Came for a book with a theatre techie as the main character and stayed for a story that was hard to put down and interesting character journeys. THE BREAKUP LISTS is so incredibly readable even in some of its relative simplicity. I think the great thing about this book is not that it’s some incredibly unique plot or story, but that it takes some pretty regular coming-of-age and YA moments and personalises it through individual and unique characters that you want to read about. And even when I thought I had everything figured out, Khorram would take things a slightly different way than I guessed. It’s a really solid YA read and one I absolutely flew through without even meaning to, definitely worth the read and I absolutely recommend it!

Just to get them out of the way, there were a few things I didn’t totally love about this book. For one, there’s lots of little words or terms that are personal to the characters and while I understand they’re characterization, the fifth time I read ‘schmoodie’ I wanted to set the book down. I also initially found it annoying how it felt like every other sentence had a word crossed out, but this writing style actually grew on me, especially as Khorram uses it to showcase Jackson’s growth and growing self-confidence!

Like I said at the beginning, I think the best part about this book is the characters. I think we get several really nuanced characters (even if I still don’t like Jasmine), and it’s really fun to watch them both learn and grow. Jackson isn’t perfect and his growth arc is not just getting others to treat him better, but treating others better. I was also really invested in the theatre techie storyline aspect as someone who used to do tech in high school, especially after not really getting a role in a show. I can’t personally comment on the authenticity of Jackson’s experiences as a deaf person, but I do think it was well-integrated into the story and enhanced what Khorram was trying to do with this story.

It can feel harder to relate to YA stories, even ones that have elements that were important to my high school experience, as I get older. But despite the things that I even thought might make me sad and miss my past experiences were just another piece that made this book fun to read. I really enjoyed my time reading it and I hope to continue to read more books like it!

This was such a lovely book full of so much heart. I loved that Adib Khorram took a predictable plot and made it into something really special. I really loved the lack of gay panic with Liam. He wasn't always confident, but he never seemed to take any issue with the fact that he had a crush on a guy. Whether Liam is bi, pan, queer, gay or something else, I just really enjoyed that there wasn't an internalized homophobia plot thrown in. I thought Jackson was an incredibly lovable character and I super appreciated the hard of hearing representation! My only qualm with this book was that Jasmine really did not have to atone at all. I felt like her apology to Jackson was weak and all through the book I felt annoyed with the type of person she was. That being said, since we never really got to take a look into her head, I do give her some grace. Overall, this was another excellent read from Adib Khorram!

Did I just find a new favorite author? It seems that way.

The amount of love I have for this book.

I literally devoured the book. It was so good!

Such an entertaining and quick read!

I love books that bring on nostalgia for me, and this was one of them.

Do yourself a favor and read this book!

I truly enjoyed this coming of age LGBTQ+ romance. It had the right amount of teenage angst mixed with humor and cheekiness. I liked the high school theater elements and thought the main characters were so compatible. I'm always a proponent of Own voices novels and Adib Khorram delivers once again with this novel.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Young Group Readers, and Adib Khorram for an eARC of The Breakup Lists in exchange for an honest review. 

Great plotline with well fleshed-out characters that I felt myself relating to in all sorts of ways. Lots of great explorations of intersectionality and ways the characters navigated the world they were in.

I sometimes had qualms with the way that the characters handled specific situations, but overall I really enjoyed this read.

4/5 stars!

Another hit by Adib Khorram. Jackson, Liam, and Bowie were all standout characters for the main cast, each of them having distinct and lovely characteristics. In general I thought that the plot was well thought out and worked, and while being predictable in some spots it didn't put me off of the book but made me excited to see how the characters would react in the situations. The novel left me feeling warm and happy, and it now ranks number two of his novels firmly behind Darius the Great is Not Okay.

Thank you Publisher and Netglley for this e-galley.

I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH.
Jackson, as a main character is so adorable and Liam is so gentle and sweet. Every simple gestures between them make me swooning so hard.

E-ARC generously provided by Dial Books/Penguin in exchange for an honest review. Thank you so much!

5 stars. Combining the exact kind of dramatics I love from teenagers who have yet to fully develop their frontal lobes and storyline reminiscent of classic DCOMs and teen rom-coms that I ate right up, The Breakup Lists brought me right back to what it felt like being 16, gay, and desperately in love with a boy who you thought would never even look at you.

I yelled, I screamed, I swooned: this book left me feeling like a feral alley cat and honestly, I don't think there's a more ringing endorsement! Read this!!!

I enjoyed this book. I always like Adib Khorram's books and feel that he deals with a lot of struggles queer teens face in his books. I loved the deaf representation and how the character Jackson was portrayed. His and Liam's relationship was sweet to watch, despite how messy it was behind the scenes. I overall enjoyed the ending of the story, I did feel Jasmine needed to take more responsibility for her part in her and Jacksons fight and I don't think she fully grasped how messed up what she did was. Otherwise, I liked everything else and adored the side character of Brodie, I could read and entire book on them I loved them so much!

The Breakup Lists was a fun, YA story with flawed, but endearing characters, mistaked made, and lessons learned. I look forward to Khorram's next book!

I really enjoyed this story about Jackson, a Deaf Iranian teenager who does the stage managing for the high school drama department. The entire story is told through his point of view. I especially liked how it would show that he couldn't always hear everything people around him were saying even with hearing aids. I thought it was so cute that Liam learned ASL in order to communicate at all times with him when even his own family hadn't bothered to learn. This was such a cute story and I definitely want to read more from the author.

Jackson is a lot of things… but romantic. He’s had front row tickets to his parents divorce and has suffered on that end of not all “happily ever afters” end on a happy note. He likes life quiet and behind the scenes, literally, as he works as the stage manager. But when the popular swim jock enters the stage, Jackson and his sister Jasmine both have eyes set on winning the hunk.

This story was raw and real. I connected and I felt. Of course I’m not a gay guy falling for the jock, but the realness was there. It was such a quick and enjoyable read as I loved all the aspects the story told. Jackson deals with different challenges, being on the deaf spectrum of hard hearing, it has him always turning into a shell. There’s also just some comedic timing and banter that make the plot come together.

Every time I read a book by Adib, I remember how much there’s something special in the world. And refreshens me with the world of love and hope!

Romantic and sweeping, this was the perfect unexpected high school romance. Fascinated by the new kid, Liam, Jackson has no idea what's hit him.

Jackson Ghasnavi is a high-schooler who doesn't really believe in romance. His parents split up and his older sister has gone through a long list of breakups in her dating history. Each time she has a breakup, Jackson writes her a "breakup list" which details all the reasons she is no longer with that person, and she asks him to read her the lists on a regular basis. He spends his time working as the stage manager for the high school drama department - making sure all the shows run smoothly. Then his sort-of friend Liam, senior swim team captain with very boy-next-door vibes surprisingly gets the lead in the senior musical and he and Jackson start spending more time together. The problem is that Jackson's sister has some strong feelings for Liam, and Liam thinks that Jackson and Jackson's best friend Bowie, are more than just friends.
This was a sweet and fast YA read. It was pretty predictable, but I was still rooting hard for Jackson to be seen by all those in his life who weren't really seeing him, and the happy ending was a joy to read. Jackson also has a hearing disability, and the frustrations he faces with that and the people around him not understanding those frustrations taught me some things about hearing loss (and made me want to learn ASL).

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this book!

I have mixed feelings on this one. I enjoyed the fact that the main character was deaf and the way that was represented in the story. I also thought the love story was cute and the theatre department setting/plot was fun. I struggled a bit with the lists that Jackson made--it's one thing if you are going to make something like that, but who in their right mind would keep them in their notebook and bring them to school every day? It was clear from the beginning that one of the lists would cause the 3rd act conflict. I also really disliked Jasmine (Jackson's sister) and the way her storyline played out in relation to Jackson and Liam. Overall, this was a fine YA romance but not one that will shoot to the top of my recommendation lists for students.

Since his mother left him, Jackson has been making lists to deal with his disappointments, a habit that has been extended to his sister and her numerous heartbreaks, so she'll remember why she shouldn't care for those guys. Now Liam, who has become not only Jackson's friend but also his secret crush, may become his sister's next boyfriend and maybe his next list, even though Liam was supposed to be his.

3.5 rounded up to 4.

I don't remember reading a book about a character with a hearing disability before, and it was great the way it integrated seamlessly with the story. And of course, it raised great topics for discussion along with points I'll bring to life.

But this book is much more than being about a character with disability. The story had me hooked in all of its acts. There's this cute guy who's become a part of Jackson's daily life and even though he's cute, he's never given any sign that he could also be into guys, so Jackson never makes a move and he's probably okay with that until his sister also takes interest in Liam, and different from Jackson, she does go for what she wants. It's such a bad dilemma. As much as he liked Liam first, now he happens to like the guy his sister made very clear to like—without him protesting, though I'm not sure how that talk would have gone if he had told her anything.

The parts about theater, about his ex, about the plays were also interesting to follow. It made me want to watch the musical theater version of Jesus Christ Superstar and I'm not even a fan of musicals!

The plot itself is a pretty hard one to give a good resolution unless you appeal to lucky happenings—like, magically, his sister forgets about Liam and falls for someone else entirely—, which is not the proposal of this book. I admire that the author faced the problem head on, even if I wished it could have had a cleaner solution, without the heartbreak.

I liked the style and I liked the development, and I loved the characters, so I'm definitely recommending this to fans of YAs. Also, I'm eager to get my hands on more works by this author!


Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

An enjoyable queer YA romcom with a great cast of diverse characters and a relatable Iranian American deaf MMC who falls for the guy his sister starts dating. I thought the hard of hearing disability rep was excellent in this book, especially the way that parts of conversation was blanked out because our protagonist missed when certain people were talking and he couldn't read there lips.

That said, I got really annoyed by the way he repeated 'crossed out' his thoughts (this might have been easier to handle reading the print or ebook version but on audio it was very distracting from the overall story/inner dialogue.

Still a good story though and especially recommended for any and all theatre geeks as this book revolves around a high school Shakespeare production. Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and @prhaudio for a complimentary digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!!

THE BREAKUP LISTS by Adib Khorram is a sweet yet angsty teen romance. It manages to stay light-hearted while touching on real issues of discrimination and complicated high school relationships. Jackson is a likable leading character, He does make some frustrating mistakes, but they're justified well by the plot and characterization. While the story feels slightly disjointed, it makes for an overall light and entertaining read.

Any book about theatre kids automatically gets my attention. The characters were diverse across race, sexuality, gender, and abilities. This book not only had a swoony romance, but the main character’s friendship with his best friend was also beautiful. I really flew through this one - it was just the right length and really sweet.

Thank you NetGalley for sending me this arc in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Well I flew through this book. I wasn’t expecting to like it as much as I did, but I should have considered since it’s Adib Khorram. Since reading his Darius books back in 2022, I will read anything and everything he puts out. This was an adorable addition.

I don’t know how I felt about all the random words being crossed out everywhere. I know it was probably to make it look like a list or something, but it was a little weird. I love a good romcom, and this one had all of the usual workings as well as some moments that truly made me furious. Jasmine was the most annoying person ever throughout the whole book and I’m not really sure if I can forgive her in the end. She’s just a really bad sister. I also got weird anxiety reading because I knew something bad was going to happen eventually. Why do romance books always need third act breakups?!

I liked how this explored Jackson being deaf and how people treated him for it. The way people would speak slowly or treat him like he was stupid instead of just repeating themselves to him. The fact that none of his family had learned sign language. Liam was such an adorable golden retriever boyfriend. His character was my favorite. I also really liked Bowie and a few of the minor characters that we don’t really see that much of.

Adib’s writing is incredible and I’m so excited for his adult debut later this year. This one has a lot of heart and great storytelling and is full of amazing rep of different kinds.

Always excited to check out an Adib Khorram book ever since the first Darius book, which was one of the best intersectional YA story I'd read at the time. Every book since then has trended more and more towards generic YA trends, with a dash of interesting diversity in the cast of characters, which is still very valid and necessary. This one is a love letter to Theater as a safe space for a protagonist who is not just queer and part Iranian, but also deaf. As a former Theater queer myself, this makes up for the majority of what I adored about this book. The protagonist embodies ALL of the intersections but is also a hot mess of a teenager, and that is sweet and heartwarming. However the things I miss from the Darius days are things like meaningful fleshing out of parents and other family members. Jackson's dad is loving but relegated to a very vague outline of an Iranian dad, and the family member that has the most impact in this story is a complete trash human and is too easily forgiven. Everyone else is relegated to simplistic labels as humans, and the love story is sweet but very generic. My love of high school theater notwithstanding, this story doesn't break any significant new ground for me. Still, for the landscape of YA at large, this is a worthy addition towards more intersectional stories.