BOOK TOUR- You Started It- Review and Fav Quotes

Hello everyone!

Coming back to share for a Book Tour after a bit of a hiatus, and I'm really looking forward to share my thoughts about this book with you all!

Today we're gonna be talking about an incredibly YA contemporary story, You Started It by Jackie Khalileh.

Book Info:

Genre:Young Adult ContemporaryPublishing Date:May 20, 202Genre:Young Adult ContemporaryPublishing Date:May 20,

Genre: Young Adult

Publishing Date: 20th May, 2025

Content Warning: Discussions of anxiety disorder. Physical symptoms of anxiety on page, including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) symptoms. Multiple panic attacks. Character with claustrophobia. Divorce. Absent parent. References to a past teenage pregnancy and birth. References to alcoholism.

Book Links: Goodreads: Amazon:

Synopsis:

Better Than the Movies meets Olivia Rodrigo’s SOUR, a new YA romance from Something More author, Jackie Khalilieh.

Seventeen-year-old Jamie Taher-Foster has big plans for Senior Year. She's made a list of things and places in Toronto she and her boyfriend of three years, Ben Cameron, need to check off before graduating. And the biggest plan of all: a very special night for the two of them at the upcoming Winter Formal. But then Ben arrives back home after a summer away with an unthinkable announcement: he wants to break up.

And when Jamie discovers him with Olivia Chen the next day, she is determined to get him back. Even if that means fake dating the younger, curly-haired, TikTok dancer, Axel Dahini, whose bicycle she accidentally ran over.

Though she and Axel have nothing in common aside from their shared Arab heritage—she’s a messy, type A with anxiety, he’s carefree but meticulous—their forced time together brings them to better understand one another. And for Jamie, it just might mean learning that not all experiences or people need to be crossed off a list.

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My Review

One of the things that stood out to me about this book is the character of Jamie. Jamie is brash, bold and is not afraid to go after what she wants. She's a teenager who's still figuring herself out, and sometimes comes to completely wrong conclusions, as most of us seem to do at that age. Her flawed nature combined with her truly sincere heart, ambition and grit make her easy to relate to.

From her very "Type A" desire to control and plan her life, to her rocky relationship with her mother, we'll all find some parts of ourselves that we see in Jamie.

“You’re not getting the win on this one… You started it. Now, I’m going to finish it.”

The Arab representation was also amazing to see! Arab culture, quirks of language and habits were all seamlessly built into the characters. Even though I'm not the best authority to comment on this, I would say that it felt very natural and a I loved learning about the intricacies of Arabian disapora culture through Jamie and her family.

“I tend to hold back on new experiences, afraid I’ll crash and burn, so what’s the point? But all that leads to is me missing out on fun things. Exciting things. Embarrassing things. Maybe there’s beauty in the process, in the mess.”

“Sometimes it’s better to let a moment be a moment that can only be remembered in your head. That way it’s kind of a secret between the people who experienced it. Makes it more special, I think.”

“I tend to hold back on new experiences, afraid I’ll crash and burn, so what’s the point? But all that leads to is me missing out on fun things. Exciting things. Embarrassing things. Maybe there’s beauty in the process, in the mess.”