It Only Takes a Day

The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

I knew I would get around to this book eventually because I loved Everything Everything, which I read almost exactly a year ago. I ended up getting this one because my daughter's best friend wanted to read it and her school library didn't have it yet. I would do anything for that sweet girl, and it was no big deal to get a book we could both enjoy. She would not borrow it from me until I read it, however.

This book takes place over the course of a single day. Natasha is seventeen. She lives in a one bedroom apartment with her parents and brother. She and her brother share the living room as their bedroom space. They are being deported tonight because her dad got drunk, and told the police officer whose car he hit that he and his family were undocumented immigrants. Natasha is on a mission to get that decision reversed.

Daniel is also seventeen. He is Korean American, and his parents expect him to go to Yale and become a doctor. He has an older brother who is an asshole, and who has been suspended from Harvard. Daniel is on his way to get a haircut (which never actually happens) when he saves Natasha from getting hit by a car.

For Daniel, it was practically love at first sight.For Natasha, not so much. She is a science person; she believes in practicality--things she can see or prove with science. Daniel leads with his heart. He spends the day trying to convince her that they can fall in love. She tries to resist.

The whole book is watching them fall in love against a backdrop of impending deportation and Yale interviews. I so enjoyed reading this, and I can't wait to discuss it with my daughter's best friend when she read this.