Race to the Finish Line is an intense story of hatred in a small town. Aaleyah is intelligent, brave, and facing more than any young person should have to. While dealing with oppression, she fights to solve the disappearance of her friend, often putting herself at risk in the process. Yusuf tackles the realities of US society, presenting the problems of overt and internalized racism, microaggressions, and how confronting these issues doesn't always garner the response we hope. This is a heavy book and definitely worthy of a few content warnings prior to reading, as it might not be for everyone.

4/5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and Aisha Yusuf for an e-arc of this book.

Race To The Finish Line tackled many issues about race and religion and the KKK. Aaleyah and her Mum and Dad move to a small town in America from Canada for her Dad's work. Her brother stays in Canada as he is going to University. When Aaleyah starts high school something doesn't feel right for her about the place. When Club day happens Aaleyah joins the journalism club and they welcome her with open arms, as another member of the non-white community. Aaleyah is subjected to severe racial abuse which is horrific. Aaleyah fights back though with Mathew and Brianna. They embark on a journey to discover what happened to Lewis Mathew and Brianna's friend, who was kidnapped, as part of a national competition. The results of their findings are shocking. Overall a really well written book and an amazing captivating plot.

I know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover but WOW, look at that cover! Aside from the fact that it features a dark-skinned hijabi, have you ever seen anything more intriguing than this image of a Muslim girl squaring up to a KKK member?

I wish I enjoyed the content of this book as much as I did the cover, but unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Before I dive into why that was, though, let's start with some positives.

Firstly, let's look at the plot of this book. At the start of the novel, the MC, Aaliyah (a Black Canadian Muslim (hijabi) girl), finds out that she and her parents will be moving to a small town in the US for a year as her dad has been offered a temporary position there. Almost right away, the family realise they have moved to one of the most racist towns in America, where the KKK are very active, and throughout the book, Aaliyah (and the rest of her family) faces a ton of awful racism and Islamophobia ranging from passive-aggressive stares to bullying, intimidation, threats, and even physical abuse. As Aaliyah settles into this new town, particularly her new school, she discovers and goes on to investigate the hushed-up mystery of the disappearance of hundreds of Black people in the town.

As you’ll be able to tell from that synopsis, this is a book that covers some really heavy topics. I applaud the author for tackling the important yet difficult topics of racism and Islamophobia in the US. The book certainly doesn’t shy away from highlighting the ugly realities of racism (note that this book should probably come with trigger warnings of anti-Black racism, Islamophobia, and emotional/physical abuse). It’s also interesting that it’s set in a small, white-majority, KKK-active town as a lot of the racism Aaliyah experiences can seem very shocking in how overt it is but unfortunately, I assume that is the reality in small towns like this in the US. Despite the heavy topics, though, there was still a level of light-heartedness to the story, and I actually found it quite quick to get through.

I quite liked how the MC was a “strong” (eye-roll) female Muslim character who can stand up for herself and drives the narrative of the story (rather than being a passive character that is forced into doing things as is often the way Muslim girls are portrayed in fiction). I think perhaps the author took this too far though as at times, it did feel like she was the only one who was coming up with (quite obvious) ideas and everyone (particularly her friends) kind of hero-worshipped her.

As much as I really wanted to enjoy this book (well, as much as you can “enjoy” a book on such a serious topic), unfortunately it didn’t quite deliver for me. (Please don’t read further – or just skip to the last paragraph of this review – if you don’t want to read my negative thoughts on this book! There will also be some spoilers in the following paragraphs.)

Firstly, let’s go back to the side characters, Aaliyah’s friends at her new school. It isn’t implicitly stated what race they are, but from their surnames, it's implied that Brianna is Hispanic and Matthew is of South East Asian heritage. What’s strange, for a book centred around racism, is that these characters’ race is very surface-level (the fact that these are two heavily featured characters in this book and I’m still not sure what race they’re supposed to be kind of illustrates that). It was disappointing how we learn next to nothing about their experiences of racism as it’s implied that they’re the only two POC at this school and have lived in the town their whole lives, so it would have been really interesting (and relevant) to have been given glimpses into the racism they had faced and their struggles too. Granted, the type of racism faced by Black people in the town is a lot different to other POC, but it would still have been interesting to read about what things had been like for them, particularly if they’d lived there their whole lives, so it was a shame that was pretty much ignored. More generally, I felt like Brianna and Matthew didn’t have much personality and were very two-dimensional characters. It felt like they were there solely for the purpose of progressing the plot, as pretty much everything that the three friends discover and manage to do is achieved by Brianna hacking a camera or computer or Matthew conveniently overhearing things. But more on that later.

Similarly, I thought Aaliyah’s parents came across very flat. Sure, the relationship between Aaliyah and her parents was sweet, and it was nice to read about a family that are very close and supportive of each other, but the way they interacted didn’t feel very realistic of a parent-teen daughter relationship. Also, I found it really strange how upon finding out that their daughter had been attacked and was being routinely harassed, as well as experiencing harassment themselves, Aaliyah’s parents didn’t move them all back to Canada. It seemed so weird and unrealistic that their lives are literally in danger but they decide to carry on living there for the rest of the year, when the only thing that was really keeping them in the town was a temporary job of the dad’s. (I’ll cover my issues with this part of the plot further in a bit.) Just to add, I think what would have helped make Aaliyah’s parents seem less two-dimensional is if we saw their experiences of living in the town and dealing with racism too. They briefly mention people staring at them, and there’s a scene where the whole family is threatened at their home, but otherwise it seems like Aaliyah’s parents are just going about their lives unbothered and unaffected by racism, and I just think it would have been interesting to hear more about their experiences of, for example, the racism they faced in the workplace or just more generally when interacting with other townfolk.

Moving on to the plot itself, unfortunately I didn't think the plot and the whole "mystery" element redeemed this story. The author was a bit too heavy-handed with their hints throughout the book, which meant pretty much all of the reveals were obvious and easy to guess before they were revealed. In fact, this just made Aaliyah and her friends (as well as the FBI) seem really clueless and dim because it takes them so long to figure stuff out when the clues are so obvious. The only "twist" that I didn't expect was the identity of Liam, but honestly, I thought that reveal felt a bit random and unnecessary. As mentioned earlier, the way that they found stuff out was very convenient. Brianna is a super genius hacker but it's too far-fetched how she can literally hack into any camera or computer (including the actual FBI database?!) so quickly, with no resistance, and without getting caught.

Actually, a lot of the stuff in this story felt very unconvincing, and I feel like the author had a lot further to go before they really sold it to me. For example, once the family realised they had moved to an incredibly racist town, it made no sense why they would continue to live there. Their move was only supposed to be for a year, they had friends and family (including their son) in Canada, the mum had a good job in Canada, and also it was Aaliyah's last year of high school, so it would have made more sense for her to finish off school there. So really, the only thing keeping them in this racist town was the dad’s (temporary) job, which wasn’t even based in that town but in a nearby one, so I just didn’t feel convinced that when the family were made to feel unsafe and the daughter’s life was literally threatened that they didn’t think it would be a good idea to move back (or at least move to a different town).

Finally, I don’t think it helped that the writing style wasn’t for me. It was written in first person past tense, which I always find a bit uncomfortable reading for some reason so it took me some time to adjust to that. The pacing felt very off too – there were some points where some things were explained in more detail than necessary (there is a scene where the MC is defending something she wrote in an essay and her side of the argument literally spans six (ebook) pages and felt like the author had just inserted the body of an essay) and other scenes that were rushed over; for example, the big scene at the end that the whole mystery throughout the book was leading up to was really rushed and very anti-climactic.

With all of this said, I do want to note that this is the author’s debut novel and that the author is only 22 years old – it’s actually very impressive that they were able to get published and I’m sure their writing will improve over time. I will also forever applaud and champion Muslim authors and books with Muslim characters and so I’m really glad this book does exist and is helping to pave the way for more books about Muslim experiences and increasing Muslim and Black representation in publishing. If you’re eager to read more books with Muslim (particularly Black Muslim) representation, I’d recommend this book. As I mentioned, I didn’t think the writing was the best, so if you think that’ll bother you then maybe keep that in mind.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an early eARC of this book.

I'm struggling with how to rate this one. On one hand, I really appreciate that there's a book out there bringing awareness to a culture that is always discriminated against - Black Muslims. However, I just can't get past the choppy writing, the lack of character development, and all of the telling and not showing.

The premise of this book is really interesting - a Black Muslim girl moves with her family from Canada to this small racist town in Arkansas where Black people have gone missing over the past few decades. The kids in her high school are openly racist and the administration doesn't care because they're racist too. She bonds with two friends who help her battle the blatant racism and they find themselves in the middle of a mystery as they start to look into the disappearances over the past years.

My major problem with the book itself is the storytelling. Some things suddenly happened and I'd have to go back to see if I happened to miss a chunk of information. Nope. It just plunged ahead at certain points in the story and barely gave any information about the glazed over parts. So I guess it's not so much telling-not-showing, but outright skipping to the action. This is why it was a choppy reading experience.

Honestly, the foundation of this book is good - I wanted to know more about the history of town, the principal, Mr. Moretti, Garett, Lewis, and why Matthew and Brianna seemed to be the only two non-racist people in the entire high school. But that's exactly my point - I was so interested in some of these characters and plot points and I was just left hanging. What role did her teacher play in the town? What happened to Lewis? How did the operation stay secret for so long? And most importantly, what exactly was the operation?!

And now I need to hit on something that's a spoiler.

<spoiler>Liam/Brian ATTACKED a 17 year-old girl as an undercover cop. He almost broke her ribs. He traumatized her. All to keep his cover? No. No no no. There's just no way that would ever fly in real life. I understand this is a fictional story, but this is supposed to be a fictional story that we should believe could happen in real life. I believe that there are racist morons in a small town. I believe that there are human traffickers that prey on young people without someone to talk to. I believe that there are untrustworthy people in positions of power in schools. I just can't believe that someone going through the hard work of uncovering this underground operation could do something so heinous to a minor just so he wouldn't blow his cover. Nope. Not buying it. And yet, everyone just accepted it and moved on. Ohhhh that pissed me off.</spoiler>

Ok rant over.

Overall, if I'm this angry about a plot point and if I was that confused over the choppy writing and jumping from scene to scene, then I just can't give it more than 2 stars, which is honestly a bummer because I think the premise itself had so much potential.

Reading Aisha's words at the end of the novel resonate with me as a teacher. I seek out titles that include diverse characters and reflect the backgrounds and beliefs of the students I teach. Yusuf weaves modern and historical narratives in "Race to the Finish Line" where she uncovers the scary realities of people of colour. This book has the reader at the edge of their seat as they uncover the mysteries of Aaleyah's new town in rural America. I appreciate the strong female lead breaking down barriers in many capacities. I feel this book is better suited for middle school rather than upper elementary.

Race to the Finish Line by Aisha Yusuf is a YA mystery novel featuring a young Black Muslim girl’s journey navigating and adjusting to her new unexpected environment far away from home. Aalyeah underestimates the dangerous that surround her as her and friends pursue clues to uncover a dark truth.

The twists and turns in this book had me clutching my invisible pearl necklace. The adult me wishes to be transported back in time just to read and experience this book as a teen. As a lover of mystery and thriller books, I have not come across a novel that centres dynamic and diverse characters like Aalyeah, her family, and her friends. The author does not shy away from exploring painful truths of society. She tackles touch subjects in a reader-friendly way, yet doesn’t appease the readers by giving them desired conclusions. The author weaves together a creative tale while preserving the authenticity of the characters and their struggles. Any reader will find themselves quickly getting attached to Aalyeah and her friends and will be heavily invested in realizing their mission.

This book wasn’t around when I was growing up and desperately needed it, but I am happy it exists now. I am excited for readers to get their hands on this insanely relevant and timely book.

After finishing this book, I was so overwhelmed with so many different emotions. I was not prepared to leave Aaleyah's world.

The main character Aaleyah's bravery and intelligence is refreshing to witness. Aaleyah's intuition is sharp, and I found myself trusting the people she was trusting, and shaking my head at certain characters she felt strongly repulsed by. I did not see the twists and turns that had me rocking on the edge of my seat. And I was definitely not expecting the betrayal Aaleyah faces in chapter 28, and once again showing what a champion she is, by focusing on the mission.

At times this book took my breath away. The author did a remarkable job when she gets into detail in certain scenes. I found myself tearing up, slamming the book shut, and unable to unplug and jump off the roller coaster. You can vividly watch each detail she brushes, as the story boards on the plane and takes off! As a Black woman, I particularly appreciated the vibrant and vulnerable way the author unpacks what Aaleyah is going through in the bathroom scene.

I would like to thank the Author Aisha Yusuf for this beautiful, heartwarming, realistic, mystery-packed book. I can confidently say I’ve never read a book like this, where these topics are hardly ever discussed, and the way it was tackled. It felt inclusive relating to Aaleyah's worries and seeing the deep friendships she develops. The relationship she has with her family and watching her grow from start to finish. I love that she’s fiery, balanced with her wittiness.

This book is outstanding, especially now— with the way the world is progressing. The representations are rock solid. You can tell the Author steered clear from normalized racial cliches. Finally, a book like this exists, with an epic mesmerizing cover!

I want to thank Aisha Yusuf and NetGalley for an advanced readers' copy of Race to the Finish Line in exchange for an honest review. When I first read the synopsis of this book, I was immediately pulled it. However, this book exceeded every expectation that I had for it.

I want to first say that I loved these character so much. Aalyeah was smart, spunky, resourceful, and strongwilled. She was everything that I wanted to read about in a YA character. I also adored her friends, Brianna and Matthew. My only wish was that Aalyeah's brother played a larger role in the book so that it would have been that more meaningful when he was used as bait for the FBI.

For the last third of this book, I was completely on the edge of my seat. Everything was fast paced but it felt natural. While I cannot speak entirely on the discussion surrounding racism, as I am not a woman of color, I found it brutally honest. While it was hard to face at times, I think it was necessary. I also was extremely surprised by the discussion of human trafficking in this book. It is becoming a huge issue in our world today, but there are not a ton of books that center on it, ESPECIALLY children/young adult books when I think that they may need this information the most.

My one issue with this book was Aalyeah's relationship with her parents. They seemed extremely close and some moments were very sweet to glimpse like their sleepover after Aalyeah does not want to be left alone. However, there are moments where her parents felt very flat and simply there as a reminder that Aalyeah is so young. Her mom is a lawyer, but allows Aalyeah to make the calls on how to handle their vandalized car - which is ultimately to drop it. There is also another moment in the book where they are sitting (Aalyeah is in her senior year - by the way) and Aalyeah just comes to learn what her father does for work. She is able to pretty much figure out an entire human trafficking ring, but not what her father does for a living which moved her to her racist new town in the first place. I would have just liked to see a lot more development with her parents.

When I first finished this novel, I gave it four stars. However, after sitting with it for a day and realizing how impactful it truly was, I have decided to bring this up to a five star read. I will absolutely be recommending this book to anyone and everyone!

I was attracted to this YA novel by the striking but shocking cover. The novel is equally hard-hitting and sadly relevant, dealing with issues of identity, racism, Islamophobia and human trafficking. Set in small town America where the KKK is still prevalent this coming of age story for a black muslim girl is not easy. Sounds a bit far-fetched? Sadly in Trump's America some of the issues and ideas in this book are all too familiar. A great read but some of the mystery elements fall a bit flat. More of a story of issues rather than a mystery but still worthwhile.

I received a Netgalley e-arc of "Race to the Finish Line" by Aisha Yusuf in exchange for an honest review. Some parts of this review will contain spoilers, but I will mark those parts accordingly.

Things I loved:
The setting was strong and it was easy to visualize the events taking place in the different locations.
The majority of characters were well written and interesting.
The strong theme and how the story was constantly focused.
The mystery/investigation into the disappearance of Lewis.

Things I wasn't crazy about:
The pace: My only criticism of this book was the pacing of it.

Note: I was reading this arc off my phone so that could have impacted the layout.

There were a few times where I was confused about what was happening as there appeared to be no clear marker of a change in scene or paragraph. (Again, this could very well be down to the phone.)

SPOILERS AHEAD.
For example: When the gang decide to break into Liam's apartment. It seemed to jump to this scene rather suddenly, which would have been fine with a little more context. Liam was the only character I felt needed a little bit more work. He appeared to be a threat for so long, but then it turns out he's an undercover cop investigating this town. Which was a good twist! But I was waiting for him to turn on them again, because he was so sketchy throughout the rest of the book.
Another minor note I have is, I wanted to know what happened to Lewis. I was thinking we might get a better sense of what happened to him after he disappeared once the FBI got involved, but we were merely told he's probably dead. This is very much the case with a lot of victims of trafficking, so I do understand why the author did it, but Lewis' story had such an impact on the main characters and it would have been nice to find out if they got the closure they needed and Lewis got the justice he deserved.




SPOILER FREE ZONE HERE

Other than that, I really enjoyed this book. It had great addictive quality and dealt with some very important topics, such as racism, Islamophobia, and trafficking. It's an easy read and the main characters are a lovely little group that are easy to get attached to.

This book was so unique and I loved reading about a diverse character. The book was kind of predictable, but I was still on the edge of my seat wanting to know how much worse it could get for our character. It was amazing to read about such a strong, young, female character and all the other characters were fleshed out very well. I would recommend this!

Anyone reading this on NetGalley: if you want to add this book to track it on Goodreads I made a page for it!

Race to the Finish Line is a very relevant and thought-provoking read. The characters are very easy to connect with and it's nice to get to know them as the novel progresses. The only thing lacking is there could be more of the mystery element promised in the info section.

“It’s much easier to hate someone who looks different from you than taking the time to understand them. Instead of celebrating our differences, we detest each other for it.”
^ I loved this quote! ^

This was a great coming of age story about a young girl who is both Black and Muslim overcoming serious, scary, and detrimental obstacles in a small town she is forced to move to. Overall, I enjoyed this book but there were some things I thought fizzled out a bit. When I first read the description of this book on NetGalley, I was pumped. A mystery book with BIPOC voices at the forefront? Sign me up! Uncovering a dark secret in a small town? I am ready! Unfortunately, I didn’t feel as if this book delivered what it promised to in its description. While I learned a lot from the conversation of racial identity and what it means to be Black and Muslim in America, I didn’t feel as if this book had a plot outside of that. I kept waiting for a mystery to unfold and it barely happened. This book should have been marketed more as a YA narrative on race rather than a mystery novel. The mystery was minor in comparison to the rest of the narrative and you didn’t get a sense of a plot line until about 50% into the novel. I am not saying the race and identity narrative wasn’t good. I just think the book description doesn’t fit the actual plot of the book.

Takeaway: Check out this book, I think you will really enjoy it! It is a very necessary novel for 2020. Just don’t expect to find a big mystery plot.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'm still digesting what I think about this book. I love the premise and the characters we follow.

I think it's interesting to have a Muslim character where her religion is not her main identity and to have this experience play out as an immigrant family living in a city entrenched in the KKK and other anti-Black history. This book touches on a lot of sensitive topics from Islamophobia to human trafficking.

But this read is a rollercoaster. It definitely has a YA feel while delving into difficult experiences and racism and what that looks like. There is some suspension of belief required, but I was definitely curious to see how the story would end and how everything would turn out for these brave kids.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an eARC of Race to the Finish Line in exchange for an honest review.

Race to the Finish Line is an ownvoice story about a high school student moving from Canada to a small town in the USA where the KKK is still active and trying to uncover a sinister secret. While I obviously appreciate the anti-racist message and what this book was trying to do, from a literary stand point it just doesn't stand up.

All this book really has going for it is the anti-racism message. Our protagonist has little to know character and neither does anyone else in her life. Everything in this book is told to you instead of shown and you are never allowed to draw your own conclusions. I get the want to expressly say after an act of racism "look. This was bad because it was racist" but often it's in letting the reader come to that conclusion on their own that change is made. A racist isn't going to pick up a book, read the sentence, 'racism is bad' and stop being racist. A non-racist isn't going to pick up the book, read the sentence 'racism is bad' and become an activist.

This book's only strength to me was it's message and I truly felt like the actual plot took a back seat to the message. If your book is centered around a theme, you need to allow to reader to reflect upon that theme for themselves. This book just doesn't do that.