In Yoon's second YA novel, two New York City teens – a Korean-American dreamer and a Jamaican science buff – get only one day in which to fall in love.
Daniel Bae's parents run a beauty supply store in Flushing. With his older brother Charlie in disgrace after being suspended from Harvard, Daniel's family's sky-high expectations are all pinned on him. He has an interview with a Yale alumnus scheduled for this afternoon, but he's not sure he really wants to go to an Ivy League school and become a doctor like his parents would like. He'd rather be writing poetry.

Natasha Kingsley is also a seventeen-year-old high school senior, but she and her family are undocumented immigrants and – unless she or her lawyer can pull off a miracle with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services – will be deported to Jamaica tonight. A dogged rationalist, Natasha loves physics and astronomy and denies idealistic notions about the world, but a tiny part of her has faith that they'll be allowed to stay.

Daniel and Natasha first meet each other at a record store. When Daniel saves Natasha from being run over on her way out of the shop and asks to take her out to coffee, a chance encounter turns into something more. Daniel is instantly smitten; Natasha thinks he's cute, yet she's not convinced that this relationship can go anywhere.

Like a contemporary Romeo and Juliet, the unlikely pair faces several challenges: Daniel's parents expect him to marry a Korean girl and his father isn't impressed when he turns up with a black girl with an Afro. The two characters also represent opposite outlooks on life, with Daniel a hopeless romantic who thinks they are meant to be and Natasha ever the scientist seeking evidence. "I am really not a girl to fall in love with," she thinks. "For one thing, I don't like temporary, nonprovable things, and romantic love is both temporary and nonprovable."

But Daniel is determined to make Natasha fall in love with him through science, so finds a set of personal questions and exercises (like staring deeply into each other's eyes for four minutes) that were proven in a laboratory study to foster intimacy between strangers. As they journey through the city, going out for Korean food and karaoke, meeting each other's parents and splitting off for their respective appointments, Daniel peppers Natasha with the study's intimacy-building questions about their families, memories, and hopes for the future. But Natasha still hasn't told Daniel about her imminent deportation.

This is a charming and unusual teen romance that readers of John Green and David Arnold will love. The short chapters switch between first-person accounts from the two protagonists, but there are also brief interludes in the third person about other characters: Daniel's brother, Charlie Bae; the fathers; and a security guard at USCIS. It's an intriguing strategy that ensures readers get a more objective perspective and understand all the unexpected ways our stories influence other people, and vice versa.

The novel is especially effective at examining Natasha and Daniel's relationships with their fathers and showing how mistakes and regrets from a parent's past – like Natasha's father's failed career as an actor – can influence how they raise their children. Yoon deftly sets the love story in a cosmic framework, using Natasha's fascination with physics to explore the theory of multiple universes. Is there one in which Daniel and Natasha get to be together? At the same time, the author keeps things down-to-earth with humor. For instance, the melodramatic headlines Daniel occasionally invents to sum up his circumstances – like "Local Teen Trapped in Parental Vortex of Expectation and Disappointment, Doesn't Expect to Be Rescued" – are very funny.

The one-day setting (see 'Beyond the Book') is a great plot setup that lends urgency to the love story. The book loses momentum a bit in the middle while the teens look for ways to kill time in the city, and I wasn't sure how I felt about the ending, which again makes reference to the multiverse theory. But overall it's a sweet and enjoyable novel teens are sure to race through.

Having read Everything, Everything I was really looking forward to this read and was a bit apprehensive at times. Unnecessarily so, Nicola Yoon once again delivered a fantastic book about a love story that is anything but simple.

This is the story of Daniel a Korean American boy and Natasha an African American girl living in New York, in 12 hours Natasha and her family are going yo be deported back to Jamaica as they are living in the US illegally, through a series of events and choices Daniel and Natasha meet and fall in love and here is my main problem with the story, we are meant to believe that these two met and fell in love in a few hours? sometimes it was very unbelievable. however I did feel that this book had a strong and powerful ending and it did make me shed a tear.

overall a quick read with important messages but the worst case of insta love I've seen in YA.

I loved it. Don't normally like books aimed and teenagers and wasn't sure at the start. But these two were adult beyond their years. Two teenagers who are the ones keeping their families together. The way it is written is hugely engaging, switching from the two main characters but keeping the context without being confusing. Will now read something else by this author,

A lot can happen in just one day. The Sun is Also a Star tells the story of Daniel and Natasha. Daniel is always trying to be dutiful to his parent who immigrated from South Korea before Daniel was born. Natasha has her entire life planned out but she is an undocumented immigrant who is being deported back to Jamaica in 12 hours.

I wasn’t too sure when I started this book if I was going to be a fan or not. I’m really not a fan of ‘insta-love’ and ‘boy-meets-girl-and-instantly-falls-in-love’ storylines. But this story is so much more than that.

The story is told from the first-person perspectives of Daniel and Natasha. But from time to time the story deviates from Daniel and Natasha so as to focus briefly on other characters from the story. These characters only appear for a brief moment but their appearances drive a crucial plot point. But sometimes these deviations focus on a scientific concept that is mentioned in the story. A lot of people have not been a fan of this because at times it really can get confusing to keep switching perspectives. However, I am a big fan of stories that flip between different perspectives so as soon as I realised The Sun is Also a Star did this I was excited to read further. This writing style definitely works for this story.

This book covers a lot of issues throughout the storyline. The main issue being family immigration. Daniel and Natasha have their own issues coming from the main issue of immigration. Daniel’s parents immigrated from South Korea before Daniel was born. Daniel doesn’t quite know how much he is willing o sacrifice in order to fulfil his parent’s expectation on what is a ‘good life’ to lead whilst in America. Natasha is having to deal with being deported back to Jamaica after living in America since she was aged 8. All of this because of one mistake that her Father has made. I could tell that Nicola Yoon had taken her time to extensively research the topic of immigration. You can tell she had researched about immigration because of how authentic and respectful her portrayal of such an important and current topic in this day and age. These are not the only issues that this book covers. It also briefly covers the issues of suicide, depression, career choices and how what you do everyday affects others.

The characters in this book are beautiful and so well written, that even though this book takes place over very small period of time you really do feel like you know that characters and their stories by the end of the book. I cannot forget to mention the diversity of characters that Nicola Yoon has used in this book. The two main characters are Jamaican and Korean and you don’t see this in many YA books.

The one downside I could give to this book is definitely about the ‘insta-love’ that the character Daniel and Natasha has. I know that for the story to work as it did it had to be like this. I just wish we got to see them fall in love over a long time period. As it seemed somewhat cliché and unrealistic for them to fall in love that quickly. But I can also see how it shows the reality of the situation they are both in and the fact that Natasha doesn’t have long left in America.

Overall, I was very impressed with this story. The ending really will take your breath away. It did mine. This is the second Nicola Yoon novel that I have really enjoyed and I will definitely be picking up her next novel whenever that comes out. I would recommend this book to any Young Adult, romance and contemporary fan out there. It is a really fun and touching read that covers a lot of current issues.

Thank to Nicola Yoon, Penguin Random House UK Children’s, Corgi Children’s and Netgalley for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Natasha is an undocumented immigrant whose family is 12 hours away from being deported back to America. Natasha is desperate for a solution. Daniel is in a constant battle with his family and their high expectations of him. Both Natasha and Daniel both see the world in two completely different ways. Daniel is a hopeless romantic who believes in fate and love at first sight but Natasha is a cynic who believes in science, facts and data. So when the two meet in a crowded NY street, their lives change and possibilities open up.

Nicola Yoon does an excellent job in creating two well rounded, complex and realistic characters with perfect chemistry together, but both also had their own characters arcs which were also fantastically written. While I really enjoyed their romance and how they changed each other’s thinking about their outlook on life, I had a hard time believing they actually fell in love in less than one day – BUT – a good romance nonetheless. I did really love the end and how the two went their separate ways and lived their lives but found each other later in life.

My favourite aspect, however, was reading about the different cultures and both Daniel’s and Natasha’s immigrant experiences, and the examinations of racism in America. I found Daniel’s struggle with his identity and his struggle to fit into two different cultures really interesting.

While I ultimately found the romance to be the weakest aspect, The Sun is Also a Star features some excellent character development and it was both Natasha’s and Daniel’s individual experiences and storylines that kept me reading till the very end. The fact that these narratives were condensed into one day really shows Nicola Yoon’s writing talents.

RATING: ★★★★☆

The Sun is Also a Star is one of the best books I've read in a long time.
I was hooked from the beginning and couldn't put it down.
Although it's a story about young adults, I think anyone of any age would enjoy this and could relate to certain aspects of each character's personality.
The novel is one about Fate. Destiny. The Stars. Love. Disappointment and Reality rolled into one story.
The characters could not be more different- yet upon exploration are so alike in so many ways.
Natasha & Daniel meet on the streets one morning. Both caught up in their own lives of drama and disappointment. Each one on their way to something more important than just themselves. As the day unfolds, the reader becomes a part of the story and you cannot help but root for the two of them.
I loved the ending and cannot wait to read more from Nicola Yoon.

Brilliant. Properly brilliant. I can't wait to reread this.

Back in July 2015, I started this blog. In the same month, I reviewed my very first ARC (Advanced Reader’s Copy), which just so happened to be the New York Times Best Seller: Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon.

At the time, I didn’t really grasp what I was getting myself into. It didn’t really hit me until a few months later when Everything, Everything was all anyone in the bookish community could talk about: My first ever ARC was a bestseller, and I got to experience it early! I felt so excited whenever anyone brought it up, because I could talk about with more and more people as it got bigger and bigger.

Thus, when ARCs started being released of The Sun is Also a Star, it was only right – only just – that I request one.

However, life got in the way, and I didn’t actually read this book until post release, so – contrastingly – I was the one in the dark when this book was all anyone in the bookish community could, inevitably, talk about in the days, weeks, and months after its release.

Nevertheless, this book was amazing. I loved it even more than Everything, Everything!

This book follows a dual-POV of Natasha and Daniel, who are waking to fateful days for very different reasons: Natasha is being deported, whilst Daniel is about to attend a life-altering interview for entry to Yale University. Neither are in search of love, yet both – once they find it – never want to let it go.

From the very beginning, I knew I was going to love this book. Just being re-introduced to Nicola Yoon’s writing style was a pleasure. I loved the quick jumps in POV, from Natasha to Daniel, and then back again. However, Yoon also introduced a very interesting aspect to this novel: whenever a new character was mentioned, we recieved a brief soliloquay on their life. I loved this part, and everytime it happened I got so excited because I was so eager to learn more and more about this world that Nicola Yoon was building. In school, currently, we’re studying how stories intertwine, and how different perspectives percieve the same events in such contrasting ways. This book just solidified my love for this theme – to see so many stories intertwining so seamlessly but so realistically was endlessly entertainting and enlightening.

I did, however, go into this book a little warily. The synopsis screamed insta-love, and I wasn’t really down for that. Yet this book is written tastefully, all cheesiness pushed completely out of the picture. It is slow-burning and sweet and reminscent all at once.

Furthermore, one thing I’m coming to realise with Nicola Yoon is how dauntless she is when it comes to introducing diversity to her stories, and how unafraid she is when it comes to talking about it. Both of our protagonists are ethnic minorities in their hometown of New York City, Natasha hailing from Jamaica, and Daniel descending from Korean immigrants. As I type this, I am trying to think of another popular YA author that seamlessly intergrates such diversity into their novels, and I am stuggling to do so.

Honestly, Nicola Yoon is one of a kind.

From beginning to end, this book was action-packed, captivating, and inspiring, and I can’t fully express my love for it. I wouldn’t change a thing about this book, especially the ending: that was just so perfect.

Okay so first of all let me just say I'm really cynical about the concept of love at first sight and I never really bought into the whole Romeo and Juliet storyline. So, you might imagine that this book would not be for me, but I really loved it. I completely bought into how Natasha and Daniel were thrown together and how the relationship developed from there.
I found Natasha's cynicism, love of science and logical reasoning incredibly endearing, but endearing makes her sound sweet and sappy when she is far from it. She is a strong female character who I would love to see emulated in more YA.
Daniel, the dreamer, is easy to like, but it was his complex relationship with his brother and parents that I found most engaging.
Whilst the story revolves around Natasha and Daniel, several other characters are sporadically thrown into the mix and I absolutely loved that aspect of the book.
I found this book difficult to put down and it was one of the most satisfying 'ends' of any book I've read in a really long time. I would highly recommend you buy this book, read it and pass it on (plus the cover is beautiful!).

Wonderful lovely heart warming book. One that I will read again and again

This book is more relevant now than it was when it was written; it’s about immigration, both legal and illegal. It’s a beautiful story with a powerful message that is more necessary now than ever before. Relevance made this already powerful book one of the most powerful I read last year.

Nicola Yoon fast became one of my favourite authors when I read Everything, Everything (read my gushing review here). I was so grateful and excited when I received the review copy I cannot explain (I read it straight away, this review is just delayed because of essays and uni), and it did not disappoint. The characters were wonderful and diverse, the plot intriguing but not over complicated, and I loved the format too.

One thing that Nicola Yoon excels at is writing diverse characters. She does it effortlessly - with some authors I find it can be quite forced - and the characters are unique and interesting, and well researched as well. I assume this because they are all very different with their varying backgrounds and thus would have to say that Yoon is successfully portraying different cultures and backgrounds.

Normally, I hate insta-love in novels, though this was, in a way, the premise of this book. However, it felt more genuine, as it is one-sided (I could expand but I’m too close to spoilers as it is, though I’d say this is fairly clear from the first chapter). The love story in this, although cheesy at times (it is a romance though, so I’m not going to complain because it’s to be expected - and it is rather adorable), is lovely and real.

I loved the balance between the characters, the differences that actually brings them together instead of pushing them apart, such as the difference between their interests; one loves science and one loves the arts (I’m fairly sure this says on the back cover). Again, Yoon’s characters are not always the ‘perfect match’ at first glance because they aren’t essentially the same character in terms of interests as I find quite common in books (possibly this is something I picked up on because my boyfriend and I are complete opposites in terms of interests, I don’t know). I feel like the relationships between her characters are real and honest - not forced in any way - and it makes for a much, much more enjoyable read.

There isn’t a massive amount to say about the plot. It’s simple, but wonderful. It only covers a day. That’s pretty much it. However, this short time frame really enabled me to connect with the characters and also understand their mindsets in their situations, especially with Natasha’s impending deportation. I’ve never read a book where the protagonist is facing this situation and thus it was interesting - and heartbreaking - to read about.

Overall I would highly recommend this book, and anything else Nicola Yoon has written / writes. This has made me certain that Yoon is one of my favourite writers, as I loved this just as much as Everything, Everything, and will definitely be picking up any future books by her.

Thank you for letting me read this book. Really good read and easy to follow story line. Look forward to reading more from this author

Every now and then I'll read a YA book so that me and my teenage daughter can enjoy reading something 'together' - and I've read some surprisingly good books this way.

The Sun Is Also A Star is a beautifully crafted book of love and belonging.

Daniel is a romantic, a poet, a dreamer - he's always played second-fiddle to his older brother, but now his brother has dropped out of college, and his parents have turned their attention and expectations to him, pressuring him not to let them down too.

Natasha loves science, data, facts - she revels in that which can be proven. She has her future and career all mapped out in her mind. What she hasn't factored in is her family being deported due to her father's arrest.

She has just 12 hours to find a way to stay in New York and fulfil her destiny.

Their chance encounter means that Daniel has just 12 hours to make Natasha fall in love with him.

Told from their alternating POVs, we witness their feelings for each other during this eventful day - along with some poignant stories from a couple of bit-parts.

Will the Universe help or hinder their relationship?

Beautifully written, although riddled with happy coincidences, it never became a cliche - just an easy-to-read, poetic story.