~o~Rating~o~

~o~ Release Date: November 1st 2016 ~o~
~o~ Publisher: Delacorte Press ~o~

I was lucky (and knowledgeable) enough to win an ARC of this book at B-Fest trivia at Barnes and Nobles a few weekends ago (as you can see, I am also great at remembering dates).

~o~Goodreads Synopsis~o~

Natasha: I’m a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. I’m definitely not the kind of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when my family is twelve hours away from being deported to Jamaica. Falling in love with him won’t be my story.

Daniel: I’ve always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents’ high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when I see her, I forget about all that. Something about Natasha makes me think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store—for both of us.

The Universe: Every moment in our lives has brought us to this single moment. A million futures lie before us. Which one will come true?

Click here for the Goodreads page.

~o~Review~o~

The Sun is Also a Star is very unlike what I expected. Is it a cute love story? Yes. But it’s also a story about immigrating into the USA and what it means to come from an immigrant family, especially the family expectations that come with it.

Natasha’s family immigrated to the USA from Jamaica when she was eight years old so her dad could pursue a career in acting. Her story is one I can connect with at a deeper level being an immigrant myself (who also happened to move to America at eight years old. It’s actually almost scary how that happened actually). Though unfortunately in her case, Natasha is undocumented and her family is getting deported that night.

Daniel is a first generation Korean-American living with his parents’ high expectations of being a doctor and marrying a nice, Korean girl. I’m not sure why the Goodreads synopsis says “Never the poet. Or the dreamer” in his description because that’s exactly what he is: Daniel is a poet and a dreamer. While Natasha is more factual and rational, Daniel is more sensitive and optimistic.

Now usually, I LOATHE books that are love at first sight or books where the main characters fall in love after one day of knowing each other. But honestly, this was the cutest thing ever. In the span of one day, their relationship developed more than I can say for 80 percent of YA characters. You know those books where the story tells you the main characters are in love but really, you have absolutely no idea why because they’ve never even had a decent conversation? Well, that’s not this story! I felt their connection, I knew the exact moment each of them fell in love with the other and, just THE FEELS!

The book itself mostly focuses on Natasha’s and Daniel’s points of views but it also shows some brief POVs of side characters which I enjoyed immensely because you also get a glimpse of their lives.

I also like books with big themes and this one had quite a few up its sleeves. How so many things had to go right for the world to form. How the smallest of all decisions can lead to and entirely different parallel universe. How a single exchange with another person can change your life forever.

And the ending is just

so BE WARNED!