THIS BOOK WAS SO GOOD! I think that it had a great blend of friendships and romance and family dynamics. I loved the internal struggles that the narrator was dealing with in regards to her desire to please her parents but also her desire to do what she wants to be happy. I think there was a fine balance of wallowing without it feeling repetitive and overdone. I loved Karina's friends. I loved her relationship with her grandmother. I loved the development of the relationship between Karina and Ace. The pacing of this book was so well done and I really appreciated that her friends didn't just disappear when she got together with the guy. I highly recommend this one!

I was happy to receive an arc and to be able to review this book.

This was one of my most anticipated books of the year, especially because of the representation of a Bangladeshi-Muslim teenager growing up in the States, which I never thought I would actually see in YA. With the focus on her mental health and family dynamics along with the romance, I had very high hopes for this book. Fundamentally it has a solid plot and characters but the execution doesn't translate well because almost everything feels like conceptual ideas unexplored.

I appreciated the discussion of the toxicities in the cultural community and how much of Karina's struggles are anchored to the unreasonable expectations and treatments, especially of girls. However, Karina's connection to her culture never felt her own. Her impression of her culture and country are all through older generations and though that makes sense, since she is a first generation Bangladeshi-American, she herself is never shown to have a connection to an aspect of her culture. It became frustrating when all that was told in the story is her culture is her biggest burden. Karina says multiple times that her friends can never truly understand her struggles, however she never tries to explain to them or even begins to because she automatically assumes they will not understand and therefore it's not even worth trying. The first few times during these scenes, I didn't think much of it because I understand that fear and anxiety more than anything and thought it would eventually be communicated; that her friends will eventually come to know more about her culture, especially Ace since the biggest struggle of their relationship are her parents. Instead, whenever he reaches out to actually know more, she dismisses it and they just settle with vague ideas of lines that can't be crossed. Secondly, the miniscule mentions of food and Bollywood movies meant to be representation of culture was not that at all. There is much more to our culture than Bollywood movies, which are familiar in all desi cultures but not specific to Bangladeshi culture, so the representation, was there only in her struggles but never in her pride.

I still liked Karina as a character for her strength and her relationship with her grandma, who I have to say is my favorite character and honestly hearing about her life and her story drew me more than anything.

Ace as a character felt underdeveloped. He doesn't know Karina but not even a few pages later he's going all out, which ties into the pacing of the book because not much after he's introduced the fake dating plot is set into motion without any suspense and it's like he's there just for the sake of the romance. He's romantic and he has a reputation but that's about it for himself and there was some rushed drama between him and his brother. Some of his dialogue was hard to read as well just because they were very corny.

Overall, Karina is a good character and the romance is a sweet story but the representation of culture is mostly told instead of shown and although the misinterpretation of religion is clarified, majority of the culture is not separated from the treatment by her parents and had me worried about how our culture as an entirety is shown to the audience.

Nandini Kaur: AND UR BLUSHING BC…? TRY AND TELL ME U DON’T LIKE HIM
Me: DOES IT MATTER? HE’S WHITE!!!!!!!
Cora Zhang-Agreste: WHAT DO YOU *MEAN*
Nandini Kaur: YEAH, HE’S WHITE, BUT LIKE??? PERHAPS THIS ONE (1) SINGULAR WHITE BOY IS WORTH YOUR TIME

I admit when I read the summary, I wasn’t really interested in reading this book. I’ve read my fair share of YA books with South Asian protagonists falling for White guys that almost always end in heartbreak, so whenever I see a book with that dynamic, it’s usually a sign for me that the book does not have a happy ending. I do think a relationship between a White guy and a South Asian girl could and does work in real life, it just takes a lot more effort and understanding. This book has proven to me though, that it is actually possible to write a good YA Romance between a White guy and a South Asian Muslim girl that has a happy ending.

At first glance, it seems like the same old story. Karina is a Bangladeshi Muslim girl with conservative parents who control her life. They forbid her from dating or having any unnecessary contact with the opposite sex. They want her to go to medical school against her wishes. They favour her younger brother over her. However, her parents are visiting Bangladesh for a month giving Karina a chance to finally taste some freedom. She ends up tutoring the “bad-boy” Ace Clyde in English which somehow turns into fake dating him.

The beginning of the book was a bit slow and it took some time to get to the fake dating, but once it did it really picked up. The banter between Karina and Ace was so funny and I loved their relationship dynamic. I could feel their chemistry and really wanted them to succeed. There was also a lot of honest communication between the two. Karina recognized that she had a lot of boundaries. Even though her parents weren’t in the country, it wasn’t easy to unlearn what she’d been taught her whole life. When Ace asked her to do things that made her uncomfortable or did things that overstepped her boundaries, he was genuinely sorry and did not do them again.

The characters were so diverse and had distinct personalities. I loved all of them, even Xander despite his behavior in the beginning of the novel. I especially loved the relationship between Karina and her younger brother, Samir. It's so hard for male siblings to see how much privilege they have in the family and how much they are benefiting from the favoritism because they just can't fathom that it would be different for a sister. I wasn't able to come to an understanding with my younger brother about it (or more specifically he doesn't believe there was any favouritism) and it definitely breeds a lot of resentment. Samir was a good brother for listening to her and accepting what she was saying instead of arguing about it.

I was most worried about how this would end, but the ending was incredibly satisfying. I feel like usually the climax is the parents finding out about the relationship and then forcing a breakup, but how this ended was so much more realistic. It was hopeful and happy. Some people might not agree, but it was really the best possible outcome given the situation. The secrecy is not fun and Karina and Ace's relationship will have many hurdles going forward, but I'm so happy that for once someone got the ending right.

You can also really tell that the author is drawing from some of her own experiences. There are so many small details that a non-South Asian author just would not have known no matter how much research they did because they would have to live it, like hiding your crop tops at the very back of your closet, having a super early curfew or living off your Eidi / birthday money because your parents don’t give you an allowance. Also, as someone who doesn’t know much about mainstream pop culture, it was so nice to read movie references and actually know what they were talking about!

Overall, I felt this book so hard! This was a real and honest portrayal of the trauma that many South Asian Muslim women have gone through. I wish I didn't relate so hard to Karina's situation. As someone who's on the other side at 25, studying what I want and not married, it definitely got better, but I still have so many regrets because of my parents. We’re always being told that we are selfish for wanting to do what we want in life like it’s a bad thing, but this book really emphasizes how it’s okay to be selfish. I’m so happy that this book exists so other South Asian teens can read it and feel hopeful for the future.

I really enjoyed this smart and fun book. Maybe it was the dedication that prepped me for this, but the book felt like injecting all the corners of the Gen Z internet directly into my bloodstream.

The premise is a really cool twist on a popular concept: instead of everything changing when a girl goes away on vacation, her parents go on vacation. She's still going to school, living in her house, and she doesn't even realize that everything has changed for her, because pretty much nothing has. But while her parents are on vacation, it turns out she has a lot of new freedoms that she stumbles upon, including tutoring a kid in her class in English.

I adore a fake dating trope, and what I love about this one is you get the perspective of the person who didn't instigate it!

Even when this book is a classic and someone picks it up 20 years from now, it won't feel dated, the specifics of this time period will keep the book grounded, and add that additional magic of a book that was published in 2021.

Thank you to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

I don’t even know how to put into words how fast my heart is still racing and the tears are still falling from my eyes. I am truly, madly, deeply in love with this book. It has everything I’ve ever loved all wrapped up into one.

I want to put a trigger warning out: this book talks about anxiety/how to cope as an individual. There are scenes with panic attacks.

Everything about this book is pure magic, from the first chapter I fell in love with Karina. While I’m not Bangladeshi or Muslim, so I’ll never fully understand what Karina was truly going through, I understand the struggle she felt in always wanting to please her parents. Again, not on the level that Karina was experiencing but I related to that. She won me over with her wit, determination and incredible comebacks. Her friends and their strong foundation gave me so much warmth. Honestly, this whole book (yes even the heart string scenes) was like a warm hug.

I won’t go into spoilers because you’ll need to read this for yourself on May 4, 2021 but Karina and Ace just topped LJ and Peter and LJ and John Ambrose (my superior ship) and are my favorite YA couple I’ve ever met.

This book is so many things, but I think perfection encompasses it well. You do NOT want to miss this!

I really, really wanted to enjoy this book. In fact, I was so excited for it that I promoted it before I had read it because the author and marketing promised a funny and relatable story about a brown girl (just like me). However, I was severely disappointed by this book. Reading this book was like letting down one GIANT sigh of disappointment. I honestly think the main character managed to fall into every single stereotype about South Asian girls and South Asian culture. While sometimes these stereotypes do hold true to South Asian experiences, I felt like I had already heard this story and seen these tropes a million times. As someone who was super excited for this book, I cannot describe what a let down actually reading it was for me. I think one of the worst things I realized after reading, is that many white readers might read it and think because its own voices it is great rep for all South Asians. I am not going to invalidate the author's experiences, but I do wish for a story of a girl embracing and loving her culture rather than trying to distance herself from it and "other" people who do enjoy the culture. I think there a distinction to be made between criticism of your own culture, parents, religion, etc. because you love it and want it to be better, versus criticism because you are trying to distance yourself from your culture and wish you were not part of that religion, culture, traditions, etc, because they don't conform to the white standard or are outside of societal norms. Anyways, I was so sad after reading this book I made a list of things that I saw in Karina that I am tired of seeing in South Asian characters. Maybe this list can help some future authors to not fall in the same traps that Karina repeatedly fell into throughout the book.
A list of things I saw in Karina that i am tired of seeing in brown characters
- characters who resent their parent’s rules
- characters who feel like their parents don’t try to understand them
- characters whose friends don’t try to understand their identity
- characters who only date people of a certain race or ethnicity
- characters who don’t have open conversations with their parents
- characters who feel oppressed by their religion or culture
- characters who don’t have any friends who share some of the same racial, religious, or cultural identities as them
- characters who dress provocatively behind their parent’s backs
- characters who lie to people instead of being honest with them
- characters who seek white validation

wow. it's 12:45am, i just finished this book, and i'm sobbing so hard. i never thought i would read a book that so perfectly reflected my own experiences as a south asian girl with anxiety. i absolutely loved this book. everything about it was so enthralling, from the writing to the characters and their relationships. this was one of my most anticipated releases of the year, and it was everything i could've asked for and more. it's definitely joined the list of my favourite books of all time and i'm so grateful to tashie bhuiyan for writing something that i and so many other brown kids have been longing for for so long.

*arc kindly provided by netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Thank you to NetGalley and Inkyard press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

I would recommend if you're looking for (SPOILERS)

-m/f ya frenemies to lovers
-fake dating
-close proximity
-opposites attract
-forbidden relationship elements
-a cinnamon roll of a hero hiding underneath a leather jacket
-a driven heroine trying to find her place
-a wonderful group of friends
-great banter
-slow burn
-forehead kisses

A beautiful debut I couldn't put this book down. It felt just like going back to high school. Karina, a Banghledeshi teen, finds herself suddenly without her parents for a month. Karina was so relatable, trying to please her parents and live for everyone else. Ace was just a cinnamon roll. The school's bad boy hiding a gooey center just for Karina. I adored watching their relationship develop. This was a fun twist on fake dating. I especially loved that they kept up their fun banter once they started dating.

This book truly shows the importance of having people around you who see the real you. Karina's friend group was so wonderful. And a special shout out to her grandmother, Dadu, who was just so sweet. The anxiety representation was real, and the stigma of mental health treatment. The author's note was beautiful at the beginning.

My only regret is that Ace and Karina's HEA was shown a bit later in the relationship with so much emphasis on the forbidden romance aspect, how they were dealing with hiding the relationship from her parents.

Rating: Rave
Steam: 1

CW: Anxiety, panic attacks, parental abuse (verbal and psychological)

I loved this book so hard! As an Indian-American with very strict parents this story resonated with me so much. I felt like I had lived this story growing up and sneaking around while not actually doing anything wrong. Tashie captured this story and the feelings of helplessness perfectly and I am so glad to have discovered her writing. I cannot wait to see what other wonders this author has in store in the future.

5/5 Stars. Thank you to Inkyard press and netgalley for sending me this arc. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Our protagonist, Karina Ahmed, a south Asian Muslim girl suffering from anxiety who feels stifled under her parents strict standards for her. When they leave Karina and her brother to spend the month in Bangladesh, Karina starts to live the life she wants and then later on is forced to comfort her family about what she wants for her future & happiness.

The fake dating trope immediately pulled me in. The plot was a little cliche but I definitely still enjoyed it. I loved how the author handles her characters and seeing the anxiety representation. This book was extremely easy to read and keeps you hooked. You can easily relate to the characters and her hardships

Trigger warnings: anxiety, mentions of parental abuse.

Rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

This was an absolutely amazing story. I can’t believe that it is a debut novel. It was gripping. I was stuck in the book. I needed to know how everything turned. The plot was incredible. The characters were amazing. Even ones that annoyed the hell out of me. I loved everything about this book. The plot was incredible. There were so many twists and turns. In the last ten per cent, I was reading so focused. *SPOILER ALERT* That’s when the best part happens. *SPOILER ALERT* I’m a young adult and a huge fan of all romance books. This one is probably one of my new favourites. Back to the characters. Ace was an incredible guy. He had his moments where he would intimidate you but he was an onion. He had so many layers. Same with Karina. She never wanted to disappoint. She always made other people happy. The two main characters grew a lot throughout the book. They became brave, confronted any problems that hurt them. Dadu was an incredible character. She was so encouraging even though she was the older generation. Karina’s friends were the best. They had their issues in life relating to their cultural differences too. That added depth to the story. I love the inclusion of poetry and music. The poems written, created goosebumps. This is an incredible novel. I hope that the author makes it a series where Xander, Cora, Nandini, and Sameer get their own stories.

I wrote this voluntary review in exchange for an ARC copy.

If I had to describe this in one phrase, I wouldn't say its a romance. I wouldn't call it a contemporary. It truly is a letter to anyone who has ever struggled with parental expectations. It's a letter of encouragement, a letter of resilience, a letter of independence. It's the tale of a young girl struggling with what her parents want from her, and what she wants from herself. This is a letter to every single teenager who has ever felt confined.

I want to start this off by saying that I grew up in a family worlds different than Karina's. My parents were supportive of everything I did, and they were there for me through everything. Even then, I felt the pressure of disappointing them, of wasting their time. Because of this, Karina was one of the most relatable characters I've ever read. Sure, I haven't been through most of her experiences, but at her core, she was a fragment of all of us. Within her, I found hope that we all have the chance live our lives for ourselves. I would recommend reading this for that reason alone, which completely ignores the lyrical writing, and realistic characters.

Tashie Bhuiyan had a way of writing that felt both gritty and beautiful. Several times, I stopped and highlighted entire paragraphs because they resonated so deeply within me. I loved the poems Bhuiyan wrote to accompany this, which is something you'll rarely hear me say. I hate poetry, but these poems were lyrical. I can see myself rereading this dozens of times, it was that gorgeous.

Even more stunning were the characters. Ace has become one of my favorite characters, if only for his complexities. We were given a love interest with multiple facets, and he was just as interesting to me as our main character. Every single time I thought I understood him, another detail was revealed. Most of all, I loved how respectful he was. Him and Karina have one of the best relationships I've ever read, it was so healthy. I loved how hard he was willing to work to keep her, and how he pushed her to be herself, not to conform to what her parents wanted.

And as for Karina, her journey will stick in my mind for a long time. Her relationship with her parents was done incredibly well, and I love the way it was written. The entire time, I felt like I was there with her, praying that her parents would accept her, and breaking down with her when they wouldn't.

Despite not being a huge fan of romances, I loved this book. It made me feel something, so it’s an automatic favorite! I can’t wait to see what else Bhuiyan writes, considering this is one heck of a debut novel!

Thanks to Tashie Bhuiyan and Netgalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

I have to be honest that this book really held my attention and was hard to put down for about two-thirds of the 416 pages.  I was genuinely invested in the characters and wanted to see how it all resolved.  Sadly, by the end, I was disappointed with the conclusion, the predictability, the stereotypes, and the cliche' of it all.  The author mentions in the forward that she is representing her story, not a representation of all Bangladeshi- Muslim American girls, but for an OWN voice book with such a clever premise, I really wanted to be shown more than I was told, I wanted to feel the protagonists strength, and cheer her on as she found her happiness on her terms.  But alas I felt that she let other's fight her battles and she really only threw her religion and culture around as weighted plot oppressors, not as strands of her life that she had to decide to embrace or understand in the process of growing into herself.  There was a lot of potential to discuss mental health and family expectation, but the end unraveled all that the book could have been.  Undoubtedly the author is a good writer, and brown Muslims are not a monolith, but I feel like sometimes we need to square away who we are before we just clamor for what we want.  This book has relationships, it is a romance novel afterall, but whether the characters are straight or LGBTQ+, there isn't more than kissing and hand holding and would probably be fine for 9th grade and up if you are ok with a Muslim lead lying to her parents and having a boyfriend.

SYNOPSIS:

Karina Ahmed is 16 and expected to be a doctor when she grows up.  Her conservative Muslim parents are immigrants from Bangladesh and very over protective of their oldest child.  Samir her younger brother, a freshman, is a robotics nerd and the pride of their family.  Karina loves English and wants nothing more to major in English in college, but her parents are insistent and despite her struggles with math and science she is determined she has no choice in the matter and must make them proud by being a doctor.  This inability to be what her parents want has caused tremendous anxiety within Karina and when her parents leave for a vacation to Bangladesh for a month, she is hoping to be able to relax and enjoy life for 28 days with her Dadu, paternal grandma, and her friends, Cora and Nandini.  

The only extracurricular activities Karina is allowed are Pre-Med Society and tutoring, where she helps others with English.  Her teacher asks her to tutor a classmate one on one to prepare for the end of the year exams, and reluctantly she agrees.  Very reluctantly.  The classmate is brooding resident bad boy Ace Clyde, a beautiful slacker that seems to not care about much.  In Karina's efforts to get Ace to study and taking advantage of limited parental supervision, Karina goes with Ace to a sweetshop and even ends up at his house where she meets his family.  Ace is not ready to admit to his incredibly wealthy family that he is seeking help from a tutor and instead introduces Karina as his girlfriend.  Ace's older brother Xander, the Student Body Class President, isn't buying it, so Ace announces it on social media and shows up the next day with coffee for Karina as he walks her to class determined to convince everyone that they are indeed a couple. Karina is not ok with this, but he does promise her a dozen books a week and he is aware that the "relationship" can only last 28 days, so she is in.   Karina's friends predict that they will fall hopelessly in love and they are pretty correct.  Over the course of the next three and half weeks the two grow closer, he even comes over and spends time with Dadu and Samir.  She encourages him to fix his relationship with his family, and he encourages her to fix hers.  And somewhere in the midst of pretending they decide to make it real and then Karina's parents return.  She at this point has been cheered on to stand her ground on confronting them about not wanting to be a doctor by Ace, Cora, Nandini, Dadu and Samir.  The conversation does not go well and Karina goes into a two week slump pushing everyone out before she *spoiler alert* resolves to date Ace in secret as long as he respects her lines, and Dadu stands up to her parents for her.  The story concludes with her going to Jr. Prom and her resolved to just stay strong for a little while longer until she is "free."

WHY I LIKE IT:

I like that I really didn't know if the book would turn cliche until it ultimately did.  I really liked the realness and rawness of Karina coping with her anxiety and her friends supporting her in Googling coping mechanisms and helping her test them out.  I feel like it was a missed opportunity for Karina's parents to not reach out to her, or for Karina to even mention that they were missing it.  I think readers that see themselves in Karina would have hoped to see that story thread play out and give them hope of getting help and support or at least getting it out in the open to normalize it.  I love the growth of Samir once Karina make him aware of the double standard, but I feel like he doesn't read with a consistent persona.  He has a job, he has friends, he likes a girl, but he reads like he is clueless and maybe 10 years old at best, not in high school.  A bit off for me.  And of course you have to love Dadu, a wise old woman who supports her grandchildren and sticks up for them.  I wish Karina would have taken her cues from her beloved grandmother and stood up to her parents with Dadu in the room rather than let Dadu fight the fight and just stand there.  I thought the big climax would be Karina standing up to her parents, so I felt let down when she let someone else fight her fight.  Yes Karina tried and failed, but I think her grandmother should have backed her up in round two, not taken over.  

Karina throughout says she is Bangladeshi-Muslim and uses it as a reason to fear her parents and feel obligated to not date or study English.  She does say she isn't against religion, and actually likes being a Muslim and praying and knows Allah loves her, but that it is the tradition that blindly is followed that gives her trouble.  Her maternal grandfather is an Imam and her mom is much stricter than her father, but he follows her lead in raising the kids.  My critique isn't so much to argue with the author's perspective about religious standards, but more a literary one, when the character says she is Muslim and uses that to reason why she has lines, but yet is never seen praying or wresting with what she wants and what she believes.  Never asking Allah for help with her anxiety or confronting her parents or anything for that matter.  As soon as her parents leave she is in a crop top, so where is the religious line and where is the cultural one?  Where is her understanding of her culture and where it fits in her life and where she wants it to fit in her future? Is she Muslim because her parents are or because she believes it? She won't eat ham, and eats halal, but later eats meat at Ace's house? Everyone, even fictional characters, get agency, but in a book where the premise is a fake relationship turned real turned rebellious because of religion and culture, a little introspection seems warranted.

The conclusion after hundreds of pages of being called lionhearted and brave and strong seemed diminished when going to prom and lying to parents and having grandma fight your battle is the happy ending.  

FLAGS:

Relationships: The main couple hold hands and kiss. There is a supporting character that is bisexual as is a cousin, one is gay, they hold hands and kiss as well. Nothing more than that or detailed. There is lying and deception.

TOOLS FOR LEADING THE DISCUSSION:

I don't think I would do this as an Islamic School book club selection because it would imply agreement with lying and going behind your parents backs.  Granted her parents are difficult and her grandma is aware and ok with the situation, but I still think it would send the wrong message to endorse such behavior from a religious school perspective.

i intended on reading this book slowly. a few chapters a day. to savor it.

and then, today, i binged 80% of it when i should’ve been going to sleep.

this book is everything. it’s about an overachiever with immigrant parents who always have expectations that she doesn’t think she’ll meet. it’s about a book nerd who treasures the written word more than anything else in the world. it’s about an awkward teen with a crush on a boy who can’t seem to stop flirting with her at any opportunity.

i cannot tell you how refreshing it is to read a romcom where the conflict doesn’t come from a disagreement between the main couple. where the protagonist doesn’t abandon their friends as soon as they get in a relationship. where the love interest truly just expresses their unconditional love in whatever way possible.

also i just want to give karina a hug and tell her that she’ll be okay!!!

shoutout to samir and dadu, i can only hope to one day write family members as interesting and loving as them. nandini and cora are wonderful. miss cannon reminds me of every english teacher i’ve had.

please read this book the day it comes out, you will not regret it.

thank you to inkyard press and netgalley for the arc, i literally screamed when i got the email notification about it!!! i feel so privileged to be able to read this book before it’s released. yes i will still be preordering it from my local indie (which doesn’t even compare to the indie in this book skfjskfjskfjsjdjs but i love them immensely)

I think the thing about OwnVoices is that you can be a rep of a certain community, but your experience as someone from that community can still be different from others’. I’m not a Muslim nor do I come from a strict non-Muslim family, but I really can relate to Karina because all of my closest friends are Muslim, and some of them actually went through very similar struggles that Karina had with her parents. So, for one, I think it’s really nice that their struggles are represented by this book. Also, I think it’s also nice that instead of the typical “I hate my strict parents” character, Karina actually acknowledges that her parents are that way because they come from a different culture than the one Karina grew up in, and it’s natural to have a different view of life, different goals and beliefs. I think it’s also nice that Tashie throws in the character of Sana, because she and Karina shares the very same origin, but unlike Karina, Sana’s views and beliefs actually align with her own parents and Karina’s as well. Therefore, as an individual, Karina’s struggles are irrelevant to her, despite both coming from the same Bangladeshi-Muslim family.

And then the relationship between Karina and Ace. Sure, on the surface, it might seem very stereotypical but I love how Tashie gives a twist where Ace, too, has his own issues with his family and how they both help each other to resolve these issues. I love how they nurture and encourage each other.

I think there are two things that refrained me from giving this book a solid 5: first, the plot dragged a bit too long on some parts. Second, how Ace’s background feels a little bit too stereotypical.

Overall, I LOVE the book, and the poems are just beautiful.

A grader, smart, responsible, quirky, adorable South Asian girl and badass, handsome, sweet tooth, rebellious white boy unite for tutoring sessions and fake dating scheme, friends to lovers theme, problematic families who reject to communicate or empathize their own children, verbal and psychological abuse, anxiety disorder!

Did you like the formula I mentioned? If your answer is yes, you’re accepted to the full, heartfelt, sweet-swoon-soft, enjoyed ride!

I love realistic young adult books plus sweet romance with so much likable characters! This book checks all of the boxes of my true weakness and addiction of young at hearts premise!

Karina is strong character, who is victimized by her over conservative, domineering parents who also intervene and put limits to everything she likes to do with your life including her love for English literature! She likes to read, writing poems as her parents forced her to become a doctor!

She keeps saying sorry for everything she’s done because her parents incepted the wrong thought patterns into her mind and she never thinks she’s good enough, smart enough or capable enough! She becomes more anxious at each moment which I can easily relate to be helpless when you’re under so much pressure, squeezing yourself into tiny ball not to collapse under the attacks life throws at your way!

Karina’s parents also spoil her brother Samir who is clueless, immature but also caring brother. Yes, I truly have so much negative feelings about them but thankfully Dadu was so much huggable character who is on Karina’s side and who encourages her from the beginning to live her life and make her own choices!

And Ace has issues with his own brother Xander as well but he was sweeter than the lollipops he licks throughout the chapters. He was honest, solid and learning from mistakes, so much likable hero!

The couple’s chemistry was perfect! I liked their connection! Both of them were respectful with each other’s limits and boundaries.

And best friends of Karina: quirky, cheerful and so much supportive, likable!

Overall: I’m giving my five for the love of English literature, lyrical poems, delicious cheesecakes, milkshakes stars!

I love feel good YA fictions with inspirational messages and remarkable characters! Thankfully the author gave me all of them in a beautiful package and creative cover!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

*Spoiler free*

I heard fake dating and I was in. I knew the main character, Karina, was going to tutor the resident bad boy, while also going through with a fake dating scheme. That's pretty much where my knowledge ended, but not my excitement for it. The cover is adorable and I'd seen so much love for it online that I was ready to read it as soon as I could. Trigger warnings: anxiety, anxiety attacks, parental abuse (verbal, phycological)

Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. How do you put into a words the feelings a book gives you when it feels like your love for it is swelling in your chest to burst into a million Sour Patch Kids and lollipops? Because I'm going to try and do just that. This is going to be a full on gushing review and I'm not even going to apologize for it, because this book is that good.

I'm going to start off with Karina, specifically her anxiety. I just got her anxiety. I got the feeling of wanting everything to just stop. I got the constant apologizing. I got being afraid of so many things that it's overwhelming. I got being terrified over how many things there are to be afraid of. I got the feelings of anxiety so strong that it felt like the only thing to exist. I just got her in that sense. I also loved Karina as a whole, because she's not just her anxiety. She loves English, she's passionate, she's an amazing poet, she hilarious, and she's brave.

I guess I'm going by character here, so Ace is up next! Ace is the biggest and sweetest dork ever. He's so incredibly kind. He understands Karina's lines and he won't cross them. And when he makes a mistake he apologizes and actually tries to do better. He's solid, both as a person and with Karina. He's a bad boy who loves lollipops and space and the piano. Seriously, he was all around adorable.

On to Karina's friends. They seriously have the most chaotic relationship, but dang was it hilarious. Plus, they text and act like actual teens! They're dramatic, use humor every chance they get, and are dramatic some more. They are also always there for Karina and Karina is always there for them. They might not completely get each others experiences, because they're different people, but they always try to support and understand each other. Really, they're just really great friends.

I was going to move onto families next, but Karina's grandma and Samir get a paragraph of their own. Karina's grandma was just so cool. She was supportive and loving and the person in Karina's corner that she needed. I loved seeing her love Karina when she so desperately needed it. And Samir! He was such a typical boy, oh my gosh. He was annoying and clueless, but also really sweet and compassionate at the same time.

Alright, not it's time to talk about families. Ace and Karina both have complicated relationships with their families. There is lack of understanding, lack of trying to understand, and just a disconnect between parent and child. I didn't fully connect with Karina's struggles with her parents, simply because that is not my experience, but there was a part that really resonate. The part about experiences shaping people and being handed down. It's a painful part of the story, but one that is powerful as well. It allows Karina's bravery to shine through. It's a chance for her to grow and a chance for her to figure out what she really wants.

The amount of sweets in the books was nuts! There's a literal sweet shop and it's a big part of the book and it has cheesecake and milkshakes and more! Ace loves lollipops and Karina loves Sour Patch Kids. I have a huge sweet tooth, so all these sweets needed to be mentioned of course.

The humor in this book was also spot on. I snorted and cackled out loud pretty much throughout the entire thing. It's amazing, and it felt authentically teen like!

It's also so beautifully written. It was easy to fly through and it felt as sweet as the relationship and the actual sweets. Plus, the poetry was top notch. Seriously, it felt like it nestled right next to my heart. It was beautifully, beautifully written.

LETS TALK ABOUT THE TITLE TOO BECAUSE WOW. It was integrated into so many aspects of the book that I actually kind of want to scream. It was so, so smart and the ending basically made me want to burst into tears.

So, if you couldn't tell, I love this book a whole heck of a lot. Like, I actually started crying when writing this review. I'm even going to inset a picture as proof because this book made me feel a whole lot of things.

Absolutely completely sweet and adorable, anxiety rep that had me pretty much in tears, amazing best friends, complicated, painful familial relationships, good familial relationships, trying to learn and change, fake dating, and so much more that I could go on and on. Seriously, this book is amazing. And I love it so much.

i was approved for this arc *checks email* nine hours ago, and here we are -- finally time for me to gush about how much i loved this book!

Counting Down with You is the story of Karina Ahmed, a Bangladeshi Muslim teenager who feels stifled under her parents strict standards for her. When they leave Karina and her brother to spend the month in Bangladesh, Karina starts to live the life she'd been hoping for, and is forced to confront her family and herself about what happiness looks like for her.

I adored this book -- it was just the right balance of funny and emotional and delightful and inspirational. I loved the depth that Bhuiyan put into the side characters and the humor of bad boy Ace and the emotional intensity of Karina. I saw a lot of the realities of my own anxiety in her (I might even try her counting habit, who knows?)

I cannot recommend this book enough for lovers of YA contemporary/romance. You will love it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ink Yard Press for the ARC of Counting Down with You by Tashie Bhuiyan. Counting Down with You is a sweet YA contemporary that lightly tackles the issues of two teens as they navigate their parent’s expectations and their own dreams for the future. The story contains a good mix of romance and clever banter between the two main characters, Karina and Ace. I especially appreciated Karina’s poetry throughout, and thought it gave better insight to her and her fears and dreams.

Thank you net galley for the advance reader copy of this novel. This was a contemporary YA novel that was set to be a romance. I didn't finish this novel. The care for the writing style and characters and couldn't get into this book. The summary sounded great but this one is not for me.