I Miss You, I Hate This

Five Feet Apart meets Kate in Waiting in this timely story of two best friends navigating the complexities of friendship while their world is turned upside down by a global pandemic, from the author of Americanized: Rebel Without a Green Card.

The lives of high school seniors Parisa Naficy and Gabriela Gonzales couldn’t be more different. Parisa, an earnest and privileged Iranian American, struggles to live up to her own impossible standards. Gabriela, a cynical Mexican American, has all the confidence Parisa lacks but none of the financial stability. She can’t help but envy Parisa’s posh lifestyle whenever she hears her two moms argue about money. Despite their differences, as soon as they met on the first day of freshman year, they had an “us versus the world” mentality. Whatever the future had in store for them—the pressure to get good grades, the litany of family dramas, and the heartbreak of unrequited love—they faced it together. Until a global pandemic forces everyone into lockdown. Suddenly senior year doesn’t look anything like they hoped it would. And as the whole world is tested during this time of crisis, their friendship will be, too.

With equal parts humor and heart, Parisa’s and Gabriela’s stories unfold in a mix of prose, text messages, and emails as they discover new dreams, face insecurities, and confront their greatest fears.

• A Kirkus Best Young Adult Book of the Year 2021
• * "Saedi’s sensitive, witty writing style, both personable and deeply personal, makes this work more than yet another Covid fictionalization. The heavy subject matter is masterfully handled….Memorable and beautifully vulnerable."
  Kirkus Reviews, starred review
• * "Fans of books such as Joseph Bruchac’s Rez Dogs will like this twist on the pandemic and how it affects everything: friendship, romance, and the world at large. A compelling read that will create a lot of discussion about the experience of living through and surviving a pandemic."
  School Library Journal, starred review
• "...Sure to resonate with teens who have grappled with anxiety, isolation, or ambivalence during COVID-19.... The story is supportive of teens’ complicated feelings and mental health issues, while being realistic in its incorporation of the demands placed on essential workers versus those who are able to work from home."
  Booklist
• "Sara Saedi's I Miss You, I Hate This is a book you'll miss as soon as you put it down. This magical novel is like being inside a friendship, with all the love, heartache, and laughter a best friend brings us. Saedi poignantly reminds us that connection is always more powerful than isolation."
  Abdi Nazemian, author of Stonewall Honor book Like a Love Story and The Chandler Legacies
• “An effervescent, tender, and achingly smart novel for the end of the world. Saedi’s unforgettable writing—delicately balancing the dark and the light of friendship, identity, and the heartbreaking precarity of our times—will captivate teens and adults alike.”
  Aditi Khorana, author of Mirror in the Sky and The Library of Fates
• “I Needed This, I Loved This, and you will too. A story full of healing, humor, heart, and hope. Necessary reading for all of us. Saedi’s characters will stay with you for years to come.” 
  Sara Farizan, author of Here to Stay and If You Could be Mine
• “I hate pandemics (surprise!), but I love the work of art Sara Saedi created in the middle of one. Humorous, vulnerable, and real, I Miss You, I Hate This is a funny and beautiful novel to be born from one of modern history’s most difficult times.”
  Iva-Marie Palmer, author of The End of the World As We Know It and Gimme Everything You Got
• “Timely and topical in more ways than one, I Miss You, I Hate This is a heartfelt and hopeful exploration of friendship and love amid the most challenging of circumstances. This is the must-read pandemic story you’ve been waiting for!”
  Amber Smith, New York Times bestselling author of The Way I Used to Be and Something Like Gravity