Perfectly Parvin

Parvin Mohammadi is having a great summer.  She meets a cute guy at the beach, and they've been hanging out and playing pranks for weeks.  They even KISS at the end of the summer and Wesley asks her to be his girlfriend!  Freshman year is going to be amazing!

But when Parvin finally finds Wesley at freshman orientation, he dumps her...in front of everyone!  He tells her she's too loud and too much.  Luckily, her two best friends are there to help pick up the pieces, and Parvin hatches a plan to get revenge on Wesley.  

She is going to get a date for homecoming, not just any date, but the popular, older, and adorable Matty Fumero.  How will a lowly, publicly dumped freshman accomplish this?  She's going to become quiet Parvin.  If Wesley thinks she's too loud, she will be quiet and wear boring clothes and makeup.  

Her two best friends think this is a terrible idea, and Parvin's single-mindedness may be blinding her to the ways she should be supporting them in their own problems.

While she's obsessed with being quiet Parvin and her homecoming plan, she still has to attend Farsi school.  She's half-Iranian and never put much effort into learning her father's native language.  Her new Farsi tutor may be the quintessential Iranian dude, but he's kind of cute in his own way, and he's never met quiet Parvin, so their friendship feels natural.  

Maybe it's time to stop trying to please the people who will never like her and focus on being herself and supporting her friends and family.

I can't stress enough how much I enjoyed this book.  There were several times I literally laughed out loud, but author Oliva Abtahi also realistically and gently portrays Parvin's feeling of being different, looking nothing like her blonde American mother, and living in a country with a Muslim ban.  Secondary characters are also realistic, including Parvin's best friends.  Fabian is a queer Mexican American content creator whose parents are more concerned with the crisis at the border than their son, and Ruth is a Korean American obsessed with crafting and terrified to come out to her mother.  Parvin's parents are supportive of their daughter and each other.  Highly recommended!