The LGBTQ+ romcom for the high school theatre kid in you

     A little fun fact about me is that I was a theater kid in high school and today is the release day of The Breakup Lists by Adib Khorram. So naturally, I had to search for my old script of Twelfth Night because I did the same show in high school like the characters in this book! Okay enough about me, let’s get to the book review!
     Jackson Ghasnavi is a lot of things—a techie, a smoothie afficionado, a totally not obsessive list-maker—but one thing he’s not is a romantic. And why would he be? He’s already had a front row seat to his parents’ divorce and picked up the pieces of his sister Jasmine’s broken heart one too many times. No, Jackson is perfectly happy living life behind the scenes—he is a stage manager, after all—and keeping his romantic exploits limited to the breakup lists he makes for Jasmine, which chronicle every flaw (real or imagined) of her various and sundry exes. Enter Liam: the senior swim captain turned leading man that neither of the Ghasnavi siblings stop thinking about. Not that Jackson has a crush, of course. Jasmine is already setting her sights on him and he’s probably—no, definitely—straight anyway. So why does the idea of eventually writing a breakup list for him feel so impossible?
     Despite being out of the target demographic for some of these YA books, I still find comfort in the cliches and predictability of a YA romcom. And Khorram’s newest book delivers that in full!
     Not only do we get classic YA tropes and friendship and relationship drama scattered amongst the sweet and funny moments, there is also a lot of diversity in this LGBTQ+ romance. Our main character, Jackson, is not only gay and Iranian-American, but is also hard of hearing and wears cochlear implants. Having him be the center of the story adds an extra layer of depth to his struggles as a teenager trying to navigate high school. Alongside him is a love interest who’s just dreamy and a plethora of side characters that round out this novel to be the fun and binge-able YA novel it is.
     Also, as a former high school theatre kid, I appreciated every theatre reference in this book and made me wish I could go back to high school when, even though it didn’t seem like it at the time, things were much simpler. That nostalgia factor will definitely have older readers enjoying this story while younger readers will relate to the struggles these characters are dealing with.
     If you’re looking for a book with diverse characters, typical teenage angst and drama, disability rep, and theatre kids galore then this is the book for you.
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*I received an ARC from Penguin Teen in exchange for my honest opinion.

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