The Henna Wars, by Adiba Jaigirdar

Hey guys, this is Abi here,

And I think I see a pattern forming.

Last year, I did little to no reviews. Compared to when I first started this blog, the amount of reviews I used to do, like most of what I posted were reviews, even for books I'd already read.

And I think I got sick of them, and I got bored of planning to post reviews.

Now, I'm on my fourth spontaneous review in three reviews.

And that's what I'm going to do:

For the time being, I'm just going to post reviews for books that I want to review, spontaneously.

Okay, epiphany over.

Today I'm writing my review for The Henna Wars, by Adiba Jaigirdar!

Enjoy!

Title: The Henna Wars

Author: Adiba Jaigirdar

Genre: LGBT Romance

Status: Standalone

Pages: 383

Blurb: "Nishat's parents say

she can be anyone

she wants- as long as

she isn't a lesbian.

Nishat's doesn't want to lose her family,

but she also doesn't want to hide who

she is, and it only gets harder once a

childhood friend walks back into her

life. Flavia is beautiful and charismatic,

and Nishat falls for her instantly. But

when a school competition invites students

to create their own businesses,

both Flavia and Nishat decides to show-

case their talents as henna artists. In a

fight to prove who is best, their lives

become more tangled- but Nishat can't

quite get rid of her crush, especially

since Flavia seems to like her back.

As the competition heats up, Nishat

has a decision to make: stay in the

closet for her family, or put aside her

differences with Flavia and give their

relationship a chance."

My Thoughts

I had thoughts on this book before I even read the first page of The Henna Wars. Two thoughts in particular: 1) The cover is beautiful, incredibly simple, yet it very accurately shows what it's all about to any potential readers, and I love that. 2) The message before the story books, forewarning readers about what's included (content warnings are: racism, homophobia, bullying, a character being outed.) It's great to know that it's at the start of the book, so people are forewarned, in case any of those themes are sensitive to them. 

 But when I heard about this novel I was all for it. I was excited to pick up a book that I had heard discusses the issues surrounding being black and gay, especially in our current circumstances. So I was all too eager to pick it up.

Having finished it, I can say that there's a lot to love about this book. The Henna Wars follows a Bengali girl named Nishat, who has to juggle her family's shame and denial to her coming out as a lesbian to them at the start of the novel, as well as the racism and homophobia constantly at school.

Nishat's character was my favourite part of the book honestly. She felt like a very fleshed out character, not rushed at all. All she wants is to be accepted by her parents, and not feel like she has to hide her sexuality like some shameful secret.

Although I don't have a personal experience similar to Nishat's, it was easy to gauge and sympathise with what she was having to deal with. What I liked was that she didn't seem to have just one emotion throughout the entire book, it felt like I was reading the story of a real person, not just a character. She was nervous at social situations, got butterflies at the thought of her crush, and stood up for herself when confronted about her sexuality.

Other than totally falling in love with Nishat's character, the best part for me was the relationships she shared with her sister, Priti, and her crush, Flavia.  I don't know whether I'm just reading the wrong books or what, but one thing I don't see a lot is that sibling love, particularly sisters.

But I love how Priti is always Nishat's cheerleader, it was so dear to see.

Although we didn't see Flavia and Nishat together as much, their romance was a nice relief between all the shite Nishat had to put up with. I liked how for the whole book there was a question of will they kiss, or won't they? As for whether Flavia felt the same as Nishat did? I was on tenterhooks as for what would happen, whether they'd get together, or Nishat would end up without Flavia.

Although there were a lot of heavy issues discussed in The Henna Wars, I feel like the sweet and the shite moments were very well balanced out, and very well-written. I liked how Jaigirdar was able to address social issues whilst keeping it lightweight, not too heavy.

I'm not saying The Henna Wars didn't discuss heavy topics, far from it. I was impressed by how she was also able to incorporate the beliefs of Bangladesh in a critical manner, whilst also showing Nishat's love for her culture.

The only critique I would have for this is that the writing was a bit simple, which is why I rated this 4 stars, instead of 5. There were just a couple of sentences that didn't sit well.

Overall, a wonderful novel, I can't wait to read more of her work, because I thoroughly enjoyed this. I can't wait to see this get the hype it deserves, because it was amazing. I highly recommend to anyone who likes Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda because this read very similar to that.

Right! Those are my thoughts on The Henna Wars, by Adiba Jaigirdar! I hope you enjoyed it, and I feel free to comment down below.

I hope you have a wonderful day and I'll see you all soon.

Byeeeee!

-Abi xxxx

The Mid-Year Freakout Tag

Hey guys, this is Abi here,

And even though I do this tag every year, it never gets old. At least for me anyway.

So I'm doing it again.

Enjoy.

1. The best book you've read so far in 2020.

I really don't know with this!

I can't decide now, but here's my top three:

-Illuminae (The Illuminae Files #1), by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

-Skyward (Skyward #1), by Brandon Sanderson

-What If It's Us, by Adam Silvera & Becki Albertalli

They're all amazing, I recommend picking up any of them. Clearly, What If It's Us is a contemporary, it's an LGBT romance that takes place in New York, and there's musical theatre references too so it's frickin adorable. Skyward is an amazingly well crafted novel about proving people's opinions of you wrong, and Illuminae is a case study made out of reports and text messages, it's not structured like an ordinary tale. Obviously there's more to these amazing novels, these are just sum ups, but all three are fantastic in their own right. (And the authors are absolutely phenomenal.)

2. Best sequel you've read so far in 2020.

I haven't read a whole lot of sequels yet this year for some reason, but so far, this is my favourite sequel:

I finished this today, so I'm counting it! This series is so amazing, unlike anything I've read before, especially with the format, and aside from that, it's basically surprise after surprise, that I just didn't see coming. More on my wrap up, but if you haven't read this, come and join! Jump on the bandwagon. It's a crazy ride.

3. New release you haven't read yet, but want to.

I'm planning on getting every book from my April-June anticipated releases post that I haven't read yet for my TBR next month, and out of all the books that are left, The Lightness of Hands is the one that's been stuck in my brain the longest. The Lightness of Hands is about sixteen-year-old Ellie, and after her Dad's magician gigs dry up (after he fails on the biggest stakes trick ever), their insurance lapses, leaving her Dad's heart condition unchecked, and forcing Ellie to battle her bipolar II disorder without medication. But when he's offered a chance at redemption, a second chance to perform the trick that ended his career, Ellie takes it and lies about it to drag him across the country. But when her lie is exposed, Ellie will have to take her illness head-on- to save her father- and herself.

4. Most anticipated release for the second half of the year.

I'm not going to go into a huge amount of detail on this one, if you want all the in-depth information on Grown, you can see it here. Grown is a story based on the allegations and accusations of the R&B star R Kelly, but there are a long list of trigger warnings, and even though I feel like this is a book I need to read, I urge people to do your research on what this book discusses before jumping into it. This comes out in September, and you can bet I'm going to be tearing through the pages as soon as I get my hands on it.

5. Biggest disappointment.

After loving Tomi Adeyemi's debut, I had high expectations for the sequel. Children of Blood and Bone took the Booktube community by storm when it's own voice narrative struck the YA section in 2018, so I had high hopes. And even though I still enjoyed it, I didn't hold a candle to the first book in the series. If there's one more book, I've managed the first two, so without a doubt I'll continue to the end, but Children of Virtue and Vengeance just fell flat for me. (Don't hate me please.)  

6. Biggest surprise.

Although I'd heard everyone singing this book's praises, I didn't truly believe it until I listened to the audiobook back in April. Every Heart A Doorway takes place at Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children, for children that have come back from secret lands (through magical doors that take them to places outside of the ordinary world) and haven't been able to deal with it. The tale starts when Nancy first arrives at the Home, and before basically 5 minutes, disaster strikes. And it just starts from there. I was so surprised at how much I instantly loved this, and how much was packed in within 174 pages/ 3 ish hours (audiobook), that I had to choose this. I'm three books in now, and this series continues to be amazing.

7. Favourite new author. (Debut or new to you.)

I finished this just last Friday, and the ending is still spinning in my mind. (Yes, even after picking up Gemina after.) I'm telling you now, Diana Urban is an author to watch. All Your Twisted Secrets has a simple, yet incredibly deadly, fast paced, edge of your seat plot- 6 teenagers trapped in a room with one instruction- kill one of them, or they all die. The character development is spot on, it's so easy to link events to the characters, I never had any problems. Such an addictive read.

8. Newest fictional crush.

I'm pretty sure I skipped this one last year, and the trend continues...
I don't really have a new fictional crush.

Oh wait...

KELL!

I suppose he counts.

(Of course he does, I'd never forget you, my dear Kell.)

9. Newest favourite character.

I really hate to name two characters from one series...
But not enough to not do it anyway!
LILA BARD.

She's not stupid, she doesn't try to take on the world. (Often.) She's incredible with a knife, and I think her and Tanith Low would be an awesome team. Maybe not Lila and Valkyrie though. But she's awesome.

10. Book that made you cry.

There are a few contenders for this one, so I'm just going to list them:
-The Light Between Oceans, by M.L. Stedman
-The Mercies, by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
-A Girl in Three Parts, by Suzanne Daniel
Go and read these three, they're all masterpieces. (In my opinion.)
Also I love all of these covers.

11. Book that made you happy.

Although this wasn't Mo Farah himself talking in my ear when I was listening to this audiobook (the physical copy is out of print at the moment), it was fantastic to hear about his experience from a scrawny secondary schoolboy to Great Britain's golden medal winner he is today. Being the runner and athletics fan that I am, I found it truly inspiring, hearing about the work he put in for years, as he faced obstacle after obstacle. But he did it, and it wonderful to find out about his journey and how he reached his success.

12. Most beautiful book you've bought this year (or received.)

Just look at that cover. The physical copy is just as gorgeous, and it's perfect for the plot too. I mean, Marie Lu has always had stunning covers, but this one really takes the cake. And the language for The Kingdom of Back is just as luxurious and beautiful as the cover. I'm so glad I was able to read it when I did because it's pretty phenomenal for a debut historical fiction novel.

13. What books do you need to read by the end of the year?

These are the only books I need to read to complete all of my TBR Jar Challenges for the year. The reason I haven't devoured these yet is because I'm saving them for October (I already have a special spooky TBR planned and it includes The Chronicles of Alice duology.)

Okay! That's it for today!

As always, if you want to do this tag, you're certainly free to do so.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend full of reading and I'll see you all next week. I'll be starting The Henna Wars, by Adiba Jaigirdar this weekend. What are you reading?

Byeeee!
-Abi xxxxx

Anticipated Book Releases (July-September 2020)

Hey guys, this is Abi here,

And because we're halfway through June, it's time for the next Anticipated Releases post! Most of these are in September, but there's still a couple in July and August, so enjoy!

July Releases

1. Loveless, by Alice Oseman
Release date: 9/7/20

Having read all of Alice Oseman's books a few months back, I'm firmly on the bandwagon with anything she writes, because I know it'll be wonderfully written, with fantastic characters, and at least some LGBTQIA representation. Loveless is Georgia, who even though she has never had a fleeting romance, or even a crush, is out to find what her definition of love is. As she starts university with her friends (can I just say that I love that this takes place in University, by the way), she forms a "romance plan" to find what she's always been looking for. But when her plan goes disastrously wrong, she starts to question, why love seems to be so easy for everyone but her. With terms like asexual and aromantic, Georgia is more confused than ever. Is she destined to remain loveless? Or has she just been looking for the wrong thing for all this time? I can't wait for the next Alice Oseman book to be released, and thankfully, I don't have to wait long. And I know I'm not alone in this, because book for Alice Oseman and her LGBT reads always gather the largest amount of hype in the Booktube community.

2. Deal With the Devil (Mercenary Librarians #1), by Kit Rocha
Release date: 28/7/20

I stumbled across this when doing research for this post. I already have an extensive TBR for the series I want to start, but this one looks kind of interesting. Also, the opening line for this on it's Goodreads page is that it's a mix of Orphan Black and post apocalyptic Avengers. I haven't read an apocalyptic story in ages, and there's something about this that just stands out. In a world where the US collapsed 45 years ago, for most of the people that remain, survival is the only thing that's important. At any cost. Our protagonist Nina, is an information broker with a mission: to bring hope to the darkest corners of Atlanta. She and her team of mercenary librarians work to use their knowledge to help those in need. But altruism doesn't pay the bills- the real money is in the business of raiding vaults and swapping secret information. Knox is the leader of the Silver Devils, an elite strike squad that chose to go AWOL, rather than slaughter innocents. Before the Devils leave town for good, they need a biochem hacker, to stabilize the experimental implants that grant their superhuman abilities. Only their hacker has been kidnapped, and the ransom for her return is Nina. The bait- information that could set up Nina and her team up for years... if they live that long. This is the first I've heard from this dynamic duo, but from the comments on the page, they have quite a following, so I'm intrigued. Because of the amount of new releases on this list, I might not get to it straight away, but I'll give it a shot.   

August Releases
1. Midnight Sun (Twilight #5), by Stephenie Meyer
Release date: 4/8/20

Who isn't excited for this? We've literally been waiting for this book to be announced for over a decade. This is Twilight, from Edward's perspective, if you didn't know. I'm assuming this is going to be just the one book from this POV, but you can never be sure with Stephenie Meyer. From what I've seen from the comments on Goodreads, people are having moral battles with themselves as for whether to pick it up. But like with The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, this is too largely hyped a book for me to not at least give it a chance. Of course, I probably won't enjoy it as much as I would if I was still 12, but let's not judge it before I at least read it.

2. Six Angry Girls, by Adrienne Kisner
Release date: 18/8/20

This sounds like something I haven't read before, and I'm excited to see what I think about it. You jump from two POV's; Raina Petree, whose basically crushing her last school year, until she's dumped by her long-term boyfriend, and (basically) kicked out of the drama club, the college of her dreams slips away, and her arch-nemesis triumphs. The other POV is Miller Goodwin. Her father treats her like a servant, and the all boy Mock-trial team votes her out, even after she spent three years helping to build it's success. Bur after Raina finds new purpose in knitting needles and a politically active yarn barn, the two of them team up, and recruit four other angry girls to not only take on the Mock Trials, but to smash patriarchy in the process. This sounds like an epic book to say the least, full of feminism and politics, and I can't wait to pick this up. I've also never read a book that has the Mock Trial in it as one of it's themes so I'm looking forward to learning more about that as it's a subject I don't know a whole lot about.   

2. Now That I've Found You, by Kristina Forest
Release date: 25/8/20

Evie Jones is the next upcoming superstar that can never soar high enough. Until a close friend's betrayal leads to her being blacklisted. Fortunately, Evie knows exactly what she needs to do to get back into the spotlight. Organize a public event with America's most loved actress- her grandmother, Gigi, aka Evelyn Conaway. Then disaster strikes: days away from her public event, her grandmother does the unthinkable- she disappears. With her career on the line and time running out, she enlists the help of Milo Williams, who was the last person to see her before she disappeared.  As Evie conducts a wild manhunt with Milo, a stranger she's not totally sure she can trust, romance and adventure abounds while Evie makes some surprising discoveries about her grandmother- and herself. I've read very few books about a manhunt round New York, and it's very unlikely that I'll get to go any time soon, so I may as well read about it. Now That I've Found You sounds like a whale of a time, and I hope it's fast paced and fun, and that's really all I'm expecting from it.

September Releases
1. Punching the Air, by Ibi Zoboi
Release date: 1/9/20

Punching the Air is about Amal Shahid, a boy who, even in a Diverse art school, is seen as disruptive and unmotivated. But after one fateful night, an altercation in a gentrifying neighbourhood (an argument in a neighbourhood that's being changed), he's convicted of a crime he didn't commit, at 16 years old. Told in verse, Punching the Air is a story that Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam collaborated on, to make what we see before us. It is high time I read a book purely in verse, and I'm excited that it'll be this one. From what I've seen on Goodreads, this has got nothing but fantastic reviews, and I'm sure I'll enjoy it just as much as them.  

2. These Vengeful Hearts, by Katherine Laurin
Release date: 8/9/20

The Red Court do favours... But every request comes at a cost. And once the dead is done, you're forever in their debt. Whenever something scandalous happens at Heller High, The Red Court are always the name on everyone's lips. Their identities a secret, only revealed to The Queen of Hearts herself, The Red Court consists of the most elite females of the school- and what they do is deal out favours and social ruin in equal measure. These Vengeful Hearts is about sixteen-year-old Ember Williams, who has seen what The Red Court can do- two years ago, they caused the accident that left her sister paralysed. So, she has a goal- to take them down from the inside. But taking down The Red Court will come at a price- will the cost of revenge be more than she's willing to sacrifice? I have to admit, this sounds kind of like Pretty Little Liars, a bit like the One of Us Is Lying series, but like there's something more to it. All I know is, it sounds dark and obsessive, and I am all for it.

3. Grown, by Tiffany D. Jackson
Release date: 15/9/20

Grown is about seventeen-year-old Enchanted Jones, who loves to sing. While auditioning for a singing competition, she meets Korey Fields, an R&B superstar that tells her he can make her dreams come through. At first, Enchanted is dazzled by his luxurious lifestyle and his fabulous life- but then her dreams turn into a nightmare. Behind the dark side, there's rage and an overwhelming need for control- with consequences. And then Korey Fields is dead, and Enchanted is left with no memory of the night before, and blood on her hands. Nobody- not the police, or Korey's fans included- has more questions than her. But now the police are at the door. Who killed Korey Fields? All signs point to Enchanted. Okay, first off: from the ARC reviews on Goodreads, there are a few trigger warnings for this, which include: rape, abuse (mental, physical, and emotional), child endangerment, drug use, sexual assault, mental health, suicide. So if any of those are triggers for you, please think about whether this is a book that you should read. What I didn't know about this was that it's meant to be a loose narrative of the stories and allegations surrounding R. Kelly. I'm not sure what my feelings are towards this book yet, but I definitely think it's an important book to read, and I'm definitely going to do that.    

4. Early Departures, by Justin A. Reynolds
Release date: 22/9/20

Having read Justin A. Reynold's debut novel Opposite of Always last year, when I heard he was releasing another novel, I eagerly added it to my anticipated releases list for the year. Early Departures is about Jamal, and about him trying to making it up to Q (his past best-friend) before he dies (he doesn't know that he's about to die.) Even more complicated, they haven't been best-friends since Jamal's parents died in a car accident, and Jamal thought Q was to blame. But after Jamal saves him from drowning, only to have him die later on in hospital, a new Health-care technology is giving Q a second chance to live for a while, before he dies... permanently. But grief is hard to shake, and he can't tell Q why he suddenly wants to be best-friends again, so how can Jamal fix his friendship with Q if he can't tell him the truth? I have to admit, that was hard, especially figuring out who was who (if that makes sense.) Hopefully it'll be easier to tell in the book. But Early Departures sounds about as fun yet serious as Opposite of Always, and if it's half as good as that book was, I'm thinking I'll have a lot of fun with this.

5. Skyhunter (Skyhunter #1),  by Marie Lu
Release date: 29/9/20

At this point I would read Marie Lu's shopping lists. She is at the top of my autobuy authors list (alongside Derek Landy.) Skyhunter takes place on Mara, one of the few remaining places that the Karensa Federation hasn't brought to it's knees. Robbed of her voice and home, Talin knows firsthand the brutality of the federation, she is now a part of The Legendary Strikers, an elite fighting force trained to fight the mutant beasts the Federation call Ghosts (they're what are sent to destroy Mara.) Yet this team refuse to give up hope. Until a devastating attack seems like this is the end... just when it seems like there's no choice but to succumb, a mysterious prisoner is brought in from the front. Is he a spy from the Federation? Or will he be the person that just might save them all? Obviously there's more to it than that, but that's the gist of it. This reminds me a bit of Skyward, but I'm looking forward to seeing how Marie Lu spins this new series. And that cover is just gorgeous. Just a few months away.

Okay, those are all the releases I'm looking forward to. I hope you all have a wonderful afternoon/ evening, wherever you are, and continue to stay safe.

See you all soon, byeeeee!

-Abi