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tinysierra's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I loved this book. The romance, the format, the family ties, the Muslim main characters. I didn’t know much about MS and I’m still learning about the Muslim faith so this book taught me a lot! I loved Zayneb’s passionate and fiery personality.
Oddity: Positive references to Harry Potter in a book about prejudice and hate crimes. Like, am I missing something? This book was published in 2019… how many trans people are dead now as a result of JKR’s TERF rhetoric?
If you like this book, I recommend:
- The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
- Jackpot by Nic Stone
Graphic: Grief, Chronic illness, and Islamophobia
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Cultural appropriation
mina2299's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Islamophobia, Grief, and Chronic illness
Moderate: Terminal illness, Death, Medical content, and Death of parent
Minor: War, Panic attacks/disorders, Cultural appropriation, and Murder
mel_s_bookshelf's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death, Islamophobia, Chronic illness, and Grief
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: War
fiwwa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
i love the fact that i can swoon over a fictional men who my mom would approve if he was real. i love that us muslim girls get a right representation because yes, we do think about guys; holding his hands, hugging him when he's sad even though we know we can't. i love how passionate zayneb is with all the things she did for justice. i love respectful adam is despite the fact that he wants zayneb so bad, and you don't understand how happy i am when adam said he's praying fajr outside (giggling and kicking my feet cs the other fictional men i know would never).
i love how zayneb is 'water' to adam because that's what she is; she's what made adam whole and being near her brings him life. ♡
Graphic: Grief, Islamophobia, and Chronic illness
Moderate: Death and Death of parent
Minor: Murder
jobaji's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Chronic illness, Grief, Medical content, Islamophobia, and Death of parent
Minor: Addiction and Alcohol
internationalreads's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Cultural appropriation, Grief, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Racism, and Religious bigotry
librocubicularist_x's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Islamophobia, Chronic illness, Grief, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Medical content, Death of parent, and Death
Minor: Cultural appropriation and War
thewildmageslibrary's review against another edition
4.0
CW: HP references
Graphic: Grief, Chronic illness, and Islamophobia
Moderate: Death of parent and Medical content
Minor: Cultural appropriation, War, and Car accident
ohlovehandles's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
It's a beautiful love story and I'm glad that we're finally getting to a point where halal romance books could be a mainstream thing that a lot of Muslims could just walk in a bookstore and get. I still would've liked for more care to have gone into the structure and writing.
Overall I think someone who's 13 would enjoy this a bit more and not necessarily be too critical on the writing. The thing is, it's a romance following characters who are 18+ and touching on a lot of dense and dark topics, it should have aimed to be written with the standard of readers within that age range and maturity in mind.
Graphic: Racism, Religious bigotry, Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Grief, Hate crime, and Islamophobia
Moderate: Cursing, Cultural appropriation, and Violence
Minor: Car accident
kingrosereads's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Fantastic, brilliant, beautiful, effortless YA contemporary romance that is also a drama and somewhat of a coming-of-age.
I’m not even going to go into depth about what the book was about. You just need to know that two very beautiful souls serendipitously meet and they fall in love while going through the hardest things a person can go through.
This book was beautiful from start to finish. It is unapologetically Muslim and I friggin loved every second of it! I love Zayneb’s passion and Adam’s ability to see the beauty in the world. At first I didn’t see the chemistry between them and aside from them both keeping this journal based off an ancient manuscript, I didn’t think they had much in common since they’re SO different. But the book just unfolds in this amazing way, where you fall in love with Zayneb and Adam as individuals then watch them come together and fall in love with them as a couple.
Zayneb is dealing with Islamophobia throughout the book (at school, on a plane, at the pool, etc) and the injustices in the world make her righteously angry. And she tries to “tone down” her anger, but she learns she doesn’t have to hold back, she just learns how to be smarter than the bigots. Then there’s Adam and he is this peaceful soul that I just adored and is more behind-the-scenes in his support. He’s such a family guy and I loved his softer way of caring. They both deal with loss and grief in their own ways that make you want to tear your heart out.
I think this book does a fantastic job depicting a traditional Muslim relationship, grief, anger, prejudice, and dealing with a chronic medical diagnosis. I can’t speak for its accuracy but it seems authentic and raw. I loved that these two opposites started meeting in the middle on their own in a natural way (they weren’t forcing themselves to change to fit with the other). The book had me grinning like a fool, crying like a baby, and it even had me laughing a few times. Just a gorgeous, well written story.
Graphic: Chronic illness, Islamophobia, Xenophobia, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Hate crime, Xenophobia, Grief, Death, and Death of parent
Minor: Racial slurs, Racism, War, and Murder