Mitra is a young teen and new student at her Catholic school. Even though her family is Iranian and practices Islam, the school shows promise for her and her younger sister Azar. After all, they need a fresh start, relocating after years of their mother’s drug addiction. On her first day, she can’t help but notice a curly-haired, cool-looking girl seated not far from her. After an awkward self-introduction to the class, Bea reaches out to Mitra and an instant friendship forms. Fast-forward five years later, and the girls are in their senior year of high school and preparing for life ahead. What Bea doesn’t know is that Mitra is in love with her. But Mitra keeps it a secret due to the fear of unrequited feelings, or worse – the end of their friendship. Just Another Epic Love Poem by Parisa Akhbari is a coming-of-age queer romance novel in which Bea and Mitra navigate a new meaning of the word “love”.

Akhbari beautifully taps into the mind of an angsty teen, offering a heartfelt story with Just Another Epic Love Poem. In between short chapters, the author gifts us with stanzas written by the young poets – both of whom are quite talented (wink to Akhbari). We see the emotional effect that her mother’s addiction has on Mitra, and Bea’s heartbreak. Mitra achieves incredible and admirable character growth. She learns what it means to trust and forgive – not just others, but most importantly herself. And somehow, the author not only explores the personal struggle from past and present situations, but how the two young women continue to look forward to their future, and the endless possibilities for them both.

This book is extraordinarily impressive and incredibly gorgeous! The whole book is fantastic, but Parisa Akhbari really shines as a writer in the poetry journal chapters. Akhbari presents beautiful but authentically-teen-tinged poems in two fully established highly distinguishable voices. It was so fun to spend time with these characters and their art-centric world.

This sapphic YA romance follows two best friends, Mitra and Bea whose differences only bring them closer together. I loved their use of The Book in writing their endless poem connecting the characters. This book was so nostaligic for me and I would recommend this to my fellow queer booktok creators.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

Oh, I loved reading Just Another Epic Love Poem and the idea that the author had to bring two characters together in such a beautiful way! I loved the chemistry between Mitra and Bea and how we were able to get both of their perspectives, especially through the poetry included. This was an enjoyable, heartfelt YA novel that all audiences will love!

For the love of everything I need a way to force myself to write reviews immediately after I finish books. At the very least within a few days. It has been at least two weeks since I finished this and I remember absolutely loving it. That's about all I've got. I love that this isn't a will they or won't they situation. It's a they will and here's how things happen and it is messy and it's poetic and it is lovely. I've been collecting sapphic books that match Chappell Roan songs and I've assigned this one to Kaleidoscope specifically for the line about having someone who could write a song about you better because there is no one other than these two that can write poems about each other as beautiful as they are.

Happy pride month! This queer romance story explores the delicate and profound evolution of best friendship into something more. Mitra and Bea are best friends, sharing poetry within their moleskin book they pass back and forth. I loved how the story was told through narration and supplemented with snippets of poetry from their book. Their story effortlessly captures the heartache, unease, and apprehension that evolve between two best friends, who must risk their friendship for something so much greater.

Sincere thanks to NetGalley, PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group, & Dial Books for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

A brilliant and tender collection. Akhbari is a deep and resounding voice—their words touched me to my core. Absolutely grateful for the experience of this.

This book was writing in a very interesting way, probably unlike any book I've read before. It was written lyrically, with poetry as well, and the romance was heart wrenching.

This. Is . What. I'm Talking. About. When. I. Say. We. Need. More. Diverse. stories. I ate this up. Give me more more more more more more more.

If you're a poetry lover, you'll really like this one! It tells the story of a high school girl named Mitra who struggles throughout the book with issues like jealousy and trust. It touches upon subjects like the changing nature of love, addiction, and the stress of college admissions season. The book has lots of poetry weaved throughout that helps readers understand Mitra's emotions and how they change throughout the book. I really liked the inventive way the poetry was included through Mitra and Bea's never ending poem. The characters in this book were also very well written and fleshed out, especially her best friend Bea, her sister Aziz, and Jaleh. They all had their own dreams, desires, issues, etc that made them interesting to read about. I did find the book a bit tedious sometimes with some of the decisions Mitra made making it hard to get through.Overall, I rate this book 3.8/5 stars rounded up.

I really enjoyed this. It made me stop and think at so many points and really engage with the story that's being told.

This is a beautifully written coming of age, sapphic, YA, romance book. The idea of two classmates going through high school with one series of books they've created together called "The Book" is beautiful. They share secrets, ideas, break ups, love. All the things high school girls go through is written in this "book". When one falls in love with the other it's hard to write that knowing the other can see and read it.
This book was about exploring a new unknown relationship outside the realm of friendship. It explored how to deal with a parent with addiction, how to cope with moving forward and going to college, how to deal with jealousy and learning to trust.
I love how Akhbari incorporated some poetry in with the storyline. It broke things up and each was so beautifully written.
Akhbari did an amazing job. This book is a little gem. I will be recommending it.

What books have inspired you? Have made you want to create and take in more inspiration? Just Another Epic Love Poem did that for me. It made me want to pick up an old notebook and write poetry. It inspired me to look up poets mentioned and read their work, to put poetry on hold at the library.

Mitra’s struggle to find love, hold onto it, and believe that she deserved it was so relatable. I also related to her journey to find out who she is outside of her relationships. And the parts about her mother’s addiction.. oof. That was tough to read, but so rewarding to experience with the characters.

This book will stay with me, & I highly recommend you pick it up for yourself and see how it impacts you.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-arc and to the publisher for an arc and finished copy.

Beautifully written novel about the growing relationship between two best friends as well as their struggles with parental issues like addiction and absenteeism. The author weaves poetry throughout the story - not just the "never-ending" poem between Mitra and Bea, but also poets like Rumi, Khalil Gibran and Naomi Shihab Nye.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

This book was beautiful. It did a great job of being cute and sweet while also tackling difficult things, like relationship issues Jaleh’s addiction. The poems throughout the books were fun to read and I’m glad they were there. I like reading books with little mini-chapters throughout the book so it was a nice addition. It was nice to read a book that wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows and was more realistic when it comes to friendships and relationships (like how you get to see the bad side of characters ab at some point don’t really like them). Mitra, Azar, and Bea were all phenomenally written. I felt like I could feel all of their feelings through the page (I really like being immersed in books so this was a huge plus for me!). I was up until 3 am (unrelated) and while up I decided to read a bit but I could not stop. It was a very captivating story that I definitely enjoyed, despite being an emotional wreck while reading. Silently hoping for a sequel 🥹.

Y'all this book! Gorgeously written YA coming of age story & sapphic romance that made me cry. This follows Mitra- a quiet, bisexual Iranian girl attending a Catholic school with her best friend and secret crush Bea. The friend she has been writing ongoing poems with for years.

Mitra's mom is an addict who left their family years ago and she carries a lot of pain from that. Now her mom wants to come back into her life, but Mitra isn't ready for it. Meanwhile, Mitra and Bea start dating which is magical, but also fraught with conflict at times. And if that wasn't enough, they're making decisions about where to attend college in the fall.

This is an achingly beautiful book written in both poetry and prose. It's a love story, a coming of age story, and a story about trauma and healing. I absolutely loved and hope more people pick it up! Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy for review, all opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Teen for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

I would recommend if you're looking for (SPOILERS)

-f/f contemporary YA romance
-friends to lovers
-angst
-poetry

I can't say much about this book because it just has to be experienced. But just the sheer amount of talent and craft to be able to simultaneously write poetry for different characters, distinctly and well. I am not a poetry reader, but this book just grabbed me from the beginning. The angst of teenage years, of about to leave for college and the world is your oyster and wanting to leave but also completely knowing and understanding your life now. Of completely being in love wiht your best frined how overwhelming every ounce of that crush is and how scary it is when your friend feels more, how it can completely ruin everything. THis book is beautiful in every way and I cannot wait to read whatever Parisa writes next, just an absolute triumph in craft and just beauty.

This was a beautiful YA, sapphic, friends-to-lovers novel! I really liked the main character and the internal struggles she dealt with throughout the book, such as religion, substance abuse, family, healing and growth, and falling in love with your best friend. The way she and the love interest share poetry with each other was a nice addition to the book, without it being written in prose. I thought that this one was written in a way that felt very true to being a senior in high school, but it didn’t feel childish like some YA contemporary books can be.

An excellent debut novel - I will absolutely be keeping an eye on this author!

🌈Queer rep: FF main pairing with a pan female main character and a lesbian love interest. Secondary nonbinary, lesbian, and bi/pan characters.

Thoughts and Themes: I had only read a few pages of this book and already didn't want to put it down because of how beautifully written it was. This book managed to break my heart and then put it back together again by the end. It was something that I needed to read and there is so much that I will revisit when I need to hear it.

This book covers so many things and is more than just a romance. I love that it goes over the complexity of addiction and how that affects the family unit. I like that it also goes over Mitra's inability to trust anyone because of her past and how she has to work through that. I liked that we also got the complexity of being queer in a religious setting and how Mitra and Bea both navigated this aspect of their lives.

Something that really stood out to me in this story was the navigation of being queer and religion for both Mitra and Bea. I liked that we saw what it was like being in a Catholic school and not subscribing to the religion and also being queer. I thought it was interesting to see how Mitra navigated this and how her sister navigated not being Catholic. It was nice to see that Mitra, Azar, and Bea navigated the space differently.

Characters: Through this book you are introduced to our main character, Mitra, her sister, Azar, her best friend/love interest, Bea, her mom, dad, and several others at school. I really enjoyed all of the characters that are included in this book even if you briefly interact with some. I found even the background characters to be intriguing and add something to the story.

I loved the relationship between Mitra and Bea throughout the book and how complex yet simple it all was. It felt so real to me and I could see myself being their age again and in love. I liked that it wasn't completely perfect throughout the whole thing and they had discussions about their fears and insecurities.

Writing Style: This book is written in first person through Mitra's point of view and it includes poetry from the book that Mitra and Bea are working on. There is also other poetry pieces included throughout the book. I thought that this book was beautifully written and there were so many lines that had me pause to think. There were also so many lines that I just had to share with others.