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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
This book is so breathtakingly beautiful and heartwarming. I loved each and every moment of this non-friends to lovers and fake dating romance. It's such a wonderful book and I felt it all.
hopeful
medium-paced
soo cute the plot developed naturally n i rly liked the conclusion too for once!!! : ) this was my first read in centuries
I always feel like whenever I have to return a book to the library and then re-check it out, the gap waiting in between messes with my reading flow and I don't remember enough from the first part. Anyways, this book didn't really do anything for me. I thought Hani's friends Aisling and Dee were very generically mean and severely underdeveloped. I didn't quite understand where their horrendous behavior came from, and it would have been nice to see them grow. Hani and Ishu's romance seemed to go from 0 to 60 pretty fast as far as feelings go lol, but I guess they were kind of cute. Idk. I crave more fluff from a fake dating trope story. I also feel like I knew exactly where Hani and Ishu's character arcs were going, so that was kind of uninteresting, because there wasn't a particuarly compelling, unique, or fresh take on the girl-trying-to-get-approval-but-learns-to-accept-herself arc. I thought it was nice taking a peek into the culture/experience of being Desi/Muslim in Ireland though. That's something I've never been exposed to or thought about.
This book has revived my hope in YA contemporary romance
I didn’t love this as much as I loved the henna wars, but i’ll still read anything adiba jaigirdar releases in the future! maybe I just don’t love the fake dating trope as much as I thought I did??
Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for providing me with an ARC
Rating: 5/5
CWs: biphobia, homophobia, toxic friendships, islamophobia, racism
Important note: While I do share some experiences and marginalisations with the characters (I am bi and I’ve experienced biphobia and toxic friendships), please seek out reviews by South Asian reviewers and pay particular attention to what South Asian queer folks have said about this book!
Review:
When I started this book I expected it to be quite good – after all all people I’ve heard talk about the Henna War by the same author have been practically in love with it – but I didn’t know it was going to become such a favourite. It is adorable and fluffy, but still has some quite serious discussions about friendship, queerness, and bigotry, and it opens these discussions through its layered and engaging writing.
Hani and Ishu are characters that at first seem quite different, but actually parallel each-other in many ways. They are both under a lot of external pressure - Hani is constantly trying to bend herself to fit in her friend group’s very white and heteronormative ideas of how she should behave, while Ishu spends almost all her free time studying, to fulfil her parents’ overambitious academic expectations. The relationship they form is one of the cutest I’ve read recently. Fake dating is one of my favourite tropes, and I really loved how it was executed in this book – it was such a sweet and healthy romance.
One thing I can say for sure is that the biphobia in this book was depicted quite well. It felt so real that I found it a bit challenging to get through some parts, since they were so close to experiences that I’ve had. Even though reading these scenes caused me some anxiety, it was so validating and gratifying to see biphobia accurately depicted and subsequently challenged in a narrative. The story also tackles themes like religion, islamophobia, racism, and the pressure the children of immigrants can feel to succeed professionally.
All in all, Hani and Ishu is an amazing queer story that is about a lot more than just queerness or a fluffy romance, or toxic friendships, or challenging bigotry – what makes it great is that it manages to combine all those things into a cohesive story that speaks about it all in-depth, while maintaining a light and validating tone.
Rating: 5/5
CWs: biphobia, homophobia, toxic friendships, islamophobia, racism
Important note: While I do share some experiences and marginalisations with the characters (I am bi and I’ve experienced biphobia and toxic friendships), please seek out reviews by South Asian reviewers and pay particular attention to what South Asian queer folks have said about this book!
Review:
When I started this book I expected it to be quite good – after all all people I’ve heard talk about the Henna War by the same author have been practically in love with it – but I didn’t know it was going to become such a favourite. It is adorable and fluffy, but still has some quite serious discussions about friendship, queerness, and bigotry, and it opens these discussions through its layered and engaging writing.
Hani and Ishu are characters that at first seem quite different, but actually parallel each-other in many ways. They are both under a lot of external pressure - Hani is constantly trying to bend herself to fit in her friend group’s very white and heteronormative ideas of how she should behave, while Ishu spends almost all her free time studying, to fulfil her parents’ overambitious academic expectations. The relationship they form is one of the cutest I’ve read recently. Fake dating is one of my favourite tropes, and I really loved how it was executed in this book – it was such a sweet and healthy romance.
One thing I can say for sure is that the biphobia in this book was depicted quite well. It felt so real that I found it a bit challenging to get through some parts, since they were so close to experiences that I’ve had. Even though reading these scenes caused me some anxiety, it was so validating and gratifying to see biphobia accurately depicted and subsequently challenged in a narrative. The story also tackles themes like religion, islamophobia, racism, and the pressure the children of immigrants can feel to succeed professionally.
All in all, Hani and Ishu is an amazing queer story that is about a lot more than just queerness or a fluffy romance, or toxic friendships, or challenging bigotry – what makes it great is that it manages to combine all those things into a cohesive story that speaks about it all in-depth, while maintaining a light and validating tone.
We all know I love fake dating as a trope, and this was extremely cute! The subplots with Ishu's sister and Hani's friends were also really nicely done and cushioned the story into a realistic framework, but I feel like the actual romance got the short straw.
I wish there'd been more time focusing on just the MCs and their feelings and their sunshine / serious dynamic, especially because I enjoyed them as characters. The focus was definitely more on the YA aspect than the romance, and although the YA aspect was very well-written, for something that literally has "fake dating" in the title, I did expect a bit more... well, dating.
Lovely queer rep though and it gave me a lot of cool stuff to look up about Bengali culture!
I wish there'd been more time focusing on just the MCs and their feelings and their sunshine / serious dynamic, especially because I enjoyed them as characters. The focus was definitely more on the YA aspect than the romance, and although the YA aspect was very well-written, for something that literally has "fake dating" in the title, I did expect a bit more... well, dating.
Lovely queer rep though and it gave me a lot of cool stuff to look up about Bengali culture!
Came for the cute fake dating, stayed for the sister relationship growth (and the cute fake dating. It's cute).
4.5
This story is so sweet! I love both the main characters, Hani and Ishu, and the way they uncover truths about their friends, families, and themselves throughout the book. I think this is a well-done Fake Dating Trope™️ and I would recommend this queer YA novel!!
This story is so sweet! I love both the main characters, Hani and Ishu, and the way they uncover truths about their friends, families, and themselves throughout the book. I think this is a well-done Fake Dating Trope™️ and I would recommend this queer YA novel!!