked on rather than integrated throughout the story, and I just didn’t believe in the relationship.
Overall, I think this is a read for those interested in fandom and who love good side characters. I do wish I had realized this was connected to Imogen, Obviously because I would have read that first, so I could have had more background on Imogen and Tessa.
*Thank you to the publisher for the finished copy. All opinions are my own.*
Author
Becky Albertalli is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of William C. Morris Award winner and National Book Award longlist title Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (now a major motion picture, Love, Simon); The Upside of Unrequited; Leah on the Offbeat; the Simonverse novella Love, Creekwood; What If It’s Us and Here’s to Us (cowritten with Adam Silvera); Yes No Maybe So (cowritten with Aisha Saeed); Kate in Waiting; and Imogen, Obviously, a Stonewall Honor Book. Becky lives with her family near Atlanta. You can visit her online at beckyalbertalli.com.
Where to Buy
Bookshop | Barnes & Noble | Amazon
