Top 10 Tuesday – Books that Make Me Hungry

I have another Top 10 Tuesday for you this week! Here is where you can find the prompts.

This weeks post are all about books that make me hungry when I read them. So here are ten books that will make your mouth water and feel very hungry when you read them.

1 The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty

2 The Candle and the Flame by Nafiza Azad

3 Mirage by Somaiya Daud

4 The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

5 We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal

6 Once Upon an Eid edited by Aisha Saeed and S.K. Ali

7 The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh

8 Ayesha Dean – The Istanbul Intrigue by Melati Lum

9 The Tiger at Midnight by Swati Teerdhala

10 Pride Prejudice and other Flavours by Sonali Dev

Trust me when you’re reading these books you will want to dive into the book to be able to eat everything that is being described. All I wanted to eat when I read these books was the food described in them. I could practically smell them.

What books left your mouth watering and craving food?

Why You Should Read Love From A to Z by S.K. Ali

If you know me then you know that I love this book with my whole heart and I need you all to read it. So to give you more incentive than my incoherent screaming, here are some reasons why you should read this wonderful book.

Muslim Romance

This book has the most wonderful romance while also keeping it all halal! Sajidah was able to show that Muslim’s can fall in love and that it can be romantic but it can still be kept within the boundaries of what Islam teaches us about relationships between men and women. We see cute fluffy moments and that they still interact with each other and u was grinning so hard all the way through but especially by the end! It’s a nuance often lost to most people but seeing so wonderfully done in the book was so great to see. I felt so seen.

Sajidah also showed through how they handled being attracted to each other, the realities of Muslim youth, especially the in the west. That it’s okay to have feelings and be attracted to each other, Islam doesn’t stop these natural feelings but how we handle them is the important thing. This was such an important nuance to show in the book and I love how it was shown.

Muslim Rep

The Muslim rep in this book was so wonderful to see. We are shown practicing Muslims but we also see them live, they are complex and well developed, they have friends and hobbies and passions. We also see how people who are Muslim are treated and the Islamophobia they face but also that they are happy and living their lives. We see differences in even how some people are more visibly Muslim than others and how that affects them and how they are treated.

Most importantly we see Muslims who are happy and that they don’t feel oppressed by their religion. We see them embrace their religion an do their best to stay true to their faith. It was refreshing to see that. Not only that, but we see representation of Muslims who have converted to Islam and that come from different parts of the world. So much diversity and culture was so great to see in the story.

Multiple Sclerosis/Chronic Illness Rep

Adam has been recently diagnosed with MS when we first meet him and it causes him to re-evaluate his life and how this will affect him long term. The rep was done incredibly well and I felt so seen because I also have chronic health conditions. The way he feels and how he has to navigate so many unknowns and yet still wants to make the most of things. He still falls in love and is wholly accepted by her.

Islamophobia

One of the things that Zayneb has to deal with is having a teacher who is Islamophobic and how angry and upset it makes her. But also that her being visibly Muslim means she has to deal with that where ever she goes. She wears a hijab, she can’t hide that she is Muslim so it makes her a target. I related so much to Zayneb especially how it’s the “little” things that get to her like a woman saying she feels unsafe to sit next to her or her not being allowed to use the swimming pool because she chose to wear a swimming costume that covers her entire body instead of the standard swim suit that makes the white man feel okay. That she’s expected to put a white man’s feelings above hers. It was so real seeing that in a book and love how Sajidah wove it into the story as it’s something that so many of us have to deal with.

It also makes Zayneb turn to activism to channel her anger and pain into something positive so she can try to make things better and make people aware how these things affect Muslims. She is passionate and fiery and I loved that about her.

Friendship & Platonic Love

One of the things I loved seeing in the book was how despite this being a love story, friendships were still shown importance. Zayneb and Adam both have a group of friends who they intereact with just as much as  each other. Zayneb especially as she also interacts and spends time with Adam’s friends too. I loved seeing that friendship is shown to be important and how platonic love for your friends can make you just as happy and hurt you as much as romantic love. We need to see more romances where we see different types of love included in the story!

Finally, if you are an Avatar fan then you will be pleased to hear that there are several avatar references in the story!

This book has wonderful nuanced Muslim rep, incredibly real chronic illness rep, has a wonderful love story that will leave you with a serotonin boost.

Everyone go read this incredible book and also read Saints & Misfits so we can all scream about Misfits in Love which will be out next year complete with a big fat Muslim wedding and a cameo with Adam and Zayneb!

My review is here for Love From A to Z

I also wrote about why this book means so much to me.

My Favourite Quotes from The Damned by Renee Ahdieh

To say I adore this book is an understatement. I love everything that Renee writes, and The Damned was so good and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since I read it.

You can also read my post where I shared my favourite quotes from The Beautiful.

So here are some of my favourite quotes from The Damned and I hope they entice you all to go read this wonderful series!

People tended to recall things not as they were but as they wished them to be.

But the best heroes possessed flaws. And the best mortals never forgot that fact.

Men were the worst kind of heroes. Riddled with flaws they refused to see.

Feel your anger, but do not succumb to it.

If a mediocre young man could crow to the world about his mediocrity, then why should a superior young woman not do the same?

I don’t want someone who understands and accepts the world she is given. I want someone who expects more. Who fights for it and isn’t afraid to dirty her sleeves in the process.

Food is life, after all.

Life is not a given to any of us. Neither is love. A hundred thousand years will not teach you that truth. You must accept it for yourself.

This is what it means to live. To choose a path and face the consequences.

I am tired of allowing society to dictate my behaviour.

When had justice ever prevailed when it came to a richly entitled young man and a young woman of modest means?

It was easy for a man to be kind and generosity in times of plenty. The real measure of a man was what he did and said in times of difficulty.

She was not a damsel in distress, waiting to be rescued by a knight on a shining horse.

This is the life I chose. It is mine and no one else’s.

So these are just some of the many quotes I highlighted when I was reading The Damned and this is how you know Renee’s writing is incredible because I just want to highlight so many poignant moments in the book and omg I just love these books so much!

PS. Here is my review for The Beautiful and The Damned

10 Things I Hate About Pinky by Sandhya Menon – ARC Review

I was sent this arc by the author in exchange for an honest review.

I love all the books in the Dimpleverse and you can read my review of Dimple here and of Sweetie here.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Pinky Kumar wears the social justice warrior badge with pride. From raccoon hospitals to persecuted rock stars, no cause is too esoteric for her to champion. But a teeny-tiny part of her also really enjoys making her conservative, buttoned-up corporate lawyer parents cringe.

Samir Jha might have a few . . . quirks remaining from the time he had to take care of his sick mother, like the endless lists he makes in his planner and the way he schedules every minute of every day, but those are good things. They make life predictable and steady.

Pinky loves lazy summers at her parents’ Cape Cod lake house, but after listening to them harangue her about the poor decisions (aka boyfriends) she’s made, she hatches a plan. Get her sorta-friend-sorta-enemy, Samir—who is a total Harvard-bound Mama’s boy—to pose as her perfect boyfriend for the summer. As they bicker their way through lighthouses and butterfly habitats, sparks fly, and they both realize this will be a summer they’ll never forget. 

This book was hilarious and sweet and there was so, much, angst! I loved it! I had already started shipping Pinky and Samir in There’s Something About Sweetie so when this was announced I was so excited!

The tension and angst between Pinky and Samir was just *chefs kisses* and how they slowly started developing feelings for each other but adamantly denied their feelings because this is fake dating and they both important reasons for this so it can’t possibly be real was just amazing!

They both have assumptions about each other which makes them bicker a lot but they slowly realise that maybe there is more to the other person than they first thought. They seem like total opposites but then they actually start to get along really well and see past the outer layers and get to know each other and I just loved watching them slowly take down their barriers with each other.

They both have such wonderful character development. Pinky has a difficult relationship with her parents, especially her mother but it was really great seeing how they both acted out of love but because they didn’t communicate they each misunderstood the other and how they slowly started to understand each other better especially once Pinky starts to learn more about her mother. I really related to Pinky and how her mother holds her to such high standards and doesn’t always believe her and I am so glad we get to see these complicated relationships in the book.

Samir’s relationship with his mother is the opposite of Pinky’s to the point of stifling and that his life revolves around his mother and it was also really interesting to see such opposite relationships with parents. I especially loved how they both helped each other with coming to terms with things they don’t want to admit to themselves and help each other improve their relationships with their parents.

It was so much fun reading how their fake dating slowly gave way to real feelings and it made me just want to read one more chapter because the angst and tension build up was so good! I really loved how they were both true to themselves and had passions in life that were so important to them. It was also great to see how they supported each other in each others passions. Though they both have different approaches in how to deal with things. Pinky is all fire where as Samir is always calm.

I really loved this book and how Sandhya wove some really important issues into the story but also still kept it fun and hilarious with an equal helping of sass and angst. I think everyone should go read this book and all three books in the dimpleverse as they’re all amazing!

Why Love From A to Z by S.K. Ali Means So Much To Me

I first read Love From A to Z last year and completely fell in love with the book and the characters. But I just want to share more about this wonderful book and why I love it so much.

PS. You can read my review here

This book is a love story between two young Muslims who stay within the boundaries of Islamic etiquette and rulings on interacting with the opposite sex and this isn’t something we ever get to see in books. I have wanted to see this type of love story for so long.

“Maybe that’s what living is – recognising the Marvels and Oddities around you.”

I hope we get to see more of this because it is the story of me and my husband and yet there were people who made us feel like we betrayed our religious beliefs by choosing to marry each other. I was made to feel guilty and doubt my faith in Allah because how could I be a good Muslim and still have chosen to marry my husband myself. And on the other side I had people completely unable to understand how I could possibly marry someone I hadn’t dated or had an intimate relationship with him before marriage. Basically there was no right thing to do.

But if I had been able to read this book back then, I know it would have helped me. I would know that I have done nothing wrong and that would have helped me a lot. So I am so happy to see this book published because I am sure there are more stories like mine.

Zayneb is also one of my absolute favourite characters ever, I see myself in her in so many ways. Her anger at the Islamophobia she faces especially from those in a position of power and how she can’t do anything about it. Yet she remains unapologetically Muslim. She practices her faith openly and doesn’t care that people know she is Muslim. I wish I had her confidence when I was a teen. I wish I had been able to see characters that looked like me and shared the same beliefs as me as a teen and I am so glad that young people today will get to see themselves in books in ways I never could.

“I didn’t have to open my mouth or do anything for people to judge me. I just had to be born into a Muslim family and grow up to want to become a visible member of my community by wrapping a cloth on my head.”

Zayneb just wants to be able to practice her faith freely and also be able to be your average teenage girl and go swimming and hang out with her friends. Yet she finds barriers to even doing something as simple as swimming because some people find it unacceptable for her to be fully covered while in the pool despite adhering to the policies there. She can obviously choose what to wear but only as long as it is acceptable to those people.

And then we have Adam who I love so much because I related to him so much, because he found out about his diagnosis of multiple sclerosis during college and I also was finally diagnosed with my chronic health issues just as I graduated university. He struggles at first with adjusting to his new reality and how his life will be so different now and what he may or may not be able to do now and I related so much with all of this. I felt all of this and still do at times.

I absolutely loved seeing such a well rounded character with such great and realistic disability and chronic illness rep. I understood why he felt he should leave college, I understood his misgivings about telling Zayneb how he felt about her because it would not be a “typical” marriage as they would both be affected by his chronic illness. I went through all of this, I still feel a lot of these and struggle with it. I also loved how his faith impacted the way he dealt with his chronic illness. The way that Sajdah captures all of this and more while still making this a love story is exceptional.

“Hope – she was giving me hope. She was trying to light the way forward with hope. Amazing. To think I’d not been alone.”

Their story is a love story but not like the usual love stories we read in books but it doesn’t make it any less of a love story. The way they interact with each other and how they spend time and speak to each other, they develop feelings for each other but they both also keep in mind their faith and it filled my heart with such joy. I remember going through this exact thing myself and even when others told me to date because how can I marry someone I hadn’t dated or been intimate with I knew I could never compromise on my religious beliefs and it kept me going. I remember feeling all the emotions and just like Zayneb I remember seeing my now husband and first thinking, he’s cute and that he’s tall (my husband is 6 ft 3″). And my husband told me the first thing he noticed about me was my hijab as I was the only one in our university class who wore one.

This book captures so many important parts of my life and I could relate so much to the characters in so many ways from them slowly developing feelings for each other yet also practicing their faith and also dealing with their own issues while navigating their feelings. I absolutely fell in love with this book and Adam and Zayneb. And also, while I saw myself in Zayneb, I also saw my husband in Adam (minus the chronic illness) and it felt like this book was written for me.