![Book review: Love, Hate and Other Filters]()
review, Romance, YA |
Nothing screams a vacation like curling up with a cozy, sweet romance right? The title Love, Hate And Other Filters shouted out me as just what I needed to try and enjoy the hot, sultry summer in the southern part of India. And you what enticed me more – Love, Hate And Other Filters is an #ownvoice book with a Muslim representation, which is kinda rare. So how did it fare, read ahead to find out.
Book Name: Love, Hate And Other Filters
Author: Samira Ahmed
Genre: Fiction – Romance, Young Adult
Characters: Maya Aziz, Violet, Hina, Phil, Kareem
Setting: Chicago, The USA
Maya Aziz, a typical 17 year old American high schooler loves Indian food and making movies. Her Indian born parents do not take her aspirations to become a film maker seriously and want her to settle down with a serious guy soon.
Maya has a huge crush on Phil for years, who is already in a relationship. Meanwhile, her conservative parents set her up with Kareem who seems to be a safer bet given their common heritage and family background. Should she stand up against her parents’ wishes for just a ‘maybe’ guy? Or should she try to focus on career like her rebellious aunt Hina?
Her almost perfect world shatters following a terrorists’ attack on the USA. She and her family become the victims of Islamophobia. How does religion affect Maya’s life? Read Love, Hate And Other Filters.
Love, Hate And Other Filters is a witty and fast YA romance. I finished reading the book in one sitting and the setting reminded me so much of When Dimple met Rishi. When I am not such a big fan of lovesick female lead, I loved how the book spoke so much about Indian culture, even though it was a bit over the top at places.
I like my protagonists to be fierce, interesting – erm.. just not bland. Unfortunately Maya was just that. And her ‘relationship’ with Phil had no base except that they knew each other. where is the damn chemistry? Phil you can definitely do better.
I loved Violet, the protagonist’s friend and how fiercely loyal she was to Maya till the end. Phil and Hina were totally cool too. The other Indian characters, especially Maya’s parents were too stereotypical. I mean there is only so many of over dramatic Indian mothers one can read about without rolling one’s eyes.
Love, Hate And Other Filters did okay at being an American-Indian representation, but it is definitely not an accurate Muslim representation. Love, Hate And Other Filters doesn’t talk about Maya’s religion at all, except when it is used against her. Maya’s family might be liberal Muslims but even that message doesn’t reach clearly. If it were not for her last name, one might not even know she is a Muslim, which is definitely not a good representation.
If you are looking for a YA with light romance or an own voice book you can choose Love, Hate And Other Filters right away.
Have you read Love, Hate And Other Filters? What do you think about it? Have you read any other book with Indian or Muslim leads and you liked them better? Let us discuss, I love some books with better representations, especially #ownvoices.
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YA |
I remember staying up all through the night reading the author’s earlier work (The Statistical Probability Of Love At First Sight) few years ago and I hoped The Geography of You and Me would help me repeat the experience. Did it fulfill the promise? Read on to know more.
Book Name: The Geography of You and Me
Author: Jennifer E. Smith
Genre: Fiction – Romance, Young Adult
Characters: Lucy, Owen
Setting: New York, The USA, London, England, The UK
The story starts with Owen and Lucy stuck in an elevator when the whole city plunges into darkness. It is instant chemistry and once they are rescued they roam around the city and end up chatting for hours. They end up spending their night gazing at stars from their rooftop. As fate intervenes, they both leave New York City soon and part ways.
Owen and his father are trying to get over their loss of their mother and go on a road trip across America. Lucy joins her parents in London who are avid travelers and trots all over the globe. They keep in touch with each other through postcards and email. Do they get to meet each other? Or does the distance change them?
The Geography of You and Me opened with a great promise of an unusual set up but failed to sustain the interest. I am not a big fan of love at first sight (gasp) and the lead characters spent less than a day together to have had time to fall for each other.
I love reading the lovey dovey portion of any romance, as any person would. I was almost looking forward to it just to get out of the monotonous chapters that consisted of ‘he went there’ ‘she went there’. But The Geography of You and Me was a disappointment even on that front.
The story alternates between two POVs but the voice ended up being the same which didn’t work for me at all. I have heard so much of this book and opened it with great expectations and sadly The Geography of You and Me didn’t live upto it.
Is there any book that failed to live up to the hype? Or is it just me? Let us chat.
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YA |
How refreshing is it to find a book that is totally out of your usual genres? One of my Facebook group decided to read a book from Brazil and they chose The Head of the Saint.
As per usual, I did not read the blurb before I picked the book. But I had a vague idea what the book was about based on the discussions the other members had. The Head of the Saint is not like anything I have read before. Was it good or bad then? Read more to know.
About the book
Book Name: The Head of the Saint
Author: Socorro Acioli, Daniel Hahn
Genre: Fiction – Magical Realism, Young adult
Setting: Brazil
The plot
A few days before her death Samuel’s mother asks her fourteen year old son to light candles at the foot of three different saints and then to find his estranged father and his grandmother in the town of Cadeia.
During this ill fated journey Samual finds shelter in what he first assumes as a cave. He later learns that it is the head of an incomplete statue of a famous Brazilian saint and is surprised to hear the prayers of the believers from the town of Cadeia. .
Cadeia is what you can call as a dead town with no prospect for development and many people have migrated away to other towns. The few people who stayed back have lost their faith in their saint and their religion. Samuel realizes he can solve the worries of the patrons by simple interventions and thereby restoring the towns Catholic faith inadvertently.
Did Samuel’s little play help the town or make matters worse for him? Where is the line between human intervention and God’s play? This short tale The Head of the Saint will answer these questions and more.
My initial thoughts
Even though I had a vague idea about the subject, The Head of the Saint was a pleasant surprise. It reads like a folklore and all the characters are intertwined.
Though translated from Portuguese, this story set in Brazil will not deprive you of the native settings.
The Head of the Saint has a lots of religious undertones that we do not find in our typical (read as US/UK-centric ) YA books. The book involves several heavy themes like identity, roots, corruption etc.
Things that worked for me
- The author’s writing helps the novel stay true to the middle grade and Young adult audience despite its themes
- I love reading about other culture and their folklore, The Head of the Saint was a good choice for Brazil.
Things that didn’t work for me
- It does feel chunky and it is apparent that it is a translated work at times but it does not spoil the reading experience.
Bottom-line
The Head of the Saint is a coming of age, if I can call that, story with intense themes that would surprise you. If you are interested in reading folklore from different countries, you can pick The Head of the Saint for Brazil.
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Romance, YA |
The Upside of Unrequited tells a tale that the readers of YA have read several times. It definitely talks about first love and teenage angst. But what makes this novel by Becky Albertalli such a hit both among young and new adults? Read my review to know more.
About The Upside of Unrequited
Book Name: The Upside of Unrequited
Author: Becky Albertalli
Genre: Fiction – Young Adult Romance
Characters: Molly and Cassie Peskin-Suso, Reid, Will, Mina
Setting: Washington DC, The USA
Plot Summary of The Upside of Unrequited
Seventeen-year-old Molly Peskin-Suso has never had a kiss and has about 26 crushes that she has never made the move upon. She is shy, awkward and conscious about her body. Her fraternal twin Cassie, her best friend, is just the opposite.
Things change when Cassie falls in love with Mina. Molly is forced to get out of her aloofness and make new friends. Mina’s best friend Will takes a liking to her and he is about to become Molly’s 27th love interest when she meets Reid, her nerdy co-worker.
With Cassie moving further apart from her, Molly is forced to handle having the attention of two guys alone. To top it, her parents are finally tying their knots with the legalization of gay marriages in the USA and she has more on her plate than ever.
Will Molly and her awkward self, be able to pull this off? Will Will become her 27th unrequited love (did you see what I did there?) or is it someone else? You will have to read the book to know more.
Book review of The Upside of Unrequited
The Upside of Unrequited deals with several themes that are relevant in today’s world – peer pressure, body image, teenage love, and rejection.
I loved the writing. The style of the author is definitely quirky and cheerful that kept me hooked until the end.
One thing that The Upside of Unrequited has been continually praised for is the diverse representation of minorities, interracial and LGBTQ couples and families. The characters are diverse, of course, well thought out but still are too perfect to be relatable, except maybe for Molly.
Molly’s flawed, funny, socially inept characterization would be relatable to everyone who has had that phase. I like how family and sisterhood was important to her.
I would have loved Molly except that for the fact she had one goal in her life – finding and kissing her boyfriend. And all of a sudden she gains her self-worth when she finds herself a guy. Erm.. definitely something we don’t want books to reinforce of the kids today.
Bottom line
Despite the predictability in the plot, as one might find in most of YA romances, Becky Albertalli’s writing wins the book for me, I could not put the book down even for a minute before I could finish it.
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![Book review: Love, Hate and Other Filters]()
Featured, YA |
I am sure no one would be unaware of the police brutality against black and the massive movement about #BlackLivesMatter in 2017. The Hate U Give could be easily one of those books that everyone, irrespective of the age group, should be reading if at all you want to be a part of the change or at least to know how these things happen and affect people.
About The Hate U Give
Book Name: The Hate U Give
Author: Angie Thomas
Genre: Fiction – YA
Characters: Starr Carter, Big Mav, Lisa, Seven, Khalil
Setting: The USA
Plot Summary of The Hate U Give
Starr, a 16-year-old African American kid, is stuck between two worlds. She lives at Garden Heights, a ghetto with gangsters and drug pushers. Her father Big Mav is a former gangster who took a blame and chose to go to prison so that he could get out of the system and lead a normal gang-free life. He wants their ghetto to be better and a safe haven for his kids.
She is one of the two black kids in her rich and predominantly white, prep school. She falls for a white boy, whom she has to hide from her father because he is ‘white’ and has two white best friends. Her mother is a nurse who wants to save her children from the ghetto life by taking them away.
Stuck between the two worlds and parents who have different views about their lives, Starr feels an outsider in both places. Starr understands her lives are universes apart and has never had to choose between them – until the fateful night, her unarmed friend Khalil gets shot by a cop in front of her eyes.
Should she remain silent, as her mother and uncle want her to be, and save herself from the wrath of the public and her own peers at school? Or should she put her life in danger, give a voice to the cause that may lead nowhere?
What do you do when your best friend is being a bully and a racist, intentionally or not? Do you confront her, putting your entire friendship jeopardy or pretend it was unintentional and you are just overreacting? How long can one hide a white boyfriend from your father?
Book review of The Hate U Give
The Hate U Give is essentially a coming of age story in the present American scenario, dealing with racism, bullying and violence. It is inspired by the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement, obviously but is much more than that. It is an honest account of a strong black family that has nothing to do with the gangs or drugs but is put to trial because of their skin colour. I do not want to spoil your reading experience by giving out any spoilers.
It is not just the strong storyline that made The Hate U Give the NY! bestseller but the well-written characters and a sprinkle of humour that made the story all the more fun to read. The writing is just perfect for YA, not becoming too political, yet talking about all the main themes like a true social commentary.
Yes, there are few characters that were flat and the ending with the perfect boyfriend was just too good to be true. But hey, those did not seem to be a big issue to me, all things considered. It is, after all, a young adult book that can be enjoyed by people of all ages.
As a person who is not living in the USA, I may not have faced such an incident in my real life, but violence and prejudice against colour, cast and creed are no different in any other country. That is one of the things that makes The Hate U Give close to my heart. As someone who doesn’t want to be an unintentional racist or offend anyone without meaning to, this book is an eye-opener. It made me think about my stand and actions on certain topics which is exactly what was expected of this book.
Bottom-line
The Hate U Give is surely one of the best books I have read this year. Books like this and Feel me fall makes me gain more faith in the YA genre. I have not stopped raving about this book to anyone I know even though I read this book about a month back. I can not recommend this book enough. READ THIS BOOK.
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Paranormal, YA |
I don’t read that many fantasy books that are not horror based. That is not because I don’t like them but the premises are usually harder for me to get into. When I was approached for the review of YA fantasy fiction ‘Tribal Affairs’, I loved the relaxed narrative style, and I hoped I would like it. Read more to know.
Book Name: Tribal Affairs 
Author: Matt Dallmann
Genre: Fiction – Paranormal Fantasy
Characters: Liana, Dahlia, Taffi, Jamison, Stefan, Amon
Disclaimer: Thanks to the Author and iRead Book Tours for the Review Copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Liana is a teenager whose magician father is losing his charm, and she decides to wear her late mother’s anklet. Little does she knows that she is about to set forth a great chaos in the realms of humans as well as genies alike. Dahlia the genie that is trapped in the anklet tries to connect to Liana through her dreams.
Liana suffers from depression and is being treated by Dr Rattner, just as her mother did. She believes she is losing her mind, as she sees and feels things that are not real. How much of what she sees is real and which is not?
As if things were not already complicated, Liana gets herself cursed to disappear, and she is pursued by a strong and powerful, evil genie. Does Liana solve the mystery about Dahlia and the evil genie? What is wrong with her mentally? Read Tribal Affairs to know more.
The story alternates between the tale of Dahlia and Liana, a genie and a teenager in the present. The shift in the story was kinda abrupt and hard to grasp initially, but later on, it becomes better. The conversations and the writing style is easy to follow, given that it is primarily aimed at the YA crowd. But Tribal Affairs might suit to all age group alike.
There are a few moments in the story that you might feel outta place if you had jumped in thinking only of Aladdin’s Genie.The Djinn/genie world seems much more complicated than that. They have even feuds between their tribes (thus the name Tribal Affairs, get it?) and lots of restrictions on their power. So much for the shape-shifting goofy genies! sob sob. But kudos to the strong world building that even a genie noob like me could understand.
If you are a fan of YA fantasy, then you should pick this book Tribal Affairs right away. Even if you are not, try the book you might end up liking it thanks to its interesting narration.
Read more about the book and enter a giveaway here
