thank you to netgalley and publisher for the arc!!!
HAPPY RELEASE DAY (+1) TO ONE OF MY FAVORITE ROMCOMS EVER <33333 exam season is finally over for mthank you to netgalley and publisher for the arc!!!
HAPPY RELEASE DAY (+1) TO ONE OF MY FAVORITE ROMCOMS EVER <33333 exam season is finally over for me so! time to unleash all of my thoughts and feelings and those “asjskskskshshs” moments i had when i read the book a few months ago :D<3
(before we start this descend to madness though, can i just mention real quick that i read this fresh after eid too and ohh!!! the feeling was THERE!!!!!!!)
i love love love this book so much. i still remember finishing it at 12 am and then almost cried because THEY ARE SO BELOVED TO ME. THEY ARE EVERYTHING TO ME. childhood friends to enemies to lovers?????? and they’re muslim???? and the main goal they were trying to achive together. despite hating each other, that brought them closer again was saving the islamic centre?????? SIGN ME UP.
this is my first book from both Adiba Jaigirdar and Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé but TRUST it won’t be the last. if you think the title is genius (which, it is!! i mean, ‘four eids and a funeral’?????? probably my favorite use of iconic romcom titles in a romance novel ever), wait til you see the chapter titles because they’re SO. ‘shaitan himself’ ‘muffin sluts’ and other witty words put together await!
⤷ ’i’m more than upset. i’m ready to commot multiple crimes against humanity, but i won’t because that would be haram and i’m not risking hell for him.’
this book is so so effortlessly funny. just like a romcom should be. i found myself actually laughing at some parts because why are they so silly and unserious ...more
4.75 stars rounded up! could’ve been actually five stars if this wasn’t anti-climatic and so rushed at the end :/ AHH SO EXCITED TO READ THIS <333
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4.75 stars rounded up! could’ve been actually five stars if this wasn’t anti-climatic and so rushed at the end :/ but the writing!!! i’m in love with it. thank you to netgalley and publisher for the arc! rtc!
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thank you to netgalley and publisher for the arc!
to be honest, i went into this totally blind and with no expectations AT ALL. i barely knew what this was about, besides the summary that was provided in the netgalley website. i had never heard of the author, Djamila Morani, nor the translator, Sawad Hussain, at all, so i didn’t really know what to expect in terms of the writing either.
but. i was so so SO pleasantly surprised. it was incredibly well written, i was hooked right from the beginning. i saw this one passage on politics at the start, and i just knew this was going to be good.
‘Politics has beautiful side that charms men who fall into her clutches and worship her, giving her everything they have. But she's also a woman with secrets too holy to divulge, desires too ugly to speak aloud, promises like sandcastles crumbling under the waves of her fury. If she showed them her true face with all its adornment, their souls would be the sacrifice.’ like woah!!!!
and from then on, all i found was a sentence, a paragraph, a passage, to annotate, because it truly BLEW my mind. it was a short book, but so concise and beautifully put that you just can’t help but be immersed in it.
our main character, Nardeen, was hard headed and strong-willed. i love seeing her grow and how she navigated her new circumstances after the tragedy, both under the influence of her new teacher, Muallim Ishaq, and through her own way. though we didn’t really get into much details of it, for it is again a really short book, we still got enough glimpses of it to know how she developed, with grief and anger still rooted deep inside her.
i loved how we got to know more about Baghdad in the past too. i loved how they put a glossary and also a reader’s guide at the end to put more context in the historical figure and place that were mentioned in the story.
i’m going to be honest, if there’s one thing i least expected to be in this book was that there would be a romance story. BUT THERE IS. and i actually loved it. i lost all of my annotations because i stupidly deleted the netgalley app before thinking twice, but there is a simple fleeting moment there that still sticks in my mind. simply written, but said a ton.
‘i studied the corner of his mouth turning downwards. it hit me, the magnitude of the crime that we committed against Suhaib— me and Al-Aesafi— I bowed my head in sorrow and walked silently’
like. ALL THIS. “the magnitude of the crime that we committed against Suhaib” and it’s literally just him losing his smile ...more
thank you netgalley and publisher for the arc! rtc!!!
——— 3.1.24
a special thank you to netgalley and publisher for the arc!
this book was WONDERFUL. i thank you netgalley and publisher for the arc! rtc!!!
——— 3.1.24
a special thank you to netgalley and publisher for the arc!
this book was WONDERFUL. i had such a fun time reading it. it’s charming and it has this cozy feels that is just *chef’s kiss.* quite literally in love with the atmosphere of this book. not to mention, the diversity (!!!!) and queer representations included, along with the exploration of pretty complicated topics (such as belief, difficult relationship with parents, financial problems, etc).
i love love the main four characters, i’ve become very fond of them as i went through their shenanigans throughout the book. ellery and knox of course, but charley and zada!!!!!!!!!!! you two will be missed.
i love seeing their dynamic with each other— how they went about their days and how they developed as a pretty major change happened in their life (ekhem sudden supernatural being’s existence under their roof!). it was so natural and heartwarming at times, but also *wildly* entertaining and hilarious because most of their interactions read like a sitcom and i had a BLAST. (especially charley, i’m very very fond of her <3)
ellery and knox were so!!!!!! their bickering at the beginning, them slowly warming up to each other, how soft they were after, and the angst and guilt and uncertainty that came in between was so so SO GOOD. this has dual povs (which already is a bonus point honestly ) and i enjoy both so much. i love love being able to see both perspectives of the relationship and get to know more of them beyond their designated role in said romantic relationship— (which is also why every romance book with dual povs done right is always always superior ...more
a special thank you to netgalley and publisher for the arc! rtc ------------------------ this book just truly reminds me why i love the ya contemporarya special thank you to netgalley and publisher for the arc! rtc ------------------------ this book just truly reminds me why i love the ya contemporary genre so much. it’s vibrant, yet honest. simple premise, but backed with so many voices and a rich cultural background to tell its audience. it’s funny and can be a little cringe at times, but not afraid to talk about the serious social injustices most (western) media ignores.
jackie oh’s character was great. her passion for food was infectious, and her creativity goes beyond. i’ve never dwelled much on the culinary world besides watching masterchef kids when i was younger (help), and seeing that world through her lenses has me awed. the description of each dishes, how her mind worked its way to invent one, and also how one has to prepare and reuse the things in the kitchen.
i really enjoyed getting to know her in this book and how she navigated, especially as a korean american teenager just surviving, through everything there was. the competition was great and entertaining, but i mostly treasured the dynamics that were shared and grew throughout.
i loved how her relationship with her grandparents (halmoni and haraboji) was highlighted and i loved how her and her umma’s was developed. and of course, even though they got less screen time on the book, i love how we could still clearly see the bond between her and her brother (oppa), and how her dad actually was even in a fraction of moment. the generational trauma also. brrrr. this book just absolutely nailed itt.
i love the friendship, both the main one with KT and the others she made along the way in her competition. oh! and i especially loved how we got to see more of each competitors, past the masks they put on tv. it was so so great every time.
this book was a love letter to many things, just as lots of jackie’s dishes were, but it was still so brutally honest with what society has given and i applaud it for that.
it talks a lot about covid and how affected the asian-american community especially was and still is because of it. from the economic standpoint and of course social too, on top of the already ongoing racism existed in the country. this book was also a story about the struggles of that, how the remnants and reminders were still following her steps even after everything was receding. it raises awareness and presents another view of this world's ugly society that most of us probably wouldn't have known, let alone understood, because we weren't given the shoes to try to fit our feet in. because the general media never told us and was constantly whitewashed. this book was a stand against it and it was just so so good.
and also the fact that the author, patricia park, also includes an article she wrote on asian-american hate crimes at the end of the book? chef’s kiss.
to be honest, my only complaints for this book were the “romance” and the ending. the romance, if you could even call it that, felt unnecessary and flat. i think it was fine without it, but i guess good for her!!!! and as for the ending. it was just too short! i need more ...more
nadine ⋆｡˚✧˖꩜
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