3.5 Stars overall

Jessie is about to start high school but now she's more nervous than ever. After getting an autism diagnosis a mere weeks before school starts she's not sure about fitting in and being "normal". Will she find friends? Will guys like her? On top of that she's Palestinian-Canadian and her parents are super strict, and her Arab looks have caused her to be picked on in the past.

When she meets Levi and Griffin, two very different boys with very different vibes, she finds her heart torn in two different ways.

I really liked Jessie. I liked her goals and the way she tries so hard to make high school the experience she wants it to be. I like the portrayal of her family, strict but supportive. I really like how the author gave an honest portrayal of being on the spectrum and combating some of the stereotypes of autistic behaviour. My only issue with the story is that some parts felt repetitive and slow. I realize the author was striving to tell Jessie's story within a full year of high school but at times it serves to slow the pacing down.

Rating:4/5
Synopsis: Something More follows the story of a newly diagnosed autistic girl Jessie as she starts her freshman year of high school. Relationship and friend drama all play apart in the book as well as adjusting to the life that is high school.
This was such a relatable book, every single moment was genuine and messy perfectly representing the teenage experience of high school. I really enjoyed the love triangle and invested in it. The writing style was casual and easy to read while still being interesting and exciting. I’m also a huge theatre nerd so I loved all the theatrical elements of Jessie and her friends at drama club.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book!

While I want to be so mad at Jessie THE ENTIRE book I can’t because we have ALL been there.

With that being said this book will be so relatable to so many kids. Maybe help open some of their eyes as well? We can hope.

The representation in this book is so good and will allow so many to feel seen.

This was a great YA read so definitely give it a go if YA is for you.

this book in general was just really "eh" for me

i especially did not enjoy the love-triangle dynamic, mostly because it felt like it could be fixed pretty easily, BUT I would say that was pretty realistic in terms of freshman year (or just high school in general) relationships (personally as an adult reading it though, it didn't hit)

the representation is cool (i cannot really speak on how well it is) but I have never read a book about a Palestinian-Canadian; i also haven't read very many books about autistic characters, especially not an autistic girl, so that was cool for me as well

overall, i think the book is decent in all the ways required of it - i would not necessarily recommend it or not recommend it (unless you really enjoyed similar books) cause i did not enjoy it all that much, but i think there is plenty of potential for it to be enjoyed

thank you to Netgalley for allowing me free and advanced access to the book in exchange for an honest review

This is one of my favorite YA romances that I've read in a long time. It follows fifteen-year-old Jessie, a Palestian-Canadian newly diagnosed with autism, as she enters high school. I absolutely adored Jessie and would have been friends with her in a heartbeat. She was so real and authentic, and I felt for her throughout her struggles. The love triangle was well done and her love interests' characters were well-developed(#TeamGriffin for life).

I especially liked how the author showed the difficulties of navigating a new friend group. It's not always easy being a part of tight-knit friend group and interacting with all the different personalities, even when you love and care about them.. This book definitely showed the ups and downs of that, and I appreciated that. It's a real struggle that's not always addressed.

This book was incredibly engaging and hard to put down. I can't wait to see what Jackie Khalilieh writes next!

3.75⭐️

Okay so I remembered why I don’t read love triangles. There so infuriating when the main character chooses the obvious bad mistake. And this boy made a LOT of mistakes.

I figured out very quickly which one was going to be the end game, but it took the main character FAR too long.

This did read a little too young for me but I did enjoy a lot of it! I really related to the character (and Ngl I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing…) but I liked that she did make some good ideas in regards with her friends and family. Especially towards mel. I was screaming at her through my screen to not date a 19 year old!!

Levi just pissed me off the entirety of that. Whenever Jessie forgave him it just pissed me off. It was just so repetitive but also I guess normal for a 15 year old??

I feel like the author captured the emotions of a struggling teen going through autism really well and I was so happy when he finally was accepting of her diagnosis instead of ashamed of it.

I did feel like there were some plot holes. Was the parents okay with her dating Griffin? Considering Jessie and her brother was close, how come he made like 3 appearances… did odelia ever found out what happened? And where the hell did cat go? Like I get she was outcasted and I’m so glad because she was pissing me off the second she got to lunch but like she was just an afterthought.

Overall I did like this but there was just a few issues I had with the book personally but I enjoyed the book.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for allowing me to read this arc in exchange of my honest review

I was really excited to read this one after my friend @flowersfavouritefiction raved about it earlier this year and I binged it in about a day last week mostly on audio. There were a few things I really appreciated about this book:
-Canadian setting (suburb of Toronto likely Oakville ish area)
-Teenage autism spectrum disorder representation (first person perspective so felt very intimately represented) --Palistinian-Canadian representation which also felt authentically presented

Things that worked a bit less well for me were quite a dramatic love triangle situation and significant boy crazyness in a teenager which is likely very authentic but maybe just didn't work for me as a 37 year old mom and would make it hard for me to pass this on to my soon to be teenage girl (but that's just me!) I'm sure most of how this was written was intentional and representative of the main character but it reduced my enjoyment a bit personally. 

I think fans of the stream of consciousness overthinking way that Maame is written might enjoy aspects of this book and the grand gesture at the end was adorable to me and the audio narration was excellent so all in all I'm glad I read it.

I am always, always looking for more books with autistic rep, and I am so glad that I found this one! It such a beautifully written book.

There is so much that I enjoyed about this book but what I loved most was Jessie. Jessie is a 15-year-old teenage girl trying to navigate family, friendship and love after her recent diagnosis of autism. Naturally, that came with its fair share of teenage angst as many coming of stories do. At the ripe age of 28, I couldn’t always relate to the angst but I still found her so loveable and even relatable in many other ways. She was endearing, witty, smart, and caring. She was strongly motivated to say things as they are and do what’s right and I think I loved her most for that. There were times when the way she looked at the world resonated deeply with me both now and I am sure would have had I read it as a teenager. As the story unraveled I enjoyed watching Jessie learn that things are not always black and white…probably because I’ve gone through the same learning. She is certainly much better off considering she’s only 15, it wasn’t until I was in my 20s that I truly came to understand this 😅😂

I also enjoyed reading about a Palestinian Canadian and found that there were elements of the Arab representation, especially in the family dynamic that were so relatable (even as a non-Palestinian) they had me laughing. I wished we got even more of her family for that reason. But alas, I suppose all books must come to an end even when we want more 😂

Beyond the romance, we got to read about Jessie navigating friendship. Reading about Jessie accepting all the parts of herself, including her autism and finding friends who loved and accepted her for who she is made my heart full 💜

And lastly, in case it wasn’t obvious from the photo, I am definitely #teamgriffin - you’ll have to read the book to find out why, but let’s just say, he has a heart of gold 💛

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Something More was fantastic! It reminded me of the YA books that I was reading when I was in high school 10 years ago! I loved those books because they were so authentic! The feelings of the characters were the exact same things I was feeling in high school and I think this book captures those feelings perfectly!

This book follows a Palestinian-Canadian girl named Jessie as she tries to navigate through her first year of high school after being diagnosed with autism right before school starts.

The representation in this book was amazing! There still aren't many books out their with lead characters that have autism and it makes me so happy to see more coming out. I loved watching Jessie's journey to acceptance of her diagnosis,

My favorite part about this book was how relatable it was! The things Jessie was going through and experiencing were exactly what I remember going through in high school. She deals with making friends and realizing that maybe some friends aren't ones you keep. She deals with first loves and letting go when the person you are with just isn't quite right for you. And she deals with her family and the bonds she has with them. I really could relate to everything she experienced, especially dealing with her friend group and specifically Cat. Griffin is seriously adorable and I literally said "Awwww" basically any time he talked. He was by far my favorite character!

This book is awesome and I think anyone who is a fan of YA books that are genuine and truly encompass what it is to be a teenager will love this book!

Something More by Jackie Khalilieh was an amazingly realistic representation of an autistic girl in high school. Being set in Canada, it helped me to remember what it was like in high school. It was a fun read. I laughed, I got mad at the characters, I felt like I was in high school with them in some ways.
I wanted Jessie to be with Levi, and then I didn't. The constantly flipping sides was kind of fun, it made the characters feel a lot more real, because nobody is absolutely perfect, especially not high schoolers. I wrote some notes while reading, just random thoughts that I had, and it was entertaining to go back and look at them, one would say "wow, amazing character", and the next would say "this character needs to go learn how to be better", which felt accurate to how most people are. It was a beautiful story that had everything that was needed; drama, love, pop culture references, and growth.
Griffin's friendship was one that I really loved to see progress throughout the book and seeing Jessie and him together as friends was beautiful.

"Something More" is a YA romance read with authentic feeling characters thrust into the high school experience. The MC, Jessie, is an autistic Palestinian-Canadian girl who has a special interest for all things from the 90s and the as a result, this novel had a particularly distinct 90s feel to it, even though it is a based in our current time. The author, Jackie Khalilieh, really brings everyone in Jessie's social circle to life through their distinct obstacles and in their relationship to each other as they navigate crushes, betrayals, and newfound maturity. I did wish to see more of Jessie's personality grow outside of her two crushes. The focus on her toxic crush felt a bit more like a "My So Called Life" tribute that it helped to actually show how she adjusted to living with her pre-summer autism diagnosis in a new environment. Overall, this is a fun read with excellent representation full of a ton of awkward moments and the intensity of a first crush. I am always excited to see autism shown in a real way that doesn't have harmful stereotypes.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada, Tundra Books for an advance reader copy of "Something More". This review expresses my honest opinions. This book is expected be released 6-Jun-2023.

First off I want to say a huge thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada Publishing for giving me the privilege to review the ARC for Something More by Jackie Khalilieh. Now off to the review. 
As someone who works with individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities (and has for going on 10 years), I couldn't get enough of Jessie Kassis. Not only is she obsessed with the 90s, which happens to be my childhood nostalgia, but she seems to have the same struggles I had at her age. Autism or not her struggles are real and this story embodies what is truly is like to be a teenager trying to fit in all the way down to the minor bullying. 
Jessie ends up finding some of the most amazing friends that she never knew she could make. Of course there were stumbles along the way, such as Cat who is your typical high school girl who thinks she needs it all more than the next girl. Which brings me to the next topic....... the Jessie Kasis love triangle. Love triangles seemed to be a major topic of this book but I am here for it. I loved Griffin straight from the get go! I kept begging for Jessie to open her eyes and let go of Levi. To see her struggle with her own identity as a girlfriend as well as an autistic female was truly hard.

This book made me laugh, cry and get mad at times. I 100% fell asleep several nights while reading it and my husband would have to put my kindle up for me. This is a must read!

i won't lie when i read the first blurb i genuinely thought the book would end in a poly relationship and was a bit disappointed when it didn't...

this book is the embodiment of a young adult book, it's a coming-of-age story with messy characters and i think i really enjoyed that. i found jessie's character easy to read about and relatable. through the writing, i could tell how much jessie's character has grown from questioning every single one of her decisions to voicing her opinions more assertively. also, the book feels exactly like a movie, i could watch the entire story play out in my head as i read it.

overall, this is a fun and heartwarming book for hopeless romantics <33

First thing's first. This book is Unbelievably funny. I have never choked on my lunch laughing so hard at a book, but that happened three times in a row with this. I adore Jessie and her sass. I relate to her quite a lot as an autistic woman myself, and it was really funny to see an internal dialogue that so often matched mine especially when she was feeling a little petty. This book even did my favorite thing when it comes to representation in books it put into words something that I experience and helped me make sense of it (I've been told that I don't pick up on people flirting, but it's very likely that without being explicitly told I automatically just compartmentalize the concept out of existance lol). I pretty much ate this book up like candy, finished it in about a week. There are a couple instances of casual diet/weight culture in the book that really threw me off (it feels like it's been a minute since I saw that kind of stuff just out and about in a book). They are only one or two throw away lines throughout the whole story, not a major aspect of the character's journey, but they were definitely jarring. Otherwise, this was the easiest five star.

I really enjoyed this #ownvoices YA debut by a talented Palestinian Canadian writer. I loved getting insights into life as part of a Palestinian Canadian immigrant family and the best part for me was what a great protagonist Jessie was. Recently diagnosed with autism, Jessie tries to mask her condition as she starts high school. Ultimately she finds that there are people who are happy to accept her for who she is, differences and all. Good on audio narrated by Parmida Vand. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy and Libro.fm for an ALC in exchange for my honest review!

Loved this fantastic YA, especially because it had a 9th grade main character, something we don’t see enough of in publishing. This story hits all the marks for the universal themes faced by so many early HS students. Highly recommend!

Fifteen-year-old Jessie, a quirky loner obsessed with the nineties, is diagnosed as autistic just weeks before starting high school. Determined to make a fresh start and keep her diagnosis a secret, Jessie creates a list of goals that range from acquiring two distinct eyebrows to getting a magical first kiss and landing a spot in the school play. Within the halls of Holy Trinity High, she finds a world where things are no longer black and white and quickly learns that living in color is much more fun. But Jessie gets more than she bargained for when two very different boys steal her heart, forcing her to go off-script.

Something More is incredibly well-written and relatable -- I am shocked it's a debut! Jessie is a great character who learns so much about herself and the world throughout her first year of high school. I loved the autistic representation -- it certainly reminded me of my high school (and college) experiences, attracting the wrong boys and totally missing when the "right" ones *were* interested back.

I was accepted to receive an e-arc from NetGalley, here’s my honest review.

Woah-
I adored this book from start to finish. I was excited when I first read the blurb I’ve never read a book where the main character is autistic or a character that was Palestinian-canadien.
I loved every page of it, seeing how much Jessie grows as a character and seeing her struggles with accepting herself and her struggles with navigating high school.
Some parts where very relatable to not just me but to a lot of teenagers. I loved this book so much the romance was so cute ahh it had me smiling so much. The friendships in the book were perfect, I loved the characters!!
I really enjoyed the writing and how hard it was to put to book down!!