Review: The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

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?

My Review: 5 Stars

I loved Nicola Yoon's Everything, Everything when I read it last year, so I was not surprised when I also loved this one.  It took me barely anytime at all to become invested in the characters, since I loved both of their voices and cared about them pretty much right away.  The dual POV with typically short chapters made the book feel like it flew by very quickly.  I had to know what would happen next, and I kept turning the pages to find out.
  
Natasha is a Jamaican girl who is being deported from America in a day.  I thought the deportation storyline was powerful, because Natasha was only 8 when her parents brought her over, and she didn't have any control over this, or choose to be in America illegally, and now America has become her home and she is being forced out of it because of a mistake that her dad made.  And her brother Peter was born in this country, but he actually is okay with leaving and going back to Jamaica.  Natasha is determined to stop the deportation.  I love how we got glimpses of her family, and how they didn't have a very good life always, and how the relationships between the parents and between Natasha and each parent had evolved over the years.

Daniel is a Korean American boy who is being pressured by his parents to become a doctor, even though it isn't really what he wants.  Daniel is a dreamer who writes poems and believes in true love.  He has a tough family life, with high expectations on him, and a brother who doesn't like him.  The relationship between him and his brother Charlie was slowly revealed throughout the story, and I liked getting glimpses into that.  I liked how we got to see bits of Korean culture, such as norebang (which is like a type of karaoke).

The meetings between Natasha and Daniel may have almost involved too many coincidences at times, but it was cute.  I liked their romance, though of course it progressed fast since the story took place over the span of one day.  I liked how Daniel was the one into the relationship, while Natasha was the one who was more skeptical about love.

If you like YA contemporary, read this book.

Katie