The Sun is Also a Star

My December book of the month pick was The Sun Is Also a Star and I actually read it within a month of receiving it, which almost never happens anymore! I was certainly not disappointed! This book lives up to the hype, and if you love contemporary YA novels you have to read this.

Set in the course of one day, The Sun is Also a Star is a tour-de-force of young love between two characters of color who just can’t seem to help but end up back together again. I loved how this book handled the concept of “love at first sight” and juxtaposed a character head over heels in love with a character a little more wary of the circumstances.

The lead characters are not only characters of color, but they are characters that are dealing with real life issues! Both characters face racism from and within their own families. Natasha is about to be deported, for crying out loud! Daniel, on the other hand, is staring down the barrel of a Yale interview that could determine his future, even if he doesn’t know what his future holds.

The love story in this book is not the typical YA love story. There aren’t jock boyfriends and cheerleader girlfriends and the cliques of high school keeping them apart. The “impending crisis” isn’t Prom or the big game or the end of a summer affair. This book is real, and the issues the character face is real and it has a r

Personally, I LOVED how Yoon interspersed the chapters of Natasha and Daniel with side stories about other people they just passed on the street and intertwined it into the main narrative. I won’t give too much away, but the way it tied up so nicely at the end made my heart smile and I definitely cried while reading.

This book absolutely deserved every accolade it received, from Kirkus Reviews and POPSUGAR and the New York Times and Publisher’s Weekly. If you’re looking for a book that is going to teach you, make you smile, and leave you feeling warm and fuzzy inside, this is the book for you!