Jaya and Rasa. A Love Story

by Sonia Patel

Overview

Recommended Fiction Book List for the 2019 In the Margins Book Award

Jaya’s 17, a transgender Gujarati outsider who detests wealth, secrets, and privilege, though he has them all. Only thing 16-year-old Rasa has is siblings, plus a mother who controls men like a black-widow spider. Neither one of them has ever known real love or family. Not until their chance meeting one sunny day on a mountain in Hau’ula.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781941026861
Publisher:	Lee & Low Books
Publication date:	09/19/2017
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	11 - 17 Years

About the Author

Sonia Patel knows teenagers inside and out. As a child and adolescent psychiatrist, trained at Stanford University and the University of Hawaii, she has spent over fifteen years listening to and understanding the psyche of teenagers from all walks of life. She’s also been a teenage girl herself, growing up on Moloka’i as a first generation Gujarati-American.
As a writer, Sonia is passionate about giving voice to the underrepresented youth she treats. Her YA debut featuring a Gujarati-Indian American teen, Rani Patel In Full Effect, was a finalist for the Morris Award and was listed on YALSA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults and Kirkus’ Reviews Best Teen Books of 2016. Her second YA novel, with a Gujarati-Indian trans boy and a mixed ethnicity girl, Jaya and Rasa: A Love Story, was selected for the 2019 In the Margins Book Award Recommended Fiction Book List. She chose South Korea as the setting for her third YA novel, Bloody Seoul, because of her extensive treatment experience with Korean and Korean American teens on Oahu (and her love for the Korean gangster film genre).
Watch Sonia's video for the Child Mind Institute, where she speaks about her experience with anxiety and depression, and the words of wisdom she would tell her younger self.

Editorial Reviews

Overcoming more obstacles than most teens can even imagine, this is a gritty romance that represents diverse characters.

@natasha.reads.books

Patel’s captivating prose and memorable characters immerse readers in a tense situation.” —Booklist

"Sonia Patel (author of Rani Patel in Full Effect) writes with fierce simplicity throughout, allowing the gritty beauty of her story to shine. —Publishers Weekly

“Overcoming more obstacles than most teens can even imagine, this is a gritty romance that represents diverse characters.”—@natasha.reads.books

"An unforgettable and brave love story … you’ll be rooting for these two from page one." —Brit+Co

From the Publisher