I won a free e-ARC of this book thanks to PenguinTeen in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

In this novel we are following Amir Azadi, who has recently come out to his Muslim family and forced to go through an interrogation at an airport after he and his family have an argument on an airplane. As told to the security men during the interrogation, we learn that he had decided to run away to Rome, and things in his new life started to feel natural, until his past came back to haunt him and everything he had come to know was in jeopardy. 

The story is told in a sort of dual-timeline aspect. The present day is when they’re in the interrogation room and the past is through flashbacks. It’s mostly told in Amir’s narrative, except when we get to the interrogation aspect, which also includes perspectives from his family members. I’ll be honest, those aspects got confusing sometimes and it was hard to differentiate who was who, but I did like that they were included in the story.

I’m sad to say this didn’t live up to the high expectations that I put on it. It wasn’t *terrible* but it wasn’t the masterpiece that I had pictured it to be in my mind. There were things that I found somewhat problematic and overall it just wasn’t knock-your-socks-off amazing. 

So what were some of the issues I had? Well, Amir seemed to have very unlimited resources for an 18 year old who decides to leave his home on a whim. Once he got to Rome, every friend he makes are attractive gay men who befriend Amir and takes him under their wing. Not only that, but they are all older than he is. This felt wrong, and it’s constantly being pointed out how much younger he is than them, by the pop culture references and lack of knowledge. This book also is marketed as focusing on how coming out relates to Amir’s Muslim family but when he talks about it it is more of a culture thing. 

I didn’t have issues with everything in this book. I enjoyed reading the book for the most part and I read this pretty quickly. There was one disturbing scene and I don’t know why that was included. I liked Amir’s character, but most of the time I had trouble remembering that he was actually 18, as he seemed younger than that.

Despite the issues I had with this book, I did like it. Was it all that I had hyped it up to be? Unfortunately, no. That’s typically the case when I do that. Will I ever stop? Most likely not. Should you still read this book? I think so. Just maybe go into it knowing that the synopsis is a bit wrong or misleading, and you should be good. Publication is set for September 22.