Reviews with content warning for Toxic friendship - Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating

This is my second riding of a book from Adiba Jaigirdar and I said this about the henna wars and I'll say it about this book to if I could this would be a 100 . I absolutely love Adiba jaigirda's books and always will . So I will sum up this book and all of Adiba Jaigirdar's books with one word. YES .

Content Warnings

iz_kap1225's review against another edition

Go to review page

medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

LGBTQIA+ :D!! Character growth, religiously, familially, and romantically... good read if you're looking for something LGBTQ+.

Content Warnings

emilyhv's review

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

zombiezami's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

4.5

Content Warnings

kaynova's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Rating: 3.5 Stars

This was an easy read, I literally spent one and half nights speeding through this. It's pretty light hearted for the most part, but in other parts it gets...heavy without the heavy dread in your heart.

I love Hani and Ishu's friendship, but at times, I couldn't really sense their chemistry romantically. Like they make great friends and there were moments where I was giddy for a simple hair tuck behind the ear or staring into each other's eyes for a little too long, but overall, their relationship lacked a bit because of why they originally got into this 'relationship'. I know with the fake dating trope, there's a goal that each person wants to achieve and for Hani, it's to prove her bisexuality and for Ishu, it's that she's not like her sister.

They realize around the same time these goals are influenced by other people who particularly don't have their best interests at heart. (I literally wanted to claw my eyes out whenever Ash-if you know, you know- and Dee comes on the page because god, the homophobia and bi-erasure WAS real! And Ishu's parents...I was a bit understanding to them but as a child to my own parents, I think parents need to realize their kids will live this life regardless, you either love them or leave them, and it's messed up if you leave them).

Because of these goals, sometimes I feel like they pushed themselves to be together and it wasn't genuine-ironic, isn't it-because there's moments where one of them seem more into this than the other, and vice versa, and I also think they had expectations of each other too without noticing. At times, they were very similar in personalities-just two sides of the same coin-and it makes a powerful friendship, but I couldn't see them in a relationship. And honestly what kept me reading was Aunty Aditi and Nik...they are the stars of this book.

I do think people should read this, it's still a beautiful book with great representation and realistic endings and ambiguity that it makes sense. I enjoyed it for what it's worth.

Content Warnings

abi2xoxo's review against another edition

Go to review page

hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

I read this book in two days so to say it was a quick read is an understatement.
I honestly did enjoy the book.
pros-
It is set in Ireland! I love Ireland. Funnily enough, I fly to visit my family in Ireland this Saturday so this book was fun.
The characters were so diverse. They are both Bengali and most writers would have either put both of them in the category of Muslim or non- muslin. And I am happy to announce Jaigirdar didn't do this. The characters Ishu and Hani both have different faiths. I liked the fact that the Muslim faith wasn't shy of being shown. It was a lovely side to Hani's character and I am glad the author tapped into it.
If you have ever read any of my other reviews you know I love a two-sided story. I will leave it at that.
I LOVE when Hani's Abba speaks about the troubles he had when we left Bangladesh and moved to Ireland and how they felt disconnected from how they were brought up. This is such a lovely few pages and it gave great depth into Hani's parents.
The biphobia was handled in a good way. could have been better, but that's like with anything.
The writer is a lovely and compassionate author. I would read another one of her books.
cons-
The friends Hani had didn't really have any background. I know that the background of background characters doesn't really matter but I was just left a little confused as to why they were behaving like that or how they were raised may have differed from Hani's.
I think the book was a little rushed. It is clear the author is a good one and that she has lots of ideas but it all felt a little speedy. I know this book is aimed at teens so to keep their attention you do need to keep it a little shorter. This book has great potential and it could be made much longer.
It was annoying how the fact that the only way they knew they liked each other is when Ishu kissed Han on page 323. They never had a conversation even though both of them were written like they would have the emotional maturity to do so. It was strange how I was reading two people who liked each other and they just expected the other to know. Because they said in the same sort of way through each chapter I had to keep going back and checking who I was reading.
Also, I wasn't very satisfied with the outcome but that's just me.
I don't know if it is because I read it too fast or because it actually didn't happen but I swear Ishu never came out to her parents. When I was reading the content warnings on the story graph it says 'parental abandonment and I was thinking "gosh that means Ishu may get kicked out?" never happened.

Definitely give this a read and if you want it for your child I would say it is definitely tame enough for them. The biphobia isn't anything too strong and it is a lovely queer story!

Content Warnings

maybe_perhaps's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Content Warnings

More...