A review by illiteratesquirrel
The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar

challenging emotional tense 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

2.75

This is a romance genre novel and the chemistry is just...not there. It's not nearly convincing enough for me to think that these characters were made for each other. If I had to describe this book, it'd be an enemies-to-lovers gone wrong except they end up together and that's the reason why it went wrong. The will-they-won't-they is just not believable. The author covers racism and homophobia; for the most part, it's handled pretty well from a writing perspective. However, the romance is an afterthought despite being a core part of the plot. I feel like the conversations that needed to happen between the main character and the cast (the "deep" conversations if you will) needed to happen A LOT sooner. I honestly can't see why the main character even likes her crush and vice versa other than "she's pretty" like come on you have to do better than that.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings