Something More
Ratings10
Average rating3.7
A contemporary teen romance novel featuring a Palestinian-Canadian girl trying to hide her autism diagnosis while navigating her first year of high school, for fans of Jenny Han and Samira Ahmed. Fifteen-year-old Jessie, a quirky loner obsessed with the nineties, is diagnosed as autistic just weeks before starting high school. Determined to make a fresh start and keep her diagnosis a secret, Jessie creates a list of goals that range from acquiring two distinct eyebrows to getting a magical first kiss and landing a spot in the school play. Within the halls of Holy Trinity High, she finds a world where things are no longer black and white and quickly learns that living in color is much more fun. But Jessie gets more than she bargained for when two very different boys steal her heart, forcing her to go off-script.
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I came for the Palestinian-Canadian representation but stayed for the autism representation. It's another one of these books which I wish had existed when I was a teenager and I'm glad exists for the current generation of teens.
A beautifully written coming of age story. The beats are pretty familiar, but Jessie's perspective is so carefully considered at every moment. Jessie is more than a collection of the character tropes associated with the new to high school. The way Khalilieh considers her autism diagnosis and her Palestinian-Canadian background make Jessie feel like a real person, which is aided by how well Khalilieh has captured the actual voice of a teenager. Reminds me of the best parts of Bo Burnham's Eighth Grade. Would highly recommend to anyone entering high school, or wanting to have a deeper empathy with the experience of what it's like to be a high schooler with an autism diagnosis.
(I rate on a 5 star scale and a 4/5 is “I really liked it” so don't take the missing star as any indication of lesser quality.)
Something More
Overall Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ (3/5) or 6.42/10 overall
Characters - 7
Atmosphere - 7
Writing - 7
Plot - 6
Intrigue - 7
Logic - 6
Enjoyment - 5
