I Miss You, I Hate This
When best friends Parisa and Gabriela’s senior year is disrupted by a pandemic, schools—and their friendship—must go virtual, especially when it becomes clear that young adults are most susceptible to the virus. Iranian American Parisa can’t believe it when a classmate across the street hosts a party. In the aftermath, Andrew, once a close friend, gets sick and dies. Parisa becomes a recluse, afraid to go outside; aside from her family, her only connections are virtual, mostly with Gabriela and her older sister’s boyfriend, Gideon. Gideon is helping her with her college essay and … flirting with her? Staying home isn’t an option for Mexican American Gabriela: Saving for college and helping out her two moms, she can’t afford not to work. No one is more surprised than Gabriela when she and Wes—a third member of their friendship group that once included Andrew—fall in love. A touch, let alone a kiss, seems impossible, but they look for ways to be physically close while following reasonable precautions. In a story that alternates between the two young women’s points of view and includes numerous text exchanges, so much is out of these teens’ control, making the things they can control and the choices they make all the more important. The relationship arcs and personal dramas include feelings and misunderstandings that are inevitably amplified by the stress of extraordinary circumstances in a story sure to resonate with many contemporary readers. ©2022 Cooperative Children’s Book Center
CCBC Age Recommendation: Age 14 and older
Age Range:
Grades 9-12 (Age 14 and older)
Format:
Novel
Subjects:
Depression
Feelings/Emotions
Friendship
Illness and Disease
Iranians and Iranian Americans
Loneliness
Love and Romance
Mexicans and Mexican Americans
Pandemic
Perspective/Point of View
Separation
Speculative Fiction
Diversity subjects:
Asian
Latine
LGBTQ Family
Psychiatric Disability/Condition
Publishers:
Little, Brown, Poppy
Publish Year: 2022
Pages: 345
ISBN: 9780316629829
CCBC Location: Fiction, Saedi