Despite sending him letters ever since she was thirteen, Taliah Abdallat never thought she’d ever really meet Julian Oliver. But one day, while her mother is out of the country, the famed rock star from Staring Into the Abyss shows up on her doorstep. This makes sense – kinda – because Julian Oliver is Taliah’s father, even though her mother would never admit it to her. Julian asks if Taliah if she will drop everything and go with him to his hometown of Oak Falls, Indiana, to meet his father – her grandfather – who is nearing the end of his life. Taliah, torn between betraying her mother’s trust and meeting the family she has never known, goes. With her best friend Harlow by her side, Taliah embarks on a three-day journey to find out everything about her ‘father’ and her family. But Julian isn’t the father Taliah always hoped for, and revelations about her mother’s past are seriously shaking her foundation. Through all these new experiences, Taliah will have to find new ways to be true to herself, honoring her past and her future.
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Here We Are Now
Jasmine Warga
Before I can go into any details about Here We Are Now, I have to talk about the bullshit romance throughout. Tropes are great to use – the reason why they are tropes is because they work well in a story to grip the reader to wonder what will happen next. But using insta-love TWICE just felt lazy to me (also, really unrealistic). Our main character Taliah instantly falls in love with a strange guy, exactly the same way her mother did way back when. And we’re lucky enough to read about both of them…
Aside from the romance… our cast of characters was diverse. Taliah is a muslim, and a second generation immigrant in America. And so it her mother! Lena’s transition into the USA is explored throughout the book really well. It was really interested to read about how Lena made her decisions because of her immigrant status. Her best friend is also gay, although this wasn’t really explored much in the book.
I guess the other issue I had with Here We Are Now it was boring. The storyline dragged a lot, and I didn’t really care about Taliah’s story at all, although her mother’s seems more intriguing. It also felt really strange because really, what kid would decide to travel across the country with someone they barely know? Especially when Taliah has decided that it’s all Julien’s fault that he wasn’t around when she grew up.
Plus the ending of the book stopped so abruptly. I was shocked, and I expected a little bit more closure on the characters. Overall, it just wasn’t a fun read for me and I had to force myself to read it!
Positives
+ Diverse characters
Negatives
– Love at first sight (twice!)
– Boring
– Abrupt ending
I received Here We Are Now by Jasmine Warga from the publisher. This is an unbiased and honest review
View Comments (3)
Love, at first sight, can be fun sometimes but I don't care for it as much either.
That's such a shame it ended up being a less than exciting read for you! Haven't heard of it before, beautiful cover though if nothing else.
Yes! I caught up in the cover unfortunately!