"Fifteen-year-old Daria is determined to fight against her mother’s party-planning for the extravagant Sweet 16 she doesn’t want, but the battle she is not prepared for comes when she discovers family secrets that turn her world upside down.

Daria is proud of her Iranian culture but wants no part of the posh Beverly Hills Persian community. She finds solace with the Authentics, her small, diverse group of friends who have proven to her that they are real, and she nurses resentment toward the Nose Jobs, a group of pretentious Persian princesses led by her former best friend, Heidi. When Daria begins researching her family history for a school project, she makes some unexpected discoveries that challenge her senses of herself and her family. She loses trust in her parents and turns to her friends, but even they fall short of her standards of complete honesty. Having fallen for a Mexican guy her parents would never approve of adds excitement and romance but also brings her crisis to a boiling point. The ferociously authentic Daria is a memorable protagonist, narrating in a trenchant, self-aware past tense that carries readers through her personal cultural minefield. Her gay brother and his husband are but one small detail that celebrates the complexity of and diversity within modern American Islam.

Full of surprises both cultural and emotional, and narrated in the strong voice of a memorable protagonist, this is a tale of integrity, identity, family, love, and sacrifice that is sure to satisfy. (Fiction. 11-18)" www.kirkusreviews.com, A Kirkus Starred Review

Literary Merit: Good
Characterization: Okay
Grades: 7th - 9th

Due to a school project Daria does a DNA test. When a DNA test shows that Daria, proud Iranian American, isn't Iranian at all she is in shock. The book takes you through the journey of self discovery with her.
The first half is enjoyable, but the book never recovers from an unearned and uncharacteristic dramatic moment of rebellion from Daria. ( )

*I received a free copy of this book from the publisher through a Goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review.*

The premise of this story is fascinating — a young Iranian-American girl prides herself on being “authentic” learns that she’s actually adopted, pushing her into a spiraling identity crisis. This all ties into a genealogy project she’s doing for school, and comes at a time when there are tense times between her and her friends, so she’s left feeling completely alone and lost.

I love that big publishing is starting to branch out to cover more diverse voices, giving readers a chance to find themselves in stories that feel true to their experiences. Daria is a great YA main character who simultaneously loves her family and is completely annoyed by them. She has a great group of friends who have different personalities and share inside jokes with one another all the time. And her parents, while maybe a bit out-of-touch are actually cool and responsible. Every character in this book has flaws but is still likeable, which I really appreciated. Nazemian does a great job in giving his characters a complexity that drew me into their stories.

There were some plot points that seemed incredibly coincidental and random, and therefore not believable. The way Daria found her birth mom left me with a lot of questions, but the story overall is fantastic. It touches on themes of friendship, identity, individuality, and family, of course. It especially looks at what exactly a family is made of and who can truly be considered “family.” Daria is smart, funny, and sometimes moody. Her journey to discover her true identity and figure out who she is will resonate with young and old readers alike. I definitely recommend you put this book on your shelf.

Also posted on Purple People Readers. ( )