Forty Words for Love was described to me as a gender bending young adult book. This is by Aisha Saeed. I've read one other book by this author, I liked this one better. This book follows two teens, Yasmine and Rafay. They come from different worlds but now live in the same magical town - Moonlight Bay. It used to have pretty pink waters but now it's gray and the forest has become bad too. When tourists stop coming the town begins to struggle. The town begins to place some blame on the outsiders, refugees like Rafay. This is a friends to lovers young adult fantasy romance. I really enjoyed the romance between the two main characters and the magical realism parts. However, Rafay's backstory with willow forest and the connecting tree made absolutely no sense to me. It did not work in my head and was super confusing. Besides for that this was a fast read.