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smartie_chan 's review for:
My Other Half
by Neya B
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
CW: Minor Suicidal Thoughts, Minor Self-Harm, Fatphobia, Brief Mentions of Islamophobia
3.5 / 5 Stars
I was excited about this book mostly because of two things:
1.The Plus Size MC
and
2. No Smut
I'm not judging people who enjoy smut, but I've personally always liked storys with as less as possible more. No smut at all is a rare treat. So I guess, I wanted to thank the author for writing such a lovely and beautiful love story.
Which brings me to my next point.
This book is so damn fluffy and cute and wholesome. Just like cotton candy. Or clouds. Comfort with almost no hurt. It warms my heart.
The platonic bond of Hayat & Kamilla is also very beautifully written. But my personal favorite? Anas & Souhila. Even though Hayat & Souhila have managed to win me over as well. Anas is an amazing and loving father and their interactions bring me huge joy.
All the characters are greatly written and they make for an enjoyable read. (Well...there is one exception, but more on that later.)
My biggest complaint is probably the writing itself. It's simple and easy to read. But. It's also very telling. With tenses switching from time to time and sentences that don't always sound grammatically correct.
You can feel how much love and passion went into this book, so I dont want to fault the author for the fact that english isn't their mother tongue. An editor could have helped, and it would have improved my experience, but I also want it known, that I value story and characters more than being able to spell a word correctly. If you value grammer a lot, you might struggle with this one a bit.
Since I'm not muslim, I cant say much about the rep itself. All the arabic might confuse one a bit, but, the author was kind enough to explain stuff in the text, in footnotes and in a seperate appendix at the end, that should help the non-muslim readers while they're reading.
There are a few minor things that I wished to have been executed better. As in: The book isn't showing often, having not a lot, if any, forshadowing, so when characters behave weird , or we are told that they are behaving weird, there’s usally a reason for that. Kamilla does so a few times throughout the story. But we never get any payoff. Maybe Im just used to better build-up - payoff stuff and expected too much, or this was the books attempt at throwing a Red Hering into the mix. Fact is, the result could have been better.
Just like the "misunderstanding" slash third act Drama arc that happend in between two sentences, came off as kind off OOC and didnt need to be in there at all. Because it didnt add anything- less than anything - to the story.
Especially since we could have used that time to actually commit to the Zahia plot. I do have a lot to say about the Zahia plot, but I'll try to not get oit of hand too much vecau: It was lacking. A lot. Depression is a beast. And admitting that you need help is hard. Especially when it was clear that neither he nor her were happy in the marriage. Villainizing her because she was barely alive and decided to make the choice to leave was kind of not great. I' not saying Anas doesn't have a right to be hurt. But the way the book betrays her as this evil being that will wrack hawoc over the MC's life is kind of uncalled.
I liked the rest of the book but Zahia deserved better.
Final Thoughts:
The romance was cute and the father/daughter stuff was even cuter.
3.5 / 5 Stars
I was excited about this book mostly because of two things:
1.The Plus Size MC
and
2. No Smut
I'm not judging people who enjoy smut, but I've personally always liked storys with as less as possible more. No smut at all is a rare treat. So I guess, I wanted to thank the author for writing such a lovely and beautiful love story.
Which brings me to my next point.
This book is so damn fluffy and cute and wholesome. Just like cotton candy. Or clouds. Comfort with almost no hurt. It warms my heart.
The platonic bond of Hayat & Kamilla is also very beautifully written. But my personal favorite? Anas & Souhila. Even though Hayat & Souhila have managed to win me over as well. Anas is an amazing and loving father and their interactions bring me huge joy.
All the characters are greatly written and they make for an enjoyable read. (Well...there is one exception, but more on that later.)
My biggest complaint is probably the writing itself. It's simple and easy to read. But. It's also very telling. With tenses switching from time to time and sentences that don't always sound grammatically correct.
You can feel how much love and passion went into this book, so I dont want to fault the author for the fact that english isn't their mother tongue. An editor could have helped, and it would have improved my experience, but I also want it known, that I value story and characters more than being able to spell a word correctly. If you value grammer a lot, you might struggle with this one a bit.
Since I'm not muslim, I cant say much about the rep itself. All the arabic might confuse one a bit, but, the author was kind enough to explain stuff in the text, in footnotes and in a seperate appendix at the end, that should help the non-muslim readers while they're reading.
There are a few minor things that I wished to have been executed better. As in: The book isn't showing often, having not a lot, if any, forshadowing, so when characters behave weird , or we are told that they are behaving weird, there’s usally a reason for that. Kamilla does so a few times throughout the story. But we never get any payoff. Maybe Im just used to better build-up - payoff stuff and expected too much, or this was the books attempt at throwing a Red Hering into the mix. Fact is, the result could have been better.
Just like the "misunderstanding" slash third act Drama arc that happend in between two sentences, came off as kind off OOC and didnt need to be in there at all. Because it didnt add anything- less than anything - to the story.
Especially since we could have used that time to actually commit to the Zahia plot. I do have a lot to say about the Zahia plot, but I'll try to not get oit of hand too much vecau: It was lacking. A lot. Depression is a beast. And admitting that you need help is hard. Especially when it was clear that neither he nor her were happy in the marriage. Villainizing her because she was barely alive and decided to make the choice to leave was kind of not great. I' not saying Anas doesn't have a right to be hurt. But the way the book betrays her as this evil being that will wrack hawoc over the MC's life is kind of uncalled.
I liked the rest of the book but Zahia deserved better.
Final Thoughts:
The romance was cute and the father/daughter stuff was even cuter.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Fatphobia
Minor: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Islamophobia