The Henna Wars
2020 • 400 pages
Ratings20
Average rating4
15
Ratings20
Average rating4
Nishat and Flávia are rivals at school, but Nishat can't help the secret crush burning in her heart - even though her parents disapprove of the fact she likes girls. Can she possibly find her happy ever after? A gorgeous, heart-warming, queer YA love story for fans of Becky Albertalli. When Nishat comes out to her parents, they say she can be anyone she wants - as long as she isn't herself. Because Muslim girls aren't lesbians. Nishat doesn't want to lose her family, but she also doesn't want to hide who she is, which only gets harder once Flávia walks into her life. Beautiful and charismatic, Flávia takes Nishat's breath away. But as their lives become tangled, they're caught up in a rivalry that gets in the way of any feelings they might have for each other. Can Nishat find a way to be true to herself... and find love too? Adiba Jaigirdar is a stunning new voice in young adult fiction, writing uplifting, authentic stories from a Bengali-Irish perspective.
Reviews with the most likes.
tws: racism, homophobia, intentional outing, bullying, a girl named chyna
oh... i'm a little disappointed. this is not to say that i didn't really enjoy this book but i didn't love it as much as i thought i would. i liked the murky relationship between nishat and flávia, but i felt like there should've been more. and the book gets so close to packing some punches towards racism, homophobia, and using religion as justification for homophobia, but it didn't quite get there either. a lot of issues wrapped up conveniently... but at least we got out HEA
however at the end of the day it's a wonderful story about a very hardheaded MC who just wants to be herself, despite the world telling her not to. fantastic representation and approaches to very real POC experiences. can't wait to see what adiba jaigirdar has in store next!
Was almost a 2 star but ultimately very readable and the end picked up.
A bit younger than the YA I usually read—it's been a WHILE since I've read one where the central issue is over a school project haha. But it had realistic teenage characters so you gotta keep that in mind if you go for this and feel annoyed at some points.
A solid 4 stars!
This book was so soft... and I really started to tear up a little at the end. I'm not usually a romance reader, but this book did a lot of things for my emotions.
Honestly, one of my favorite books of this year.
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