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A review by popthebutterfly
Love From A to Z by S.K. Ali
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
slow-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
4.0
Disclaimer: I bought a copy of this book on my Kindle. Support your authors! All opinions are my own.
Book: Love from A to Z
Author: S.K. Ali
Book Series: Love From A to Z Book 1
Rating: 4/5
Diversity: American Muslim MC (Pakistani/West Indian descent), Canadian Muslim convert MC with Multiple Sclerosis (Chinese/Finish descent), other Muslim and Muslim convert characters, Scoliosis character
Recommended For...: young adult readers, contemporary, romance, Muslim
Publication Date: April 30, 2019
Genre: YA Contemporay
Age Relevance: 14+ (cursing, death, religion, Islamaphobia, HP references, grief, anti-indigenous actions, parental death, illness, animal violence, animal abuse, slight sexual content, romance)
Explanation of Above: There is very very slight cursing in this book. There is some parental death and other death mentioned and grief is shown. The Muslim religion is shown and mentioned several times. There are acts and words of Islamaphobia and there is a non-MC character who participates in anti-indigenous actions by wearing an indigenous Halloween costume that mocks the culture. There are a TON of HP references, but because this was wrote before 2020 I did not take off points for them (but I do wish this book was rereleased without them). There is illness mentioned and shown. There is one mention of a dog bite and animal abuse is off-handedly mentioned. There is one scene where horny jokes are made. There is some romance in this book, but nothing beyond talking and declarations of affection.
Publisher: Salaam Reads
Pages: 384
Synopsis: A marvel: something you find amazing. Even ordinary-amazing. Like potatoes—because they make French fries happen. Like the perfect fries Adam and his mom used to make together.
An oddity: whatever gives you pause. Like the fact that there are hateful people in the world. Like Zayneb’s teacher, who won’t stop reminding the class how “bad” Muslims are.
But Zayneb, the only Muslim in class, isn’t bad. She’s angry.
When she gets suspended for confronting her teacher, and he begins investigating her activist friends, Zayneb heads to her aunt’s house in Doha, Qatar, for an early start to spring break.
Fueled by the guilt of getting her friends in trouble, she resolves to try out a newer, “nicer” version of herself in a place where no one knows her.
Then her path crosses with Adam’s.
Since he got diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in November, Adam’s stopped going to classes, intent, instead, on perfecting the making of things. Intent on keeping the memory of his mom alive for his little sister.
Adam’s also intent on keeping his diagnosis a secret from his grieving father.
Alone, Adam and Zayneb are playing roles for others, keeping their real thoughts locked away in their journals.
Until a marvel and an oddity occurs…
Marvel: Adam and Zayneb meeting.
Oddity: Adam and Zayneb meeting.
Review: I thought this was a great book! I loved the use of journaling to see inner monologue and I thought the story was compelling. The book was a great story about two teens who meet and fall in love as the subplot. The main plot for one was struggling with a diagnosis after losing their mom to the same disease and the other is struggling with an Islamaphobic teacher who is threatening her chances at a good school. The world building was well done and overall I loved reading this book.
The only issue I had with the book is that there were SO MANY HP references. I didn’t mark off because of when this book was published, but the amount of them used to describe characters based on houses really dated the book and it made character development confusing when you’re not in the HP sphere anymore. The book was also super slow in a lot of parts of it.
Verdict: It was good! I liked it!