While You Were Dreaming
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
In this debut contemporary YA romance by bestselling author Alisha Rai, a girl with undocumented family members goes viral after saving her crush’s life in disguise. A must read for fans of Sandhya Menon and Nicola Yoon.
A Phenomenal Book Club Pick!
It’s a classic story: girl meets boy, girl falls for boy, boy finally notices girl when he sees her in a homemade costume. At least, that’s what Sonia Patil is hoping for when she plans to meet her crush at the local comic-con in cosplay.
But instead of winning her crush over, Sonia rescues him after he faints into a canal and, suddenly, everything changes. Since she was in disguise, no one knows who the masked do-gooder was . . .but everyone is trying to find out. Sonia can’t let that happen—her sister is undocumented, and the girls have been flying under the radar since their mother was deported back to Mumbai.
Sonia finds herself hiding from social media detectives and trying to connect with her crush and his family. But juggling crushes and a secret identity might just take superpowers. Can Sonia hide in plain sight forever?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this moving ode to comics culture, community care, and the joy of unexpected first love, a spirited nod to 1990s rom-com While You Were Sleeping, Indian American high schooler Sonia Patil has been keeping a low profile ever since her mother was deported for overstaying her medical visa. The fact that Sonia's older sister Kareena's status is undocumented puts added pressure on Sonia to avoid unwanted attention and stay under the radar to maintain their relative stability, especially since Kareena has been supporting them both following their mother's deportation. Sonia's superhero cosplaying provides an escape, but after she rescues her crush James Cooper, who is Black and Indian, from a tumble into a canal while she's in costume, her heroic act goes viral. Suddenly, the world is on the hunt for Sonia's alter ego, and her previously peaceful passion thrusts Sonia, Kareena, and the Cooper family into the social media spotlight. Sonia's troubles and triumphs are richly drawn; through her struggles, Rai (Partners in Crime, for adults) intimately explores personal questions around body image, mental health, and toxic internet culture while interweaving thought-provoking interrogations of U.S. immigration and healthcare policies. Ages 13–up.
