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A review by possiblychurch
The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar
3.0
I decided to read this book after reading Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating, by the same author, which I really liked, and I have to say, I was disappointed to find out that it was just… okay. Nothing great, nothing terrible.
The characters were a little plain, not much character development and the little we got to see was sudden and unnatural (like Nishat’s parents suddenly deciding that they’re okay with her being gay towards the end). The romance was just fine, nothing terribly exciting, and established a bit too early for my taste.
The thing that bothered me the most, however, was the absolute lack of long-term consequences for anyone. Chyna gets away with everything she’s done, Priti’s friend gets away with outing Nishat, Flavia gets away with allowing Chyina to be racist and horrible to Nishat for the whole book.
Plus, it didn’t help that I felt like this book was targeted to a younger audience, despite being marketed as young adult, which perhaps explains why the characters were so one-dimensional.
Overall, it was not so bad that it was impossible to get through, but I did find it a little disappointing; if you’re interested to a book similar to this one I’d recommend Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating instead, which I believe fixes a lot of the faults I found in The Henna Wars.
2.75 stars, meh.
The characters were a little plain, not much character development and the little we got to see was sudden and unnatural (like Nishat’s parents suddenly deciding that they’re okay with her being gay towards the end). The romance was just fine, nothing terribly exciting, and established a bit too early for my taste.
The thing that bothered me the most, however, was the absolute lack of long-term consequences for anyone. Chyna gets away with everything she’s done, Priti’s friend gets away with outing Nishat, Flavia gets away with allowing Chyina to be racist and horrible to Nishat for the whole book.
Plus, it didn’t help that I felt like this book was targeted to a younger audience, despite being marketed as young adult, which perhaps explains why the characters were so one-dimensional.
Overall, it was not so bad that it was impossible to get through, but I did find it a little disappointing; if you’re interested to a book similar to this one I’d recommend Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating instead, which I believe fixes a lot of the faults I found in The Henna Wars.
2.75 stars, meh.