» QUICK OVERVIEW «

Stars: ★★☆☆☆
Plot: ★★☆☆☆
Readability: ★★★☆☆
Characters: ★★☆☆☆
Writing: ★★★☆☆
Recommend: ✗

» PLOT «

Jamie and Maya haven't spoken to each other in years. Jamie is awkward and volunteering for his local state senate candidate. Maya's only friend is leaving and she can only get a car if she volunteers on a political campaign. Thrown together through political canvassing, Jamie and Maya's dedication to their cause and their beliefs drag them along ups and downs as they fight for what they believe in.

I'm not a big fan of political or politically charged books, so this wasn't my favorite. I simply just prefer ✨escapism✨ to be a part of the books I like.

» READABILITY «

I technically started this book a few months ago, but never got past the first chapter. The books was medium paced, and it was an okay read, nothing really special though.

» CHARACTERS «

I don't love any of the characters, but at least I don't hate them. The romance was slowish, but I didn't love any of the characters, so I didn't root for the romance.

» WRITING «

The writing is average, but cohesive.

» OVERALL «

This book was as average and meh as you can get, really nothing special.

Content Warnings

cosmicsapphic's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

kmbooks's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

DISCLAIMER: Before I start the review, I will say that while reading, I gobbled up the book quite quickly and always wondered what’s next. However, after reflecting on the book I realized it’s flaws.

That’s right I rated a book with LGBTQ characters, POC characters, and Muslim and Jewish characters 3.5 stars. Why? Because that’s the problem. No I’m not homophobic, racist, islamophobe, or anti Semitic. The problem is the book was trying too hard to be “trendy”. I get that the authors wanted to be representative of all people but it seemed to forced. We need more gay characters? Ooo, she should come out. I also felt like they targeted republicans way too much. In fact it demonized them. Oh, they’re on the other side? I can’t be friends with them. Also the characters could easily be defined in one word. Jamie? Awkward. Maya? Muslim (literally her whole personality is she’s Muslim). Nolan and Felipe? Gay. This in turn created a very dry plot. The end was the most frustrating because it seemed to squeeze most of the plot in the last 100 pages. I feel like the concept of this book was pretty good but the way it was executed was subpar. However, I did rate this a 3.5 and not a 1 so I’ll list some positives.

***Positives***
•Woke teens
•Explained what it’s like to be Muslim
•Showed what it’s like to be a minority in America and especially the South

All in all, the book was... meh. That’s all it is. I would recommend this book for 12 years olds and up (pretty clean but language was pretty significant, no racial slurs though). Maybe if you are looking for something to speed through quickly to meet your reading goal or something but realistically, I don’t see how someone would LOVE this book.
~~~~~~~~~~~~SPOILERS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Was the romance really necessary? This book would have developed just fine if Jamie and Maya stayed as friends and Maya didn’t have to give up parts of her faith just to make out with Jamie. I did feel like Rossum losing was a great point of the book. Even if you give it your all, you might not have the most desirable outcome. It would have been nicer if the whole Sara and Maya situation would have been more of a focus. They were friends in the beginning for a chapter or two, then ghosted each other for a sentence in every other chapter, had a huge fight towards the end, and in like the last chapter, she happens to show up at Scavino’s all the way from Athens to Atlanta to vote and save their friendship. Didn’t really make sense and could have played a bigger and more meaningful part to the story.

Content Warnings

malin12ccf's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Jamie is Jewish. Maya is Muslim. Their mothers used to be friends, and apparently, they were inseparable on the playground for a while when they were little. However, Jamie and Maya haven't seen each other in a very long time, and are now both in high school. Jamie has seen Maya in a couple of places and is instantly smitten, Maya is too busy being upset about her parents separating and her best friend is too busy to work and/or prepare for college to really have time for her at all. The two get thrust together to do political canvassing during an important local election in Georgia (very timely, really).

To begin with, Maya only agrees to continue with canvassing because her parents promise to get her a car after the election. Jamie's cousin is in charge of volunteering for the campaign and keeps getting crazier and crazier as the election approaches, so he couldn't really opt out, even if he wanted to. Any chance to hang out with Maya, even if it means talking to strangers about politics, is good with him. As they get to know each other better, the two teens also become a lot more involved in the politics at stake, and soon, the canvassing and trying to help the campaign becomes really important to both of them.

Yes No Maybe So is a collaborative work between the two YA authors Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed, who both live in Georgia. They were both gutted by the presidential election results in 2016 and wrote this book partly as a response. The authors have included local places that mean a lot to them, including restaurants and other public places, and thought it was important that both Jamie and Maya are just 17, too young to vote in the election they're canvassing for, but nevertheless working tirelessly to help make a difference. They wanted to provide a road map for other teens who might be feeling frustrated and who are wondering how they can get involved, even on a local level.

I'm guessing Ms. Albertalli wrote all the Jamie chapters, and she mentions in interviews that parts of his personality and social anxiety mirrors her own. Ms. Saeed wrote the Aisha chapters (they alternate) wanted to really show the experience of a Pakistani American teen growing up in the USA today can look like, complete with racism, fear, bigotry, but also a sense of family and community and the joy that can be found in everyday life, and which can also offer resistance to racists and white supremacists everywhere.

That I read this novel while romance writers, readers, and others all over the internet were working together to fund-raise as much as possible for the upcoming Georgia run-offs, an election that is way more important than the one featured in this book, just seems to be another one of those strange coincidences this year has brought. Here's hoping that Georgia remains blue in the January senate elections as well.

Judging a book by its cover: The shades of blue that make out the majority of the background are really pleasing to me, and I love how the cover subtly reveals much of the development of the story and Jamie and Maya's relationship without really spoiling anything. It's one of the better examples of little cartoon people on the cover of novels.

Content Warnings

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