DID. NOT. EXPECT. TO. FALL. IN. LOVE. SO. HARD.

I want to admit how much I loved the whole "enemies to lovers" fiasco, for starters. This novel had me on the edge of my chair the majority of the time, wanting to find out what would happen next between Deen and Kiran. I am not religious by any means, but reading this desi YA rom-com was absolutely breathtaking.

The relationship between these two is super intriguing, especially because the reader gets to see their relationship when they first met, how they meet online via their gaming profiles (anonymously, of course), to their relationship in person 3 years later. When they meet 3 years later, they find out that their siblings are getting married and they'll be seeing more of one another. The story revolves mostly around Kiran trying to prevent the wedding from happening because she suspects Deen's brother is hiding something big from her sister, the intended bride. So imagine Kiran trying to unravel the wedding while Deen puts everything back together to ensure the wedding goes as planned. With this mixed perspective novel, we see the side of the story from each of the MCs. I don't want to spoil too much, but this story was everything I wanted to read.

Because the story unravels through time and we get glimpses of Deen and Kiran's past, we see their relationship grow and evolve. We experience their journey of falling for one another to the point where it all falls apart. Deen grapples with his own self-worth and past msitakes, and Kiran deals with grief after the passing of her mother. This book is a great coming-of-age read for all.

Thank you to the publishers for the eARC of this book in exchange for an honest opinion. Can we also take a moment to appreciate and admire the beautiful cover?

TW: Reference of death of a parent, reference of drug use, emotional abuse, guilty, and anxiety

This was such a cute book! I loved the aspects of family and the inner turmoil between all of the characters!

I had in mind to start this book, get at least a third if not halfway through it, and then pick it up the next day to finish and then evaluate. Suddenly, it was ten thirty at night and the book was finished, so that already makes this a great read. Its a five-star read because of the details and the fact that it fit my particular taste.
Kiran's sister Amira is near set to marry Faisal, who happens to be the older brother of Deen, Kiran's secret ex, who on the side plays as Foxx in an MMORPG whose online best friend is Kas, who just so happens to be played by Kiran, through neither of them know that. This was what I understood by the top of chapter two and I had an inkling from that knowledge alone that this would be one of my favorite reads of the year. I was so glad to be proven correct.
The chapters alternate between Kiran and Deen's first-person POVs, but they were both distinctive, and I could easily get into their emotional state from the first page or two. The in-between chapters were either chat logs from Deen and Kiran's past or their in-game personas, and those also helped the reader to take a step back from being in the mind of one character, allowing for a limited third perspective, and then back to first for the other MC.
The time and plot progression was very smooth. There wasn't anything that happened that took me out of the book, other than reminding myself where each character was, as the bulk of the book flips back and forth between Philly and NY/NJ.
Kiran was very realistic to me; all of her actions, though sometimes awful and misguided, made sense for her character and the place that she was in in her life. Same goes for Deen, though I (perhaps as an older reader aligning myself with the older character) found it easier to connect with his actions over hers. The ending also made a lot of sense for them and I was glad to see the author took a realistic approach with everything, rather than giving a fairytale happy ending.
The fairytale came in the descriptions of everything: the food, the clothing, the wedding-- it was all described so vividly I was able to get a very good picture of each scene.
If I had one wish, I would have asked for, perhaps, another paragraph and then maybe a few more at the end of the last chapter, because the ending had me catching my breath and wanting more. The title is the perfect fit for this book.
Yes, I will be recommending this book and I will absolutely be getting a copy for myself in September.

When I added this to my "to read", it was honestly on a limb, but I am pretty glad I did.

It All Comes Back To You follows the story of two young desi's, Kiran and Deen. They have a rocky past, and Kiran's life gets sent into a twist when Deen's brother, Faisal, wants to marry Kiran's sister, Amira. Feeling hurt and determined, Kiran does everything in her power to put a stop to Amira pursuing anything more with Faisal.

I found the story to be very fast paced in my opinion, which I enjoyed. It was my first time reading a Desi love story, and I was not disappointed. I'm glad it was my first, to say the least. The overall plot was interesting, but I can still put two and two together, to find out what our reveal was.

Moving onto characters, Kiran seemed to be very stubborn and is not an understanding person. I found myself bothered with her, when she insisted on ruining things that were not meant to be a problem in the first place. I did, however, understand her problems. Me, also being a first generation Desi-American, would want to see only the best for my sister. In the end, I'm glad Kiran learned from her mistakes and stopped pushing. The message we see from her mother in the end was very sweet and heartfelt.

Faisal was one of my favorite characters, despite us only learning of his tragic past. He is a very strong characters, which I find admirable after all he was put through. Even with everything thrown at him, he had it in his heart to forgive.

I really enjoyed the story overall, even with all the annoyance with Kiran's decisions. It all worked out in the end, anyway, huh?

Thank you to NetGalley, Farah Naz Rishi, and HarperCollins Publishers for an ebook advanced readers copy for an honest review of this book.

Fun! Messy. A well done humans are messy type messy, though. I enjoyed being taken along for the ride and following a smattering of characters trying to figure themselves out, even the less flattering bits. It was super fun and murky! I wouldn’t go into this one hungry I should say, I got SO hungry reading this one.
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*** Spoiler-esque: My only critique would be if someone came in looking for a solid romance (and to experience the happy/exciting/lovey connections) that part isn’t happening in this book. You’ll get right up to it— you’ll get the build up and the ups and downs and some healthy modeling of taking space and working on yourself before entangling with others. And then that’s it.

I did enjoy it all the same. But I did feel a little let down going on the whole journey with two characters tension in particular and not getting to enjoy the rekindling. Overall, I suppose that’s kudos to the author for making a world I was willing to stay in but I could see how that could really frustrate a different reader. .

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It All Comes Back to You
4.5/5

Oh WOW, where do I even begin? This book has the friends online but enemies in real life trope which is definitely You’ve Got Mail vibes and it’s definitely up there in one of my favorite tropes.

Kiran has always felt a duty to protect and watch over her sister and her father after her mother died. Then, out of the blue, Kiran’s sister, Amira, announces that she’s dating someone and wants to move across the country with him. Kiran soon finds out that the person her sister is dating is Faisal, the older brother of her ex, Deen. The cause of their break up? Deen ghosted Kiran and left without an explanation so things are definitely tense between them. Kiran begins to become suspicious of Faisal’s past and begins to dig around to find answers. Deen is seeing his brother truly happy for the first time in his life and will not stop at anything to prevent Kiran from finding those answers. The chemistry between them is undeniable but they both need time to heal.

The story was just incredible. I loved seeing the development of the characters, especially Kiran getting over her mother’s death. The romance between Deen and Kiran felt so natural, never rushed or forced. Although I like the characters all equally, there were times in the story where I was rooting for Kiran and booing Deen but as the book progressed, I began to see where Deen was coming from and how he wanted to protect his brother.

Kiran and Deen are both children of first-generation Asian immigrant parents and as a child of Asian immigrant parents as well, I could definitely relate to the pressures placed on them to succeed, especially the pressure placed on Faisal, being the oldest child and all.

Although the ending did leave me quite satisfied, I was still a bit disappointed in it since I was hoping for a longer epilogue where we get to see them together.

Kiran Noorani is excited to finally spend more time with her older sister, Amira, now that Amira is finished with school. Imagine Kiran's surprise when Amira announces she's going to get married to a man she's known for three months named Faisal and move across the country! Double that surprise when she meets Faisal's family and realizes his brother, Deen, is her ex (who ghosted her). Kiran is determined to stop this wedding at all costs.

This book had a lot of potential, but the plot just felt so basic. Everything in the storyline was very predictable (even the BIG SECRET was something I figured out fairly quickly). And I could have lived with that, but the characters were very unlikeable and had zero chemistry (Deen and his friend, Vinny, had more sparks!). Kiran's plans for ruining her sister's life were juvenile and Deen was just a total caricature of a person. The author tried to add some background with the game and texting chats, but those scenes added nothing to the overall plot. The whole book felt rushed and not fleshed out at all...like this was an outline and not a completed story.

I was given this book in exchange for my honest opinion. Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children's Books for this ARC.

This book had me going through every emotion possible. It All Comes Back To You follows Kiran and Deen, two exes who didn't end on the best note. Their paths cross again when they find out that Kiran's older sister and Deen's older brother will be getting married, and from there, a whirlwind of romance, angst, sadness, and secrecy transpires. Will it make Deen and Kiran grow farther apart, or do the impossible and bring them closer?

First of all, the representation. I loved having a full cast of Desi main characters. As a south-asian girl, it made me feel very seen, and just made me smile way too much. I got so attached to every single character in the book, mainly Faisal, Deen, Kiran, Asher and Vinny. Every character had such an interesting dynamic. Having Deen and Kiran's POVs helped a lot with developing every character, and I also loved the flashbacks.

The plot was also a huge strong point. The tropes in this were surreal, and literally everything I wanted. It was so complicated, but in the best possible way. I'm trying my best to not spoil anything, so I'm going to leave it there.

The ending was definitely my favorite part. I was quite literally sobbing for the last 20 pages (not joking, though I wish I was). Farah did an amazing job of staying away from the cliche, which is super impressive. Considering the plot, it would have been so easy for Farah to make a predictable ending. But it was absolute perfection, and totally unexpected.

I loved watching Kiran come to see herself in a different light and find out what she was truly meant to do, and I loved watching Deen come to terms with the mistakes he made, and the way he goes to fix it. This is by far one of my favorite reads of 2021, and it is 100000% worth the buy when it comes out.

I really enjoyed this book! I loved the wedding planning and the sibling dynamics. I was a little hesitant at first because sometimes I get annoyed when the couple knows each other online and then have really obvious conversations about their lives but don't realize that the person they're messaging online is the same as the person they know in real life. However, this book did a great job switching between the video game chat and real life. I loved the food descriptions- they made my mouth water. I was also kept on the edge of my seat waiting for the big secret to be revealed. The writing style of this book reminded me a little bit of Uzma Jalaluddin's style in both Ayesha at Last and Hana Khan Carries On. I love both of those books very much, and I think that's part of why I enjoyed this one too.

Thank you to Net Galley and Quill Tree Books for providing me with this e-galley in exchange for my review

Kiran is a recent high school graduate, she is excited for the summer to come, before she starts at UPenn because, her sister Amina will finally be moving home to Philly and they can get an apartment together. Amina flips Kiran’s plans upside down however when she tells Kiran she has met someone and it’s serious. She is plans to move to California with him even though they have only been dating for 3 months. To put a cherry on top of this sundae, the man Amina is in love with is Faisal Malik, the older brother of Kiran’s ex-boyfriend Deen, who she never told Amina about.

Deen, a rising sophomore at NYU, is similarly surprised to hear that his brother has fallen in love with his ex’s sister but moreover, that he wants to propose before they move to California. Deen adores his brother and wants nothing more than for him to be happy after the hard years he had growing up. Deen was always the golden boy and their parents were hard on Faisal. Faisal got bullied a lot through in school through college and got into drugs, ultimately leading to him getting arrested and their family moving from Philly to NJ to start fresh. It was then that Deen unceremoniously broke things off with Kiran by ghosting her. Faisal has put in work to improve his life, and started a non-profit, which is how he and Amina met. Amina is in law school and he is working on his nonprofit to rehabilitate formerly incarcerated youth. Deen wants nothing more than his brother to have the wedding of his dreams and will do anything to make that happen, even being friendly with his ex.

When Amina and Faisal get engaged, Kiran and Deen are forced together and must navigate their reconnection as they plan for their siblings wedding, or in Kiran’s case, try to prevent it.

This is a very cute and layered love story with very real and flawed relationships. It is also an #ownvoices story featuring two Muslim couples at the center. I’m so glad to see more representation of diverse romance in the YA romance genre, definitely recommend picking this up!!

This books is perfection!! I’m actually obsessed!! I love Kiran and Deen so much!!! It’s so heartwarming and funny and I love to see my culture represented!!

5/5

(Also, that cover is to die for!!)

This book is one of my new favorites it is so well written and the main characters deen and Kiran are the best and are so relatable

It All Comes Back to You by Farah Naz Rishi is a book that might be marketed as a friends to lovers to exes to lovers again romance, but reading it gave me an experience I didn't know I needed. For it was a story that ended up being so much deeper than that. The themes of family - of strong sibling bonds - and of friendship were very prominent here. There was so much love across the pages between all the characters that no matter how difficult a situation that love put them in, it didn't matter. It didn't matter because of how much they were willing to sacrifice for the sake of their family - which is something pretty common in Asian families and culture that I, as an Asian person, found incredibly relatable. In fact, so many things in this book were very relatable. And Farah Naz Rishi did not hesitate to knock my socks off with nearly every aspect of this story.

The character arcs took my breath away. Their hurts and the journeys overcoming those hurts were vivid and nuanced, that I cried over them as much as I laughed out loud to all the humorous moments that were scattered across this book. And boy, was there a lot of them!

I highly recommend reading this to everyone. To quote R.F. Kuang's review of it on Goodreads, it is truly: Simply joy, in a bottle.

It has been three years since Kiran Noorani and Deen Malik secretly dated, and now their siblings are together and they are thrust into each other’s lives again. After Kiran’s mom died she vowed to keep her dad and sister, Amira, together as a family. But with Amira’s relationship with Deen’s brother, Faisal, getting serious way to quickly, Amira sees her promise slipping away. Amira and Faisal have only been dating for three months and talks of marriage are happening along with a cross-country move to California. Kiran tries her best to make Amira happy, but she just thinks everything is moving too fast.
Deen is thrilled that his brother, Faisal, is putting his difficult past behind him and has found someone who makes him happy. He will stop at nothing to make sure that Faisal gets his happily ever after. When the siblings all get together to meet, Deen and Kiran agree to keep their previous relationship a secret, including that Deen ghosted Kiran ending the relationship. But they aren’t the only one with secrets.
Kiran and Deen struggle with common emotional baggage. Kiran is striving to keep her dead mom happy while Deen wants to make up for all that Faisal has lost. And both things come at a great cost to both of them. The book takes a deep look at the theme of love and what it truly means. The themes of friendship, relationships, forgiveness, and family also play an important role. Both Kiran and Deen go on a journey of self-discovery throughout the book. The characters are well-written and relatable. I enjoyed this book.

This book was amazing. So funny and sweet and well written. The characters are very believable and done with such care. I like the author's style and voice. I can not wait to read more by this author.

SO well done. Highly Recommend. Every library needs this one.

*4.5 stars

No but I didn’t go into this book with very high expectations because muslim representation is rarely good and I was so pleasantly surprised. I AM LITERALLY SCREAMING?! The banter, the angst, the little things only they know about each other I loved this so much. I’m going to write a full review soon but i just had to put my first thoughts here because I’m literally obsessed with this and I love this book so much.

It All Comes Back to You by Farah Naz Rishi is about Kiran and Deen trying to pick up the pieces from their past. Kiran is struggling keeping her family together after her mother died and Deen is trying to keep a secret that affects him and his family. Things get complicated when Deen’s brother and Koran’s sister fall in love and want to get married and when no one knows Deen and Kiran also have a romantic past. The chemistry between the characters is great and the back and forth banter is witty and fun! At some points it was a little slow but ultimately kept me interested. I do wish we got a little more at the end but overall a cute, fun read!

Thank you to HarperCollins Children's Books & Quill Tree Books for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

It All Comes Back To You is one of my most anticipated releases of 2021 and I’m so fortunate to have been able to read the ARC. I binge-read this book and finished it in a few hours because of how much I was loving it. This book deserves all the attention and I’m truly so excited for it to come out this fall!

It All Comes Back To You follows Kiran Noorani, a second-generation Pakistani-American and incoming college freshman. After her mother died of ALS, Kiran vowed to keep her dad and sister, Amira, close. Things take a dramatic turn when Amira suddenly announces that she's seeing someone and might move cross-country with him after getting married, completely throwing Kiran for a loop. Meanwhile, Deen Malik is thrilled that his older brother, Faisal, has found a great girlfriend and is planning to propose to her. When Faisal and Amira arrange a dinner with themselves and their respective younger siblings, Deen and Kiran silently agree to keep their past a secret. Four years ago--before Amira and Faisal met--Kiran and Deen were together, but the two went their separate ways when Deen ghosted Kiran with no explanation. Now, Kiran will stop at nothing to find out what happened, and Deen will do anything, even if it means sabotaging his brother's relationship, to keep her from reaching the truth.

This story was everything! Kiran & Deen’s relationship was really intriguing to follow, especially because we got to see their relationship when they first met, to their relationship online via their anonymous video game profiles, to their relationship in person 3 years after they split. I found myself rooting for Kiran throughout the book, even though we did get to see things from Deen’s perspective. As the oldest child of an immigrant household, I did understand the intense pressure that Faizal (and honestly Deen, too) was facing from his parents, and as an older sibling, I completely understand Faizal’s motives to protect Deen. Nevertheless, I do think that ultimately Faizal and Deen were in the wrong for keeping things from Amira and Kiran and Farah Naz Rishi did a really good job of writing Deen as a douchey character, which is why I ultimately loved Kiran more. I really liked the way that Farah Naz Rishi ended the story and how Kiran & Deen’s relationship never felt rushed or forced, all the way up to the epilogue.

Also, can I just say that Farah Naz Rishi’s depiction of two second-generation desi young adults is probably the most accurate I’ve ever seen from a YA author. The dialogue, lingo, mannerisms between Kiran, Deen, and their respective friends were so accurate, it hurt. I’m always wary about adult authors trying to make their teenage characters relatable or accurate to this day and age’s current teens but Farah Naz Rishi knocked it out of the park.

Speaking of being able to relate to the characters, the self-insertion as a reader regarding Kiran’s character was too real LOL. As a university student and a dancer, I loved reading about Kiran’s journey heading to UPenn (and Deen’s student life at NYU too) and her experiences as an Indian Classical (presumably Kathak!) & a Bollywood dancer. The way Kiran described how she feels when she physically dances and the impact it has on her was extremely relatable as a dancer. I loved all the references to classic Kathak-Bollywood dance songs from Bajirao Mastani & Paadmavat. I encourage everyone to read the other Own Voice reviews from Pakistani and Muslim readers, but overall the desi representation was amazing!

I know this book is going to be such a hit among desi readers everywhere and I can’t wait for everyone to read it when it comes out! 5 stars from me :)

AMAZING. BRILLIANT. SHOW STOPPING. INCREDIBLE.

Let me just start off by saying this has the "hate each other irl, but unbeknownst to them they're actually bffs online" trope. Which is really just the superior trope let's be honest.

Deen and Kiran's relationship is incredibly rocky when they finally meet again after 3 years to find out that their siblings are getting married. The story revolves around Kiran trying to prevent the wedding from happening because she suspects that Deen's brother is hiding something major from her sister and Deen trying to undo everything Kiran does to make sure the wedding goes as planned.

While the romance doesn't really play out in the present day, you see a lot of it in the flashbacks from when Deen and Kiran first got together. I do still think that this book would probably be better labeled as a coming of age story. Deen grapples with his own self worth and past and Kiran deals with grief.

At the end of the day, I absolutely ADORED this book and I cannot wait to get my hands on a finished copy.

My biggest question is why it is labeled as a romcom when it fits more of the coming of age category, in my opinion? The book was more of a journey of self discovery between the two main characters. The romance seemed sprinkled in to serve as a connection between these two characters in the plot, and their feelings for each other seemed mostly nonexistent. But when the romance did happen, it seemed mostly abrupt. Regardless, I still enjoyed the plot as well as the characters, even though I had conflicted feelings about the heroine most of the time. I have no doubt readers will fall in love with Deen and find a pieces of themselves in Kiran. The actions of the characters were fairly frustrating and, at times, annoying, but given the love and protectiveness they feel for their respective families, you can’t help but love the characters even more. I wish there was more to the ending, though. It seemed right in context of the buildup in the characterization and plot, but if the book is labeled as a “romcom”, why didn’t we see the actual leads begin a relationship rather than just reuniting and fade to black? Overall, it was a cute read and I always love some good muslim desi representation!