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A review by happi_mess
Counting Down with You by Tashie Bhuiyan
4.0
”From above me, Ace looks like every parent’s nightmare. Tall, dark, and handsome with a giggling problem. Or maybe that’s just my nightmare.
Or a dream come true, whispers a traitorous voice in my head.”
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Karina Myra Ahmed’s parents went to Bangladesh for a month. It was supposed to give her time to think about how she was going to tell her parents that she did not want to be a doctor and wanted to study English for college. Things take a turn when Karina was assigned to tutor the school’s resident bad boy, Ace. It escalated when they started to fake-date.
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Rating: ★★★★
Uhm, excuse me?! How dare this book. HOW DARE THIS BOOK MAKE ME FEEL LIKE THIS?! Holy shmokes. I don’t even remember the last time that I smiled so much while reading. This book brought me all the feels, and I love it!
P.S. I even dare say this is a better couple than Lara Jean and P.K.
P.P.S Thank you to thisstoryainover in YT for bringing this book to my attention. If I hadn't watched that video I wouldn't have found this. This was included in her June TBR.
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The things that I like
☽ Representations in this book. Especially with Karina’s family. It is prevalent in Asian households for parents to choose the career paths for their children. In the more current times, this generation is trying to fight that practice, stand up, and decide to follow their passions. While everything ended happily, I loved that we got to see the MC struggle, adding a drop of reality in this book.
Not just in Karina’s family, but Ace was also struggling with his family matters and showed just how much family issues could affect the children in between.
We also get a few LGBT representations here. ALL HEARTS.
☽ Wattpad-like. Holy hell. I will be crucified for this but… leather jackets? Tattoos? Rings? Tall? Dark? Handsome? Skip classes? Has his own table at the cafeteria? Tells people to fuck off? Hates everybody but our mc? Yeah, I know, it sounds familiar.
I was nervous when I read this book and realized it was like taking a trip down memory lane. When I was in my early teens, I was so addicted to these bad-boy-good-girl storylines. Heavens, I may or may not have made a few bad decisions based off on those books.
ANYWAY, we got Ms. Goody Shoes, and we got Mr. Troublemaker. The cliche scenes? You name it. It could be here. This book stayed true to itself, and IT DELIVERED.
☽ The poems. One thing: LANG LEAV WHOMSTVE?
☽ There is something simple and yet so poetic in this book. I loved the narration and how quick and genuine and honest it was. I love the text messages. I love the banter. I love the unexpected one-liners that gave me the feels.
☽ Reminder from this book: We don’t deserve our grandparents. PERIODT.
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The things that I DID NOT like
☾ The story went a little longer than I expected. But it was still great. I loved the entire journey.
☾ The characters sometimes do not speak like they’re sixteen. But that’s fine. I don’t think that the world is ready to face the fact that some 16yo think like adults already. I would have liked it better if it was taken down just a tiny notch to make this more believable.
☾ The representation of Islam in this book. It has only come to my attention as I was finishing up writing this review. I am not Muslim, and I have read the reviews of other people who are more knowledgeable in the religion. As I have read their reviews, I found that I stand with their opinion that there was a misrepresentation here. MC was angry at her parents for being harsh on her when dating is forbidden in their religion.
Please read more from this review:
Read more
I have read another review that the author reached out and acknowledged the harmful misrepresentations:
Read more
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In sum:
I dare say this is one of the best books that I will read this year. I love learning more about Bangladesh and its culture. I love the good representations. I loved the chemistry. I loved how quickly this story passed by. I will be looking forward to the writer’s next books!
This book is great aside from the representation of the MC's parents.
If you like quick romance reads. Something that could comfort you. Or something that would just make you smile. This book tackled heavy-issues but still managed to be light-hearted. The poems in between were all amazing.
I would definitely recommend this for everybody.