Only This Beautiful Moment is about 17 year old Moud in LA in present day (2019), his father, Saeed, as a university student in Tehran in 1978 and his grandfather, Bobby (aka Baba), also at 17 in 1939 LA. The book switches between the past and present and between Tehran and Los Angeles to tell the story of this family that has been separated in ways big and small for various reasons over the years.
I loved seeing how each of the characters really came together, found common ground and got to know each other and themselves. The book reads like a love letter to family, friends, music, poetry, Tehran, the experience of growing up in a multicultural household, traditional food, and queerness.

Five stars. Exceptional book augmented by an equally exceptional trio of narrators, representing the book's three main characters speaking from three different time periods. No spoilers here as to if or how they are connected. What I will say is that each of the three young men are compelling and engaging and unique, no easy feat when juggling multiple MCs in different time periods. Kudos on a great novel.

Many thanks to NetGalley and to the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.

Seeing three different time periods and perspectives on the gay experience is super sad and lovely at the same time. I loved Bobby's story the most of the three boys. Knowing the time period he lived in made everything so bittersweet and beautiful.

Nowadays, we tend to see history as very separate from current day. This beautiful multigenerational story, following a gay Iranian teenager, his father, and his grandfather, shows how history and the present are intertwined. I already knew Abdi Nazemian has a beautiful way of writing historical fiction, and this book once again proves that. It was incredible to see all these family secrets slowly unraveling, to see Moud's father and grandfather both in their own youth and in the current day, and to see with how much nuance their stories were told.

This is an absolutely amazing exploration of generational trauma and the progression of queerness inside and outside of families, and everything was just so beautiful. Read this.

I requested this book because I *incorrectly* thought that this was the same author as "Darius the Great is Not Okay", and it definitely was very similar to that one -- so I would recommend it to those that really enjoyed that one. But I ate up the generational, triple timeline aspect to this book. I honestly could have read even more (and it is rare that I say that).

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book, as this book has already been published, I will not share my review on Netgalley at this time.

This was amazing. Beyond amazing. I laughed but most cried at how powerful and thought provoking this one was.

Like a Love Story is one of my all-time favorite books, so I was very excited for Only This Beautiful Moment, and it did not let me down. I loved the way the stories from each generation were woven together and I really enjoyed getting a little bit of insight into the complexity of living in Tehran as a queer person. Abdi Nazemian is a wonderful writer, and the book has beautiful prose, a strong sense of place, and complex multidimensional characters that are easy to root for despite their flaws. This gorgeous queer YA is not one to miss! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!

This was a beautiful, albeit difficult story to read at times. I loved how the story spanned three generations and the characters were interwoven beautifully. All three men have dealt with struggles in their lives: loss, grief, discrimination, etc, but the way they all come together at the end shows how resilient these three men are. Willing to learn and grow from past mistakes, and understanding that there is nothing as powerful as the love for one's family; Only This Beautiful Moment was a beautifully, painful, but still hopeful story from start to finish

Abdi Nazemian writes such beautiful and heartfelt stories. I am always so excited when another book is released because I know it will captivate me and make me feel. This story was no different. Such an important queer story that will stay with me.

This is a coming of age story about three different young men, told in three different time periods. They're all linked to the US and Iran. They each fall in love and are living their beautiful moment. And at the heart of this book is intergenerational trauma and being accepted and loved for who you are. I was not familiar with this author but I will definitely search out his other books!

- thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an arc to review!

- a beautiful, gut wrenching exploration of family ties, familial trauma, and finding who you are in a hostile world. Nazemian is an author who weaves stories of aching and longing together into beautiful prose, and his characters come to life on the page, feeling like real people going through real life struggles. if you have loved Nazemian's previous works, you will definitely enjoy this book!

This may be the most beautiful book I've read in a very long time! This serves everything intersectional I crave in queer literature and so much more. An intergenerational story of Iranian Americans, all of them navigating revolution, revelations, queerness, heartbreak, identity, and ultimately, coming together to an understanding that history is long, love is big, family and community is everything, and queer elders and teachers are lifelines to youth everywhere. While this centers the journeys of three generations of men in the same family and switches between the POVs of their youths, the soul of this is firmly tethered in the resilience and vibrancy of the women. This couldn't be more timely given the current protests in Iran, and serves as a reminder of how Persian culture, poetry, history and spirit has a much more ancient vibrancy than any newfangled American liberalism, armchair activism or outrage can hope to deconstruct and tame. Coming from another ancient culture with history of queer identities more dynamic than Western colonialism could upend or post-colonial racist stereotypes could dissect, this masterpiece validated so much of what I struggled with in my own tapestry of identities.

I’m not typically a YA fan, but this was truly outstanding. The characters and story were absolutely beautiful. My only hang up was that the writing felt a bit too “simple” with dialogue that could have been a little more realistic and developed. Overall, the story is beautiful and I’d definitely read another book by this author!

From now on, Abdi Nazemian novels will be automatic purchases for our high school library. The novel follows 3 boys in different generations of the same Iranian-American family - Bobby (1939), Saeed (1978) and Mahmoud (Moud) (2019). The story is told from the 3 points of view and flashes back in time to retell the story of closeted Bobby, who lives under the micromanaging control of his mother Margaret and longs to be able to live and love in the open and who has never met his real dad, Saeed (his son) who is raised in Tehran but must flee to America to live with the American grandma he never met as political unrest brings danger to his door. Finally, the main narrator of the novel is Moud- Saeed’s American son who is out and in love with his boyfriend Shane. Moud is suddenly on his way to Tehran to visit his dying grandfather- each chapter recounts what each generation encountered in America and in Iran. The story also recounts the treatment, prejudice and discrimination against gays in both America and Iran while also showing the love and beauty within the gay community and among its allies- this story also beautifully captures the certain love of parents for their children despite their own misgivings. It is a gorgeous novel and must read - for those who read Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo- this novel shows care in showing the beauty of all of the cultures within it and how we can achieve a better society by loving and caring for each other. I loved it.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for giving me an e-ARC of this book to review. This book had all the queer representation I loved from Nazemian's debut (Like A Love Story) wrapped up in beautiful prose that is going to stay with me for a long time.

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for this advanced copy.

This was my first time reading Abdi Nazemian's book and I loved it. I loved the writing style and the stories developed. This was beautiful

This is a moving story about family, the damage family secrets create and the power of love. The story starts with Moud's perspective in 2019 as an out gay teen whose mother passed away and is being raised by his distant father, Saeed. Saeed is grieving the loss of his late wife and struggling to accept his son's sexuality, which is later revealed as the same reason he had to stay in the U.S. to protect his parents. When Saeed finds out his father is dying, he decides that he and Moud will travel to Tehran to visit Bobby before he dies. We are then provided with Saeed's perspective of being a teen in love during the revolution and how his parents' secrets sent him to Los Angeles to live with the American grandmother he never knew existed. We also get Bobby's perspective as a rising star in Hollywood under the command of his demanding mother and falling in love with his best friend, who leaves for Mexico after his father is deported. Bobby also details how this pushed him to find out about his biological father, who he finds out is Iranian and triggers his move to Iran. As secrets are uncovered, each generation of these men relieves burdens they have been carrying for years, allowing for their love for each other and their relationships to flourish as they hadn't before. It was heartbreaking, moving and emotional.

ONLY THIS BEAUTIFUL MOMENT is, as the title suggests, a beautiful book. I really enjoyed the intergenerational perspectives and the hard look the book takes at some traumatic issues. With that being said though, it did get confusing at times whose perspective I was currently reading and it was sometimes hard to remember what had happened to whom. Still, I did enjoy the book, even if it wasn't my favorite read of late.

(Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Any quotes are taken from an advanced copy and may be subject to change upon final publication.)