Sara Jafari's "People Change" is a poignant and perceptive exploration of identity, belonging, and the evolving nature of relationships. Through a collection of interconnected stories, Jafari delves into the lives of characters navigating cultural shifts, personal growth, and the complexities of human connection.

Jafari's storytelling is heartfelt and nuanced, capturing the emotional intricacies of her characters with empathy and insight. Each story resonates with themes of transformation and resilience, offering a profound reflection on the ways people evolve over time.

"People Change" is a compelling read that celebrates the power of change and adaptation in shaping individuals and their relationships. Jafari's prose is evocative and thought-provoking, making this collection a captivating exploration of human experience and transformation.

I really enjoyed Jafari's first book, The Mismatch, and this is even better.

Shirin has escaped from Hull and is living what should be her best life in London, working as an assistant editor at a publishers. She's put the unpleasant events of her teens out of her mind (mostly) and wonders why she's still so anxious and unable to relax or enjoy herself. When she bumps into Kian at a house party, it's the first time she's seen him since school, an unexpected meeting that she's not sure about. The only Iranian-British kids at their school, they bonded initially over this, and then over other, less tangible things. The end of their friendship ten years ago is a shadow over their meeting. Everything's different now, but what about the things that are the same?

This book is about people in their mid-twenties, doing mid-twenties things in a pre-Covid way. Jafari has a light touch as she explores anxiety, second-gen immigrant experience, and the horror of Diversity and Inclusion meetings in a company that doesn't truly give a shit about either (the description of one of these meetings is an exceptionally painful and realistic read). Kian and Shirin are beautifully convincing characters who feel very real, Shirin's awkward life in a house share where no one likes their housemates, and her friendships that maybe aren't quite friendships are entirely relatable, and I was holding my breath for the final quarter, desperate for things to work out in her favour.

Really didn’t like the writing style of this unfortunately - the narrative voice of the protagonist wasn’t one I thought I’d get on with.

Thank you so much for this ARC!

I really enjoyed this book! Second chance romance books are instantly a read for me and so I was so beyond excited to be given this ARC. So thank you so much! But this book far exceeded my expectations with its handling of issues such as racism done really well. This book also contains mental health rep with the female main character suffering with anxiety and depression.

This book captures love in its most realest form: beautifully imperfect and I love it.

I really enjoyed this book and will be looking out for more books by Sara Jafari in the future.

Thank you again to Netgalley and RandomHouse for this ARC!

Second chance romance stories do not usually work for me. I need to really see a change in them both, and a genuine reason for them to get back together. I didn't see a reason for it here, so it felt very difficult to root for them.

Because of this, I found the book hard to get into and DNF'd it at about 25 percent.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publishers and of course the author for gifting me this advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Ahh I loved this book, it is beautifully written, draws you in and has a lot of depth. It follows Kian and Shirin who accidentally bump into each other at a house party in Brixton, however they have not seen each other since leaving school which was over 10 years ago and living in Hull, however Shirin has tried to forget the past however they end up having their lives entwined and a lot comes to the surface.
This book covers a range of different and difficult topics such as depression, racism, prejudice within the workplace, friendship and how to weave your way through life in your 20s when life can be so challenging.

I look forward to reading more books by this author.

I thought this was going to be just a love story and it wasn't, but that's not a bad thing. There is a love story, but also racism, friendship and depression and it all makes for an interesting read that I enjoyed.

Sara Jafari has been on my radar for a while but this is the first book I've read. It's a novel about second chances: at love, at activism and at accepting the past. On paper, Shirin is living her dream working for a publisher in London, far away from her childhood in Hull. But her past haunts her and publishing is not all its cracked up to be. A chance meeting of an estranged childhood friend, Kian, opens old wounds that have never really healed. With Kian back in her life, Shirin can no longer run from her past, but facing it will be tricky. I really enjoyed this but u though that Jafari's writing can in places lack subtlety.

This sounded like a good story but unfortunately I didn’t find it captivating. I didn’t feel invested in the characters or storyline.

This book covered many topics, rekindled romance, ethnicity, depression. But sadly it didn't really do it for me and got only half way through. Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Uk and Cornerstone for an advance copy in return for an honest review.

This book was ok. I felt that there was more wrong with it than right with it unfortunately. It follows two people meeting up after many years and falling in love. I felt it went on way too long and the book could have been half the size. Additionally, the characters did not come alive for me. It wasn't a book that I looked forward to reading once I started it and it took me several attempts to go back to it.

Thank you to Netgalley for the book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is the story of two people reconnecting later in their life.

Shirin, an assistant editor at a publishing house, bumps into Kian, an artist, at a house party in Brixton. This meeting brings up confusion, love, pain that they experienced at college. I couldn't get into this novel. The characters didn't quite catch my attention to keep my interest. There were moments where themes like racism and microaggressions were conveyed, but overall the blurb (about second chances and growing up) felt misleading.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Jafari seems to be making a habit of writing truly believable love stories grounded in modern day issues. This book was a pleasure to read from start to finish, while still challenging the reader on issues from racism to freedom of speech and the power of the press. I was invested in Shirin and Kian from the start and really loved the way their story unfolded.

Overwhelmingly, this book was a complex thinkpeice by an incredibly talented author. I was enraptured into every single moment, it completely hypnotising me with its excellence.

I couldn’t put this book down, a lovely story of a boy and girl who fell in love at school and met up again 10 years later, rekindling their relationship and tackling lots of issues along the way. Topics include race, prison, depression, loneliness and the importance of looking inside yourself to deal with the demons that need to be dealt with before you can move on!
I found this book inspiring, thought provoking and utterly adorable!

DNF at 50%. I adored Sara Jafari’s debut, The Mismatch, but this one didn’t strike me the same way. The plot progression was slow and uneven, and the characters felt two-dimensional. I’ll still be eagerly keeping an eye out for Jafari’s third book, though.

I found this so hard to get in to. The main characters annoyed me. Just not my cup of tea. Sorry.

Beautiful second-chance romance. Took me long enough to write this review, because I'm not sure about my feelings. The story follows Shirin and Kian life from the past until the present. The love between them is not the main focus, we see more of the troubles, and racism in the past and present. Not gonna say much, the writing style was mesmerizing and I loved how the author wrote the struggles in Shirin's life, and how she tries to find her voice in her workplace where diversity is very visible. I love how she accepted her past and the development she went through throughout the whole book. Even though I felt the attraction between Shirin and Kian went a bit quickly, in the beginning, everything was so slow and there was a click when the storyline got some speed. I still love their reconnection after 10 years.

Kian has made my heart ache. It was painful to read about his past - same with Shirin -, the author played fair with their emotions and showed us all the feelings we need to feel in their lives. And again his development was well written. Its truly a story everyone should read once.

I liked this book. I cared about the characters. But I have to be honest and say it was a bit of a plod.
I don't mind a book being light on plot but this was 'helium balloon' light.

The two main characters spent most of their time pretending they weren't really obsessed with each other, a little bit of time getting it on, and then a bit more missing each other. Thrown into the mix were a couple of historic traumas that they carried with them.

There are a ton of day-to-day microagressions that make Shirin realise that she has her job because the publishers need a brown face to represent them on diversity and inclusion committees but they have no intention of actually being more inclusive or giving her credit for her work. I found that entirely believable, and the event near the end that leads her to realise things have to change had me cheering out loud.

Tokenism, racism, bullying and belittling all have their place in this book. I just wish they pace had picked up a bit in the first half as it became much better in the second.