Finding good books to read can be challenging because there are so many choices. If you are a teenager, I would recommend reading The Sun Is Also A Star, by Nicola Yoon.

Background

Nicola Yoon is a New York Times Bestselling Author of Everythng Everything. The Sun Is Also A Star is a National Book Award finalist, Michael L. Printz Honor Book, and Coretta Scott King New Talent Award winner. On May 16, 2019 the movie was released. It starred Yara Shahidi, who plays the main character Natasha and Charles Melton, who plays Daniel.

This book has a prologue and epilogue making it 344 pages long. You can purchase a paperback copy of this book on Amazon for $7.80 and a hardcover book for $14.31. The recommended age for this book is 13 and up, making it a book for young- adults. It has some descriptive scenes that aren’t meant for anyone under the age of 13. But anyone over 13 could still read and watch the movie and enjoy it.

Summary

The two main characters are Natasha Kingsley and Daniel Bae. Natasha and most of her family are illegal immigrants that came from Jamaica. Daniel Bae is a second generation immigrant of stereo typically strict Korean parents. Natasha believes in science, facts, and is practical, while Daniel believes in fate, love, and dreams. They accidentally meet on the busy streets of New York and end up spending the whole day together. They learn a lot about each other in a short amount of time and they haven’t felt this way with anyone else before.

Daniel reiterates that they are “meant to be” and that fate brought them together, but Natasha doesn’t believe in fate. She barely believes in love. At 10pm that same day, Natasha might officially get deported back to Jamaica. Daniel’s goal is to make her fall in love with him by the end of the day, so he tries to do it scientifically. She never excepted him to have a huge impact in such a short amount of time.

Review

There were a couple of things I noticed through out the story. The paragraphs are short and change perspective a lot. Each chapter has a name at the top which is telling you who’s point of view you are reading from. It has an interesting set up and it gives flashbacks and tells some history about certain people and things. This helped give background information so you had a better understanding of what’s going on.

Likes

I liked how, when the author mentioned people in the beginning of the book, she mentions them again at least once. It  makes the book seem more realistic than just forgetting that a character didn’t exist anymore. This also helped tie the book together with all of the little details. She made me feel like I was in the characters thoughts and feelings. It made me feel happy, sad, anxious, and at the edge of my seat. Lastly, I loved reading the character development because, the story only takes place in one day and I feel like their mindsets both changed because of each other.

Dislikes

The book was a bit dull in the beginning and didn’t really get interesting until Natasha and Daniel actually met. This is usually the most boring part of a story, but she might have dragged the introduction out a little too much. Lastly, I hate the cliffhanger she leaves you with at the end. I don’t know if there is going to be a sequel or if the point was so you can decide how the ending goes yourself. I love getting the chance to use my imagination, but I am curious to see how the author would write the ending and how the characters story would end.