Published: 30 June 2020 (print)/23 July 2020 (audio) 
Publisher: Penguin/Penguin Audio
Pages: 128/2 hrs and 47 mins
Narrator: Michael Crouch, James Fouhey, Kate Rudd, Bahni Turpin
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Young Adult Romance
★ ★ – 2.5 Stars
A gorgeously romantic new novella set in the world of Becky Albertalli’s bestselling and beloved Simonverse novels- Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, The Upside of Unrequited, and Leah on the Offbeat.
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.
I know I can’t complain that a book called Love, Creekwood would be filled with so much romance, but I wasn’t expecting the entire book to be these characters going on and on about how in love they are with each other? Is there no plot? The answer to that is no. There is no plot.
This is the universe from Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and even that book, the book of romance and pining, didn’t feel this annoyingly love obsessed. Especially given Simon and Bram are two years into their relationship, there is no reason they should be as distraught at being apart as they are.
These people are a few hours way from one another and they act like they will never see each other again. Which is absurd given how many times they do actually see each other. Some of them are lamenting being separate for three days or two weeks and it is exhausting to try and find a fun plot around the mourning and pining. There is a bit in there about a fun roommate and playing soccer which is never really expanded on but it was something.
I liked the email format, I liked getting snippets of their lives and references to things that have happened or will happen. It succeeds in telling you about their lives outside of the emails and you don’t need full context because the characters are talking to each other in places. The emails aren’t the sole point of information and are fun love letters on the side, even if they do branch into slightly different things as well. Which is sweet, and ties into the Simon origins, I’m just saying a bit more plot would have been nice than an entire book about characters talking about missing touching and smelling one another.
There was a moment of self-awareness when I think it was Leah or Abbey who mention that not seeing your girlfriend for six days is cause for people to bring out the world’s smallest violin and is a classic first world problem; so Albertalli knows the dramatics these people are exhibiting.
I did this as an audiobook which was fun because the multiple different narrators were all those who I’ve heard in other books, a bit of a who’s who in narration. It was quite fun because they are so familiar they reminded me of all the other great books I had heard them in and the different characters they voiced.
I appreciated the audiobook experience but I’d forgotten how rough it can be hearing emails through audio, especially and entire book of them. The downside of social media in books is hearing everyone’s email addresses read out in full every single time, which for group emails was a long wait to get to whatever the email was actually about. When I read books with emails it’s easy to skim and see the to and from, and subject if necessary and get straight into the message. Hearing the fun name at whatever dot com over and over was hard but I understand they can’t chose to abridge that for ease because that goes against what an audiobook is.
For those who loved the original Simon story (which I did to be fair), and the companion Leah on the Offbeat, it is nice to see the next stage of their lives, I’m just a bit bummed it was so focused on the being in love to the point of nothing else side. Even a novella, keeping the lamenting and including a bit more plot would have been nice, but again, goes against the fun of the email format.
You can purchase Love, Creekwood via the following
Wordery | Blackwell’s | Angus & Robertson
Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible
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