You Started It - by Jackie Khalilieh (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Better Than the Movies meets Olivia Rodrigo's Sour in a YA romance novel from Something More author, Jackie Khalilieh -- now available in paperback!

Seventeen-year-old Jamie Taher-Foster has big plans for senior year. She's made a list of things and places in Toronto she and her boyfriend of three years, Ben Cameron, need to check off before graduating. And the biggest plan of all: a very special night for the two of them at the upcoming Winter Formal. But then Ben arrives back home after a summer away with an unthinkable announcement: he wants to break up.

And when Jamie discovers him with Olivia Chen the next day, she is determined to get him back. Even if that means fake dating the younger, curly-haired, TikTok dancer Axel Dahini, whose bicycle she accidentally ran over.

Though she and Axel have nothing in common aside from their shared Arab heritage -- she's a messy, type A with anxiety; he's carefree but meticulous -- their forced time together brings them to better understand one another. And for Jamie, it just might mean learning that not all experiences or people need to be crossed off a list.

"You Started It is honest, wise, and wholeheartedly romantic, starring a cast of endearingly flawed characters who feel like real friends. A total delight." --Becky Albertalli, New York Times bestselling author of Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda

"A true joy to read. Earnest and effortlessly charming, You Started It embodies everything I adore about YA rom-coms. Jackie Khalilieh has such a talent for writing nuanced characters you can't help but laugh with, cry with, and root for." --Ann Liang, New York Times bestselling author of I Hope This Doesn't Find You

Review Quotes

One of Indigo's Best Teen Books of 2025
One of CBC Books' Best Canadian Children's Books of 2025
A Canadian Children's Book Centre Best Book for Kids and Teens, Fall 2025
An Indigo Most Anticipated Teen Book
A 2026 Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year
A JLG Gold Standard Selection
A 2026 Saskatchewan Young Readers Choice Snow Willow Award Nominee
Shortlisted for the 2026 Toronto Book Awards
Shortlisted for the 2026 Amy Mathers Teen Book Award

PRAISE FOR You Started It

"Khalilieh creates an excellent balance between the complicated family relationships Jamie has with her mother and absentee father and some lighter comic moments of going on dates with Axel around their hometown of Toronto. With his golden retriever energy and loving Arab family, Axel shows Jamie how to try new things and embrace her identity in ways she never has before. . . . Highly recommended for libraries diversifying their YA romance collections with more stories that focus on managing identity, disability, and mental health anxieties in positive ways. A sure delight for fans of authors like Tashie Bhuiyan and Farah Heron." --STARRED REVIEW, School Library Journal

"Khalilieh explores heavier topics, including mental health and racism, in a deft manner that avoids heavy-handedness. Packed with intense moments, emotional drama, and lots of loving (and fraught) family moments, the book ultimately celebrates kindness and love. There's also a celebration of Palestinian heritage and a welcome inversion of negative stereotypes, especially about Arab men[.]" --Kirkus Reviews

"Khalilieh tackles relevant issues for teens, including self-discovery, strained family relationships, and learning to make healthy choices. . . . You Started It is a fun YA romance that would appeal to fans of Jenny Han or Nicola Yoon. It tackles relevant issues for teens and explores healthy ways to manage communication, relationships, and mental health." --Diary of a Word Nerd

About the Author

JACKIE KHALILIEH is a Palestinian Canadian writer with a penchant for Samoyeds, to-do lists and staying up way too late. She is passionate about positive representation within her writing. Something More, her debut YA novel, was shortlisted for the Ruth & Sylvia Schwartz Award, as well as the Snow Willow Award and the Amy Mathers Teen Book Award, and was selected for several Best Books of 2023 lists, including the New York Public Library and Audible Canada among others. She resides just outside Toronto, Canada, with her husband and two daughters, continuing to complain nightly about having to cook dinner.