I've been excited to read The Love & Lies of Rukhsana Ali for awhile. Not only was I around for Book Twitter to celebrate it, but it's also never on the library shelf for more than a day before the novel's checked out again. When my turn finally came, I read it as fast as possible, since I know teens are waiting for this story.

One reviewer mentioned that this novel will break your heart and mend it again. They are 100% right. The gutting struggle against a homophobic family transported me back to my own coming out and other real stories I'd heard. The desperate hope that the family will come around, the search for allies, and the manipulation--it's all so familiar I cried. I especially liked Khan's deft handling how clueless the white and/or straight characters were. Speaking from a marginalized identity can be incredibly frustrating. Time and again, you try to explain your experience, and time and again, the non-marginalized person brushes it off, prioritizes their own feelings, and insists they know better.

Some reviewers have complained that Rukhsana is too quick to forgive her family and friends for their hurtful actions, and therefore the story "forgives" the family too easily. As an older adult, this storytelling decision spoke to me as a sign of Rukhsana's youth. An older Rukhsana, with her own career and social circle, might not have done this, but a teenager who needs a roof over their head, that still wants to be a part of the community she grew up in? Absolutely.

Besides the realistic depiction of LGBTQ issues, the plot is gripping, the descriptions downright magical, and the characters are so fleshed out I could picture them beside me. The Love & Lies of Rukhsana Ali is a tragic masterwork of queer YA fiction. I recommend it to everyone.