My Big Fat Desi Wedding ed. Prerna Pickett

Pages: 282 

Publisher: Hodder Children's Books 

Released: 18th of January 2024 

Romance. Drama. And plenty of spice. You are invited to . . . MY BIG, FAT DESI WEDDING.

A prophecy of disaster.

A world where your soulmate's thoughts appear on your skin.

A boy forbidden from attending his brother's wedding.

A supernatural love that spans centuries.

And one particular auntie who loves to meddle.

So, send in your RSVP, put on your best outfit, and take a front row seat as enemies become friends, friends become lovers, sceptics are convinced by the power of romance, and guests fall head over heels - even if they're not the ones saying 'I do'.

Lose yourself in eight swoon-worthy and dreamy stories guaranteed to bring out the hopeless romantic in every reader. With a never-ending buffet of mouth-watering food, extravagant outfit changes and lots of drama!

What I Have to Say 

This was such a lovely read. It was a short story collection where I enjoyed pretty much every story. It was very relaxing and romantic and it was honestly just such a joy to read. I don't know why but desi teen romance is one of my favourite genres to relax to, with most of the stories in this book revolving around teenagers or people in early adulthood. 

Two of my particular favourite stories were Fate's Favourites, which played very much with the idea of soul mates and the idea that the thoughts of your soul mate would end up manifesting on your body and A Very Bloody Halyanam, which brought vampires into the mix. 

I really liked exploring the mix of cultures and the differences and similarities between the different marriage ceremonies. 

In all, it was a good, fun, relaxing read. 

4 stars 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Hodder Children's Books for providing me a gifted copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 

This Is How You Fall In Love by Anika Hussain

Pages: 352 

Publisher: Hot Key Books 

Released: 2nd of February 2023 

Zara and Adnan are just friends. Always have been, always will be. Even if they have to pretend to be girlfriend and boyfriend...

Zara loves love in all forms: 90s romcoms and romance novels and grand sweeping gestures. And she's desperate to have her own great love story. Crucially, a real one. So when her best friend Adnan begs her to pretend to date him to cover up his new top-secret relationship, Zara is hesitant. This isn't the kind of thing she had in mind. But there's something in it for Zara too: making her parents, who love Adnan, happy might just stop them arguing for a while. She may not be getting her own love story, but she could save theirs.

So Zara agrees and the act begins: after all, how different can pretending to be in a relationship with your best friend be to just hanging around with them like usual? Turns out, a lot. With fake dating comes fake hand-holding and fake kissing and real feelings... And when a new boy turns up in Zara's life, things get more confusing than ever.

The course of true love never did run smooth, but Zara's love story is messier than most...

What I Have to Say 

This book was a love letter to love. Romantic love, platonic love, friendship and family, it leaves no kind of love out. The ending really touched me a lot with how positive it was a about friendships and familial love. 

It amused me a lot that she met the new boy playing Pokemon Go. As a Pokemon Go player myself I really appreciated the references, but I'm not sure if it would be too technical for people who don't play. It really endeared me towards Yahya though. I really liked him a lot. 

I do feel though that it was maybe a bit predictable because of which characters were fleshed out and which weren't. Although I was fearful that she would get together with the wrong boy at the end, I kind of felt like I knew how it would end. 

I really, really enjoyed it though and I hope you do too. 

4 stars 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Hot Key Books for providing this copy for review. 

Internment by Samira Ahmed

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 381

Publisher: Little Brown Book Group 

Released: 19th of March 2019 

Rebellions are built on hope.

Set in a horrifying near-future United States, seventeen-year-old Layla Amin and her parents are forced into an internment camp for Muslim American citizens.

With the help of newly made friends also trapped within the internment camp, her boyfriend on the outside, and an unexpected alliance, Layla begins a journey to fight for freedom, leading a revolution against the internment camp's Director and his guards.

Heart-racing and emotional, Internment challenges readers to fight complicit silence that exists in our society today.

Trigger Warnings: Extreme racism, imprisonment, violence

What I Have to Say 

This book was incredible. It was so atmospheric. It brought every feeling right off the page and into your heart. The undercurrent of fear and tension that existed inside the camp felt was there in every page of the book. I sympathised so much with all the characters having to live that way. 

It was really good how much Ahmed delved into history while writing this book. She brought in so much about the concentration camps from the holocaust as well as the Japanese internment camps in America. Having the camp that Layla is sent to near to one of the Japanese camps was a really good way to remind both the characters and the reader what these camps could become. I found the Japanese camps more relevant because that also happened in the US, so it gave us a good idea of what the US government has already proven to be capable of. 

I loved the characters so much. Layla was so strong, but also such an ordinary every day girl. She talked about Star Wars and missed her boyfriend and made friends in the camp. I think it's so important in these types of stories to really ground the characters in things that the reader can relate to. It brings it home to you and makes it feel more real. And adds a little bit of nerd humour for everyone to enjoy. 

Obviously this is a book that has some quite tough subject matter, but it's also a really good story about friendship, family, survival and resistance. The issues raised are so, so important but it's also a really great book in it's own right. 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Little Brown Books for providing me with this free copy for review.