I’ve started this one a few times and can’t get into it. Seems like it would be good for those who like a slow burn. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for my copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for my review copy for my honest opinion.

A courtroom thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat.

Meet Jodie Wolfe, a 16 year old girl, who has a face deformity, and is the constant ridicule of her classmates and her alcoholic mother. Accusing 4 teenage boys of Muslim families of rape, Jodie's world is turned upside down. Her best friend and mother turn their backs on her, and she is left with only her attorney (Zara) to fight for her. Zara, also a Muslim, becomes Jodie's lifeline. Fighting for justice, no matter the cost!

Wow!!!! Kia Abdullah is a new author for me, and when I read the synopsis, I knew I had to read this. Normally, I find when an author writes about hard issues, like rape and mental illness, it's lacking in areas and can be poorly done. Take It Back is not that book. Everything was on point. This book will leave you thinking about it for a long time. An excellent read that I would definitely recommend.

Wow WOW!!
This story was so heart wrenching and difficult to read. The characters break your heart and you care for them in different ways.
1 young girl and 4 boys. Is anyone telling the truth???

Zara Kaleel was one of the most influential lawyers and was going places. She shocks everyone and leaves her job to become a sex crime advocate. Zara is dealing with her own personal issue while trying to help women of sexual abuse.
One day in walks Jodie, a sweet sixteen-year-old girl with facial deformities. Jodie accuses for Indian boys of sexually assaulting her. Everyone of them denies the accusation. Zara takes on the case and causes a rip in her community. Many feel she should stand up for the boys as they are all from the Indian community. Zara know she must protect and help the young girl. She believes Jane. No one else believes Jane not even her best friend.
Zara goes to court with Jane to fight against the boys. The trial is shocking and you will not be able to put the book down.

An intriguing story that kept me interested. While some of it was difficult to read (especially if you’re sensitive to certain types of crimes) it was overall well written. Would definitely read another book by this author!

I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This book is well written and the characters are described well. This book guys, you have to I mean you have to read this book. This book is set in London. It will keep you on the edge of your seat from the first page trying to figure out what happened. It has a lot of twists and turns. It is a definite 5 star book in my opinion. I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone. The pacing of this story is great. I really enjoyed Zara's character. It is in stores for $27.99 (USD).

This was an excellent read on multiple levels. It's a fascinating legal thriller with many twists and turns - it kept me guessing as to who was telling the truth, right up until the last few pages. It's also rich with thought-provoking commentary on social and cultural divides - even within families. It's the first in a series about Zara Kaleel, a bright young lawyer who left a promising career to work at a center that provides aid to victims of sexual assault. She's an interesting, flawed character and I'm on the lookout for the next book in the series once it's been released in the US.
Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing a copy for an unbiased review.

Because I just can't give a better brief summary, here’s a short synopsis from the publisher:
One victim.
Four accused.
Who is telling the truth?

Zara Kaleel, one of London's brightest legal minds, shattered the expectations placed on her by her family and forged a brilliant legal career. But her decisions came at a high cost, and now, battling her own demons, she has exchanged her high-profile career for a job at a sexual assault center, helping victims who need her the most. Victims like Jodie Wolfe.

When Jodie, a sixteen-year-old girl with facial deformities, accuses four boys in her class of an unthinkable crime, the community is torn apart. After all, these four teenage defendants are from hard-working immigrant families and they all have proven alibis. Even Jodie's best friend doesn't believe her.

But Zara does—and she is determined to fight for Jodie—to find the truth in the face of public outcry. And as issues of sex, race and social justice collide, the most explosive criminal trial of the year builds to a shocking conclusion.

This is the first book I’ve read by Kia Abdallah and I can’t wait to read more books published by this author! Good solid writing with great character development. I can’t say I liked all the characters, but I loved the main character Zara. She is tough, smart and is a fighter for the women she advocates for. Zara acts tough on the outside, but she is also human, vulnerable and has issues like everybody. She feels she must prove to others and her family that she is tough despite her strong family’s Muslim traditions. Living in a rural farm in Midwest Minnesota, I forget what it must be like for other religions/race and the racial issues they face. It opened my eyes and pulled at my heart.
The pace of the writing/story was good. The build-up of the story had me on the edge of my seat; I didn’t want to stop reading! Fabulous narration by Sartaj Garewal, Sophie Bentinck, Tania Rodrigues. The ending pretty much blew me away!
Honestly, the only thing I didn’t like about this book was the profanity/cursing, and there is a lot of it, so I rated this one a 4.5 out of 5 because of that. I highly recommend this mystery, thriller and suspense novel with courtroom drama to everyone that enjoys the genre!
A very special thank you to St. Martin’s Press for the Advanced Readers Copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Take It Back is centered around Zara Kaleel who left her job as a barrister with a prominent, high-powered London law firm when she awoke one day to find that she had become the person she used to hate: validated by her profession, arrogant, and self-important. She was also mourning her father and the fact that their estrangement was never put right before his death. She lost interest in her work, and thought she might be able to find herself by working closely with vulnerable women. Abandoning her career disappointed her family, but she believes they were more upset about her decision to leave her marriage. Now she serves as an independent sexual violence advisor at Artemis House, a sexual assault referral center, where her knowledge of the legal system proves invaluable. She supports rape victims, working to ensure that the facts are presented clearly and comprehensively in readily-understood terms, and helping them navigate the justice system.

Zara is stunned when Jodie Wolfe, sixteen years old, arrives to meet with her. Jodie's right eye is all but hidden by excess skin hanging from her forehead, her lips and chin are also covered in heavy folds of skin, and her nose is unnaturally small. Jodie's facial deformity renders her speech difficult to understand, but she immediately finds her way into Zara's heart.

Jodie explains that she was raped five days earlier when she attended a party for the very first time. She relates that her friend Nina was dancing, so she went outside. And one of the boys there, Amir Rabbani, asked to kiss her. Jodie has been a victim of bullying and taunting her entire life, so the attention shown her was new and exciting. But then they were joined by his friends, Hassan Tanweer, Mohammed Ahmed, and Farid Khan, who violently assaulted her. Zara is stunned by Jodie's story. "Four Muslim boys had raped a disabled white girl."

Jodie's accusation takes Zara on a journey for which she is not prepared. She joined the referral center to perform meaningful work and she is accustomed to hearing heartbreakingly painful stories. Her legal background prepared her to remain composed and dispassionate, but as she listened to Jodie "the buffer was breached." Jodie agrees to let Zara accompany her to the policy department to make a formal statement, even though Zara secretly hopes that Jodie will decide not to "subject herself to the disruptive, corrosive justice system that left victims so often bruised. The law stress-tested every piece of evidence and that included the victim -- probing, pushing and even bullying until the gaps became apparent."

A media firestorm erupts when the boys face criminal charges. Zara must deal with the publicity the case generates, maneuver the legal system on behalf of and support Jodie, and prepare her to not just recount her experience during the direct examination at trial, but withstand cross-examination by four different defense counsels. The four boys are close friends and their futures hang in the balance. The case divides the community along not just socioeconomic lines. Zara's friends and family are appalled by her role in the case. Her good friend Safran expresses concern about what the case will do to Muslims. He pointedly tells Zara, "You're a Muslim holding the hand of a girl accusing four Muslim boys of rape. You really think you'll stay in the background?" Zara finds herself in an ethical and moral quagmire. Should she remove herself from the case because of the potential damage it will do to her community and potentially alienate her from her remaining family members? Or see it through because she believes "Jodie deserves her day in court." And then there is the matter of Jodie's recitation of the events of that fateful night. It is inconsistent.

Take It Back is a shocking and riveting legal drama that is tautly constructed, fast-paced, and filled with credible, intriguing characters. Zara is a compelling protagonist. She's a woman committed to using her intellect, education, and professional prowess to perform important work that will not only fulfill her, but help others. She must negotiate the chasm that her choices have created between her and her family, traditionalists who want her to lead the kind of life for which her parents prepared her, as do her female relatives. But that life holds no interest for Zara and her relationships with her brother, now the head of the family, and her mother are fraught. Zara's coping mechanisms are also examined. Jodie is an equally fascinating, fully developed character. She is a teenage girl who has suffered greatly because of her appearance, as well as her home life. She has never had real friends or been accepted by her schoolmates, never been the object of positive male attention or interest, and wants desperately to belong. But would she destroy the lives of four of her classmates by concocting unfounded allegations in order to get the attention she craves?

Abdullah credibly examines the evidentiary complexities of the case, its impact on those involved in it, and the limitations of the legal system, as well as the far-reaching social and cultural implications. She injects shocking revelations at expertly-timed intervals and keeps readers guessing as to the truth until the book's shocking conclusion.

Take It Back is an impressive debut -- an intense, thought-provoking, and timely legal thriller on par with the work of established novelists like John Grisham and Scott Turow that will leave readers clamoring for Abdullah's next book.

Jodie is a white girl with a deformed face. She accuses 4 Muslim boys of rape. The first chapter is very hard to read as it describes the rape. Then most of the book is the trail.

This was a hard book to read at most times. You feel so bad for Jodie. You feel that the 4 boys are getting away with things because of how well they represent themselves in court, but you also get to see how they talk amongst themselves.

Culture is a big part of this book. I hate that people lump one type of people as the same type of people. But everyone even within a class system is different. Not all stay true to the basis of their class.

The ending take you through a few twists and you stay to doubt what you know and then it gets twists again. This was a very good book even with the subject matter!

This was a really intense read. I have to admit, there were things I really liked, and things I didn’t really like about this book.

I think the thing I liked the least was the main character’s focus on sexuality and sexualization. That seemed to be the first thing she thought about whenever she met someone new - how this woman dressed in a way to enhance her sexiness, or how that woman obviously did her makeup in a way to increase her sexual appeal. Maybe that’s all normal, since her profession does revolve around helping sexual assault victims, so that probably is a natural thing for her to notice about people.

Overall though, this book was very well-written and emotional. While I didn’t necessarily find her super likable all the time, I did appreciate that the book had a strong female protagonist, and that she wasn’t afraid to stand up for what she believed to be right, even when everyone around her turned their backs on her.

As far as the actual story, boy was this an emotionally tough one. There were no winners here, and my heart really went out to almost every character at some point. It really showed how peer pressure can lead to bad decisions, and how those bad decisions can snowball into life-altering situations.

A good, thought-provoking read!

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free advance review copy (ARC) in exchange for a fair and honest review.*

**4.5 stars**
this is one wild legal thriller. It's a he said, she said hitting on several really difficult subjects: rape, race, religion. The author handled all of these quite delicately. There are several moments that are hard to read so be prepared going in. But, it will have you guessing til the very end. And as if that's not enough, you think you have the answer at the end and another twist! My mind is completely blown!

"A shocking, twisting courtroom thriller that keeps you guessing until the last page is turned."
BANG ON!

Read this for suspense - thrills - legal drama - and questioning your very own judgment - it's a fabulous story!

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for my complimentary ARC in exchange for an honest review. Please excuse my tardiness in posting my review as my TBR continuously grows and I keep finding so many book with so little time!

So much gratitude for this copy shared with me, always xo

Trigger warning for sexual assault.

This was a hard book to get through, but an important and timely one.

This was an interesting read with lots of facets. You will experience the dynamics of a rape accusation and trial, physical disability, and racial tensions. It was emotionally difficult to read and you keep turning the pages while wondering what will happen.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins Publishers for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

Jodie is a physically disabled British teen who accuses 4 Muslim boys of assaulting and raping her. She seeks help from counselor Zara, who sets her on the path to have her case heard in court.

This book was often sad, largely because of the content. It was hard to read about the things that happened to Jodie, and even Zara is a mess of character. The end result is a bit surprising and left me wanting to know more about what would happen. I liked this book!

Great novel of a complex issue told from multiple points of view. I think it was very interesting and well written. I was totally immersed in the story and did not expect that ending. I received a copy from NetGalley and the publisher and this is my honest opinion.

This is a well-written book. The subject matter covers a dark topic such as sexual adult/rape so it can be a difficult book for some. The book is not gory but is graphic enough to bring out a wide range of emotions.

All thoughts and opinions are my own, and in no way have I been influenced by anyone.

A story that revolves around a rape case of Jodie a teen girl with facial deformities who accuses 4 teen immigrant Muslim boys from her school of rape. The boys claim to be innocent.

Zara also muslim a former barrister now works for a women's sexual assault center. As Jodies counselor she's determined to get legal justice for her. Zara has quite the back story she is an interesting character.

This story was about the difficult topic of rape that intertwined with the complex life of immigrants in London.

It was a bit of a slow moving read for me. I put this one down a few times and went back to it. I'm glad I went back and finished it. To me it seems to fit into more of a dark crime drama genre .
Over all it was a good read different from my typical reading genres.

I am sorry for not reviewing fully but I don’t have the time to read this at the moment. I believe that it wouldn't benefit you as a publisher or your book if I only skimmed it and wrote a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for not fully reviewing!

This author is new to me. I definitely enjoyed this book and will be looking into other books by her to read, as well!