I really enjoyed this book. The writing style was great and made the age of the characters absolutely believable. It was cute and a little angsty but nothing too intense. I would without a doubt will read more from this author.

An autistic teen learns to navigate high school. Even though I'm not the target age group for this book I enjoyed it. And thought the author did a good job of writing teens. As well as a realistic view of an autistic teen.

I would have given anything to have this as a teen, I felt so seen while reading. I love Jessie and the other characters and I love how this book shows how real and messy people are. I loved it!

Thanks to NetGalley I received an advanced electronic copy of the book to read and provide a review.

This wasn’t for me and I had to DNF. But maybe this is for you?

I so wanted to love this book, but I just didn’t get on with it. I did read to the end in the hope of a redeeming ending (which never came).

My main issue is how romance oriented this book was. There was no balance, and romantic success was put way above other things like friendships or family. I didn’t see any chemistry between the love interests and it ended up feeling very forced.

The friendships themselves all felt very surface level. I think this is mostly because the characters were so dramatic and cliquey, as well as being completely focused on romance. I appreciate that a lot of high school is a bit like this, but it was too much for me.

Also, it was so straight. I’m not saying any of the main cast needed to be queer, but relationships were given so much importance and there wasn’t a single non-straight person/couple? There are also multiple uses of the phrase ‘female autistics’ with no issue raised, which felt very trans-exclusive.

The main character, Jessie, is newly-diagnosed autistic, which I was excited to read about. There were some good parts of this, such as the constant overthinking and social guesswork, getting overtired from school every day, and always being direct to a point a conflict. On the flip side, there were a lot of inconsistencies and double standards, especially coming from Jessie, which felt very frustrating.

What I found, as well, is that there was a distinct lack of support after her diagnosis. Of course, this is all too common, but it wasn’t discussed at all when it could easily have been. The only support she is offered (SEN support), she outright rejects in fear of negative social consequences.

To me, it seemed like Jessie was masking more and more as the book went on. Her sister only starts accepting Jessie when she seems to ‘fit in’ more. By the end of the book, I was left thinking ‘Did Jessie really accept being autistic by the end?’.

Towards the end of the book, Jessie makes a big speech in front of the school. This fell flat for me and felt really disjointed from the character. I would say that this extends throughout the book to most of the character development and dynamics.

One other positive I have is how small facets of her Palestinian identity and history were woven in, mostly through food and family. I definitely would have liked to see more of the family and sibling dynamics, which I felt were slightly neglected.

Like I said, I did finish this book. I think that with a bit more support and less focus on the romance, Jessie could have had much stronger character development. I didn't dislike her as a character but I honestly thought there was going to be a big ‘friendships are more important’ or ‘it doesn’t matter what other people think of me’ moment. The ending felt like the complete opposite unfortunately.

I loved this book! It was such a fun read and I was hanging out to every word! Were Jessie and her friends a little immature? Yeah but so are most 15 year olds. I had so much fun and my only criteria would be I wanted more of Griffin and his development! (Can we get a fluffy story please)

We love to see Palestinians thriving! This was my first book of Palestinian rep and I loved every second of this loud Arab family

This took me back to high school, even though I didn’t have the same kinds of experiences with friends and boys as Jessie (my friends weren’t obsessed with boys and, being aroace, I certainly wasn’t). The vibes and tone were spot on and I enjoyed re-living a little bit of that time through Jessie’s struggles and successes. I wish there had been less focus on the romance and more on the drama club; we never get to see Jessie’s meetings or rehearsals on page, which would’ve fleshed out her character more. There were also a few points where she jumped to the right conclusion without showing any of her thought process (like “wait, didn’t Griffin say…” or remembering a scene). There’s just a line of dialogue from one character and then her dialogue with the conclusion, which felt off considering how much we’re in her head throughout the book.

I was excited to read this book as an autistic person. But I was disappointed very fast. The amount of talk about ‘female autism’ was triggering, problematic and transphobic. When the doctor mentioned it for the first time I thought it was gonna be debunked. But no, it’s repeated dozens of times and never questioned. This idea of female autism excludes non-binary people and is very harmful.
Apparently this newer version should contain less transphobia but this arc is the only version I read and it’s full of it.

I also struggled with how aphobic this story is.. It puts romantic relationships on such a pedestal, seeing it as more valuable and important than platonic relationships.

This one made me laugh, cry and every other emotion in between. Characters that feel real, and a story many will relate too. Definitely looking forward to reading more from Khalilieh. Thank you to netgalley for the arc.

I would have given zero stars if I could. I have decided to edit my review and will never ever pick up another book by this author again. She is currently going into the DM's of people whobare warning others for how transphobic this book is. She claims she didn't know any better back in 2018. Once she learned how harmful her statements were to the trans community she "quietly" used more "inclusive language". She continues defend why she said such transphobic takes and downplays the harm she has done to trans people. Something about "I get why people may feel this way, but..." She is not entitled to decide if people, specifically trans people, are allowed to feel this way. She explains how the old editions have the transphobic takes. What is this ARC? A newer edition. I have no idea what inclusive language was added, because this newer edition is still filled with transphobia. So why is this author lying to people? Why is she downplaying and disregarding the pain caused to trans people? Why won't she warn her readers? This person isn't doing anything to keep trans readers safe. And no, apologising in someone's DM's after defending her own behaviour and not taking any accountability is not an apology.

I get that this book is a YA romance and I get teenagers can be obsessed with finding a relationship. I had plenty of friends who were very set on getting a boy back in highschool. However, the only thing that happened until the point I decided to dnf'ing this book was the MC constantly talking and thinking about boys and how she is a virgin.

If it were only the MC being so obsessed with relationships I would think it's her thing, but no... every single conversation is about boys, boys, boys...

Not the mention the autism rep excludes trans people. First I thought only one character would believe in "female autism" but nope... This is something that keeps being brought up throughout the book. As a non-binary person I am bummed to be excluded once again. Besides, the idea of "male and female autism" isn't just harmful to trans people.

I was thrilled to learn more from the Palestinian rep. The way the world was called out for labeling all Palestinians as terrorists was spot on.

However, this plot really isn't for me. It feels aphobic and transphobic. There was also not a single queer character at all.

I am also bothered by the amount of fat shaming. I know teens tend to do this a lot. I was a victim of their shaming myself, but this is a YA book that could be read by teenagers. At least add how such statements are not okay.

The MC shames other characters for making out with other people or by the way they are dressed multiple times. Again, I know this is a thing many teenagers do, but why does nobody explain how that behaviour is not okay? Nowhere are those thoughts and phrases called bad.

Such a great read! Highly recommend this one.

Many thanks to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

This was a beautiful coming of age story about Jessie, an autistic 15 year old, trying to navigate high school and its challenges for the first time, and making friends (and rivals) along the way. I found the love triangle to be very intriguing but I couldn’t put the book down as I needed to know how it would end up for her! I loved how authentic Jessie was to herself, and as an autistic person this really meant a lot to me to read someone like me going through situations I had been through (and some I had not). Learning about Jessie’s Palestinian heritage was really interesting and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about her family dynamics and history. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for more YA with autistic representation as this was a fantastic read!

3.5 stars rounded up. I feel like the main character's 90s fixation was fitting here because this book reminded me of a 90s rom-com. In a good way, I think. The kind that's character-centric and diverse. I also got some Mean Girls vibes at times.

I liked the diversity in this one. The main character was sympathetic and realistic. It's always nice to see an autistic female take the lead. The romance was cute, but the friendships were better. This is a slice of life kind of book with likable characters that felt more realistic than some of the other YA books I've read.

I read an ARC of this book from NetGalley. All comments are my own.

3,5 ⭐️

This was a great book and I enjoyed reading it. The story shows a realistic life of an autistic girl in high school. There was a lot of drama, which is normal in high school. I loved seeing Jessie grow through the story and I’m definitely team Griffin.

Thank you Netgalley and Hashtag Press for this arc

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great book. I really enjoyed the story!

Thank you NetGalley for this copy!
Love triangles don’t always keep my attention but this was an exception! I adored our main character and her journey finding love for herself after learning she is autistic, as well as love in a boy. It was very relatable and brought me back to the time I was in school finding myself. The character are very relatable and realistic to me.
This was amazing autistic representation as well as Palestinian representation. An honestly perfect YA story I loved it so much!

LOVE LOVE LOVE, I had such a good time with this book, and i thought the love triangle was written in a way that made sense for high schoolers

I'm always genuinely happy to read books with representation. What a lovely and excellent story! I couldn't stop reading, I was obsessed the whole time.

Great YA romance. Good representation of an autistic teenage girl as the protagonist. Will be adding this to my library and recommending it to young readers.

Griffin was soooo cute omfds. Jessie got on my nerves tho Icel 😭

I was so invested in their teenage drama lmao.

I’m glad Levi came to his senses at the end but I was never rooting for him anyway 👹 the underdogs always win my heart 🤭