“The bighearted, wildly charming, painfully real love story I’ve been waiting for.” —Becky Albertalli, New York Times bestselling author of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
From William C. Morris Award Finalist S.K. Ali comes a “heartfelt and powerful” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) romance that’s The Sun Is Also a Star meets Anna and the French Kiss, following two Muslim teens who meet during a spring break trip.
A marvel: something you find amazing. Even ordinary-amazing. Like potatoes—because they make French fries happen. Like the perfect fries Adam and his mom used to make together.
An oddity: whatever gives you pause. Like the fact that there are hateful people in the world. Like Zayneb’s teacher, who won’t stop reminding the class how “bad” Muslims are.
But Zayneb, the only Muslim in class, isn’t bad. She’s angry.
When she gets suspended for confronting her teacher, and he begins investigating her activist friends, Zayneb heads to her aunt’s house in Doha, Qatar, for an early start to spring break.
Fueled by the guilt of getting her friends in trouble, she resolves to try out a newer, “nicer” version of herself in a place where no one knows her.
Then her path crosses with Adam’s.
Since he got diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in November, Adam’s stopped going to classes, intent, instead, on perfecting the making of things. Intent on keeping the memory of his mom alive for his little sister.
Adam’s also intent on keeping his diagnosis a secret from his grieving father.
Alone, Adam and Zayneb are playing roles for others, keeping their real thoughts locked away in their journals.
Absolutely loved this book, but didn't like the writing style. I believe this book has the power to change actual lives. While it's a contemporary romance, it doesn't focus too much on romance. It's more about the right to be yourself. It deals with islamophobia a lot which I liked. And also, I'm so incredibly happy that this book is now available to all those who haven't identified with characters before.
"The other thing is that Ayaan doesn't wear hijab. She's Muslim, and Fencer knows it from her full name - Ayaan Ahmed - but he's not sure what kind. Like, he doesn't know if she cares about her identity or if she practices her faith. Or if she simply has a Muslim name."
This book tells it how it is and I loved that.
"Excuse me, but did you ever think what it does to our hearts? To be continously told that how we choose to be is wrong? Like, why can't I just swim here in peace? Why do the clothes I have on my body hurt your husband's heart?"
