Book Review :: Yes, No, Maybe So, by Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed

Yes No Maybe So by Becky Albertalli, Aisha Saeed
ISBN: 1471184668
Published by HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster
on 2020-02-04
Genres: Young Adult
Pages: 436
Source: HarperCollins NZ
Goodreads

Jamie Goldberg is cool with volunteering for his local state Senate candidate — as long as he’s behind the scenes. When it comes to speaking to strangers (or, let’s face it, speaking at all to almost anyone), Jamie’s a choke artist. There’s no way he’d ever knock on doors to ask people for their votes…until he meets Maya.

Maya Rehman’s having the worst Ramadan ever. Her best friend is too busy to hang out, her summer trip is canceled, and now her parents are separating. Why her mother thinks the solution to her problems is political canvassing — with some awkward dude she hardly knows — is beyond her.

Going door to door isn’t exactly glamorous, but maybe it’s not the worst thing in the world. After all, the polls are getting closer — and so are Maya and Jamie. Mastering local activism is one thing. Navigating the cross-cultural romance of the century is another thing entirely.

Last updated on 20 October 2021

This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase with one of these links, I recieve a small commission at no additional cost to you. Read the full Affiliate Policy.

My thoughts on Yes No Maybe So

I think I’ll read pretty much read anything by Becky Albertalli; her books are always a fun read. I’ve never read anything by Aisha Saeed before, but now I want to look into what else she’s written. Yes No Maybe So was co-written by the two authors, with each taking a character, alternating chapters.

Much like Albertalli’s other stories (I can’t speak for Saeed’s) the characters were enjoyable and a lot of fun to get to know over the course of the story. Jaime is a shy guy who’s really brought out of his shell by out-spoken Maya. Their growing relationship is a slow one, but it is there. They’ve technically known each other pretty much their whole lives, but in a chance encounter they’re suddenly canvassing their neighbourhood together for the upcoming election. Their friendship grows and eventually it’s more than a friendship. Very predictable, but quite sweet. In the beginning I liked Maya when it was from her perspective, but didn’t like as much when she was in Jamie’s chapters, which is interesting.

“We might give it our all and crash and burn. But we might win. We might actually change things. And that maybe makes it still worth going for, don’t you think?”

The plot, while predictable, was cute. We follow the two characters as they head out canvassing in their neighbourhoods over the summer break, and eventually start hanging out outside of canvassing. They have their friends too, some better than others, and family members which really add to the story.

A few things that took it down a star for me: American politics. Like I don’t get it. Don’t even get me started. I’m just going to move quickly on. The other thing was that I think the story was about 100 pages too long. I definitely started losing interest around the 350 mark and there were 436 pages. But we got there in the end.

It was nowhere near as sweet as Simon vs the Homospaiens Agenda or What If It’s Us, but it was still a fun read.

Have you read Yes No Maybe So?

---

Thank you to HarperCollins NZ who gifted me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my thoughts and all opinions are my own.