jusnicke 's review for:

Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin

3.0

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Ayesha is almost 30, and by her culture’s standards, she should be married. Instead, Ayesha is focused on her career and her poetry. Instead of entertaining marriage for herself, she watches as her cousin, Hafsa, turn down suitor after suitor with some feeling sorry for her but Ayesha is just fine. She does not want the type of marriage her cousin is going to have. Khalid is a conservative muslim working in a corporate environment. The two are thrown together to work on a project for their local mosque, with Ayesha pretending to be Hafsa, who was originally supposed to have a leadership role in the project. Ayesha and Khalid find that they like each other, but it is not so simple. Ayesha is bit progressive and Khalid has conservative views about a muslim marriage.

I like Ayesha and Khalid. I enjoyed the dialogue between the two of them and internal battle they each had with themselves. Some of the supporting characters, Khalid’s coworkers, Ayesha’s friend Clara, Nana & Nani were such good additions to the book. The problem I had with the book is there was too much going on. Khalid’s trouble at work, Tarek, Khalid’s engagement, the spoiled cousin and the numerous sub plots. These can be entertaining, but I found it distracting. Overall, it didn’t take away from the story completely, but I wanted to like this more than I did.