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A review by popthebutterfly
The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar
5.0
Disclaimer: I received an arc of this novel from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.
Book: The Henna Wars
Author: Adiba Jaigirdar
Book Series: Standalone
Diversity: Bangladeshi characters, Black Brazilian love interest, Queer Bangladeshi main character, Korean side character
Rating: 5/5
Publication Date: May 12, 2020
Publisher: Page Street Kids
Pages: 405
Recommended Age: 14+ (romance, racism, homophobia, language, and getting outted TW)
Synopsis: Nishat doesn’t want to lose her family, but she also doesn’t want to hide who she is, and it only gets harder once a childhood friend walks back into her life. Flávia is beautiful and charismatic, and Nishat falls for her instantly. But when a school competition invites students to create their own businesses, both Flávia and Nishat decide to showcase their talent as henna artists. In a fight to prove who is the best, their lives become more tangled—but Nishat can’t quite get rid of her crush, especially since Flávia seems to like her back.
As the competition heats up, Nishat has a decision to make: stay in the closet for her family, or put aside her differences with Flávia and give their relationship a chance.
Review: I really enjoyed this book! I thought the characters were intriguing and well developed. The romance was cute and I was here for it! I loved the world building and I loved how the book was written. It was an amazing read and it was so swoon-worthy! I loved that the author wrote this as well! You don't see a lot of queer representation with POC and Bangladeshi and Brazilian are both those I've never read before to my knowledge. I hope that the tides will change in publishing were we get more stories and more ownvoice from POC and minority writers. The book also does well to talk about the importance of culture and how certain things/activities (like henna) are very important to a culture. The book did well to show how ignorance can make someone accidentally culturally appropriate something, but also didn't shy away from showing that some people are just blatantly racist and/or homophobic.
My only issue is that I wish some of the words were explained. I got the gist of most of them, especially the terms of relationship and endearment used in the main characters own language, but there was a scene where our main and her love interest speak French to each other and I wish that was explained, but again I got like 60% of what was said. I'd also to have liked to see the person who outted our main character get punished, but the unfortunate reality of our current lives is that some people get away with their actions because it causes more harm on the victim to come forward than to not. This definitely needs to change, but then again I think people's closed mindedness needs to change as well.
Verdict: Definitely worth the read!!
Book: The Henna Wars
Author: Adiba Jaigirdar
Book Series: Standalone
Diversity: Bangladeshi characters, Black Brazilian love interest, Queer Bangladeshi main character, Korean side character
Rating: 5/5
Publication Date: May 12, 2020
Publisher: Page Street Kids
Pages: 405
Recommended Age: 14+ (romance, racism, homophobia, language, and getting outted TW)
Synopsis: Nishat doesn’t want to lose her family, but she also doesn’t want to hide who she is, and it only gets harder once a childhood friend walks back into her life. Flávia is beautiful and charismatic, and Nishat falls for her instantly. But when a school competition invites students to create their own businesses, both Flávia and Nishat decide to showcase their talent as henna artists. In a fight to prove who is the best, their lives become more tangled—but Nishat can’t quite get rid of her crush, especially since Flávia seems to like her back.
As the competition heats up, Nishat has a decision to make: stay in the closet for her family, or put aside her differences with Flávia and give their relationship a chance.
Review: I really enjoyed this book! I thought the characters were intriguing and well developed. The romance was cute and I was here for it! I loved the world building and I loved how the book was written. It was an amazing read and it was so swoon-worthy! I loved that the author wrote this as well! You don't see a lot of queer representation with POC and Bangladeshi and Brazilian are both those I've never read before to my knowledge. I hope that the tides will change in publishing were we get more stories and more ownvoice from POC and minority writers. The book also does well to talk about the importance of culture and how certain things/activities (like henna) are very important to a culture. The book did well to show how ignorance can make someone accidentally culturally appropriate something, but also didn't shy away from showing that some people are just blatantly racist and/or homophobic.
My only issue is that I wish some of the words were explained. I got the gist of most of them, especially the terms of relationship and endearment used in the main characters own language, but there was a scene where our main and her love interest speak French to each other and I wish that was explained, but again I got like 60% of what was said. I'd also to have liked to see the person who outted our main character get punished, but the unfortunate reality of our current lives is that some people get away with their actions because it causes more harm on the victim to come forward than to not. This definitely needs to change, but then again I think people's closed mindedness needs to change as well.
Verdict: Definitely worth the read!!