ARC, 448 pages
Release Date: February 4, 2020Published by: Balzer + Bray
Read from: February 3-8, 2020Stand-aloneSource: #booksfortradeTW: Racist words and phrasesFor fans of: Contemporary, Romance, Social Media, Friendships, Realistic Fiction, YA
New York Times bestselling authors Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed have crafted a resonant, funny, and memorable story about the power of love and resistance.
YES
Jamie Goldberg is cool with volunteering for his local state senate candidate—as long as he’s behind the scenes. When it comes to speaking to strangers (or, let’s face it, speaking at all to almost anyone), Jamie’s a choke artist. There’s no way he’d ever knock on doors to ask people for their votes…until he meets Maya.
NO
Maya Rehman’s having the worst Ramadan ever. Her best friend is too busy to hang out, her summer trip is canceled, and now her parents are separating. Why her mother thinks the solution to her problems is political canvassing—with some awkward dude she hardly knows—is beyond her.
MAYBE SO
Going door to door isn’t exactly glamorous, but maybe it’s not the worst thing in the world. After all, the polls are getting closer—and so are Maya and Jamie. Mastering local activism is one thing. Navigating the cross-cultural romance of the century is another thing entirely.
*MY THOUGHTS*
As soon as I saw these two authors were writing a story together, I was so happy. Both of them are some of my favorite authors, so I’ve been so excited for this one. I am so in love with all these books featuring voting this year in the election, the 100 years of women’s sufferage, and (even though there’s still issues with them in 2020) there was the passing of the 15th Amendment. Makes me excited to see all the things that are going to be shaken up from the new voters who read these!
“They made it eighteen years. They were happy for the most of them. At least I thought they were. I wish I knew why some people keep holding hands and why some people stop.“pg. 87
Maya Rehman’s Ramadan isn’t going as she thought. Jamie is not ready to spend his summer planning his sister’s bat mitzvah and volunteering for his state candidate. But it’s the volunteering that brought the two of them together. It’s not exactly what they thought they’d be doing, but as it turns out, it wasn’t as bad as they thought.
“I just figured after the racist guy, you probably don’t want to canvass again.” “Well, I do.” “Really?” I look at her. “Of curse! We don’t want the racist asshole guy to win, right?” “He already did wi. In 2016.”“pg. 102
For the most part, I loved this. Both authors always have the ability to write awesome characters, so it was not surprise that I loved them both. Jamie was so hilarious and so cute and Maya was such a strong character. The two of them really complimented each other. It was so nice to see them find each other.
“That’s what pisses me off. I don’t know what it will take to get through to those people. Oh, it’s just a special election. It’s just the state senate! I can sit this one out. Well, you know who’s not sitting this ne out? He throws his palms up. “Republicans. Those mofos show up every goddamn time.“pg. 164
I do wish there was some more to the plot though. It was basically 400 pages of them canvassing. And planning a party. I wish there was something else that was added. It just got to be really montonmous. If there had been something else, I would have given it a little more of a rating. But still, I think it was ok.
“Voting for the best of two bad choices still means you’re stuck with a bad choice.“pg. 182
I REALLY liked the voting part of this. At one point I felt what they went through, being from Texas. I put myself in their shoes and I swear, I was just as hurt as I was when it happened to Texas in real life. I hope this book shows them that they need to vote, no matter what the issues are. So many people don’t worry about voting if it doesn’t have anything to do with them, but I hope that they see, that those that are involved need their help.
“Girl drama is the worst.“pg. 392
I will definitely be giving this book to my teens. I have one that turns 18 before the next election. And although it’s not his favorite type of book, I feel that there’s so much he can get out of this book. I think even adults can get something out of this book. Elections, no matter how small they seem, are so much bigger and mean so much more.
Overall, I give this
I’m glad you mostly liked it! I love these authors too, so I’m looking forward to reading this one.
Aj @ Read All The Things!