I was a little resistant to this book at first due to the frequent time and space jumps between Iraq and the United States and some difficulty on my part distinguishing between the characters, but as I pushed myself to pay more attention I was rewarded with a story that has a lot to say about a lot of heavy topics: refugees, rape, shame, non-consensual intimate Image abuse, and suicide attempts. And it even throws in an exciting action sequence with snipers and rocket-propelled grenades from the midst of Iraqi resistance to the onslaught of ISIS.

It's rough going at times, but also very uplifting as our strong female protagonist perseveres against deadly bullets and cutting microaggressions. ( )