In Zara Raheem's fresh, funny, smart debut, a young, Muslim-American woman is given three months to find the right husband or else her traditional Indian parents will find one for her--a novel with a universal story that everyone can relate to about the challenges of falling in love.
To Leila Abid's traditional Indian parents, finding a husband in their South Asian-Muslim American community is as easy as match, meet, marry. But for Leila, a marriage of arrangement clashes with her lifelong dreams of a Bollywood romance which has her convinced that real love happens before marriage, not the other way around.
Finding the right husband was always part of her life-plan, but after 26 years of singledom, even Leila is starting to get nervous. And to make matters worse, her parents are panicking, the neighbors are talking, and she's wondering, are her expectations just too high? So Leila decides it's time to stop dreaming and start dating.
She makes a deal with her parents: they'll give her three months, until their 30th wedding anniversary, to find a husband on her own terms. But if she fails, they'll take over and arrange her marriage for her.
With the stakes set, Leila succumbs to the impossible mission of satisfying her parents' expectations, while also fulfilling her own western ideals of love. But after a series of speed dates, blind dates, online dates and even ambush dates, the sparks just don't fly! And now, with the marriage clock ticking, and her 3-month deadline looming in the horizon, Leila must face the consequences of what might happen if she doesn't find "the one..."
My Review of The Gifted School:
The Gifted School has major Big Little Lies vibes that I absolutely love, which a lot of plot twists and who dun-it antics that make this a mystery and domestic drama without being dark.
All of the parents that are spot lighted in the Gift School can be identified in our own lives, so it is easy to relate to them- as spouses and parents especially.When they find out about a new gifted school coming to their hometown that will only take the most elite, smartest children in the community and that there will be rigorous tests involved to even get their kids on the list, it brings out the worst in these entitled parents. They all want the best for the kids, but at what costs?
There are multiple sides of the same story that is going on and you get a multi-narrator over view, from a recently divorced father of twin boys and unhappy au-pair turned wife, to the perfectionist scientist Rose and her lack luster husband Garreth, there are characters who are so polar opposites, there's no chance to get bored while you're reading about all the ways these parents- and their own children- will go in order to beat out the others and get into the new school.
Sabotage, cheating, lies, and just plain greed are just the tip of the iceberg!
My Review of Evvie Drake Starts Over
| A super fun love story... except the main character falls more in love with herself than with the male lead... which I find refreshing and unique. We all need to get to know ourselves a little more and take care of ourselves first before worrying about whether we are good enough for a significant other and the main character Evvie is a great example of that! A widow searching for her self, a discarded former MLB player and a complicated friendship are all put to tests they know deep done they are not strong enough to face. This is a story about friendship, healing, and growth, with wit and romance mixed it. I found it delightful! |
Summer of '69 by Elin Hilderbrand
Follow New York Times bestselling author Elin Hilderbrand back in time and join a Nantucket family as they experience the drama, intrigue, and upheaval of a 1960s summer.
Welcome to the most tumultuous summer of the twentieth century! It's 1969, and for the Levin family, the times they are a-changing. Every year the children have looked forward to spending the summer at their grandmother's historic home in downtown Nantucket: but this year Blair, the oldest sister, is marooned in Boston, pregnant with twins and unable to travel. Middle sister Kirby, a nursing student, is caught up in the thrilling vortex of civil rights protests, a passion which takes her to Martha's Vineyard with her best friend, Mary Jo Kopechne. Only son Tiger is an infantry soldier, recently deployed to Vietnam. Thirteen-year-old Jessie suddenly feels like an only child, marooned in the house with her out-of-touch grandmother who is hiding some secrets of her own. As the summer heats up, Teddy Kennedy sinks a car in Chappaquiddick, a man flies to the moon, and Jessie experiences some sinking and flying herself, as she grows into her own body and mind.
In her first "historical novel,"
A murder at an elite New England college tears apart a group of friends - and one of them is playing a dangerous game - in this electrifying debut in the tradition of In a Dark, Dark Wood and The Couple Next Door.
In her first weeks at Hawthorne College, Malin is swept up into a tight-knit circle that will stick together through all four years. There's Gemma, an insecure theater major from London; John, a tall, handsome, and wealthy New Englander; Max, John's cousin and a shy pre-med major; Khaled, a wise-cracking prince from Abu Dhabi; and Ruby, a beautiful art history major. But Malin isn't quite like the rest of her friends. She's an expert at hiding her troubling past. She acts as if she is concerned with the preoccupations of those around her - boys, partying - all while using her extraordinary insight to detect their deepest vulnerabilities and weaknesses.
By Senior Day, on the cusp of graduation, Malin's secrets - and those of her friends - are revealed. While she scrambles to maintain her artfully curated image, her missteps set in motion a devastating chain of events that ends in a murder. And as their fragile relationships hang in the balance and close alliances start shifting, Malin will test the limits of what she's capable of to stop the truth from coming out.
I received this books for free in exchange for my honest reviews. All opinions are my ownIn her first weeks at Hawthorne College, Malin is swept up into a tight-knit circle that will stick together through all four years. There's Gemma, an insecure theater major from London; John, a tall, handsome, and wealthy New Englander; Max, John's cousin and a shy pre-med major; Khaled, a wise-cracking prince from Abu Dhabi; and Ruby, a beautiful art history major. But Malin isn't quite like the rest of her friends. She's an expert at hiding her troubling past. She acts as if she is concerned with the preoccupations of those around her - boys, partying - all while using her extraordinary insight to detect their deepest vulnerabilities and weaknesses.
By Senior Day, on the cusp of graduation, Malin's secrets - and those of her friends - are revealed. While she scrambles to maintain her artfully curated image, her missteps set in motion a devastating chain of events that ends in a murder. And as their fragile relationships hang in the balance and close alliances start shifting, Malin will test the limits of what she's capable of to stop the truth from coming out.
Evie Drake is on my TBR list for this summer!
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