This is a book with a great concept with great themes but had poor execution. There are some heavy topics discussed in this book, including abuse. However, I struggled a lot with the characters and the writing. I wanted to like the characters but felt very distant from them. I also wanted some more character development. The frequent use of slang in this book will cause it to age quickly and at times felt very inauthentic.

I would like to thank Inkyard Press for providing me with an ARC.

This would be better suited for younger high school students. Our main characters were immature and selfish, which is certainly a trait many teens share. However, it felt overdone in this story. Everything really felt overdone and blown out of proportion.

Thank you to NetGalley and Inkyard press for the ARC.

Thank you to Netgalley and Inkyard Press for an arc of this book.

All Mina wants her senior year is to win the Golden Ivy Film Competition with her best friend to prove to her parents her filmmaking dream isn't worthless, and to get into her dream school across the country in California. When undercover indie movie star Emmitt shows up at her school to research a role, Mina puts her personal problems aside to try and convince him to guest star in their movie, and Emmitt agrees if Mina will help him find the best places in New York to take pictures for the photography contest he's secretly entering.

Oh my goodness I am in love!!! This book had me in tears! I was a bit slow reading it at first because I was in the middle of a few other things, but once I hit the 30% mark I couldn't put it down until I finished, even though that meant staying up wayyyy past my bedtime.

I love Mina and Emmitt so so so much. They are absolutely adorable and incorrigible and funny and sappy and oh my god. I love them. The whole enemies to friends to lovers thing is sooooo good in this book. Emmitt is such a secret softie and he and Mina helped each other grow and discover themselves so much and it was such great character development and an amazing relationship. I'm absolutely in love.

A lot of the stuff between Mina and her parents hit me really hard. The lessons Mina learned through this are so important and the understanding that home is where you have people who love you and you don't have to run away and AHHH. So much goodness. I loved Mina's relationship with her sister, Aman and her best friend, Rosie as well. There is such a wealth of great side characters in this book!

Mina's best friend, Rosie, is a lesbian and is in a sapphic relationship. she is a major side character (for those looking for queer rep in their books). There is a super diverse cast of supporting characters.

I LOVE Tashie Bhuiyan's writing so much. The way she writes her main characters and love interests are just *chef's kiss*. Also, for those who read Counting Down With You, you may have a surprise easter egg ;).

Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse and Mental illness
Minor: Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Grief

Tashie Bhuiyan can do no wrong for me - I love her characters, her plots, and her dialogue. This book was just as fun, just as swoony, and just as important as her first novel. Highly recommend.

I received an e-galley of A Show for Two by Tashie Bhuiyan from Inkyard Press in exchange for an honest review.

And here is it - I did not enjoy this novel as much as I enjoyed Tashie Bhuiyan's first book, Counting Down with You. I find it really hard to enjoy books where the MC is so angry at the world - even if I can understand where that anger may come from as I learn more about the character's backstory. And while there was a lot going on in the story - I think that Mina's anger towards her parents was just my biggest takeaway after reading the story and that doesn't really change from the start to the end of the story.

to me, the best part of this book was the family dynamic, mainly because it reminded me of my own and made the main character, mina, more relatable. sadly, the romance didn't have me interested and i didn't really like any of the characters.

I really enjoyed this book. Emmitt and Mina have SO much chemistry, the flirting was top notch and the tropes sprinkled in were superb. Of course I love the inspiration behind the book being Tom Holland but also the pop culture references throughout the book were tastefully done. Could have done with fewer sweat words but loved the story over all. Sucker sweet romance, the epilogue was so cute!

This book was absolutely fantastic. I've already added it to our list for order this year and will recommend it to students.

I didn't love the author's debut novel, but wanted to see what a second novel would offer, and sadly it really is a lot of the same: light funny romcom surface story featuring a Bangladeshi Muslim character lead mixed in with layers of mental health, a toxic family, high school stress, and cultural expectations driving the plot.  There is crude language, hetero, lesbian, bi, and pansexual relationships discussed, but nothing more than kissing is detailed in any of the scenes.  There is a lot of cultural trauma from the parents and to the book's credit, it does establish pretty early on that the main character is not religious, but that she does believe in Allah swt.  Similarly, there is a Bangladeshi loving family in the story, so it is not making a critique on the entire culture, it is just the character's family that is cruel.  Ultimately, at 416 pages I was surprised that there were gaps in character arcs and plot.  I never really liked the protagonist, Mina, but because of how underdeveloped and pivotal the best friend and younger sister were, when it all came to a climax, I found myself rooting for her, which is a very shallow reasoning in an OWN voice book. Additionally, the parents are terrible, and had I dnf-ed it (I was tempted until about 30% through it) I doubt I would have ever known that there was a time that they weren't terrors.  The peeling back of the layers of the family came too late, too slow, and the progression was muddled.  I probably will not actively seek out further books from this author if the same themes and tropes are present, if she changes it up, I probably could be persuaded.  The book is marketed 7th grade and up, but with the triggers, hate, language, content, genre, language, length I would say 17 and up, if at all.

SYNOPSIS:
Samina "Mina" Rahman is waiting to leave New York and her hateful parents, and start her life at USC as a film student.  All she needs to do is win the Golden Ivy Film Competition, and get excepted to USC.  Her parents dismissing her dreams, passions, and abilities agree to only let her leave if she wins the competition, doubting that it would ever happen, they even put it in writing.  Co-president of the high school film club and best friend, Rosie is equally determined to win, there is just one big problem, every year the winning film has a cameo by a famous actor.  Cue accidental meeting of Mina and Emmitt Ramos, up and coming indie movie heart throb that is cast in the new Firebrand blockbuster.  Sent to Mina's high school to research for his upcoming role, Mina is tasked with convincing him to make an appearance in their film.  It is a romance story, so you can see where it is headed in this enemies to lovers book.  

As family, friends, and college admission stresses mount, the simplicity of what Mina wants and how to go about getting it will be called in to question as her walls crumble and she will have to evaluate people in her life and how they will be affected by her actions.

WHY I LIKE IT:

I like that the story is based on real events in the author's life, not just the religion, culture, mental health threads, but that an actor came to her high school in preparation for a part: Tom Holland.  I also like that while her parents don't value her, she has found a support group of sorts that do.  At times Mina reads a lot older than she is, particularly when she is admonishing the freshman, but at other times she storms off pouting and seems to be very childish.  I vacillate between this being intentional and it being an inconsistency in the writing. The younger sister Anam is painfully written.  She is bold and confrontational, yet at the same time so clingy and needy and all over the place.  At one point I thought she perhaps was suicidal and was braced for a really dark twist in the story, but no it was just Anam being Anam, I suppose, and the stress was never revisited let alone resolved.    

I truly dreaded the passages about Mina's home life and her family, they all were just awful to each other and rather than taking Mina's side because I was shown, I found myself questioning what I was missing in the before and after dynamic.  It is clear they are wretched, the victim doesn't need to justify the abuse. The transformation of the family dynamic just felt lacking and in fiction when parts are explored it could have really showed some of the micro aggressions and changes that existed and made the relationship salvageable so that the reader would understand why saving and fixing the family were no longer options.  Generational trauma is real and serious and a little more attention I think could have provided an amazing mirror to readers dealing with similar elements. 

If the book was half the length I would assume that details would be glossed over, but this book had room, and I don't understand why so few photography and director references seem to find their way into the text to show that these characters truly are passionate about what they are claiming to desire.  I know the story isn't a film story or a culture story, but they don't spend hours editing the film or working on props? Emmitt is regularly pulled away from shoots, but always seems to have enough photos to choose from?  Mina talks of her dad cooking, but foods aren't detailed, the connection of food to love to family and that being severed seemed like a gaping hole in the crumbling home scenes.  If halal food and no pork can make it into a love relationship, that much cultural/religious depth should have made it inside a families home.

As mentioned in the intro, it didn't bother me from a religious perspective that Mina was off kissing a boy, that Anam had boyfriends, etc. because Islam was accounted for and the characters are not practicing, so I do appreciate that it didn't become a stereotypical rebelling against religion book.  Truly, thank you.

FLAGS:

Language, relationships (straight, bi, lesbian, pan), kissing, making out, hand holding, lying, mental health, hate, deception, cruelty, emotional abuse, angry ex boyfriend, triggers.

TOOLS FOR LEADING THE DISCUSSION:
Would not shelve or encourage young readers at our Islamic school to read this.

I was looking forward to reading this one as I absolutely love the cover and the blurb sounded great. Film star? Secret identity? Following your dreams? Sign me up! Although I liked aspects of this book, it didn’t grab me like I had wanted it to.

The book follows one point-of-view and it comes from Mina Rahman. It is told from a first-person narrative and maybe that is where some of my disconnect with the story started. I have a hard time with this narrative for some reason and it doesn’t matter what author is writing it.

Mina is a high school student who is trying to follow her dreams of making it big in film and wants nothing more than to go to college for it. Her parents are less than thrilled by this and also are very strict with their rules. I can’t fully understand her life as my parents weren’t as restricting but I can still get what she is going through, like being home by a certain time as just one example (especially when they want you to do something for them and still be on time!). It’s also hard to have a dream when you don’t have the support you need from those closest to you. Some of her actions, especially toward Emmitt in the beginning, was a little excessive and I don’t know if it was really believable. I think the author tried to set the tone for a hated-to-lovers but it just didn’t work for me. I also wish that there was more emphasis on her love for film as I felt like it was barely mentioned, besides her dream to go to USC and films here and there, but not why she actually enjoyed it. You know what I mean?

The side characters were decent but also felt a bit one-dimensional. I honestly thought that one of the characters mentioned in the beginning was going to be the love interest (because I obviously has forgotten a couple thing written in the blurb, lol) and then realized that wasn’t the case but I thought the set-up for that would have definitely been a bit better.

I’ve already said a few things about the romance and so let’s just get into it more. I honestly wasn’t a fan. They had their cute moments filled with banter but it just did nothing for me most of the time. It also felt like it went from hating each other to liking each other pretty quickly without a real meaningful switch in-between. Emmitt, the love interest, felt like a stereotypical Britain that people write about in Wattpad One Direction stories or the silly Instagram reels I have seen. It’s honestly all I thought about.

I do think that there is important topics that are talked about in the book but for me they were overshadowed by the things I didn’t like.

Overall, this was okay. I haven’t read her previous book so I can’t compare the two and so if you have enjoyed her other book then I would still give this one a try! Even though it didn’t work for me doesn’t mean it won’t work for you.

Pros:
A Show for Two is a YA book I wish had been available when I was a teenager. My own home situation was quite toxic, and I identified with Mina's realizations about her parents throughout the book. The idea that we make our own 'home' was encouraging and helped me work through some of my own experiences.

Cons:
While I'm not opposed to language in books (really, I'm not), the amount of expletives in the story distracted me from the story in more than one spot.

I'm glad I read it, and I think the characters will stick with me for a long time.

So much of this book fell flat for me, and one of the biggest areas where that was the case was in the characterization, dialogue, and basically everything about Emmitt. Hoo, boy. Everything about his relationships, experiences, and personality was thinly drawn and vague.
All of the conflict resolution felt unearned and too easily solved. Some of these issues were Big Deals! But a few were “fixed” in the space of a few paragraphs.
But my main problem with this book was that after the first chapter, I was waiting for it to be over. It simply was not interesting and was a struggle to get through. I acknowledge that this book doesn’t speak to my experiences, but I also recognize that there was something promising here. If the author had developed the family side of things to a greater degree than the romance, it might have come through a bit more.
1.5/5

An enjoyable, sweet love story that deals well with the issues of teenage depression, parental verbal and emotional abuse, familial struggles, and identity. The chemistry between the two main characters was well-written, however the friendship between Mina and Rosie could have been explored a little more in-depth, and Rosie's anger with Mina did feel slightly out of left field and not fully justified. This story also feels very much like a love letter to NYC. Would recommend to fans of enemies-to-lovers stories.

Lovely YA romance. Mina and Emmitt make such a cute couple! Mina was easy to relate to, and the depiction of depression during the teen years felt very real to me. It's always fun to hear how an author comes up with the idea for a novel, and this author's experience in meeting an actor at her high school definitely led to a great story.

i requested a show for two off netalley after seein the cover and read the snyposis which both interested me plus its also from the same author who wrote counting down with your which i havent read yet but have heard really great things about. im glad i picked this one up. even tho its a contemporary romance enemies to lovers it does deal with some intense content like minas depression and the emotional/verbal abuse by her parents bc they dont agree with the career path that mina wants to pursue. their relationship is very strained and it sucked that her parents were always bringing mina and her sis down and never sayin or doin anythin good to mina and her sis. i liked mina as a character she was relatable and i could feel her pain, just wanted to giver her a hug and make those bad thought go away ( she kinda kept repeating some of the same thoughts and wishes over and over again thru out the book which at times was a bit annoying), she was also very focus on winning the film competition and gettin into california school which i understood why she needed that (to get away from her parents which were suffocating her) but she wouldve to leave her sis behind which wouldve not been good for her sis to stay with the parents. so im glad in the end mina figured out to work things outs and not have to stay at home with parents but still be close enough that she can see her sis and friends. i also liked minas friends and ofc emmit, he was a bit of a douche in the beginning and it was funny their interactions (they were my fav parts bc they made me laugh and they were cute) they were always bickering at each other but emmit would call her love and or sweetheart hihi i also like how both mina and emmit were similar in the way that they both wanted to pursue different things than what their parents want for them. at least emmits mom reacted better to it and was more understanding. the parts with the drama between mina and her sis and rosie bc mina wasnt bein a good friend and sibling to them and was to focus on winning and that she would leave them behind . idk but i wasnt agreeing 100% with rosie and her mina sis for treating mina like that and for what they were saying and adding ths stress on mina and makin her feel even worse. i didnt think mina wasnt bein a good friend or she wasnt present to them. mina had so much going on with her parents, so im glad she and her friends and her sis made peace and talked things thru. i also liked that thru out the book with had mentions of movies some that ive seen and also enjoy and some movies that i havent seen. i liked the ending and the epilogue too hihi

★★★☆☆ (3.5 stars)

Once again, Tashie's writing has comforted me but broke my heart at the same time. With her mental health representation, a reader can feel relieved knowing they aren't alone in their struggles, but they also might end up crying from sympathizing with Mina.

In this story we follow Mina Rahman (Bangladeshi and Muslim) as she struggles with depression and unsupportive, critical parents that don't provide much love for her or her sister, Anam. While dealing with this, she's trying to win a film competition at her school so her parents will let her go to USC (University of Southern California). Mina ends up bumping into Emmitt Ramos (half-Chinese, half-Spanish), a famous actor from England. The next day, he is in her class, and their lives intertwine as she needs him in her competition and he needs her help with a photography contest.

This story was so fluffy and enjoyable. This was actually the first book I read on my new Kindle, so the experience as a whole was great. I didn't want to put the book down as I felt so attached to Mina and what she was going through. I wanted to stick with her in every decision and step she made and to see what would happen between her and Emmitt. Mina and Emmitt had so many cute moments that made me smile, and their banter was funny and adorable.


pros:
The way that depression was discussed throughout the book was incredible, especially since Tashie is writing from her own personal experiences. There were so many lines that cut me deep and made me want to give Mina a hug. I'm also glad that it was shown how depression doesn't just cause people to feel sad but can also create uncontrollable anger that you can regret later on, along with how you can disappoint people you care about by not having the energy to be positive and happy.

Bonus moments: Karina and Ace were mentioned in this book, and I was absolutely so excited when I found out that Mina was Karina's cousin. Another thing I really loved was that Emmitt's mother's last name was Gong, and he acted in a film called Foul Lady Fortune, which is a reference to Chloe Gong and her book releasing in September.

The ending was also incredible, and I loved how the story wrapped up. I ended up crying three different times while reading, which I didn't anticipate happening but it did. However, there were some problems I had with the story.


cons:
My first problem was towards the end of the story when everyone started getting upset with Mina for trying to win the competition and go to USC. Her best friend, her sister, and Emmitt (not as much as the other two) all got mad with her at basically the same time (which is horrible for someone with depression) and called her selfish. It's like abuela in Encanto - even though she redeemed herself in the end, it's hard to forget how rude they had just been.

Moving on to other problems I had, there were some sentences that weren’t grammatically correct due to added or excluded words. I would just recommend having an editor read back through the novel to fix the problems.

All in all, I would definitely recommend reading this book. There were some frustrating moments with side characters, but I still loved the story and thought that the relationship between Emmitt and Mina was very sweet and lovable.

Trigger Warnings (TW): depression, parental verbal and emotional abuse, familial struggles

Thank you to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for sharing this story with me in exchange for an honest review.

Review posted to Instagram (@a.bookish.plant.lover) and Goodreads (goodreads.com/abookishplantlover)
Note: Review will be published to Amazon once available (account is ABookishPlantLover)

I knew when I found out this was based off the author's experience with Tom Holland going to the same high school for research, I was going to love this. WOW. As far as characters go, I didn't really like Mina at first. She was just very angry and sometimes mean and I know her upbringing is terrible and her parents are emotionally abusive, but I just...I don't know. I expected her to maybe be better in certain situations, especially when it came to Emmett. However, she did get much better as the book went on, which was nice. That, and I sort of got used to her. I love the grumpy sunshine between her and Emmett--thank goodness, one of my favorite tropes and it is done SOOO well!

I love how realistic this book is. I also appreciate that the author doesn't; sound like a 40-year-old writing teen dialogue, which is a common problem in books that are so heavily connected to the internet as this one is. The internet slang and culture felt right and I was actually laughing at the epilogue so much because that's literally how we talk about Tom Holland and Zendaya hahaha. I love the rep of this book as well. Overall this was a great read. It got a bit slow paced for me in certain spots, but I really enjoyed this!

I was really looking forward to reading this book but it fell kind of short to me. The premise was good but it got bogged down with the abusive parents and everyone having an attitude problem. The main character wasn't likable and was always interrupting when other people talked. I know she has depression but it didn't seem like a good excuse for her to be rude. The romance to me was also lacking. I didn't see how Emmitt and Mina would even fall for each other. There didn't seem to be a lot of chemistry between the two for them to fall for each other so hard and so fast. I'm sure that others will enjoy this but it just wasn't for me. All opinions and views are my own. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the arc in return for an honest review!

Imagine meeting a Movie star on your walk after school and then finding him again in your class!! And it doesn't help that he is absolutely handsome and cute as well! Emmitt was too perfect and his witty banter with Mina, was just spot on. Have to appreciate the diversity in the characters and the representation is refreshing. Emmitt and Mina was just adorable together and I liked how they help each other in facing their parents. I appreciated how the author fleshed out the feelings of the teenage star and people should remember they are literally kids. Mina's support system in the form of her friend Ro and her sister Aanam took care of her all the time.

As a fellow Asian female, I totally understood how parents and their expectations become a cage for kids, so it was perfectly relatable but I wish the author also mentioned more on how she was going to deal with her depression/self-doubt. Also I would have liked more information on why her parents continued to behave so horribly with her. This book was clearly also an ode to New York shown through the pictures taken by Emmitt for his contest and also for reminding how the city was part of her. They both decided to use their pics/videos taken across the city as apology - can it get any more cuter??

I absolutely was waiting to see if there would be a meetup between Emmitt and Ace in the epilogue!!! I so wish it comes up in future books over a family gathering or something!

this was so cute and i love that the author based it off of her own experience with tom holland. this gave me sooo many taylor swift vibes and i just loved it so much