You Started It

One of Indigo’s Best Teen Books of 2025
A 2025 Indigo Best of the Year (So Far)
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

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

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.

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