arya

I MADE A GOODREADS' ACCOUNT JUST TO RATE THIS BOOK
Watch me lose my mind in the whole review process

Disclaimer: Brace for subjective turbulence ahead! This review is my personal take, so buckle up and enjoy the ride

3.5 rounded up to 4. So yeah it's good, but Catalina brings me a lottttt of embarrassment sometimes. Also some parts of the book are cringe and when I got to know that the author considered aron as Clark Kent. God. I died. Tf!!! I'd rather not imagine him at all than imagine him as Kent( Kent just seems to old for Catalina as for the way she's described). Also them calling each other ‘baby'! Ohmg, I'd to help myself recover after reading it everytime. Basically, their convos as they got together started to get cliche. Over all It was an okayish good read. Edit: oct 12, am giving it solid 3 star review. Now that I'm back to my senses and the book's air has left my lungs, body, mind whatever, I can think rationally, and there's only one way I can describe it, ‘Cliche'. Yes. The man had tooo much of audacity to ask her everytime and to make that printed piece–the embodiment of embarrassment–believe that she has no other option than taking him as her date. Calm down your nerves man. Let the girl think of an better option firstly, she's already trying soo hard to not to think like an idiot, let her have some more time. Nope. It's a big NOOOOO for me from me. Am not even gonna call this as an guilty pleasure. It's just an guilty ‘ what did I just read ‘ no pleasure.I stan my Wattpad authors

Love the man, hate the book. Literally skimmed through the whole book. So unnecessary. This could've been a novella instead. I wanna give 5 stars to kai tho

SCREAMING CRYING THROWING UP.
men written by Holly jackson>>>

Beautiful story. Honestly, it felt like a bit of a rollercoaster. It started off really strong, but by the middle I felt it became overly religious (and I’m not hating on the religion at all). Another thing that didn’t sit right with me was how pre-war Syria was portrayed, it felt a bit too idealized and generalized. I’m not Syrian, so I can’t say for sure, but it seemed like the book painted a more uniformly free and open society than what I’ve read or heard elsewhere, and that started to bother me midway through.

Around the 70% mark, the book picked up again, and the plot started to unfold in a more engaging way. One moment that really frustrated me was when she woke up after being unconscious all day from an injury, and her main concern was not having a hijab on rather than her physical condition.

It gave me vibes similar to 'The Book Thief' mixed with a bit of 'A Thousand Splendid Suns'. Nevertheless, the plot was unexpected, the tone was easy to follow, and the prose was beautifully written.

The characters were very well done—quite likable, even the side characters like Dr. Zaid were nicely portrayed. As long as the lemon trees grow, Salama and Kenan will remain one of my favorite “we’re dying, but at least we’re together” couples.

I do hope that the vision of a 'free' Syria portrayed in the book someday becomes reality, with religious conflict set aside.

Overall, somewhere between a 3.8 and 4-star read.

Idk what I like about this book but I didn't dislike it either. It was fun