Jasmine Zumideh Needs a Win is a young adult novel about a teenager in 1979 who runs for senior class president and faces a series of moral dilemmas.

Jasmine Zumideh is a high school senior who dreams of going to NYU and becoming a journalist. However, her college application is a little light in the extracurricular department, so she decides that a run for class president is the perfect way to stand out. Unfortunately, the early decision application is due before Election Day, which means she must win to keep her application accurate. This puts intense pressure on both her and her friends, who are helping with the campaign. Jasmine’s opponent uses the recent Iran hostage crisis as part of his platform, forcing her to distance herself from her Iranian heritage and her politically active brother. As the campaign progresses toward Election Day, Jasmine makes increasingly questionable moral decisions that put her relationships at risk and jeopardize her campaign.

Jasmine Zumideh Needs a Win is a fun, lighthearted story about the struggle to maintain integrity in the midst of an election, especially when your opponent brings world events into a high school competition. While it’s not a fast-paced, high-stakes drama, it is entertaining and offers valuable lessons about friendship, honesty, and being proud of your heritage. Though the plot didn’t fully pull me in, I loved the inclusion of Southern California landmarks from 1979. It was so much fun hearing those names again!

3.5 stars

I loved this book. Idk why it took me so long to read it it. But it was so good! I need the physical copy. It literally had me in from sentence one.

To be fair to this book, I probably should have realized that I wasn't going to like it much.

There has never been a book with the plotline "protagonist tells 'little white lie' at the beginning that snowballs into more lies that will eventually have to come out at the end of the story" that I have enjoyed. I can't handle the stress of it all, and the protagonists (like Jasmine) usually have to be very self-absorbed and dismissive of other people in order to carry that sort of plotline for an entire book.

I probably would have DNF'd this if it hadn't been an ARC. It's not just Jasmine being an entirely unlikable character and the entire premise of the book stressing me out. I think the historical fiction aspect of the book, with it being set around the Iranian hostage crisis, was not done well enough for a YA novel—I, like the target audience of the book, was decidedly not alive in 1979, or in any decade close to it, and the voice of the writing was just quite hard to connect to.

I don't think this was a poorly written book—it just wasn't for me. I'm giving it 2.5 stars.

Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that I hadn’t posted a review for this ARC when I first read it 🤦🏻‍♀️ I’ve had to go back to my personal notes that I attached to the file, so bare with me as I try to decode what I wanted to originally say:

As a high school teacher, I am constantly trying to find stories that I can share with my students z With such a strong and loveable cast, “Jasmine Zumideh Needs a Win” gives all readers the chance to connect with a character. Jasmine, as the titular character, may be the most relatable, since she’s arguably the most flawed — her growth (inter- and intra- personally) however, is a something that readers can sense and look forward to.

While I have a hard time enjoying the plethora of pop-culture references, I recognize that they’re needed to stabilize the current setting. They’re sprinkled in amongst the historic climate of the novel and spaced well in terms of pacing.

3.75 stars

I really liked the 70’s setting of this story, and the music references were really fun! I think a music lover would really enjoy this story. I thought Jasmine was a bit over the top, but I think YA readers would like her. It’s not really a fluffy read, it is pretty intense, but overall I enjoyed it!

I was given an advanced reader's copy via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own

Picture it - Southern California, 1979. Jasmine Sumideh, high school senior, is running for class president...and she HAS to win. But then, a real-life international incident turns the election upside down. Iran suddenly dominates the nightly news, and her opponent seizes the opportunity to stir up anti-Iranian hysteria at school and turn the electorate against her. Now, as the white lie she told snowballs into an avalanche, Jasmine is stuck between claiming her heritage or hiding it, winning the election or abandoning her dreams for good. What's a girl to do?

I thought this one was a cute, fun read and I really enjoyed it. The story was engaging and I really liked the characters.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

This was a fine but essentially forgettable book - I think I am slowly aging out of reading YA as I found Jasmine to be a bit too much. Nothing wrong with this book at all and if you're into music and music reporting you'll love it.

It's 1979 and high school senior Jasmine Zumideh is ready to leave her life behind and move to New York to attend NYU. All she has to do is win the student election she entered into in a moment of panic and keep her friends and family from ruining her chances. But the Iran hostage incident starts just as her campaign starts and the Iranian-American teenager isn't sure about how she feels about real politics invading her high school elections. She'll have to decide what she's willing to sacrifice and do in order to get what she wants and maybe even if she truly knows what it is she wants.

It's really 3.5 stars becuase it's a good story and I loved the time and message attached to it, but Jasmine is a bit much. She's so wired and stressed that I got wired and stressed from reading along to her story. I read to relax, so is not at all what I look for in a good read.
That said, if someone can read without getting dragged into Jasmine's high-anxiety personality, it's an excellent story of figuring out what you want and really stand for. I loved the real-world political and societal issues that play such an important role and how the author respects that these may be kids, but they can certainly be informed and active in expressing it. It's creepily similar to what's going on lately, but that's just random luck.

Happy thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the read!

I thought that this was going to be a book set in present day but it is set in the 70s. I do think that this is an important story and I believe that many more should read it I just did not personally enjoy how obsessed Jasmine was about becoming a music reporter. I think that for someone who is interested in music and journalism will get a lot out of this book. I did enjoy the parts of this book that showed Jasmine's family culture on her father's side. I do also like that the way that divorce was handle in this book where one of the parents tends to overshare with their kids because it happens a lot more than we would like to admit.

I’m not sure how I feel about this one still. I liked it while I was reading it but I found it very forgettable. I did really like the characters and the story line.

Jasmine Zumideh is caught in the middle of so many aspects of her life—between two friends, two parents, and two cultures. Throughout the book, we watch Jasmine explore what's important to her and find herself in the process, making mistakes and fixing them along the way. A little bit coming of age, a little bit romance, and a lotta bit social justice, this book comes together to be one thought-provoking read!

This book is excellent for my students. I really enjoyed Jasmine! It was a slow start for me, but I loved the exploration of Jasmine trying to find her place. You really root for her even if all of her choices aren’t the best. I didn’t find the secondary characters lacking and wish I had more from them.

This was an enjoyable YA historical novel, but it's definitely not a light fluffy read. Despite the historical setting there is a lot that mirrors today's society and that teens will find relevant.

This was a fun book with some food and culture in it. I found the character/writing to be a little all over the place with the internal monologue and not quite as easy to keep up. Music lovers will enjoy the 70/ 80s music band references. I’m not sure how much an actual YA reader would enjoy… maybe a kid that is familiar with the pop
Culture of the 80s?

I truly need to read the book summary more because I thought that this book was going to be cute cute ya read. But it's really more about discovering who you are in the past and present. It definitely deals with heavy topics that I didn't expect at all. If you like reading about heavy topics with political subplots, then give this book a try. Personally, this book was too heavy for my taste.

As a librarian, I'm always on the hunt for YA historical novels that aren't just about white people. So I was really excited for this one about an Iranian-American girl trying to win her school election, while juggling family and identity.

This was a fun read that I think would even appeal to those who aren't normally into historical fiction! It has a touch of romance and also deals with friendship and more. One thing I want to note is that I've seen it comp'ed to Darius the Great is Not Okay--thematically, I think these are super different books and I think this comparison is mostly just because both protagonists are Iranian. I wouldn't necessarily pitch this to Darius fans.

Overall, a fun and quick read with a messy protagonist who readers will root for!

Susan Azim Boyer has woven a side-splitting coming-of-age tale that'll have you giggling from start to finish. Meet Jasmine Zumideh, a high school senior in the late 70s who's juggling a boatload of dilemmas, including her parents' split, rocky friendships, and her mixed heritage. But her biggest goal is to nail the senior class presidency and secure her ticket to NYU. As she barrels through one questionable decision after another, you can't help but root for her and her darling love interest, Mike, whose moral compass is as straight as an arrow.

Boyer's witty writing style and Jasmine's unique voice are a match made in heaven, making this a page-turner you won't be able to put down. And while the story may be set in the past, the themes and conflicts are as relevant as ever. So buckle up and join Jasmine on her hilarious and zany journey to win the ultimate prize!

I don't know why I put off reading this for so long, it was great. I desperately want historical fiction to be more of a thing in YA, because I think it's really fun and also really broadens people's horizons. History is interesting!

The strength of this book lies in the main character, who has such a fun voice. She has a lot of ambition, in which she reminded me of Rory Gilmore: she wants to go to NYU and become a pop journalist. Throughout the book, she doesn't always make the right decisions because of her ambitions, as anti-Iranian sentiments rise among her fellow high schoolers. All she wants is to fit in and be accepted and reach her goals, but if she stands up for her heritage, this might be hard to achieve.

I loved reading about the journey Jasmine goes on, but I do think the ending could have been fleshed out a little more. I thought it was all wrapped up rather suddenly and neatly, and I would have liked more of an exploration.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Wednesday Books for a copy of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

I am a few days out from having finished this book, and I am still struggling to find the words to write this review, especially due to the global climate right now. I don't know how I feel about it, and it has been hard to find the words to articulate why. Is it a good book? Sure. Is it something different from many other books on the market? Also, yes. Is it a book I was the target audience for? Kinda. Did I like it? Jury’s still out on that one. This book follows Iranian American Jasmine Zumideh as she runs for senior class president so she can put that as an extracurricular activity on her application for NYU's Journalism program. Important things to note: this book takes place in Fall of 1979, right when the Iranian hostage crisis happened. Jasmine's counterpart running for senior class president starts to run campaign promises to bring the hostage’s home. They are in Southern CA, with no reasonable way for them to be able to impact American international politics, but since he comes from a military family this becomes a key part of his campaign, especially after Jasmine’s brother starts taking a political stand in favor of the Iranian students. Now this book does a great job balancing being a YA coming of age-type, slice of life book and bringing up all the politics of the time, but it was still weird for me to read a contemporary novel that was also a historical novel? I’m not sure how to explain it. It could also be that I must read more books that are like this and that I am annoyed at things that are standard in this type of book. Towards the end of the book, I realized the main character is my parents’ age- meaning they would have also been in similar grades when this happened, which also means the main character is a Baby Boomer. Once that clicked some of the behaviors made more sense, but it was still a strange read for me. I did enjoy the sorority one of the characters was a legacy for is my sorority, that was fun (Love DKZ). And it was also weird to have them reference Regan running for president. Now I cannot confirm if the historical facts are accurate but I’m going to assume they were. Overall, it was a fine book. Struggled through it since the main character bugged me - still trying to figure out why - but I’m glad I read it and I’m glad it exists.3.5/5

I enjoyed this book, I think it was a good read. I fairly enjoyed reading it and it helped me ease out of my reading slump. I read a lot of dark romance, so this was a nice change.