Satire is complicated and highly personal. I'd prefer to leave no review, but NetGalley prefers that we do. This book really didn’t hit the mark with me. The author is local to our community and I really did want to love it, but just didn’t. It will, like her wonderful sitcom and other writing, be a hit with many.

With thanks to NetGalley for advance access in exchange for this impartial review.

This was comical but not in a humorous way; it was absurd without being funny. It kind of reminded me of the TV series "Get Smart" where ridiculous situations prevail or a more modern example "The Spy Who Dumped Me" but that was genuinely funny.

This book was fast paced and funny. The narrator was a really good fit for this. Completely matched the pace and energy of the storyline. The characters were easy to like and the story progressed in a funny way.
Thank you NetGalley!

What a fun read! It was original and fast paced, and definitely gave me Findlay Donovan vibes. I listened to the audiobook format, narrated by Aizzah Fatima.

*many thanks to Harper Audio and Netgalley for the gifted copy for review

Jameela Green Ruins Everything needs to be the next blockbuster movie. I would pay money to ensure this movie gets made. The world needs a Muslim spy satire, and Zarqa Nawaz's novel is perfection.

Jameela Green is still grieving the loss of her brother, and she keeps everyone at arms length - even her own daughter, who is so much like Jamaal. In a self-serving effort to ensure her memoir is a bestseller, Jameela teams up her local imam Ibrahim to recommit to her faith and become a better person. Her self-serving quest will turn into an international mission to infiltrate and take down the DICK - an Islamic terrorist group. Nothing is quite what it seems in this dark comedy of errors.

Thank you to NetGalley for access to the advanced listening copy of the finalized audiobook. I couldn't stop listening and the narration was just as dramatic as the story.

Humour | Adult
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In this satirical novel from the Canadian creator of Little Mosque on the Prairie, struggling author and lapsed Muslim Jameela Green makes a deal with Allah – she’ll do something good for another person, and Allah will put her book on the New York Times bestseller list. Unsure how to find someone to assist, self-centred Jameela turns to imam and new immigrant Ibrahim Sultan for help in doing something good, and while her shallowness appalls him, he agrees to help. That’s when all the trouble begins. They head out to the streets to find a homeless person, and in no time at all, Ibrahim is arrested and deported. Feeling responsible, Jameela lies to her family, hops a plane to the Middle East, and finds herself embroiled in assassination plots and marriage plans, caught between vengeful CIA operatives and hungry Muslim terrorists known as D.I.C.K.s (Dominion of the Islamic Caliphate and Kingdoms). This leads, as you can imagine, to lots of D.I.C.K. jokes, as well as harrowing danger for the fame-obsessed but fearless Jameela and her poor husband (the original one, Jewish Murray Green, not her new fiancé) as well as her eye-rolling daughter. It’s a rollicking satire of Muslim stereotypes and American foreign policy that will appeal to fans of My Sister, the Serial Killer. I did find it uncomfortable at times – you have to be willing to find humour in violence – but laughed out loud regularly, and found myself confronting not a few of my own assumptions. I chose to listen to this book over about two weeks, while I was working on a sewing project. Narrator Aizzah Fatima creates a powerful voice for Jameela, perfectly conveying her doubts and determination as she faces death and an unwanted suitor. My thanks to Harper Audio for the advance digital copy provided through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
More discussion and reviews of this novel: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60595891

This book was original, fast-paced and hilarious. The characters were loveable and the situations were so outlandish and entertaining. The narrator was great- somehow able to delivery the frenetic energy of the story while also reading in a tone that perfectly conveyed the satire of it all.

This is an absolute riot of a read, one that puts the American Dream under a microscope. Readers will fly through this tale as you witness Jameela in some dangerous situations (at the hands of an organization aptly named D.I.C.K). Picture a MacGruber or a Johnny English vibe as we watch our flawed heroine grow up and get herself out of some hilarious hijinks. There's definitely a lot to love on the page here, especially as Jameela seems to develop a sense of maturity during her dangerous days overseas. I both laughed a lot and learned a lot reading this one.

The narrator was difficult to listen to (I'm being kind) if possible please get a different narrator. I could not finish the story, I barely finished a chapter.

I get that this is satire but I did not enjoy it at all. It was so ridiculous and out there and Jameela was so unlikeable. I was so excited for this one so I was disappointed. The narrator was very unpleasant to listen to as well. She used the strangest voice for different people which really grated on my nerves.

Billed as humorous, I found this novel tiresome and unbelievable. The voices were not believable and neither was the plot.. The action was too quick - things would not happen this fast in the real world, and the CIA would not send an unaccompanied teenager into a war zone!! I'm not against exaggeration, but even the Stephanie Plum novels by Evanovich don't devolve in to D.I.C.head humor and making every character into a trope. Hard pass.

What a fast and fun ride I took in reading Jameela Green Ruins Everything! In a written style similar to Finlay Donovan is Killing It, Jameela Green Ruins Everything takes the reader on a roller coaster of an adventure from North Dakota to Syria. The cast of characters are a hoot and the dialogue and wit sometimes made me laugh outloud. At the same time, there is real growth in these characters while emphasizing serious topics ranging from religion and the role of prayer in our lives to parent/child relationships. The author is able to touch upon social and moral issues within the scope of the lively story without losing pace in the storytelling.

I would recommend this fast paced, delightful story to many readers. It was refreshing to have a Muslim protagonist be the center of the story surrounded by other Muslim women of varying ages. I also liked having the prayer excerpts that broke up the regular chapters. It gave insight into the individual characters' thoughts that helped move the story along. The audio version was well done and added the right amount of expression to bring these characters' antics to life.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Harper Audio for the audio ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Looking for a laugh-out-loud adventure with great characters? Find it here while watching Jameela Green ruin everything. Or ... does she? This satire takes you from high school rivalries to deep-seated intergenerational trauma to gluten-free baking in a war zone. I can't even begin to describe all the ways this book surprised and delighted me. I can't wait to press it into the hands of many, many readers.

I don't even know how to review this book other than to say it was a wild, hilarious ride! From the mind behind Little Mosque on the Prairie, we get a story about a middle-aged Pakistani American woman trying to celebrate the release of her new book but who gets drawn into this madcap scheme to save the homeless man she randomly befriends at her mosque. Highly recommended, this book will make you laugh and make you reconsider your assumptions about the Middle East and South Asian immigrants. Great on audio too narrated by Aizzah Fatima. Much thanks to NetGalley and the Harper Audio for my advance listening copy!!