Written based on the author’s experiences as a Jamaican immigrant who married a Korean-American, The Sun is also a Star follows the narrative of a brief but critical encounter between two high school seniors in the crowded streets of New York. The romance between the two feels like a ‘one-day time capsule’. They fall in love at first sight amidst the whirlwind of harrowing issues that young immigrants face in the uncertainty of their place in America (ie. sacrifices of assimilation, deportation, the illusion of the American Dream). While the main focus is the romance in these momentary, short chapters, I really loved that key background characters in their story also had their time to shine — from their role in influencing how the romance evolves to how their own futures have also been impacted by their interactions with our main characters as well. As a reader, I had to suspend my disbelief in how realistic the romance is — great for the die-hard ‘love-at-first-sight’ readers who are closet romantics, not so much for even the slight cynics. However, I thought that the ending was handled really well. The characters’ circumstances had an inevitable conclusion and the book doesn’t throw that away for a contrived ending.