e-Audio, 07:26:55
Narrated by: Mayuri Bhandari
Release Date: January 4, 2022
Published by: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
Read from: January 24-26, 2022
Stand-alone
Source: Library’s Libby App
TW:
For Readers Interested In: Contemporary, Romance, Realistic Fiction, YA, Racial/Ethnic DiversityThis heartfelt and humorous YA contemporary follows Dua, who spends the month of Ramadan making unexpected discoveries about family, faith, and first love.
Being crammed into a house in Queens with her cousins is not how Dua envisions her trip to New York City. But here she is, spending the holy month of Ramadan with extended family she hasn’t seen in years.
Dua struggles to find her place in the conservative household and to connect with her aloof, engaged-to-be-married cousin, Mahnoor. And as if fasting the whole day wasn’t tiring enough, she must battle her hormones whenever she sees Hassan, the cute drummer in a Muslim band who has a habit of showing up at her most awkward moments.
After just a month, Dua is surprised to find that she’s learning a lot more than she bargained for about her faith, relationships, her place in the world—and cute drummers. . . .
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*MY THOUGHTS*
I was a little angry when I saw this book. I hadn’t heard of it until it was out. What’s going on Penguin? Why wasn’t this a little more publicized? I would have jumped at reading this. I don’t even know if I ordered hardcovers for work. But I’m glad I found the e-copies. There is a gap of books that show the celebrations of Ramadan and Eid, so I’m upset that this wasn’t mentioned more, but I’m glad I found it.
Dua’s birthday is coming up and she’s excited to spend it with her best friend. But then her parents tell her that she’s on her way to Queens, NY to see her cousins in time to celebrate Ramadan. While there she thinks she won’t have a good time, but she learns so much more about her faith, her family, and even herself.
I LOVED this. There’s not too many YA books that feature Ramadan and the actual practices, so I was excited to read this. I thought it might be super like, “we do this, this, and this” but no. Not even close. Beg’s writing style made it like a movie being played out. Like I was there with them. And I really enjoyed seeing the way that Dua learned so much about her faith. Her character was re-learning her faith and I enjoyed being on the journey with her.
I also loved the family aspect. ALL of them had their own personalities and they were all so well fleshed out. From the youngest to the oldest, they were all great characters. I felt that was impressive because this book wasn’t that long. According to Goodreads, the actual book is only like 288 pages. And man, the romance was SO CUTE. I liked learning the customs and seeing Dua change into the woman who she is. And the little epilogue, it was so cute. I was glad to see that Beg included it.
This book was a surprise to me. I had no idea about it, but once I did, I jumped on the chance to read it. I’m glad to see that there is a book showcasing the Muslim culture and I’m glad that Ramadan is getting more literature written about it.
Overall, I give this
