Hi, I would just like to let you all know that this is an Adiba Jaigirdar fan account now. I truly fell in love with her writing and story telling after I read The Henna Wars , which is my favourite sapphic book ever. If you haven't already read it, please just read it now...Anyways, obviously after I heard about Hani And Ishu's Guide To Fake Dating...it became one of my most anticipated book for 2021. I have been waiting for so long to be able to read it and I also tried to get an e-ARC , so I was floored when the publisher agreed to send me one ! Thank you so much to both Adiba Jaigirdar and Page Street Publishing for allowing me to fall in love with this book as well!!

So, what is Hani And Ishu's Guide To Fake Dating about ? It is an own voices, sapphic , rom-com (well I don't know if it is a rom-com but it definitely reads like one) with fake dating trope!! And also with a little bit of sunshine x grumpy one trope about two South Asian girls. And mind you...one of these girls is Muslim! It is unfortunately not very common to have own-voices and accurate representation for what it's like to be a Muslim person let alone a queer Muslim person and Adiba Jaigirdar's books are the perfect representation I needed. I think the best description for how this book made me feel would be to say that, it filled the hole in my heart. It made me feel complete. It made me laugh so many times and also just made me cry because of happiness.

To get into more detail about the book, when Hani comes out to her friends as bisexual they say that she can't be attracted to girls since she only dated boys before! Hani wants her friends to understand who she is, and she decides to tell them she is dating a girl. When Ishu agrees to fake-date Hani even though they couldn't be more different, their story begins. There is also two point of view , so we are allowed into both Hani's and Ishu's minds, which I loved. While spending time together, their different personalities help them grow as people !

What I liked most about this book is Hani's family relationships and Ishu's respect for Hani's religion.%90 of the time, Muslim people in Western media are shown as hidebound. And then we have Hani's family... The most amazing , supportive Muslim family ever. I have never thought that I would be able to read about an accepting Muslim family the way Hani's family is. I fell in love with Hani's mom...

There is also Ishu! She is so respectful towards Hani's religion that it warmed my heart. I feel like , this is the perfect book for young Muslim people, especially queer ones to understand that they don't have to compromise about their beliefs. We have always seen Muslim girls taking off their hijabs and having to compromise their religions in the Western media. We never saw that they could be just themselves and in love. This book is the perfect representation that you can be yourself. There is truly something so comforting about reading a book about a queer Muslim girl reading the Quran, and praying namaz while being okay with her queerness.

If you want to read a book where brown girls are being represented accurately, where you can learn more about Bengali culture , where you can see what being a Muslim is like and learn a little bit about Islam , or just a cute sapphic rom-com with fake dating then this book is for you.There is still time to place your pre-order and there is also a cute pre-order campaign that is going on!

Aside from all the positive things this book also has instances about racism , biphobia , xenophobia. Don't forget to be aware of them!!

Two girls with something to gain. Hani wants to prove to her friends that she really is bisexual by dating a girl, and Ishu wants to become Head Girl. They decide to start fake dating, with an extremely elaborate plan in order to make both of those things happen.

However things can't be as easy as that and they start to come up against friends, family, and situations that want to pull them apart, plus then there is the addition of real feelings potentially making things even more complicated.

This book was fun and I enjoyed that we were able to see this story from both Hani and Ishu's point of view. It was sweet in the way that high school romances are and I did enjoy this book. It took me a bit to fall in love with the characters but throughout the course of the book I started to enjoy them more.

Give me anything fake dating. It's seriously one of my favorite tropes. So when I first heard about Hani & Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating I was hooked. I loved Jaigirdar's first book, The Henna Wars, and was just over the moon, no over the galaxy excited for the next. Hani & Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating is a story about calling out our friends, about even realizing that some behavior isn't acceptable. It's hard to realize that people we've known forever, that we hear their voices in our head, but are actually hurting us. To put a name to that gut feeling in our stomach, to that moment of hurt. This element of friendship, and toxic friendships, is one of my favorite elements of Hani & Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating!

Hani & Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating is a win on so many levels. It discusses feeling like our identity marks us as being 'too much', the struggles of our immigrant parents, and the ways we can feel like we aren't enough. Emotional from start to finish, there's not only romance, discussions about friendships, but also conversations about family and expectations. I instantly loved Ishu, the ways she feels guarded and a bit prickly, but felt so relatable. But I also fell in love with Hani, the ways she feels "too" much and the ways she is able to give a voice to that feeling of their lives, and cultures, which don't register to others.

This book was seriously delightful! Sweet, tender, emotionally poignant, and so much fun to read. All the food described sounded amazing, and reading a sapphic rom com about two queer brown girls (one of whom is Muslim) was truly healing!

Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating is the fake dating love story I desperately needed right now! It was cute and funny and just utterly perfect. Hani and Ishu are the only two Bengali girls at their very Catholic, very white, Irish all-girls school. They concoct a fake dating scheme to prove to Hani’s crappy friends that she is truly bisexual and help Ishu get voted Head Girl. Things quickly get messy as they do in fake dating, and the girls have to figure out what their real goals were.

This was a very quick read and will be a fun re-read. The characters were all beautifully flawed and complicated. Both girls have loving relationships with their parents, even though Ishu’s parents are set in their ways and a bit rigid on their expectations for their daughters. Ishu’s relationship with her “perfect” older sister was written in a way that felt very true to a competitive sibling dynamic.

Thank you to NetGalley for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Much thanks to NetGalley Books and the publisher, I received an ARC of Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating in exchange for an honest review. This was my first ever ARC and I am really excited to promote the book!

At an all-girls catholic school, Humaira Khan (Hani) is everyone’s favourite. Her simple and helping nature, coupled with popular friends, makes her instantly lovable. But when she comes out as a bisexual in front of her friends, they do not approve of the identity. Amidst a spontaneous discussion after a failed set-up by her friends, she admits that she is in a relationship. Everything is fine, except for the fact that she is not dating someone. In order to continue the lie, she blurts out the first name that comes to her mind -- Ishita Dey (Ishu).

Ishu, on the other hand, is not a girl you would like as a first impression. For Hani, the fake-dating idea is perfect because her friends would never interact much with Ishu, and they both are Bengalis in an all-white school. Brown people are meant to be together, right? The next problem, Ishu does not know any of this. When she approaches her with this plan, they decide on the deal. Fake-dating would help Hani convince her friends and Ishu can use the popularity to compete for Head Girl, something that she needs to achieve after her elder sister turned things upside down.

Things remain fine until they start developing real feelings. This would ruin the plan and worse, could make them start hating each other. Amidst all the high school drama, manipulative friends and cultural identities, these girls are struggling to confront their real selves. The butterflies in the stomach, tint of pink across the cheeks and electric waves are supposed to mean something, right?

I finished this book in one go! Not because I found it easy-going but because I could relate to the protagonists so much. Being a Bangladeshi reader, I do not find protagonists from my nation that often. I think this is necessary for young readers to relate and find their role models. While I do not have any problems with white characters, their cultural settings differ vastly. With this being said, I thoroughly enjoyed all the Bengali references throughout the book. Right from shorisha ilish to bhapa pitha and a holud at the end, this is the best cultural representation I could have asked for! The book also portrayed the life of a muslim immigrant quite well. I think it helped me understand the struggles they have to withstand on a daily basis. It was written in a dual narrative and I always prefer dual narration, because it helps readers connect to the characters in a better way. Towards the end of the book, when the characters started developing real feelings, it was fun to read how it was mutual.

I have always been fond of the fake-dating trope and incorporating it in a contemporary romance is a brilliant rendition. The protagonists are such cute people and the descriptive style made me feel that I have known them for years. I would also appreciate the character development -- how Ishu improved her relationship with her elder sister and how Hani understood how toxic her friends were. At its core, this book is a sweet and light romance. But it addresses a lot of issues, including parental expectations, identities, relationships and friendships in general.

I thought this one was cute. It took me a minute to figure out that it was taking place in the UK with the language and slang, which kind of threw me off because I didn't know what some of the words meant.

꧁ 5 stars ꧂
i don't have any words of criticism for this book. as a bipoc queer girl, i felt so seen in the characters and dialogue of this book. did i cry at 2am simply because one of the main characters is getting the support they needed from a family member? yes. and i would do it again.

rep: bipoc (specifically bengali), queer (specifically bi), muslim
tw: interpersonal racism, institutional racism, homophobia, cishet people saying that heterophobia is a thing 🤡, islamophobia, sh!tty mean girls

let's start with the premise of the story. it gives me to all the boys i've loved before but sapphic and set in ireland and there's no letters and there's just no boys involved. in fact, there is a grand total of five men in this entire book (the two MC's respective dads, and these 3 annoying cishet white boys who are just background characters and rarely mentioned) and i loved it. the book is more family- and close friends-based, and the MCs go to an all-girls school so NO MEN. yes i am very happy at that fact.

anyways, i'm getting off track. ishu is from a very academically competitive family, and she is always overshadowed by her perfect sister. until her sister isn't so perfect, and she decides that it's time to show her parents that she can be the better sister (i smell sibling rivalry. oh wait, that's my own sibling rivalry... yes, i felt called out). and meanwhile, hani has two (very toxic) white friends, and they are just so snotty and not understanding and I KNOW SO MANY PEOPLE LIKE THAT IRL. they don't understand hani's obligations towards her culture, towards her religion, or towards her family. and they don't even try to learn! they constantly gaslight her into believing that she should make sacrifices to maintain the friendship, by breaking religious rules and family promises. and then hani comes out as bisexual, and they invalidate her at every step. what does hani do? she blurts out that she has been dating ishu (who the friends hate), and then it escalates to a whole lot of pigeonholing and subtle homophobia and ARGH i want to punch the 'friends' in the face.

there were so many scenes and dialogues that i have heard and felt throughout my life, as an overseas chinese. the white friends lowkey insulting your parents just because they have an accent? felt that. asking to be invited to cultural events just to look bored and make you feel bad for not spending time with them? yes, that too. and then blaming you for spending time with your family at said cultural events? YEPPERS. so yes, this book appealed a lot to my pathos, and GOSH I LOVED IT.

— "how come you never invite us to your 'bengali' things?"
— because you're not bengali seems a little too direct. but it's also the truth.

this has to be my favorite quote of all time. say it with me now: if you are not openminded towards my culture and openly invalidate, i will no longer invite you to my cultural events. and sometimes, you just have to be OF SAID CULTURE to participate.

— "you probably shouldn't go about telling people you're bisexual when you don't have any experience. hell, even i've kissed a girl, and i know i'm not gay. it's just a little demeaning if-"

i'm going to punch someone. not the bisexual invalidation while being THAT homophobic sorority girl who loves drunk kissing other women!!1! sometimes i hate it when people.

i think this book was a very truthful depiction of high school, and coming to terms with your own identity. people mess up, and there's often no good reason behind it, and no easy way to have it solved. systematic racism happens in pretty much every school, and there's really no way an individual from a minority group could turn the system around.

THE MAJOR CONFLICT FRUSTRATED ME, SIMPLY BECAUSE IT WAS TOO TRUE. things like that happen in schools, really often. in the end, bipoc will often have the disadvantage, simply because it comes down to who has the power (and surprise: it's not usually the bipoc). the only part of the book that i found unrealistic is that (view spoiler).

in conclusion: i simply adored this book. please PREORDER HANI AND ISHU'S GUIDE TO FAKE DATING; EXPECTED PUBLISHING DATE 25 MAY 2021. this book was a perfect light read with a fast pace, and helped overcome my reading slump. now, i'm off to read more bipoc queer books because THATS THE GOOD VIBES.

thank you page street publishing for my eARC! all opinions are my own. the quotes i used may not be included or the same in publications.

Ahh what a cute sophomore novel that Jaigirdar that has written once again! Interwoven into those happy/light moments though are important serious topics that Jaigirdar excels at doing especially if you’ve read the Henna wars too!
such as talking about culture, toxic friendships, religion/sexuality stereotypes.. and many more!

Jaigirdar writes some of the most real/well written characters and I love how they are not perfect, they have flaws just like we all do in real life.. and as I’ve said before characters make up a lot of what I love about a book for me and so when the author just delivers and gives us such real and amazing characters I’m like yess!!


I’ve just got to add! The friends (if you can call them that) Hani has.. I was just shouting at the pages like she could hear me and was like STOP HANI THEY DONT DESERVE YOU!! Ooo they made me angry!! If you have read/when you read you will know!!


You know I’m a sucker for a fake dating trope and hate to love so when I hear that phrase to describe a book or will be a trope in a book.. I’m there, I’m ready and the books already been bought 😂 the romance between Hani and Ishu Just was the cutest.. yes they had that push and pull throughout the relationship but of course we are not here for relationships to be plain sailing as not very realistic then hehe!

Like I said after The Henna wars I can’t wait to read what Jaigirdar writes next and now I’m saying it again!! I’m ready for more and more stories Adiba.

This is just the cute contemporary book you absolutely need to read! Adiba Jaigirdar has successfully written yet another cute sapphic story with the Desi representation that we all need.

The relationship between Hani and Ishu themselves was effortless. It never seemed forced, and their character arcs complimented each other beautifully. Both of them are hilarious and their conversations really flesh out their personalities, Despite being near polar opposites, they fit together wonderfully.

Hani and Ishu also go through their own independent struggles that I think a lot of Desi kids can relate to. Craving parental approval, dealing with long time friends being bigots, complicated sibling relations, the difficulties of immigrating West etc.

The subplot involving Ishu and her sister Nik was so heartwarming, and seeing Hani stand up to her bigoted best friends was empowering.

I cannot recommend this book enough!

I'll be honest, I don't know what I expected from this book. It was my first time reading a Desi centered contemporary novel. To say the least, it was not bad, but I was often confused at times with the book. Despite the fact that the Ebook format was horrible, which is not the author's fault, I felt that also added to why I did not understand what was happening at times.

However, I will say that is was a stressful, yet cute book. The dynamics with Hani's white friends really bothered me, especially with the way it ended up for them. I did appreciate the fact, though, that it was true to real life in the case of Aisling. When I say this, I mean the way she faced no repercussions for their actions while their counterparts who may be people of color, face the most consequences despite not being at fault.

Something I found weird, was Ishu saying she did not believe in God. It is to my knowledge, many Indians in fact are religious, mainly Hindu? I say this, being one, that it was strange that Ishu would question it, but it was not clear as to whether or not her house was devoted to a certain faith. Also, I did not expect that much cursing from this book and one character, Ishu, doing all of it.

Towards the end, we see Hani have a conversation with her mother. Upon reading it, I became slightly chocked up. It made me think of my own relationship with my mother, and how we, in someway, all may face the same things in life.

Thank you to NetGalley, Adiba Jaigirdar, and Page Street Publishing for an Ebook Arc of this book.

This book is so cute. It's all the sapphic, innocent fake dating you need in your life, with well written characters, Indian & Bangeli culture, and the "I hate everyone but you" trope but done well.

The romance in this book is written phenomenally. It's cute right from the start, from the moment they decide to try to strike a deal, all the way to the end. These are definitely characters you can see falling for each other, without it being a perfect and unrealistic mirror of each other. I love how the core part of their relationship is about being genuinely comfortable with and supportive of each other. They both have these people who they give power to and compartmentalize their own wants and identity for, and it's so nice seeing how they help each other deal with that and see what they deserve.

They're also incredibly cute together in general, and I love the friendship that they create even before actual romance comes into the mix. Their conversations are really funny, and make both of them even more likable. Their texts were one of my favorite parts of the entire book. And, in the few times miscommunication comes up- as it does in fake dating stories- it gets cleared up painlessly and fairly quickly, which is such a relief. Their relationship is so nice to watch without any of the stress that can come with these types of relationships.

However, the romantic one isn't the only important relationship in this book. I love Ishu's growing relationship with her sister. As two characters who were pitted against each other most of their lives, whether intentionally or not, it's fantastic to get see them figure out how to be sisters again, and the way her sister lends Ishu the support she needs. Jaigirdar is great at writing good sister relationships, but I feel like this one in particular really excels and brings a great layer to this story.

There are certain aspects I wish were pushed a little further instead of remaining more subtle, such as the growing romance itself which seems to jump over some milestones and go right from slight attraction to a crush, and Hani standing up for herself, which was dealt with well but I would have liked to see pushed further for catharsis, but all in all it's a great book.
I can definitely see myself revisiting it as a comfort read down the line, and will be recommending it a lot when it comes out!

Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating is cute, wholesome book that stole the heart of a desi sapphic such as me from the beginning.

When Hani comes out as bisexual to her friends, they dismiss her identity as she has only ever gone out with boys and so she lies and says that she has been dating a girl, namely Ishu. Following this as the two girls spend time together to make their fake relationship look real, we discover how while the two are polar opposites, they fit together really well! Hani is kind, sweet, friendly and outgoing while Ishu is more reserved, stubborn and a little mean at times. They also come from very different families - while Hani has a ever present and accepting family, Ishu isn't close with hers and is afraid of coming out to them.

As they spend time together, and slowly fall in love, they bring out each other's best and encourage the other to stand up for themselves. It was easy to empathise with both the characters and root for them, and while I loved Ishu more because I had so much in common with her, Hani is no less of a sweetheart who carved a place in my heart to keep for herself.

The biphobia and racial and islamic microagressions and willing ignorance of Hani's friends to try and adjust to her needs, or even listen to what she was saying, infuriated me to no end, and I loved how it was dealt with in the book. It also made to show why Hani and Ishu are so perfect together - because they accommodate the other's needs and respect the other person.

I also loved the depiction of Hani's relationship with Islam and how she connected with it. Many books do not deal with how one's relationship with their religion is different due to changes in the times and mindsets but this book tackled that and talked of how Hani loved being a Muslim and I really enjoyed reading about her journey!

If you're looking for a cute sapphic book that will cheer you up, you're at the right place! I highly recommend this book because it's so cute and wholesome and does not shy away from talking about some important topics.

This one has been a book I had been anticipating for a while, so when I got given an ARC I was so excited (thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with a copy).

I expected this to be a ridiculously cute sapphic romance and it was, but it was also much more. In complete honesty, when I first picked it up it didn't engage me straight away and I had to keep forcing myself to pick it back up, which for me wasn't a good sign, and I so wanted to love it. But one day I just sat myself down with it and read it for a good chunk of time, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Hani and Ishu's guide to fake dating is a story about two young girls who need something, Hani needs a relationship to prove to her friends that she isn't just pretending to be bisexual, and Ishu needs to be head girl. The way to get this for both of them? To date of course. I am a sucker for the fake dating trope (Thanks Lara Jean and Bryson Keller), and so I lapped up every second of their fake relationship. And while it was cute, awkward, funny and all of those things that this trope brings, it also brought with it conversations on sexuality, religion, racism, family and spoke about them honestly. Each girl has complexities. Each girl has to find herself. I watched them grow and accept themselves in this book, and more than accept themselves but embrace themselves.

I also HATED Aisling and Dee. What toxic trash those two were.

It was a great experience reading in the voice of someone who isn't my own, as I have no idea what it would be like to navigate the world in their shoes.

Although I did thoroughly enjoy this book, and would recommend it to people who wanted a cute grumpy/happy slowburn romance, it wasn't a new favourite. I will definitely still keep an eye out for any further releases from this author though!

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy. I don't know why I started or even finished reading this book. It doesn't seem realistic to me that Bengali families will be so accepting of their children being bisexual, let alone Muslim families. The story is set in Ireland, and I'm not sure if immigrant Benaglis or Muslims in Ireland are so different from the U.S., or if the author just wants it to be this way. It seems in this book "not becoming a doctor" is a bigger faux-pas than any form of queerness. I thought it was a book about fake dating, but of course the girls wind up falling for each other. There are some nice themes about true friendship, making decisions based on one's own happiness, and family. However, due to the profanity and unrealistic representation of Muslims, I wouldn't recommend this book.

Always a fan of fake dating plots, I couldn't pass up this title. Hani and Ishu are the only Bengali girls at their Irish private school, but they couldn't be more different. When Hani's friends say she can't be bi because she's never dated a girl, she lies and says she's dating Ishu.
This is a perfect execution of the fake dating trope, but it's so much more. It shows the diversity within the Bengali community, addresses family tension, and the difficulty of leaving behind unsupportive friends.

Another absolute stunner from Adiba in this heart-warming, funny yet moving story that so many young people will be able to relate to!!

Hani and Ishu are such wonderful characters. I adored this book. It brought me back to high school and I fell in to these characters lives and fake relationship. It was also interesting to read about how they balanced their family culture with the society around them.

This was a very sweet, immersively-written YA novel, with well-developed characters throughout. My only issue isn't really an issue at all--this book wasn't a completely chill, cozy read--I just wanted something more purely rom-com than what it is. Primarily, one of the main character's toxic white friends (who is biphobic AND Islamophobic, among other things) made the book more dramatic and realistic and less escapist than I was looking for. This is a me issue, not at all the book's.

I loved this book so much. Just as much as Henna Wars.
I immediately messaged the store buyer & requested we buy it and I'll handsell it at the store.
I love the two leads. I feel like Hani would have seen how aweful her "friends" are earlier on, but that's okay.
Thank you.