Top 10 Tuesday – Covers That Made Me Want To Buy The Book

Sharing another top 10 Tuesday post today! I’m going to be sharing some of my favourite book covers and they instantly made me want to buy them.

The Candle and the Flame by Nafiza Azad

The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi

Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco

Nocturna by Maya Motayne

The Bloodprint by Ausma Zehanat Khan

Descendant of the Crane by Joan He

Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdes

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A Brown

Theft of Sunlight by Intisar Khanani

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

If you haven’t read these books then please go do so! Not only are they stunning on the outside they are just as incredible on the inside!

Books By Asian Authors

With the ever increasing hate towards Asian’s happening I wanted to share some books by Asian authors. Although I do want to say that we should be supporting Asian authors all year round and not just when a tragedy strikes.

Sci Fi and Fantasy

We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi

The Bloodprint by Ausma Zehanat Khan

The Candle and the Flame by Nafiza Azad

Thorn by Intisar Khanani

City of the Plague God by Sarwat Chadda

Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan

The Never Tilting World by Rin Chupeco

The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

A Spark of White Fire by Sangu Mandanna

The Light at the Bottom of the World by London Shah

Descendant of the Crane by Joan He

The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh

The Tiger at Midnight by Swati Teerdhala

Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim

Forest of Souls by Lori M. Lee

Contemporary

Love From A to Z by S.K. Ali

Saints and Misfits by S.K. Ali

The Weight of our Sky by Hanna Alkaf

A Thousand Questions by Saadia Faruqi

Amina’s Song by Hena Khan

Written in the Stars by Aisha Saeed

The Trouble With Hating You by Sajni Patel

Pride Prejudice and Other Flavours by Sonali Dev

The Beauty of Your Face by Sahar Mustafa

There’s Something About Sweetie by Sandhya Menon

A Map of Salt and Stars by Zeyn Joukhadar

A Place For Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza

Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay

My So Called Bollywood Life by Nisha Sharma

All The Things We Never Said by Yasmin Rahman

Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga

Ayesha Dean – The Istanbul Intrigue by Melati Lum

This is by no means an exhaustive list but I have read nearly all of these (the few I haven’t I have heard really great things) and so I can say that all of these books are amazing and if you haven’t read them then you should absolutely change that!  

Books with my Favourite Sibling Relationships

It’s the second week of The Empire of Gold readalong and this weeks photo challenge prompt is books with your favourite siblings so I will be sharing books which have great complex sibling relationships!

The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty – I love the Qahtani siblings and some of my favourite scenes is of them three! My review is here

There Will Come A Darkness by Katy Rose Pool – There are two sisters in this story, one is dying and the other will do whatever it takes to save her even killing others. I am looking forward to seeing what will happen in the sequel. My review is here

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir – I love Laia and Darin so much and the first book starts with Laia doing whatever she needs to do to save Darin. My review is here

Descendant of the Crane by Joan He – I loved the complex relationship between Hesina and her brother and her adopted siblings and how that impacted the events of the story.

Pride, Prejudice and Other Flavours by Sonali Dev – I love the Rajeh siblings and how despite the complicated situation they found themselves in they still love and care for each other.

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne Brown – Malik would do anything to for his little sister and I hope we see more of them together in the sequel. My review is here

Love From A To Z by S.K. Ali – I love how much Adam cares for his little sister. My review is here

More to the Story by Hena Khan – This is a modern Little Women retelling and I loved the relationships of the sisters so much.

So here are some of my favourite siblings in books! Share some of your favourite sibling relationships!

The Beauty of Your Face by Sahar Mustafah – ARC Review

Thank you to Legend Press for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book was incredible and so poignant and just made me feel all the emotions. Highly recommend this book!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

A Palestinian American woman wrestles with faith, loss, and identity before coming face-to-face with a school shooter in this searing debut.

A uniquely American story told in powerful, evocative prose, The Beauty of Your Face navigates a country growing ever more divided. Afaf Rahman, the daughter of Palestinian immigrants, is the principal of Nurrideen School for Girls, a Muslim school in the Chicago suburbs. One morning, a shooter—radicalized by the online alt-right—attacks the school.

As Afaf listens to his terrifying progress, we are swept back through her memories: the bigotry she faced as a child, her mother’s dreams of returning to Palestine, and the devastating disappearance of her older sister that tore her family apart. Still, there is the sweetness of the music from her father’s oud, and the hope and community Afaf finally finds in Islam.

This is such a profound book, a book where I felt so seen on so many levels. What it means to be a child of immigrants. Of parents who left everything and everyone behind to try to start a new life where their children will be safe but how they have to still battle, it’s just a different type of battle. One of having to prove you are not stupid, one where you have to watch people sexualise you based on the colour of your skin, where you are treated less because of it.

It was a book I could relate to being a child of parents and grandparents who moved from their home countries to the west to try and build a better life for their kids. The conflicting feelings of a child from two worlds not knowing where they fit in, not enough for either their family culture or of living in the west spoke to me deep in my soul. This whole book was something I felt deep in my soul, how Afaf is lost as a teen and then slowly finds her path and her faith and how it anchors her and gives meaning to her life was so beautiful to read.

Most of the story is exploring Afaf’s life growing up and her finding her faith until we meet the adult Afaf that is headteacher of an Islamic Girls School. We see what she feels and thinks as there is a shooter terrorising the school and she is stuck in the prayer room. We also see a little from the shooters point of view and how his blind hatred lead him to murdering innocent teenage girls. He didn’t even once try to understand who they were, he found it unacceptable that they were “different” because of their religion so therefore a threat. It’s something we still see today, something that I have experienced, something I see happen to those around the world.

I think it’s such an important book for people to read, it shows how complicated it is being an immigrant, trying to fit into a place that doesn’t really want you there, that thinks you are less because of the colour of your skin. To see how blind hatred can cause so much death and destruction. This book is such an important and relevant book and I really need you all to read it.

August 2020 Monthly Wrap Up

I had a really great reading month this month and read some incredible books though I have found I find it easier to listen to audiobooks than actually pick up a book. I’ve listened to 6 audiobooks this month! I am loving my scribd subscription so much because of all the audiobooks on there!

If you want to try scribd for two months for free you can use my link which will also give me a month free. This is my link

So here are the books I read this month:

Descendant of the Crane by Joan He – I listened to the audiobook and it was incredible! My review will be up soon!

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Rating: 5 out of 5.

Love From A to Z by S.K. Ali – A reread via audiobook and if it’s possible, I loved it even more this time. You can read my review here.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes – I really loved this book. Seeing the point of view of the women was incredible. There is so much of history missing because we only see the male point of view. The audiobook was also great to listen to.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

A Court of Lions by Somaiya Daud – I enjoyed this sequel which is full of political intrigue and a young woman who fights for a better life for everyone she knows. My review is here

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

The Bloodprint by Ausma Zehanat Khan – This book blew my mind! It’s a fantasy inspired by Islamic beliefs and the main character has incredible strength and faith and seeing actual quran verses incorporated into the story was so wonderful to see. My review will be up soon.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Love at First Fight by Sandhya Menon – A great short story set in the dimpleverse.

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Rating: 4 out of 5.

Bookish and the Beast by Ashley Poston – Another great nerdy contemporary with a booknerd as a main character! My review is here

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Rating: 4 out of 5.

Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin – A reread because I love this book and I forgot how much I loved this book and how funny it is. My review is here

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

The Beauty of her Face by Sahar Mustafah – This is such a poignant and relatable story of Muslim woman who’s school is attacked by a terrorist who goes on a murdering spree, we see flashbacks of her as a young girl who is trying to find her place in the world and how she ends up the woman she is. It is an incredible book and everyone should read it. My review will be up soon!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang – This book utterly destroyed me, I am very afraid for the lives of my faves because Rebecca is brutal. My review will be up soon!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Race the Sands by Sarah Beth Durst – This book was such an unexpected surprise. I did not expect to love it as much as I did. One of the MCs is an older woman and a single mother and I loved seeing her be a total badass!

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Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Nyxia Uprising by Scott Reintgen – This was a great conclusion to a great trilogy. Fast paced and intense and I loved the characters so much!

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Rating: 4 out of 5.

You Must be Layla by Yasmin Abdel-Magied – I was excited to read this but I was a little disappointed. It felt like it needed more editing even though the themes were really interesting and relevant.

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

So that’s everything I read this month and clearly I have been handing out 5 stars a lot but these books have been incredible and you should all go read them!

I also shared these blog posts this month:

 My review of Diana and the Island of no Return by Aisha Saeed

My review of Allah Loves by Omar Suleiman

Book recommendations based on Daevabad characters

My favourite quotes from The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh

My favourite quotes from The Damned by Renee Ahdieh

Diverse retellings you need to read

My latest post in my Inspiring Muslim Women throughout History. This post is about Hafsah bint Umar (ra) who was the custodian of the Quran.

That’s everything for this month! Have you read any of the books I read? What was your favourite read in August?