Adib Khorram I owe you my first born!! I loved this book, just as I expected to. I'm a stage manager, so this book was extra special and fun to read. I really related to the main character and his straight-up refusal to be a romantic.

When I first started this book I was not expecting to be sucked into it but I could not put it down. The characters felt so real and their struggles were both relatable and unique. I just needed to know what was going to happen next. Plus the representation in this book was so powerful it had me feeling very seen!

A funny and heartfelt rom-com set in the world of high school theater. Jackson, a stage manager, makes friends with Liam, the swim captain-turned-actor, in an opposites attract story line with many messy subplots. Khorram’s sharp humor and emotional depth make this an enjoyable read with very likeable characters. I greatly appreciate the gender diversity and disability representation.

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

"Not knowing where to put your anger isn't the same thing as being mean."

It's no secret I love Adib Khorram and read his newly published books within a few months of their release. Ever since Darius the Great Is Not Okay and Darius the Great Deserves Better, I have been searching for the next great contemporary young adult novel. I always have high hopes for Khorram, but I'm sad to report this book didn't quite live up to the pedestal I have put Khorram's books on.

I'm kind of over the whole brother & sister falling for the same person storyline. Maybe I've been reading too many books that are too similar to each other? I wanted the best for Jackson and I felt like his sister, Jasmine, just got in the way for him. While I loved that Jackson wrote breakup lists for each one of Jasmine's beaus, I wanted Jackson to be able to pursue the romantic interest of his heart. Having to re-read the same breakup list over and over again? Nah. Not it.

Things I Did Like:
-The representation of the deaf community. YESSSSSS. Making Jackson the main character and one who has hearing aids - I love it. While Jackson's hearing aids weren't the main focus of Jackson's challenges, it definitely added another layer to Jackson. (Though I did get annoyed with how the audiobook narrator read "somethingsomething" - not a critique of the writing per say but more of the performance). I appreciated that Jackson wasn't his disability.
-Jackson was a thoroughly enjoyable main character. I would have spent more time with him. He was also an incredible brother, holding up Jasmine even when it was the last thing he wanted to do.
-I loved the theater kid angle. There aren't nearly enough books featuring theater kids.

Recommended for: Grades 9+

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

3.5/5 Stars

Jackson is deaf, and the stage manager for his high school theatre productions. He's written so many lists to help his older sister Jasmine through her breakups, that it's turned him off of love. In walks Liam, senior swimming star who decides to audition for the next play. Jackson can't help be drawn towards Liam, and he's enjoying getting to know him. When Jasmine starts having a crush on Liam, Jackson decides to take a back seat once again.

I flew through this drama filled story in one night. The book was rather predictable, but I still enjoyed it none-the-less. I listened to this on audio, and I love how they incorporated Jackson's deafness into the narration. I thought the deaf representation was well done, and I loved learning more about Jackson as the story went on. I think that Jackson and Liam are flawed, but so loveable - you can't help but root for these characters and their relationship. I absolutely adored Bowie, Jackson's best friend, and would LOVE a spin off of his story one day.

"The Breakup Lists" by Adib Khorram is a heartfelt and humorous exploration of love and self-discovery through the lens of a quirky, emotionally charged journey. Its witty dialogue and relatable characters make it a delightful and engaging read.

The Breakup Lists is a beautiful coming-of-age romance that other nerds will devour. It has great characters, witty banter, and swoon-worthy moments for days. I highly recommend this novel.

Jackson is just trying to help his sister Jasmine remember why she broke up with her boyfriends. But when she starts dating his newest crush, things get complicated.

This book was cute. Exactly what you want in a YA romance. I think that theater kids will especially love this.

At the heart of the story, it is a great book. It's got wonderful disability representation in queer representation and a heartwarming rom-com story. I liked the main character and I liked his best friend and the love interest but I think those were maybe the only three people that I actually liked in terms of secondary characters. There's a lot of unlikable characters in this book.

Unfortunately for me two very small things almost ruined this book for me. The first is the audio narration of the " scratch that/strike that " part of the book. I did end up looking at a finished copy and throughout the book there are passages that have a line through them and the way that that was translated into the audiobook is that every time the narrator would say that sentence they would follow up immediately with scratch that. It got old very fast. I'm talking within the first couple minutes I was over it and this happens throughout the entire book. Some things just don't translate well into audio. This is definitely one of them. It's one of the most annoying audio things I've heard in a while and it's right up there with constantly reading a list over and over again or reading out full email or text numbers. If you know you know but I wish there was a little bit more thought put into how that was going to translate into the audiobook.

Also in regards to the scratch that parts of the book, I really think it was unnecessary. They were meant to be like this character's thought process that he was trying to reframe his thinking but it just didn't work. It doesn't even work in the context of reading it. I don't know I was not a fan of that.

The second little thing that drove me nuts throughout the whole book is the tag thing. So one of the cute little quirks is that the love interest is constantly tucking the main character's shirt tag back into his collar and at some point you have to think is it really realistic that every single one of your clothing items constantly has a tag out? These are the things that my brain latches on to and I hate that it does that but oh my god there's just no way.

Lastly, this is more just I hated her and I don't think that she deserved an apology or any sort of positive relationships after her behavior in this book and that is Jasmine. I made Jasmine hater. She's a terrible sister and honestly a pretty terrible person. Also can we talk about how crappy it is to be deaf and not have any of your family members learn any sign language? Evaluate your life choices people.

So even though I'm definitely not going to be rereading this book via audio I still liked it and will recommend the book itself. I do think it is one that you should read versus listen and personally I would just skip all of the scratched out parts. They are not necessary they do not have anything to the story. I will say it's quite disappointing to have a book that has disability and disability advocacy at it's center be almost unaccessible as an audiobook.

i’ve really liked all of adib khorrams other books and so i had high hopes for the breakup list. sadly they were not met.

thank you netgalley for the e-arc!

You give me a queer story set during a high school’s theater production and I’m so deeply in. All you have to do is land the execution. The Breakup Lists does it… somewhat.

Jackson loves being behind the scenes as the stage manager of his high school’s theater shows. He also loves his sister Jasmine and whenever she goes through a breakup (real or imaginary like when she gets burned by a crush), Jackson is there for her. Together, they make lists about why the person she had fallen for is awful to help her get over him. The problem becomes when Jackson’s crush and friend becomes not only the star of the play, but the star of Jasmine’s affections. But he’s straight! So there should be no problem for Jackson to try and help Liam and Jasmine get together. But what about if they break up?

There were some things in this book I really liked. I loved seeing Jackson and Liam become friends and then seeing that friendship organically become something more. You can feel it in the writing and in the way the characters interact. Those butterflies come through and it’s wonderful.

Less wonderful is everything in the third act with Jasmine. I had such a hard time with her and how much she relied on Jackson to be there for her 100000% of the time she needed him. This also included bad-mouthing his friends when her crush on them ends. The forgiveness that comes at the end of the book was too simple for me.

Overall, this was a cute read. At the end of the day, I’m glad I read it.

I loved Darius the Great isn’t Okay and I have followed Adib on Instagram for years so when he dropped he was releasing this book I was beyond excited. It sounded like a cute geeky little read and those are up my alleyway. I was nowhere near a cool kid in high school so seeing cute nerds live life in ya books heals something in me. Unfortunately, this fell very far from what I hoped it would be.

Jackson and Jasmines relationship is awful and there is nothing that could be said to me that would make me not hate it. She was beyond annoying and so self centered that I hated how she never had any self reflection about how she was being terrible towards Jackson. Jackson was also pretty self centered which that did get better at the end but at that point I wasn’t rooting for anyone and wanted the book over. I really tried to connect to any of the characters but I truly couldn’t they all felt disconnected to reality.

There was a moment with the theater teacher that I hated. The kiss scene in the religious retelling play bothered me because why was a grown woman telling two high school students they needed to kiss more passionately. It felt very uncomfortable and unnecessary to the plot. I have never seen a high school play that needs that type of “passion.” They can be grown up without sexualizing.

Overall, I could not find anything I fully enjoyed in this story. I hope others can find enjoyment where I couldn’t.

I so desperately wanted to like this. It's a fast, easy read, and I love how Jackson's deafness is portrayed in the book. And all the theatre scenes hit this former theatre tech kid right in the nostalgia-feels. It's just, what Jackson's sister does towards the end of the book is so toxic to me, but it's Jackson who gets burned by it, and the fallout of their actions just felt overly dramatic. I know there is a lot of drama in high school but there were points where I was rolling my eyes they were so unnecessary. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3 for the amazing disability and diversity representation.

Adib Khorram wrote an amazing book that has layers and depth of character. It was wonderful to see all the characters growth throughout the book. I really enjoyed it!

YA romance featuring phenomenal disability rep and an extremely diverse QPOC cast of characters!
What a perfect time to read this book than pride month

Thank you NetGalley and Adib Khorram for sending an Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Breakup Lists is a queer YA romantic comedy rooted in high school theatre. When Jackson Ghasnavi, stage manager for school productions, grows closer to a newly cast Liam, captain of the swim team, he cannot help the crush that develops. However, Liam is clearly straight and Jackson’s sister has already set her heart on Liam.

While this book didn’t appeal to me, I appreciated Khorram’s commitment to Deaf representation. Jackson’s relationship with hearing is explored throughout the novel as a teen hard of hearing who choses to wear hearing aids. We, as readers, share Jackson’s first person POV experience of deafness throughout the novel. In his acknowledgements, Khorram draws attention to the deaf folks who helped inform the novel into a respectful and normalised expression of a deaf youth’s high school experience.

The Breakup Lists pays homage to all those kids who found a home in school theatre. Its wide cast of QPOC characters, including an Iranian-American gay protagonist, offered diverse gender, sexuality, and racial representation.

Personally, this wasn’t the book for me. Perhaps I went in with different expectations after reading the blurb, but I found this book to be a rather predictable, simple read. I grew tired of the teen drama which may have appealed to a more suitable reader and found certain character interactions to be brushed over too lightly for satisfaction. However, I appreciated the nuances that Khorram’s stylised writing brought to the pages with Jackson’s narrative characterised by strike-outs and the use of social media text formatting.

This novel did not leave a particularly strong impression on me, seeming to be a pretty average YA read. I have rated this novel 3.4/5, rounded down to three stars.

3.5 ★
A theater-centered YA romance featuring phenomenal disability rep and an extremely diverse QPOC cast of characters!

The queer romance was really sweet, and the story was truly inspiring. I loved the intense portrayal of just how difficult it may be to live with a disability. As a theater nerd, I truly enjoyed all the references woven into the narrative. Jasmine was an extremely tough character to like and I'm not entirely sure if I bought her borderline toxic character til the end of the book.

I honestly wish I read this entirely in physical format instead of reading through most of it via the ALC since the way the way the book was written was as if it was journal style with passages and lines crossed out. However, this did not make for an enjoyable reading experience since the way this is interpreted via audio is through frequent "scratch that" that was extremely grating and distracting to the overall reading experience.

(+) HOH and CODA rep, Iranian American MC and author, nonbinary, bisexual, aroace secondary characters, Black secondary characters, nonbinary Egyptian-Palestinian audio narrator.

I thought that this book was very entertaining, and it was a good depiction of high school life, which you don't always get in YA novels.

This was such a good book. Though it’s a very simple story, and some aspects of it could have been more well-rounded, I was cringing in suspense knowing that the turning point was coming and something horrible was going to happen (even though of course it gets resolved in the end).
There are also some important lessons here about respecting other people, their decisions and how they process their own stuff going on, coming clean about what you’re hiding, and taking your own failures with grace.