The Search for Us by Susan Azim Boyer (Jasmine Zumideh Needs a Win) is a moving, hopeful YA contemporary novel about half siblings who grew up never knowing the other existed, and their search for their absent father.
Seventeen-year-old Samira Murphy is an "overfunctioner"--she fixes everything, including guiding her grandmother in managing their household finances and helping her older brother, Kamron, stick with AA. When Kamron gets a DUI, Samira must figure out how she's going to pay for both college and Kamron's residential recovery program. She decides to take a genetic test to find her father and collect what she and her brother are owed.
Henry Owen's bio-dad "never took responsibility" for him, and his bio-mom struggled raising him on her own, so his aunt and uncle took over as legal guardians. Now 17, Henry wonders what his life would've been like if his dad never left. Henry takes a DNA test and, instead of matching with his father, matches with sibling Samira. Together, they search for their absent father and in the process form a deep connection.
Boyer's thoughtful story about complex family dynamics is made even more powerful by Samira's and Henry's dual narration. The author takes her time telling their shared story, but this buildup to their meeting allows space for Boyer to provide insight into why it's so important that they find their father and the repercussions of his absence (especially shown in the teens' lack of a relationship with their Iranian culture). This heartwarming, illuminating story about siblings and identity is a well-crafted, engaging one. --Lana Barnes, freelance reviewer and proofreader