A Today Show Read with Jenna Book Club Pick
“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.
Until a marvel and an oddity occurs…
Marvel: Adam and Zayneb meeting.
Oddity: Adam and Zayneb meeting.
Omfg this was amazing! Read for free on RivetedLit.Com on Dec 12th. Flew through it. Couldn't stop reading. Tackles hard issues with nuance and deference while being an adorable romance.
I wasn't a fan of the third party note in the beginning stating it was a narrative recreated with their permission. Daring and different but kinda killed the suspension of disbelief for me and negated the point. At least, until The Incident. Then I went, 'Ahhhhhh'. Pretty clever. And realistic. I think I still prefer when author's have both entries but I'm impressed.
I love how it handles rage at injustice. And headdresses and Coachella and fake niceness and ignorance and burnout.
Adam's MS was handled so well with his family. I soooo get not wanting to tell and trying to handle everything solo. I love his little sister! And how different friends helped and handled it differently. There's no one right way for everybody in every situation.
Perfect YA contemporary romance fans like Menon, and Bertalli. I love where the genre is trending in this regard!
And please read the author's note afterwards! The best books have the best author's note and this is no exception.
Reading updates
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14 December, 2019:
Reviewed
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Started reading
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Finished reading
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14 December, 2019:
Reviewed
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Started reading
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Finished reading
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14 December, 2019:
Reviewed