I loved this. It was messy and sweet and heavy! This was such a beautiful coming of age story of two girls in catholic school who are wary of trusting others because of their family histories but they find a friendship/love through poetry. Friends to lovers is probably my FAVORITE trope so it almost automatically had my heart! 100% check triggers, lots of heavy stuff but SO SO GOOD! I BAWLED!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

On the surface, a queer love story between longtime friends, but on closer inspection, it’s a story about forgiveness, and learning to trust even when that trust has been broken, even when you know you’re going to be hurt.

Normally I’m not a young adult lit reader, but I absolutely do not regret reading Just Another Epic Love Poem. Akhbari weaves lines of poetry throughout the story in such a purposeful way that I was completely enamored me the whole time I read. It brings me back to my early days in college when I wrote my own poetry, and it’s inspiring in that way.

Watching Mitra’s journey through managing her anxiety and opening herself up to truly trust the people in her life that she loves was a very well-crafted arc that I truly enjoyed. When I read Akhbari’s About the Author blurb, I could see her training as a therapist shining through. She writes about forgiveness and trust in a nuanced and authentic way that I think is missing from other media that have the same themes.

Ultimately, I think this is an important story not only for the young adults that it’s meant for, but for adults as well.

#JustAnotherEpicLovePoem 💜
Thanks @penguinteen for this beautiful book!

𝘉𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦...

𝘼𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧: Parisa Akhbati
𝙋𝙪𝙗 𝘿𝙖𝙮: 3/12/24

I thought this book was so beautifully written! I absolutely loved it and didn't want it to end. This amazing story was full of poetry, beautiful prose, complex family relationships and great friendships. The poems scattered throughout the story made my poetry loving heart so happy! I was drawn to the meaningful story, both lighthearted and complex, and all of the characters as well.

I really loved both of the main characters, Mitra and Bea and I enjoyed learning more about them as they learned about themselves and navigated the changing nature of their relationship. But I also really loved Mitra's father! He was so supportive of his daughters, their hobbies, friendships/relationships and who they were. This book deals with some darker themes involving Mitra's mother, but I appreciated the real way the author went about writing that - the hurt, the heartache and the difficult reunification process.


𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙚𝙣𝙟𝙤𝙮:
• poetry
• lgbtq stories
• friends to lovers
• coming-of-age
• ya romance
• family drama

"𝑾𝒆'𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒈𝒂𝒏. 𝑱𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒑𝒊𝒄 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒆𝒎 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒑 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒔."

This young adult novel follows Mitra Esfahani, a high school senior and aspiring poet living in the suburbs of Seattle. Mitra attends Catholic school (even though no member of her family is Catholic) and has a crew of fellow misfits, especially her best friend, Bea. Mitra and Bea have been writing a neverending poem together for five years that includes their feelings about all kinds of things—except that Mitra is in love with Bea.

Over the course of the novel, Mitra and Bea’s relationship develops. I was surprised that this was only one focus of the book, though. Perhaps the most important thread actually lay in Mitra’s relationship with her family. Mitra’s mother, who has struggled with addiction for many years, comes back into their lives, and Mitra has to deal with anger and forgiveness. I also liked the character of her sister, Azar, who responds a bit differently to their mother. Mitra’s mother is also a poet and the connections between mother and daughter over favorite poets like Naomi Shihab Nye and Rumi were sweet.

The Catholic school environment isn’t exactly the best for a queer, non-Christian girl, but it’s also not a total wasteland. Mitra’s poetry teacher, Ms. Acosta, is a guiding light for her, and encourages her to think of herself as a poet. She’s also accepting of all facets of Mitra’s life. I’d say that this is the third central relationship in the novel.

This wasn’t my favorite YA ever—the plot momentum was a bit confusing, and I wasn’t that excited about the included poems—but it was a sweet and generous coming-of-age story. Mitra’s parents are depicted so compassionately—and they’re human, but compassionate towards her, too.

Just Another Epic Love Poem is without a doubt one of my favorite YA litfics I've read. A sweeping exploration of poetry, queerness, and navigating complex family ties, Akhbari's debut follows high school senior Mitra through her complicated last year with best friend, Bea. Mitra and Bea have been attached at the hip since Mitra first enrolled in Catholic school; bonded by poetry and queerness (Mitra is bi and mostly closeted, Bea is lesbian and as out as one can be in Catholic school), the girls have always faced the world together, aided by their neverending poetry book.

But when Bea breaks up with her latest girlfriend, Cara, and senior year begins, Mitra realizes she must be bold and tell Bea the only secret she's ever kept from her: Mitra is wildly in love with Bea. The love story here reminded me of The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School mixed with Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe-- I adore both those books, so it's very high praise! I loved the poetry aspect of it and I loved the scenes with Mitra's family. What I didn't 100% love is the pacing was a little off for me. Mitra and Bea get together rather quickly and spend the rest of the book navigating their relationship. I would've loved to have known more of what their friendship was like before the relationship started, but I do think it's a refreshingly realistic depiction of friends to lovers with a lot of layers to it. Also, the prose is simply luminous.

When I turned the final page, I wanted more. I can't wait to see what else Akhbari writes, and this is the kind of book that I can see earning sweeping praise! It's moving, vital, and multi-layered, coming from an exciting new voice in fiction.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Penguin Group/Dial Books, and Parisa Akhbari for giving me this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review!

"Just Another Epic Love Poem" is a moving examination of love, friendship, and self-discovery that revolves around Mitra Esfahani's and her best friend Bea Ortega's unbreakable bond. This book offers a powerful and compelling story that addresses the changing nature of love and friendship in a way that is both deeply emotional and sympathetic. It also masterfully captures all aspects of unsaid sentiments. This was beautifully written, and it opened my eyes to the beauty and strength of self-discovery, friendship, and love.

Thank you netgalley and penguin group penguin young readers group

Going into this I want sure what to expect. But I was pleasantly suprised when reading this. The cover is beautiful and makes so much sense when reading the story

"just another epic love poem" is a gorgeous story about mitra esfahani and two of the constants in her life: her best friend bea, and the never-ending poem they write on a notebook they pass back and forth. much like most teenagers, mitra has one big secret: she's in love with bea and she doesn't know what to do about it. told through narrative prose and beautiful poetry, the book follows mitra and bea as they navigate life as queer teenagers in a catholic school, their upcoming college applications, and the blossoming of their romantic relationship. mitra is so relatable, both as an anxious and insecure teenager, but also as a queer girl who is confident in her sexuality. i loved that mitra's bisexuality wasn't an if, that it was an established fact from the get go. it was wonderful to follow her journey throughout the book, to see how she dealt with her mom's addiction, her (allegedly) unrequited feelings for bea, and her life as the child of iranian immigrants in a very white, very catholic environment. much like a lot of YA books, a lot of the conflict could have been avoided if bea and mitra just communicated with each other, but i think that's what makes it all the more realistic because when have teenagers been good about communicating? overall, i loved this book and can't wait to read more from the author.

What an incredible story about love and trust.

Mitra shares everything with her best friend Bea, like the never-ending poem the two of them have been penning through years of Catholic school, culminating in senior year. Except Mitra hasn't shared that she's actually in love with Bea, or the truth about the emotional pain inflicted by Mitra's pill-addicted mother. Then Mitra's mom returns and Bea finds out the depth of Mitra's feelings. What's a girl to do?

Steeped in poetry and Persian American culture, this story tells the incredible story of how Mitra comes to terms with her mother's addiction and Mitra's own trust issues. There's a powerful lesson involved. "I am more than things I've ruined." Mitra's best friends-to-lovers journey is so sweet, but her connections with her family, especially with her younger sister, had me in tears.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

I did enjoy this book, but I don't think it was what I expected. From the summary, this was definitely billed as a romance book. Because of that, when the one-sided love was resolved only 30% of the book in, I was filled with a deep apprehension---that usually means at least two breakups. While Mitra and Bea definitely have fights throughout the book, the rest of the book is really just about Mitra. She's dealing with her mother's situation and her relationship with her sister, along with college committment, making the romance just one of her sideplots, so to say. She has a lot of trouble juggling all these things, but she does manage pretty well in the end, without any major issues, which is nice.

I'm glad the romance wasn't the entire book, because it was honestly my least favorite part. I liked Bea, but it seemed like as much as Mitra liked her, she mostly caused Mitra stress! Part of that's just because we only see the time period where their relationship is more up in the air, rather than the years and years of friendship, but part of it is just because Mitra is really anxious about the relationship in general. It was tough to see all Mitra's anxiety about Bea affecting her so negatively (at least half of the time) when she had so many other things to deal with.

One part of this book that I really liked, however, was the poetry aspect and Ms. Acosta! the poetry seminar seemed so wonderful, I wish I had something like that at my high school. I could really feel how excited Mitra was to go to Reed and continue doing all the things that she loves :)

This book first captured my interest when I saw the title, & while I am not an avid poem reader I felt drawn to how the book used its poetry throughout. This book shows us readers just how hard it is to get out of our own heads sometimes and see that everyone is carrying their own burdens/struggles. I enjoyed being able to see all the aspects we got to see of Mitra’s life and read this all in own sitting feeling like I couldn’t put it down.
Was in total roller coaster of emotions for this book, but loved every minute

gorgeous romance with an utterly fantastic motif :D the poem idae was so novel and i liked/understood the chars. thanks for the arc

1 Sentence Summary: Mitra and her best friend Bea have been writing poetry together since they were 13, back and forth in a journal they call The Book, and the rules of the never-ending poem are simple: no terminal punctuation, no rewriting, no criticizing, and always tell the truth (unless the truth is that you’re secretly in love with your best friend).

My Thoughts: I LOVE poetry, so this was right up my alley, and it did not disappoint! It’s written in a mix of poetry and prose, and the writing was lovely.

I really loved all the diversity and representation in this book. There aren’t many books with Iranian protagonists, so I loved learning more about Iranian culture, and now I really want to eat Iranian food.

My favorite aspect of this was probably Mitra’s family relationships. The development of her relationship with her sister Azar was very well written, and the complex relationship with her mother (who is a drug addict) was similarly well explored. The emotions were definitely there (I may have teared up a little near the end).

The one part that I didn’t love as much was the romance between Mitra and Bea. It felt kind of overdramatic and unrealistic at times, and when they got together it seemed abrupt and not really a natural turn of events. It was overall cute, though, I just wished the romance had been more developed or that the book had focused more on the family dynamics and coming-of-age.

Recommend to: Fans of poetry, diversity, YA romance, coming-of-age, & complicated families.

(Warnings: swearing; implied sexual content; drug addiction)

This book was really good. I know that this is an uncorrected draft, but the lack of F’s in the draft really made it hard to read in a majority of places. I would’ve really loved it if I could’ve read it completely and not been confused by omitted letters. All in all, it was a great queer love story. I loved the flawed and adorable characters. The writing was great, apart from the draft omissions.

SIMPLY STUNNING. i am in awe. rtc if i can find the words. so raw, beautifully written, evoked so many emotions.

Thank you to netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group, Dial Books for allowing me to read this book. This was written to beautifully.

Parisa Akhbari does a great job in writing a realistic concept for a friendship journey. I enjoyed how well the plot worked with the characters and thought it worked well. I enjoyed how realistic the characters were and the story felt the same way.

Just Another Epic Love Poem is a story that packs such an emotional punch. Not only is it a tale of the epic romance between best friends Mitra and Bea, but it’s also a story of family healing and struggles. Five years ago, Mitra moved from Sacramento to Washington state with her younger sister and dad, leaving her mother behind. Jaleh’s struggle with addiction had hit a point that she couldn’t be a mother, and so their family had split. But in moving, Mitra met Bea who immediately became her best friend, and together they began writing a never ending poem, a poem that grew and changed with them and their lives.

In some aspects I’m maybe too old for this story but it still gave me so many feelings. There is so much particular stress around senior year, college decisions, and how all of it is going to impact friendships. When Jaleh moves to be closer to Mitra and her sister and try repairing the damage of the past, this compounds much of the stress Mitra is under because it’s very hard to hope for anything better when so much of her childhood was colored by her mother’s relapses. Bea is a strong bright spot for her, though, especially when they both confess their love and their friendship transitions into a romance.

This is a story of messy emotions and how complex people can be. There is no perfection, and sometimes that’s hard to accept. The journey Mitra goes through and finding her own ability to accept and stand for herself has many rough spots, but in the end was so worth the tears.

A beautifully written story following Mitra, an Iranian American teen at a Catholic high school. A queer lit romance of best friends to lovers, whilst delving into her family’s life and the love we extend to those dear to us, as well as ourselves.

I’m so happy I came across this book and was able to read it. Truly an evocative experience.