Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this book!

Rating: 4 stars
Rep: Bengali & lesbian MC, Brazilian-Irish & bisexual love interest.
Trigger warnings: racism, homophobia, bullying, outing (found at the beginning of the book, which I very much appreciated)

I had such high hopes for this book, definitely one of my most anticipated 2020 YA releases and it didn't disappoint! While it was different from what I was expecting, I still really loved the story and its message.

Readers looking for a light and fluffy YA will probably not find it here, while this book definitely had cute and light moments, it also deals heavily with homophobia, cultural appropriation, bullying and racism. In my opinion, the author handled everything really well. I adored the writing style and I won't hesitate to read more by Adiba Jaigirdar in the future!

The main thing I adored was the main character, Nishat, who is one of the best characters I've read about so far this year. Nishat was just such a likeable, loveable MC that I was rooting for from the very beginning. The things she had to go through were unthinkable and the way she tackled every situation was inspiring.

The one thing that wasn't for me was the romance between Nishat & Flávia, I didn't feel any connection between them at all and I didn't think they had any sort of relationship development. But the romance did take a backseat in this book.

Overall, a very important and much-needed story about cultural appropriation, family, friendship, and being true to yourself.

The Henna Wars is a beautiful young adult novel, about family, culture, love, and finding the courage to be who you are. With an Ownvoices view on cultural appropriation, family, and coming out- we follow Nishat as she comes out as a lesbian to her Muslim family, fights against cultural appropriation, and slowly falls for the one girl she shouldn’t.

Nishat is quite possibly one of the strongest characters I have ever read about. She is so young, and yet- with the help of her fabulous little sister- she weathers every storm that comes her way. Priti is just as amazing and I ADORED their bond.

“Priti soothes me like only a sister and best friend can.”

In the beginning, Nishat’s parents do not take her coming out as a lesbian well. However, as the book continues we see them begin to try and honestly by the end I was crying. It was so beautiful; this book is going to be significant to so many queer Muslims.

In addition to the familial theme, The Henna Wars highlights culture and culture appropriation. Nishat and Priti discuss many of their favourite Bengali dishes, clothes, and customs. Henna specifically means the world to Nishat, as it’s what her Nanu does and she taught her how to do it. Nishat pours her heart and soul into every design.

I felt her rage when Chyna- who has done nothing but bully and spew racist insults at Nishat – and her cousin, Flávia – insta crush no more- , decide to open a Henna business for their 4th year project- even though neither have the right and both think it’s just something cool to do. The Henna Wars doesn’t shy away from showing how horrible cultural appropriation is and that it is not right for someone to steal from another’s culture just so they can make money and/ or they think it’s just some new “trend.”

There is a romance and it’s sweet, soft and so very cute. However, Flávia and Nishat have a complicated relationship. Their romance is slow to build as Flávia needs to go through some character growth- which thankfully, she does.

I don’t think my words- they’re really not my strong suit– can express how amazing this novel truly is. It single handily tossed my recent aversion for YA out the window. I was glued to the pages and Nishat is not a character I will forget anytime soon. The Henna Wars is a novel, everyone should read.

The Henna Wars was a cute, adorable, heartbreaking but also heartwarming book about family, culture, romance and friendship. It also deals with the difficult topics of racism, bullying and cultural appropriation and Adiba handles these topics with a lot of sensitivity which doesn’t make it a dark or heavy read at any point. Just want to note that I am not an Ownvoices reviewer for the book.

The Story
The story follows Nishat who is a Bangladeshi immigrant living in Ireland. She is a lesbian and comes out to her conservative parents who do not take the news well. Nishat is battling with her guilt and her need to stay true to herself when there’s a business competition announced in her school. Nishat loves to apply henna and it is the one of the things she connects with her grandmother and family. She also finds out that Flávia, her old friend and crush and Flávia’s cousin Chyna are also doing the same business thus appropriating her culture. This starts the rivalry between them. The story makes you go through a lot of emotions with its themes of family, sisterly bond, romance and friendship.

The Characters
Nishat is a Muslim Bangladeshi immigrant living in Ireland with her parents and younger sister, Priti. She is a lesbian and comes out to her parents only to be met with silence and contempt. She is distraught over her parents’ reactions and at the same time also battles her own guilt and the need to stay true to herself. Nishat is a resilient and kind character. She is deep rooted in her culture and family and her love for henna is so heartwarming to read about.

Flávia is biracial with Brazilian and Irish parents. Nishat and she were old friends who reconnect after Flávia joins Nishat’s school. She is beautiful and Nishat always seems to get flustered around her. Their cute romance halts though when they both start henna businesses for their school competition. Flávia has a good character arc where you read about her being difficult at the start with the cultural appropriation conversation but as the story progresses we see her becoming more understanding and respectful.

The other character I really want to talk about is Nishat’s younger sister, Priti. Nishat and Priti’s bond was important to the story just as much as the romance was, sometimes even more. Their bond was so pure and lovely to read about. They used to fight and argue like very sibling but their unending support for each other was beautiful. As someone is who is close to her sibling, I could relate to their bond so much.

Themes of family, culture, romance and friendship
This book explores so many themes starting with family. Nishat’s reminiscing about Bangladesh and at the same time knowing that it wouldn’t be a safe space for her because she is a lesbian was a very well written narrative. Her love, respect and appreciation for her culture was well explored. All the mentions of the food, salwar kameez and henna was so good.

The romance doesn’t always take a front seat in this one but it is weaved in the story well with Nishat and Flávia’s adorable and shy glances and conversations and their reluctant friendship. It was just like watching a contemporary movie. The friendship between Nishat and her friends is also touched upon and fun to read about.

A very well explored take on cultural appropriation
This book explores cultural appropriation really well. The book talks about it honestly and its implications in the truest form possible. It focuses on how just because you like a particular culture doesn’t mean you can profit off it or appropriate it in the name of fun and exotic. This is such an important thing and I really loved how it was discussed in this book.

The Writing Style
The writing style was simple and a little too simple at times for me. But since the story was strong enough to take it forward, even when the writing felt a little bland it did not affect the reading much because of it.

Overall, The Henna Wars is full of adorable characters, heartwarming and heart-wrenching conversations, sister squabbles, food, henna, family and a beautiful story. This is a must read for all contemporary lovers and I promise you will fall in love with this book! Also highly recommended for fans of Sandhya Menon and Becky Albertalli.

Thank you to Page Street Kids from providing me with an ARC through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

After attending her cousin’s wedding, Nishat decides to tell her parents about her sexuality and they are not happy about it. On top of this, she is also dealing with more problems including racism and homophobia at her all girls school. Nishat starts a henna business as part of their school project. She thinks it’s the perfect choice since her grandmother inspires her to do henna and it’s also her way to connect more with her culture. But Flavia, a girl that she really likes, decides to do the same business because she loves art.

I immediately requested a copy of this book after seeing the cover and luckily I got approved! I admired Nishat’s determination and for staying true to herself despite of how other people, including her own family, reacted when she came out. She’s no doubt affected and hurt by how her parents took it but she didn’t try to change herself for them. I also liked her dedication and love for her culture.

One of my favorites was the relationship between Nishat and her younger sister, Priti. They don’t get along sometimes but you can still feel their love for each other. They have each other’s back no matter what. Their bond is just precious.

I enjoyed the f/f romance but I think it wasn’t the main focus and I was totally fine with that. This book deals with a lot of important issues but one that I appreciated the most was the inclusion of cultural appropriation which is also important. I haven’t read a lot of books focusing on this subject so thanks to the author. The writing was great. It was simple and eventhough it felt a bit bland for my liking at times, I thought the author did a wonderful job exploring such difficult topics and sending the true message of the story.

The Henna Wars screams diversity and it didn’t disappoint! The author created an amazing story with a very important message featuring complex but very relatable characters.

I adored this lesbian YA novel about a Bengali girl and her crush/rival. It shows a girl who is both proud of her Bengali roots and culture, but ALSO doesn't think being gay is wrong. I really enjoyed that about this novel. I was also very interested in the cultural appropriation that is a big part of the book. I don’t know much about this, and this novel made me think about it a lot.

Despite these two serious themes, The Henna Was didn’t feel like a heavy read, it was a fun novel that left me with a smile when I finished it.

Representation: Nishat (main character) is a lesbian and Bengali Muslim, Flávia (love interest) is Afro-Brazilian and bisexual, Bengali side characters, Korean side character.

Content Warnings: forced outing, homophobia, homophobic language, racism, bullying, parental neglect (in the form of Nishat’s parents pretty much not talking to her when she comes out).

There are also content warnings at the start of the book, too, which I love.

Nishat decides to come out to her parents when she attends her cousin’s engagement party. She wants her parents to know that she’s a lesbian but they do not take it well.

Thankfully, Nishat’s little sister, Priti, has always known and loved Nishat. Their relationship was so lovely and I so often wanted to give Priti a big hug.

Family is a massive part of this book and I adored Nishat and Priti’s relationship – from their bickering squabbles, to their intense need to stick up for each other, I absolutely loved it. They stick by each other’s side through thick and thin and I love how accurate this sisterly bond is.

The other strong theme running through this book is cultural appropriation.

In her business class, Nishat is to start a small business and she decides on doing Henna work, as she’s quite good at it. The new girl, Flávia, who was also at Nishat’s cousin’s wedding, decides to do it, too.

Enter the rivalry between them.

And oh my goodness, it was so good.

Every single time they interacted, I was on the edge of my seat.

Nishat’s points about cultural appropriation were spot on, and I think it’s something a lot of people should take note of.

But because Flávia doesn’t agree with Nishat that it’s appropriating the Muslim culture, she goes ahead with her own Henna business, too.

Even though they’re rivals, Nishat and Flávia end up spending a fair amount of time together. Each interaction left me wanting more.

There were so many near kisses and I was like “yesss” because it’s the longing that I crave.

This entire story was just so fantastic, and I am so glad I got to read an advanced copy from Net Galley.

I can’t wait to have a physical copy in my hands, too.

This book is super sweet, and I adored the exploration of identity. I would Definitely recommend it!

This book is an emotional coming out story and so much more. I deeply appreciated, and benefited from, the adept depictions of cultural appropriation, white fragility, racism, homophobia, micro-aggressions, white privilege, shame, resilience, and pride. At the center of all of this was Nishat. Who I found very relatable, flawed, brave, and admirable. I cannot wait for the author to have another book!!

This was such a perfect blend of serious and sweet. I requested an arc of The Henna Wars on a whim, but soon found myself completely engrossed in this story about prejudice, culture, appropriation and romance.

Jaigirdar sets her story in a Catholic Girls' High School in Dublin. Nishat is Bengali, Muslim and gay; she just came out to her parents and was met with an uncomfortable silence, and she is obviously heartbroken at their reaction. This tension at home is in addition to already feeling like a pariah at school, after the most popular girl in her year decided to spread racist rumours about her. It feels like her sister, Priti, is the only one on her side. Enter Flávia.

Flávia is the beautiful biracial (black Brazilian and white Irish) girl that Nishat can't seem to get out of her mind. Her feelings become confused, however, when their teacher announces a business competition with a cash prize and Flávia decides to go with the same idea as Nishat: henna tattoos.

What follows is an impossible-to-look-away-from competition that gets nastier and nastier before it ever resolves, raising questions of cultural appropriation and racism along the way. This is one of those books where I can see people saying they dislike the protagonist. Nishat is very stubborn and alienates a lot of people, but I couldn’t help but think she was… right. I don’t know if some people will think Nishat is being petty, but if so, I guess I am exactly that kind of petty because I was 100% on her side.

Also, she's just really kinda funny.

I found it extremely compelling. The competition dynamic and some of the things that really pissed me off made me want to keep reading. I enjoyed the brief call-out of religious hypocrisy (how people will claim being gay is wrong, but pick and choose which other parts of a religion to follow) and all the talk of delicious Bengali food.

There were a couple of less strong points. Some of the plot turns were glaringly obvious many chapters in advance, such as (view spoiler) and (view spoiler), but I'm not sure that knowing that really weakens the overall story. I didn't totally buy into her (view spoiler). I also thought it was strange that we never got an update on her Nanu.

These are only minor quibbles, though. I really do highly recommend it. It contains themes that should interest even adult readers, but is also clean and simple enough for younger readers (as long as you're okay with mild profanity like "shit"). It's several important lessons wrapped up in a heartwarming romance.

Good Desi girls are not gay. Good Desi girls don't get into trouble at school. Good Desi girls don't let other girls steal their culture.
Nishat isn't feeling like a Good Desi girl these days.

I'll be honest; I didn't think much of Flávia, the love interest. She seemed to be jerking Nishat around a lot. But Nishat liked her, which is the important thing.

I don't know a lot about henna, so I enjoyed learning a bit more here. Nishat obviously loves it very much and that was nice to see. A lot of teenage protagonists don't show how much they care about things, so it's nice to see someone who isn't afraid to show it.

(I did think it was weird that Nishat called him the prime minister, when that is not the term we use at all, but maybe she was translating for her mother.)

A lovely, heartwarming read. I really enjoyed it.

Thanks to Netgalley and Page Street Publishing for the advance Kindle copy of this book. All opinions are my own
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 for this story about identity, sexuality, and cultural diversity. Bengali teen Nishat and her family have lived in Ireland for years now. The story opens with the family preparing for a distant relative’s wedding, which has Nishat thinking about coming out to her parents. At the wedding, she is drawn to another guest, who was a classmate of hers years ago. When Flavia (who is Brazilian-Irish), shows up at school when it begins for the term, she is just in time to see Nishat outed and to take part in an entrepreneurial competition for class. Flavia’s partner (and cousin) is Chyna, who has bullied Nishat for years. As the two compete, Nishat has to decide what is worth fighting for and which actions can speak for themselves. Recommended for grades 7+, and it is out 5.12.12.

Thank you so much for this book again ♡

First of all, I’m so glad that I got this book because it helps me to get out of my reading slump. But let’s talk about this book : Love the relationship between Pitri and Nishat. They were so cute and that made my heart melt. Really feel some of the Nishat mind about bullying and other things. How we talk about racism, bullying, cultural appropriation, religion and also with a pp bi and lesbian. We need more books like this. Love also how she deal with everything, how she talks and not ashamed about who she is and her feeling too.

I felt really all the emotion inside and that was the perfect book for me. Also I’m french and I was so happy to see french inside the book. That made me smile ♡.

I can only recommend this book ♡ thank you again

This Young Adult novel examines how gossip controls and manipulates people’s lives, subliminally forcing them to convert to societal conventions.

Nishat is gay. After attending her cousin’s wedding, she decides she needs to tell her parents so they can adjust their expectations. Being gay isn’t a thing in Bengali Muslim communities, so she doesn’t expect them to take it well. Spoiler alert: they don’t. Nishat is told that her parents “just want to be able to look people in the eye when they go back to Bangladesh. Is that so wrong?” Nishat hates that the Bengali gossip network would demonize her and alienate her family because of who she’s attracted to. But gossip doesn’t just rule her family life, it also controls her life at school. Nishat’s high school rival, Chyna, is the private Catholic school’s gossip queen. They used to be friends, but stopped after Chyna spread rumors about Nishat’s family restaurant causing diarrhea because that’s what that type of food does, am I right? *eye roll* The misspelling and voyeuristic history behind her name doubles down on Chyna’s racist personality. Chyna and her cousin, Flávia, decides to start a rival henna business for a class because they think it’s pretty. When Nishat vocalizes her concerns of appropriation to her crush, Flávia, the statement is brushed off. Bullying ensues. These Catholic school girls are racist little monsters operating under the guise of “innocent good girls.” As white people keep appropriating Nishat’s culture and she tries to retaliate, which leads to further alienation.

This novel tackles how racism and homophobia operate every day. Jaigirdar conveys the gross and insidious nature of commodifying someone else’s culture. These topics are serious, but Jaigirdar makes these topics digestible for a young audience.

The insights and revelations Nishat and Flávia shares with one another are the tender moments that push the reader through troubling moments in the novel. It is fun watching how these characters’ relationships with their families affect other facets of their lives. Sadly, the romance feels secondary. I wanted more scenes featuring Nishat and Flávia, but I get why it’s set up this way.

There is a lot of telling rather than showing. Characters have conversations analyzing social situations instead of them unfolding. It’s clear that Jaigirdar wants to arm younger readers with the vocabulary to name these harmful actions, instead of having these actions occur and having the reader draw conclusions themselves. For example, one character tells another “the trendy thing to do is to be ‘diverse’ or whatever” when complaining about the successful businesses run by students of color. Because of this style of writing, I feel like this book is best read by 12-16-year-old audiences.

I’ve always wanted to read a book that shows how harmful gossip is, especially in Asian communities. After all, it’s hard enough to try to discover who you are and stay true to that version of yourself when other people try to force their version of you into the universe.

sadly for me this was a little disappointing, I just didn't fell as connected to the story as I am with many other books. but I'm not going to dwell on that as I feel putting out negative reviews isn't right especially because the author has put so much hard work into this story. plus this is my own opinion and I know lots of people have really loved this book from the reviews.

the aspects I did love about this book was it followed a Bengali muslim lesbian and really enjoyed learning lots about the culture plus I really liked how strong the main character was and when she was being bullied/ dealing with racism she was just saying to herself that yes this is me and I aam not going to change for anyone.

one other aspect I loved was the relationship she has with her sister because even though the school year is bullying her and her parents are not supportive of Nishat being a lesbian, she still has that loving bond with her sister who is there for her through thick and thin.

This book dealt with so many diverse issues and intertwined them so perfectly. Nishat comes out to her Bengali parents but isn't sure how they will take it since being gay is a crime in Bangladesh. She finds herself having feelings for Flávia, a Brazilian-Irish girl who comes back to Ireland after some time away. Then there is a business competition that finds both Nishat and Flávia with the same business concept, a henna business. This opens up topics of cultural appropriation and racism. This book deals with all of these things (TW: including outing) while showing the complexities of each situation. There are strong character relationships, like between Nishat and her sister Priti, and also ones that are complex and need to evolve like Flávia and her cousin Chyna. I really loved the character growth that many characters had. I enjoyed reading this story (even if at times I sometimes got angry at certain characters and the things they said/did) and I recommend this book for those of you who want to read about characters who grow and become better people by the end of the book.

What happens when Nishat, a gay bengali teen, comes out to her conservative muslim family? The theme of family and struggling to accept that you are not what your family deems appropriate or even accepted is depicted so realistically in this book. You cannot help but feel Nishat’s pain. The story between Night and Flavia and their competing henna business and subsequent love story to me is actually second to the overarching them of accepting who you are in the face of family shame. This also covers the idea of cultural appropriation and how to explain to people that their admiration of a culture that is not theirs can go too far.

This book dove deep into a lot of tough subjects and themes and still leave the reader feeling satisfied at the end. A great YA read that I highly recommend.

The publisher Page Street Publishing generously provided me with a copy of the book upon request on NetGalley. The rating, ideas and opinions shared are my own.

This fresh new contemporary book has so much to love. The setting of an all-girls school in Ireland was unique and refreshing, and I loved the plot of a business competition for the school. It helped the story keep a fast pace, and it felt so authentically “high school” that it took me right back to my school days. I loved the examination of difficult cultural backgrounds as well as cultural appropriation and privilege, and I think young people will get some much from that. The love story was so fun to read, but I ADORED the sister relationship. Highly recommend this book.

tw: homophobia, racism, outing, bullying

If I was to describe The Henna Wars in one word, I would say “comforting”. It’s comforting in a way that it’s a story about a Bengali Muslim lesbian, very clearly not catered towards white audience. The mc’s culture is a central point of the book, it plays a major role and not once is the girl made to feel as if that shouldn’t be the case. Even when facing racism from her pears, she knows it’s them who should change & adapt. I can’t even imagine what a book like this must mean to South Asian readers.

The plot itself isn’t complicated. Nishat has to start a business for a school project and she decides to use this as an opportunity to connect more with her culture and opens a henna shop. A girl she has a crush on - who’s not Desi - does the same. A conflict is born. It’s interesting to see a conversation about cultural appropriation where the person who’s in the wrong isn’t white. Not in a way that “oh, finally, someone gave us a break!”, but rather “hey, it’s actually more complicated than you might have thought”.

The Henna Wars tackles more than this one issue, though, and they’re all intertwined perfectly. At the very start of the novel Nishat decides to come out to her parents, who turn out to not be supportive at all, telling her that Muslims can’t be gay. She faces racism at school, gets bullied, and at one point gets outed to the whole school.

For balance, we also have a great relationship between Nishat and her younger sister. It was incredibly refreshing to read about siblings who actually seemed real, and loved each other deeply even though they fought a lot. Priti was incredibly supportive of Nishat and it was obvious in every little thing she’s done for her sister.

The Henna Wars checks all the right boxes and I’m sure a lot of readers will absolutely love it. My only issue was a personal preference in regard to the writing style, which I found pretty bland (and how it affected fleshing out characters).

It was super easy to get into The Henna Wars, the characters were complex and wonderfully written, the character relationships were thought through and I enjoyed it immensely.

The protagonist is Nishat who comes out as a lesbian to her parents very early in the book. Throughout the story, she’s struggling with many things, juggling her parents‘ reaction to her coming out as well as bullying at school, her crush on Flávia and school work all at once. She’s a very realistically written character with differents sides to her, making mistakes and being selfish from time to time, but also having a good heart and trying to right wrongs. I instantly liked her and her whole being.

I loved her whole family, especially her sister, Priti and their relationship. They have such a deep love for each other, basically being each other’s best friend and sharing everything, being always there for each other and helping each other out. Priti herself is the sun, the light of this story. I liked her so much!! But I also liked the parents and their development throughout the story. And the grandmother. The whole family was just so beautifully human, I felt like I was getting to know them on a somehow real level.

But also the relationships between the non-family characters were well written. So. Real. I remember being at school and being friends or good acquaintances with people for the sole reason of seeing them at school each day. And Nishat has different types of friendships, too, which felt really familiar and real.

This book is quite dark sometimes, discussing serious problems, both personal and more universal. It deals with those things in a serious way that seems like those situations are taken right out of reality and have both an emotional aspect as well as an educational one.

I very much enjoyed The Henna Wars, it’s beautifully diverse and well written and just feels extremely real.

Wow! This book definitely surpassed my expectations and it was one of the best YA books I've ever read.

The story takes place in Ireland where we meet a Bengali girl named Nashat who comes out to her parents as a lesbian but her parents don't take it very well. She then struggles to accept her new identity, not only with her family but with her classmates at school. It seems like the only person that she can count on is her sister, Priti. When Nashat starts her henna business for a school assignment, she's super excited...until she finds out that her crush, Flavia along with Chyna (Flavia's cousin and Nashat's ex-friend) are also starting a henna business.

This book is not all butterflies and rainbows and it can get really heavy at times but there are so many things that I loved about it! The thing I loved the most about this book is that it had main characters that were Bengali and Brazilian, that's representation and diversity that we usually don't see with that many YA books. We got to learn more about both cultures while it naturally flowed with the story. Our main characters are not only Bengali and Brazilian but lesbian and bisexual, which we NEVER see with YA books (YA authors out there take note from this author)! I liked that there was more to the story then just the romance, there was also a strong, solid sibling bond between Nashat and Priti that a lot of us can relate to. I will say that the romance was very realistic because it took some time to develop vs. the usual insta love that we see in YA. BIG PROPS to the author on her debut, she nailed it! If you want to read a YA book that has it all, definitely pick this one up!

[cw: homophobia, racism, bullying]

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-arc!