fafabookcorner's reviews
1037 reviews

Disclaimer: I received this E-ARC via the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review and this blog tour post.

Trigger Warning(s): Mention of death, mention of the liberation war, sexism, classism, bullying, mention of cancer, and grief.

Rep: Zahra and her family are Bangladeshi Muslims. Daniya is a lesbian Pakistani Muslim, and her family are also Pakistani Muslims. Harun and his family are Bangladeshi Muslims. Nayim is a Bangladeshi Muslim. Ximena is a bi Mexican and Haitian (to be honest I could be wrong about her ethnicity please feel free to correct me in the comments if I am wrong).

My Thoughts Before Reading: I was really excited to read this! I loved the cover and fell in love with the synopsis. I am happy to say that I enjoyed it!

What I Liked: I really liked the writing style! The book was written in a rather unique prose that was able to depict the surrounding areas and Zahra’s emotions perfectly. It’s been some time since I was able to get lost in a contemporary novel and I thoroughly enjoyed my time reading this.

I loved Zahra’s relationships with her family members! Her Nanu was awesome and so understanding of Zahra and her needs. Her brother Arif had his sisters back even when he did question her actions. Resna was hilarious! She was my favourite to read about. Zahra’s relationship with her mother was a bit tense throughout the book but even still the two of them were close. Zahra had the biggest respect for her mother, she did everything she could to ease her struggles, and was in awe of everything that her mother had achieved. This novel really spoke to the relationships a lot of eldest daughters have with their mothers. While yes they can be tense often times there is so much love and respect for one-another.

I adored Zahra’s friendship with Ximena, Daniya, and Dalia. They were so supportive of one-another and really came through for Zahra throughout the novel. I really liked how fleshed out all there personalities were and how they each had their own character arcs, they didn’t just exist to be Zahra’s friends.

Zahra is a character was fantastic to read about! She was so well fleshed out and her thoughts were very vivid that I adored reading in her point of view. I liked that she had a good work ethic and was passionate about her writing as well as her family. She does learn to be a little selfish in the sense that she started to prioritize her own needs throughout the novel. I really liked the conclusion to her arc.

My Criticism(s): I started to lose interest in the love triangle and romantic aspect of this novel. I felt that I was more interesting in reading about the other aspects of the book, like Zahra’s character arc and relationships with the people in her life. This is definitely a personal gripe and I’m sure others will really enjoy the love triangle.

Conclusion: Overall I enjoyed The Love Match! I highly recommend this novel.

Barakah Beats by Maleeha Siddiqui

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