Reviews with content warning for Abortion - Ayesha At Last

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Ayesha At Last by Uzma Jalaluddin

29 reviews

onegalonelife27's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective 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

4.5

This is a wonderful twist on Pride and Prejudice!

The plot navigates between Ayesha, a young woman putting her dreams aside in order to do what’s right for the family-such as paying back the debt she feels she owes her uncle after he helped her family move from India to Canada when she was little-leading her to care for and be pushed around by her cousin Hafsa. And Khalid, who’s own family troubles have led him to turn to religion, bringing his strict beliefs everywhere and onto everyone, earning him some ire from his new boss. So when he finds himself roped into joining some male colleagues-and that’s a stretch of the word-into a lounge he thinks she’s not a good Muslim to which she responds with some smackdown poetry. However when Hafsa volunteers, and then consequently bails, to help out at their local mosque leaving Ayesha to take her place and finding herself working with Khalid. Which leads to some great internal exploration for both characters, seeing how they really connect to their families, and truly getting their own happily ever after.

There’s also a few cuts to other points of view, such as Claire-Ayesha’s best friend and Khalid’s coworkers who wants to help them both while navigating her own love life, Khalid’s mother who is so sure she knows what’s best for everyone especially her son, Ayesha’s grandmother who I’d hire to be a PI any day of the week, adding to some of the great tension to the plot.

Not really sure if the whole “double identity” thing had to go on as long-felt a good call from Hasfa’s parents to the Iman could really helped this part out. Like the Iman just assumes Ayesha is Hafsa and never lets her speak during introductions and Ayesha decides to go along with it to get some more spite for Khalid. Like did Hafsa's parents not tell him to expect two women?

And UGH-Hasidim boss is definitely the worst-all the trigger warnings for her. Makes my skin crawl whenever she’s around. She does get some good karma thrown at her which made me sigh in relief. Also the sweet karma for the Wickham character-whoo! I also found myself feeling sympathetic towards characters I didn’t expect and wanting good things for them too.

Also didn’t realize this came after Much Ado about Nada or would be related, but a few characters’ lines and names clued me in. So guess I should pay attention to book release dates.

Overall, a great story for those who want a good retelling of the classic Pride and Prejudice!

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thisbookisbananas's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring lighthearted tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I love Pride and Prejudice. It’s the only classic I’ve re-read multiple times. Ayesha at Last is a Pride and Prejudice retelling that has been handled so smartly. Uzma Jalaluddin kept important plot beats of the original work in and punched the storyline up with issues and topics that make sense in a Southeast Asian and Muslim background. With all of the references to Bollywood movies, it makes sense that this book was drenched in delicious drama. I was so happy for it and the beautiful happily ever after! All in all a great read.

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kawthar114's review against another edition

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1.25

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kristinj1's review against another edition

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funny informative lighthearted sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

This is a really interesting story, mainly because it was a world that I really know nothing about and having zero experience with. There were a few things about the writing that I bumped against, but overall I think the story was a really interesting one. Depicting a few people who were set up as villains in the story as just overall bad people without any redeeming qualities. It feels like these were based on real life people and had realistic stories, so feel weird that they already picked it in such a negative way without any mitigating circumstances or stories to be told. That being said, it was still really fascinating look at a Muslim community in Toronto. I think I would probably read the next story in this series, we're there to be one.

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kollieollie's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective 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? Yes

4.75

This book was very enjoyable to read. The characters are endearing and I really appreciated reading a story inspired by my favorite book, Pride and Prejudice, that took a different path from other modern retellings. It was a nice blend of comfortable and familiar without being quite as predicable as is often the case with these types of books. I highly recommend picking up this book if you are a Jane Austen fan. ☺️

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sweetsxrrxw's review against another edition

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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? Yes

4.0

one thing about me is that i always end up getting stuck in reading slumps for weeks and end up finishing about 50% of the book in a day or two. this is a terrible thing because i always end up forgetting many details. but, anyways, i guess that doesn't really matter for this review.

i must confess i have never read or watched "pride and prejudice" (even though i'll have to watch the movie soon for a uni assignment, lmao) so i had no idea of how the plot would unfold but i honestly did not mind.

there are so many things i have loved about this story. so when i have recently learnt it's the author's debut novel i was surprised because it is so good. the characters she created are truly complex and i love how you couldn't always hate or love them and how they had their cons and pros (some of them felt kinda flat, though).and i love how most of the characters end up being somehow intertwined. even minor characters had some kind of closure and i really like that.

but let's focus on the main characters: khalid and ayesha. there is this other thing i genuinely loved since the beginning of the story and it's khalid standing out because of the way he dresses. usually, it's always muslim women who go through that but he always says he wants to make his identity clear and i love that so much. don't get me wrong, i like relating to hijabi characters who go through discrimination because that's what i face every day too. but i appreciate how, mostly, none of ayesha's issues were related to that. speaking of ayesha, she is also a great character and you can't help but love her. of course, i haven't always necessarily agreed with every thing she did or said (i might have a couple annotations calling her dumb, lmao) but that's what gives her character more depth.

i also love how, before getting together, they took their time to grow and become better versions of themselves.

and i could go on and talk about every other side character since, as i said, i loved many of them. but that would make this review a reaaally long one, so let's just move on.
there were scenes, paragraphs or quotes that made me giggle but i wouldn't really classify this as a funny story or even a rom-com. i think it has more drama than comedy? but i love that, of course. but then there were some parts which felt really slow :/

so slow that i am kinda disappointed that we didn't get to see the main relationship properly unfold and the ending left me wanting for more. maybe a second book wouldn't be a bad idea

let me just finish this review with a quote which really ressonated with me <3

"just remember to pack light. dreams tend to shatter if you're carrying other people's hopes around you."

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stuckinatimeloop's review against another edition

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funny 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

4.0

as a south asian muslim, i loved this book. it was relatable and well written for the most part. the ending was rushed however. the conflict with tarek was introduced too late. and i would have liked to see a bit more of ayesha and khalid being together. an epilogue would have been nice.

i didn't like how sometimes india and pakistan were presented as being backwards and there was one part like this isn't india or pakistan you can do whatever you want. i'm paraphrasing here but the general gist was that over there people don't have much choice in who they marry and how they live their life. and it didn't really sit well with me. but I'll read some more from this author before i can form a valid opinion

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lgoconno's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful tense 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? Yes

4.75

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giulsfloris's review against another edition

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2.5

I really wanted to love this story, but the characters fell a bit flat and the plot was kind of all over the place.

I didn’t enjoy the sub-plots either. There were way too many and it reminded me of a bad tv show with plot twists and stuff that didn’t make a lot of sense.

The representation was full of what I believe to be harmful stereotypes. I’m not Muslim and I wanted to read something with a positive view on this world, religion and culture I know so little about, but this wasn’t my cup of tea.
I’ll try and read Hana Khan Carries On in the future and see if I like it better.

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trips's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.0

This book was a lovely read, I am very happy to have had it recommended to me. However, I don't feel like its all that much like Pride and Prejudice? Yes, the 2 love interests have the pride and prejudice traits down but the surrounding plot just doesn't echo the Austen novel all that much.

Regardless, I enjoyed Ayesha and Khalid's own stories and seeing how they each navigated them. Ayesha especially is a badass, and while I wasn't sure how I felt about Khalid, by the end, I liked him too. They have some really adorable moments together, but I was left wanting more! I give this a pass because the familial drama was so fun to read about but, for a romance, I'd like a bit more between the heroine and hero!

I found that the antagonists were a bit too obviously awful, literally no one likes people like Sheila. It also felt like the other antagonist only existed to create a third act conflict.

Overall, Ayesha At Last is a fun, light-hearted romance with some good family feels. I appreciate reading from a perspective I don't see a lot in media. Would love to read more from this author.

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