Parisa and Gabriela are best friends, and they couldn’t be more different. One suffers from anxiety, the other is very confident. Both are also seniors in High school, however their little bubble is soon going to burst as a pandemic is on its way. One which might be deadly for the younger population.

I have to admit that I felt mixed feelings before requesting this book. Our pandemic and its different lockdowns wasn’t that long ago, and COVID still lingers around. I remember that I was very anxious during the first few months and just couldn’t read anything related to health issues, pandemics and so on. While “I Miss You, I Hate This” isn’t specifically talking about COVID, but another made up pandemic, there are still resemblances. You definitely need to be aware of that before starting the book.

However, my “anxiety” got quickly replaced by reading pleasure. This book is a mix of cultures, best friends who just want to get through school, and families who are the complete opposite of each other. I loved how the author managed to fit all of this and a lot more into her book. I liked her writing style a lot, and “I Miss You, I Hate You” will definitely not be my last book by Saedi.

Everything felt so real in this book, the anxiety, the pandemic and so much more. I’ve read a few reviews where others compare this book with a diary during COVID-19, and I have to agree. It definitely feels like that.

I can highly recommend this book to Contemporary readers out there.

I have been moved. I truly never expected to seek out, let alone enjoy, a novel about the pandemic. I know I’m not alone, but the majority of 2020 is not a time I look back on fondly. And I think I always thought the anger I felt at so many people, milestones, and experiences being taken away would just fester if I read a book about it. But Sara Saedi's new novel proved that logic very very wrong.

I Miss You, I Hate This felt cathartic in ways that I think have become universal because of the coronavirus. Though our two main characters, Parisa and Gabriela, are seniors in high school while I was finishing up my last year of undergrad, I relate all too well to the fear, uncertainty, and virtual school/graduation ceremony they experience.

I think what really sold this book for me was that it was so much more than a book about the pandemic. Friendship love is one of my favorite relationships to read and the love that Gabriela and Parisa have for one another is palpable, through all their ups and downs. I also feel that Sara Saedi accomplished a truly difficult feat in making this book and these characters wonderfully and authentically diverse without it feeling forced or disjointed in any way.

I’m truly glad I read this book and I think you will be, too!

Before we get into this book, I need to warn you that this is a Covid book. The entire plot centers around a covid-inspired pandemic for a made up ademavirus. It is extremely clear while you’re reading this novel that the book is about Covid regardless of some of the changes that Sara Saedi incorporated. Of these changes, the biggest is that ademavirus disproportionately kills younger populations rather than older. This introduces a different type of agency for the characters who are seniors in high school and whose parents are being forced to deal with the possibility that their child(ren) may die at a very young age. If you don’t feel like you’re up for reading a book about a pandemic, you may want to pass on this one.

Though I’ve had Americanized: Rebel Without a Green Card on my TBR for a while, this is my first Sara Saedi book and, let me tell you, I was blown away. I absolutely loved her style of writing as well as the characters that were introduced in this book. This book tackles some heavy themes (as you could imagine) and it had me in tears at the very last page. Our main characters, Gabriela and Parisa, are unique in their own personalities and problems, but you can’t help but empathize with them both as their relationships are put to the test.

The story is told through alternating POV chapters between Gabriela and Parisa, with some text message and emails exchanges incorporated throughout. I am a huge fan of this type of mixed-media storytelling, and considering that most of their communication is occurs virtually due to the pandemic, I felt like the inclusion of these things really suited the story. The only thing that I was a bit wary about was the fact that they basically always used perfect grammar when texting each other, which I felt might not be the most authentic representation of teen messaging.

Aside from the themes of friendship and illness, this book also tackles important issues such as anxiety disorders, patching (or not patching) estranged relationships, and the thin line between trying to do what’s best for you vs. what’s best for everyone else. I definitely think this is a book that could speak to a lot of people, adults and teens alike, especially considering the time period it is being published in.

𝐈 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐘𝐨𝐮, 𝐈 𝐇𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 is the first book I’ve read that has dealt with the pandemic. I did read one that briefly mentioned it, but this is the first one that actually went in depth about how it affected friendships and relationships. I loved getting to know Parisa and Gabriela. They felt so realistic and absolutely relatable, though I’m over a decade+ older than them. Reading about events and activities that they have to miss out in because of the pandemic made me ponder on the events I missed. Not just me; so many of us were affected by this. It was definitely a global experience.

If you’re into coming of age stories with flawed but fantastic characters, you won’t want to miss out on 𝐈 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐘𝐨𝐮, 𝐈 𝐇𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬💕 Yes, it deals with difficult topics but it’s such a heartfelt story with some truly funny moments. I can’t recommended enough!

I don't remember the last time I read a book that was focused primarily on the work of friendship between two young women (Rumaan Alam's Rich And Pretty, maybe? Which I read in 2016 and did not love) without a mystery or epic storyline to pull focus from the relationship. And while I Miss You, I Hate This is allegedly about a fictional ademavirus that strikes in 2022, it's really about the COVID-19 pandemic, and how it derailed the end of American high school and its attendant rituals.

The reason for the fake pandemic is to emphasize its impact on teenagers, who are the most vulnerable target for the fictional virus. This lends a greater sense of urgency to the need for our main characters to avoid it, and adds a touch more drama to the narrative. Said main characters are Parisa Naficy, the over-achieving, anxiety-ridden daughter of Iranian immigrants, and Gabriela Gonzalez, the beautiful, artistic daughter of struggling lesbians. They've been best friends since the first day of high school, bonding over their relative status as outsiders, Parisa due to being an awkward nerd and Gabriela due to not having gone to the same middle school as everyone else.

As the book starts, the two have stolen a bunch of Parisa's parents' vodka and edibles, and are having their first experience with either in Parisa's empty hot tub-style bathtub. Unfortunately, Parisa's anxiety kicks in, leading her to think she's dying and causing her to scream for her parents. Gabriela gets sent home and they're both grounded... but then the pandemic kicks in and their temporary separation looks to become far more permanent. Will their bond be able to survive not only this forced estrangement but the stresses inherent to adolescent friendships?

This is a really well-drawn portrait of two young women in very different circumstances just doing their best with the challenges of the real world. Parisa is dead set on getting into Harvard, and is kinda put out by the return of her older sister Neda from Yale. Neda has always been the chill, unbothered one in their family, inadvertently making Parisa feel like even more of an emotional screw-up. Worse, Neda is now dating the boy that Parisa had a crush on all through high school.

Gabriela has her own family issues. Her parents have been lifelong best friends and sweethearts, who were kicked out by their families when their romance was discovered while they were still teenagers. It hasn't been easy for them since, but Gabriela is less bothered by her family's constant struggle to make ends meet than the fact that she's never met any of her other relatives.

Thank goodness for modern technology providing the girls a lifeline. Emails, video chats and texts (the last of which are included in the book) allow them to keep their friendship going even when they can't be together in person, as they cope with illness, romance, loss and the general discomfort of adjustment. This is probably the first, most honest account of how young people and their relationships were tested during the recent pandemic, even if it is a fictionalization. Told entirely from the girls' perspectives, it covers a pretty comprehensive range of responses, from Parisa's over-dramatic misery to Gabriela's more pragmatic concerns. Gabriela was my favorite of the two, from the very moment she accepted Parisa's anxiety as being worse for her best friend than for anyone else. It was very kind of her to constantly reassure Parisa that being rich didn't mean Parisa wasn't allowed to be unhappy -- even if, in my opinion, Parisa didn't extend anywhere near the same amount of support and grace to her friend.

That said, I did enjoy how irreligious the Naficys, and in particular Parisa the atheist, were. Their family is all about Persian culture, but their lukewarmth over religion was honestly refreshing to read. Not every immigrant family from a Muslim-majority country cares about religion or gives it an important place in their lives, and it's nice to see that acknowledged.

Smart, sensitive and timely, this novel might be too of-the-moment for certain readers, but is definitely a great read in the fine tradition of American coming-of-age novels. Recommended.

I Miss You, I Hate This by Sara Saedi was published October 11 2022 by Poppy Books and is available from all good booksellers, including <a href="https://bookshop.org/a/15382/9780316629829">Bookshop!</a>

I Miss You, I Hate This, the title of this contemporary young adult novel by Sara Saedi, is also the recurring sign-off between the two main characters as they message throughout the length of the pandemic. The two girls are delightful together as the story opens; their text exchanges are often laugh-out-loud funny. However, as the lockdown and isolation wear on, their friendship begins to suffer.

The characters in the book present a wide variety of cultures, lifestyles, and family configurations, and most readers will find something similar to their situation somewhere in the story. The author puts names and faces to the characters experiencing the many different kinds of collateral effects the pandemic brought to the table, making them real. For example, I could feel the worry of Gabriela’s family, who could not make a living and pay their apartment rent when their catering business could no longer operate.

I enjoyed the secondary storyline about Gabriela’s extended family. What a heartbreaker for her moms to be estranged from their families all those years because of who they loved.

Parisa’s anxiety disorder is really brought home and made real. As one of the book’s points of view, her feelings, thoughts, and fears are laid bare, and readers facing similar struggles will easily relate. The same can be said for her crush on her older sister’s boyfriend and how she handles her feelings and actions.

It was hard not to cry during certain parts of this tough yet ultimately hopeful story. The feelings and fears in the book accurately mirror what many of our students and children have been going through during the Covid pandemic and subsequent lockdowns and remote schooling. Everyone was hurting, and many are still struggling today.

I recommend I MISS YOU, I HATE THIS to readers of contemporary young adult fiction, especially those interested in a story that parallels the experiences of many current and recently graduated high school students.

When best friends Parisa and Gabriela decide to try alcohol and pot, it doesn’t go as planned. Parisa, who suffers from anxiety, has a massive anxiety attack and yells for her parents. The two get promptly punished and separated. And then a pandemic hits, and they are once again separated. Can their friendship withstand not seeing each other? And what about their lives? This is their senior year of high school, and it’s spent from inside their homes.

If I had one issue with the book, it was that Parisa treated her dad like crap, which doesn’t resolve. Of course, teens don’t always appreciate their parents until they’re older, but it would have been nice to see that behavior addressed other than Parisa knowing she treats him like crap but doing nothing about it.

As someone who’s suffered from anxiety for a long time, I feel Saedi wrote Parisa’s anxiety well. It’s relatable, and it’s true to life. I loved how Gabriela supported her, even when it didn’t make sense, even when Parisa didn’t want to admit that she was suffering from anxiety. I found Gabriela more relatable. While their friendship with Wes and Alexander played a significant part in the book, they weren’t in depth, which helps keep the best friends at the forefront of the story.

This is a cute story, with text messages weaved throughout to enhance the story. I liked the alternating perspectives as well. Thank you, Little Brown Books, for sending this over.

Even though I'm not a teen, this book was highly relatable. The world changed so much during the pandemic and it deeply affected every person. The main characters were likeable and sweet and the author did a great job developing them into strong characters I sympathized with and cared about. This is a great story for adults and teens alike!

I was not mentally prepared for this book.

Immediately when I got through the first chapter, I fell in love with I MISS YOU, I HATE THIS. Stories about best friends growing up and going through it together are my weakness! I just don't think I was quite ready for a story about surviving the early days of a pandemic.

Technically, this is a fictional pandemic, but its consequences are very 2020 and very real. But despite that, the story of friendship and romance and shifting family dynamics while navigating global change was extremely well done. Exceptionally written, funny where it needed to be, deep as much as it could be. It can't imagine it was easy to write a story like this, but perhaps it was essential, and as a reader, it did feel important and, in many ways, necessary.

It's about so much more than being in lockdown or grief or fear. It's about anxiety and how to maintain relationships when you can't be with the people you love, and life changes and accepting that sometimes things aren't the way you imagined - and that doesn't make things all bad.

Highly recommend. I smiled and laughed more times than I expected despite the premise. Also, if you have a best friend, give them a hug if you can. You just never know.

Parisa and Gabriela are seniors and besties who are as different as can be. Parisa is a privileged Iranian American girl who suffers from anxiety. Gabriela, of Mexican American heritage, loves to create art and wishes her two moms didn’t have to struggle with work and bills. The girls’ senior year comes to an unexpected halt when Adema-22, a virus that primarily affects the young, becomes a global pandemic and shuts down society. The girls’ friendship experiences ups and downs during their forced separation, during which they communicate through texts and video chats; both feel stretched to their limits when misunderstandings can’t be resolved in person. Timely in its address of pandemic conditions, cautions, and attitudes, this is sure to resonate with teens who have grappled with anxiety, isolation, or ambivalence during COVID-19. Told in alternating points of view, the story is supportive of teens’ complicated feelings and mental-health issues, while being realistic in its incorporation of the demands placed on essential workers versus those who are able to work from home.

I didn't expect this one to affect me as strongly as it did. After all, I made it through the pandemic relatively unscathed. I lost two years of my high school experience, sure, but that was about as minor as it could be.

Something about reading from the perspective of two characters that are the same age as me really hit though. I <i>felt</i> their pain. All of it felt so real and relatable. I almost found myself in tears several times. It was too real. It felt less like fiction and more like a journal. It felt completely real.

I really liked the friendship between Parisa and Gabriela. Again, it felt real. They had their struggles, but I loved watching them triumph. Neither of them were perfect, and it made them so much better.

So, even though I didn't expect to love this one, I did! It was realistic and relatable, and something I won't be forgetting anytime soon.