Official book description:YES
Jamie Goldberg is cool with volunteering for his local state senate candidate—as long as he’s behind the scenes. When it comes to speaking to strangers (or, let’s face it, speaking at all to almost anyone), Jamie’s a choke artist. There’s no way he’d ever knock on doors to ask people for their votes…until he meets Maya.
NO
Maya Rehman’s having the worst Ramadan ever. Her best friend is too busy to hang out, her summer trip is canceled, and now her parents are separating. Why her mother thinks the solution to her problems is poFullitical canvassing—with some awkward dude she hardly knows—is beyond her.
MAYBE SO
Going door to door isn’t exactly glamorous, but maybe it’s not the worst thing in the world. After all, the polls are getting closer—and so are Maya and Jamie. Mastering local activism is one thing. Navigating the cross-cultural romance of the century is another thing entirely.
Jamie is Jewish. Maya is Muslim. Their mothers used to be friends, and apparently, they were inseparable on the playground for a while when they were little. However, Jamie and Maya haven’t seen each other in a very long time, and are now both in high school. Jamie has seen Maya in a couple of places and is instantly smitten, Maya is too busy being upset about her parents separating and her best friend is too busy to work and/or prepare for college to really have time for her at all. The two get thrust together to do political canvassing during an important local election in Georgia (very timely, really).
To begin with, Maya only agrees to continue with canvassing because her parents promise to get her a car after the election. Jamie’s cousin is in charge of volunteering for the campaign and keeps getting crazier and crazier as the election approaches, so he couldn’t really opt out, even if he wanted to. Any chance to hang out with Maya, even if it means talking to strangers about politics, is good with him. As they get to know each other better, the two teens also become a lot more involved in the politics at stake, and soon, the canvassing and trying to help the campaign becomes really important to both of them.
Full review on my blog.
I love this premise. I missed the Ripped Bodice event, but managed to snag a pin. It sounds like it’s a fun story.