#and not fake dating to real dating trope but I also read The Henna Wars by the same author -Adiba Jaigirdar-​

[lilidawnonthemoon]

[ari-does-epi]

Pride Reading Challenge Update #3

The Henna Wars by Abida Jaigirdar

3/5

Review and image descriptions under the cut!

I bought this book because I LOVED Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating and honestly the concept of two girls falling in love while running rival henna stands was two cute to pass up. I honestly didn't like it as much as I was hoping to, honestly? It was a lot less "fluffy" than I was expecting. I really rarely enjoy coming out books, though, so that's more of a personal preference. I also didn't really like the romance, it just felt like there wasn't a ton of chemistry, and just in general it seemed like a lot of the core conflicts of the story got suddenly fixed in the last 20 pages in a way that didn't feel like a real resolution. I did like that the discussion of how race intersects with sexuality was really nuanced, at least by YA standards. I read this because I wanted some good queer South Asian representation, and I definitely got that! I think it was a good book, overall, but it used a lot of queer YA tropes that I dislike and you can definitely tell this was the author's first novel. I'll still be buying her next book though (she has one coming out next year that looks more adult romance-ish, without the heavy coming out drama)!

[Image 1 ID: The 4x4 bingo square for the studyblr with knives reading challenge. From left to right, top to bottom, they read “Queer Found Family,” “Queer Academia,” “Fucked Up Queers,” “Abolish Annihilate Aspec,” “Coming Out Book,” “Historical Setting,” “Epically Queer,” “In Sappho’s Footsteps” “Yes Homo,” “Queer Joy,” “Sword WLW,” “Old Queers,” “Yes I’m Queer, Mind Your Own Business,” “Down With Cis,” “#OwnVoices” and “Not Gay As In Happy But Queer As In Fuck You”. “Sword WLW” and “Queer Found Family” are crossed out in gray. “Coming Out Book” is crossed out in black.]

[Image 2 ID: A photo of The Henna Wars by Abida Jaigirdar.]