Mia Almas is an Pakistani American woman living in NYC with a big secret. She does stand up comedy and her very traditional and protective grandparents would not like that one bit. I thought this was a cute premise for a story and was really rooting for Mia throughout as she navigates a new love interest, her grandparents, and a secret her grandmother has been keeping for a long time. Overall, I liked the story and appreciated the new perspective, but it felt like there was a lot going on and none of it fully realized. I do think the storyline would make for a great TV series. Bravo to Sara Hamdan on her debut novel.

What Will People Think reads like three different genres. 1 - a coming-of-age story of a woman and her secret career. 2 - a rom-com/chick lit love story. 3 - historical fiction.

I wish it would or could have picked one to focus on,, rather than try to cram it into one.

I think that Sarah Hamdan is a great writer, but I wasn't able to connect because I felt the three storylines/genres were confusing.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Mia Almas is living a secret double life to appease her traditional Arab parents. She works in the media by day, but has a secret career as a comedian at night, working in some of New York's most famous comedy clubs. With a little romance thrown in there, this hooked me quickly and was not the traditional romance novel. Like many of my favorite books, this story was told with dual timelines and brings in a historical part of their family. This book was funny, but gave me a lot to think about.

Families are complicated and messy. But there’s love and light regardless of the circumstances. This book reminds you to actually pay attention to your grandparents and their stories. Make sure you know them and hear them. Learn from them. Be kind to them. Love them fiercely. They are also on this planet for the first time as well.

I loved Mia and how fierce she is. How she did everything she could to be herself but not lose those she loves the most.

A strong woman character deserves another and her Teta is just that. A wonderful book about the power of womanhood and what happens when you follow your heart.

In Sara Hamdan's debut novel, protagonist Mia is Palestinian American, a well-educated young woman who works as a fact checker and longs for a position at her company with a little more responsibility. She also secretly longs for a relationship with her handsome boss, who has shown some interest but is in a romantic relationship with another woman. What her friends--and her loving grandparents, who have raised her--don't know is that she also moonlights as a standup comedian once or twice a week, mixing humor with stories about her culture.

Mia finds a old journal from 1940s Palestine, which chronicles a beautiful teenager's forbidden love for a British soldier and her marriage, at age 16, to a much older and wealthier man. But when war reaches Palestine, the young girl's life changes forever in so many ways. Mia wants to know--could this girl with a different name be her grandmother, and how did she end up in New York with yet another man?

The story from the past is well told, if a bit melodramatic. And the present story is somewhat disjointed. I wanted more detail about Mia's current friends and a new friend who comes to live in her building--a glamorous Arabic singer and pianist who is working as a professor at Juilliard. Overall, it is an interesting story, and the author has potential to tell stories with a little more nuance and a tighter plot in her future novels.

My thanks to Henry Holt and Co. and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review of this book.

What Will People Think? is one of those books that really makes you think about how much of your life is shaped by other people’s expectations. Sara Hamdan dives into the pressures of living up to societal standards, especially when those standards clash with your own dreams and desires. The story is heartfelt and raw, and I really appreciated how Hamdan doesn’t shy away from exploring the internal conflict that comes with breaking free from traditional norms. The protagonist’s journey feels relatable, especially if you’ve ever felt torn between pleasing others and being true to yourself.

One of the things I loved most is how Hamdan balances cultural context with a universal message. You don’t have to come from the same background to understand the weight of constantly worrying about what others think. The writing is accessible and conversational, making it an easy yet thought-provoking read. It’s empowering to watch the main character learn to take ownership of her choices, and it left me reflecting on my own life long after I’d finished. If you’re into stories about self-discovery and challenging societal expectations, this book is definitely worth picking up.

I really enjoyed reading "What Will People Think?" by Sara Hamdan. There was romance, identity and cultural exploration, a little historical fiction, cotidian NYC life snippets, friendship and betrayal, and lots of family loyalty. This was a delightful read - thank you so much for the ARC!

Really enjoyed this one! Mia Almas is a great lead character, her double life is fun plot point but it gets even more interesting when Zeina's love story from 1947 Palestine is added in. Just like Mia, I couldn't stop reading.

I didn’t expect What Will People Think? to be my kind of book. I picked it up because I’d been getting requests for more romance reads, but sometimes you stumble upon a gem when you least expect it.

While this novel definitely has romance, it’s so much more than that—it’s about learning to be yourself. The main character, Mia, is caught between her serious work life and her secret passion for comedy, all while struggling with the fear of disappointing her family. It’s a story that makes you think, makes you laugh, and leaves you feeling touched.

In the end, I enjoyed this book far more than I anticipated. If you're looking for a heartfelt read with humor, self-discovery, and a bit of romance, this one’s worth picking up!

Thank you to Henry Holt for both a gifted physical copy and a NetGalley ebook copy in exchange for my honest opinion. While the book doesn't publish for a few more months, I'm so happy that I had a chance to read and review it early. This book is a great mix of genres - it’s a family drama including the FMC coming of age (new adult) with a sprinkle of epistolary historical fiction. I wasn't sure what to expect from the blurb and even once I started it, but I really loved this book!
What Will People Think?, the author's debut novel, is set in NYC, where recent Columbia graduate and Palestinian-American Mia lives with the grandparents who raised her, after her father's death. Mia works as a fact checker alongside one of her college classmates. She is quite reserved, although her coworker bestie knows about Mia's massive crush on their boss. However, Mia also has a secret side-gig performing stand-up comedy, and the book includes some excerpts from her sets which I found to be HILARIOUS. These separate portions of her life and personality crash into each other to instigate some of the book's present-day drama. In addition, Mia's grandmother has some untold secrets which she is finally ready to reveal, and the book features chapters from a journal that Mia has to translate, set in the 1940s prior to coming to the US. Mia is uncertain which of the characters is her grandmother, and her anticipation of finding out comes across clearly to the reader.
I loved reading about Mia learning to balance the seemingly disparate parts of her life (home vs. work vs. comedy) together as she grew into her own person, especially as she learned more about her family's history. Once I started this book, I had trouble putting it down - I just couldn't get enough, especially the last 50+ pages! The historical portions from the journal hit the sweet spot of giving just enough background information without taking away from the plot of the current timeline. I hope others will also connect with this book and love witnessing Mia's character growth as much as I did! Add this to your TBR if it sounds up your alley - I truly cannot recommend it enough!

This was a sweet story centered on Mia, a fact checker by day and stand up comedian by night. Mia is likeable and funny; she’s an easy character to root for. A secondary storyline that follows a family member’s experiences in 1940s Palestine adds depth and complexity to the story and provides additional context on how Mia’s family got to where they are in the story’s present day. Mia’s romance is perhaps the least developed element of the story, but the focus of the story is more on Mia’s growth as a person: her coming to terms with the different pieces of her life so she can live more authentically and learning more about her family history. Mia’s growth is the most satisfying part of the story, and the ending feels both sweet and earned.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc!

Ahhh the age old question. What Will People Think?" by Sara Hamdan is a heartfelt and engaging story that beautifully captures the complexities of identity and family secrets.The book does an amazing job of exploring the challenges of being an Arab woman in post-9/11 America, offering a glimpse into a world that many might not fully understand or empathize with. I saw a lot of myself in this character and her need to get closer with her history and her community as a result.

An enjoyable read - centered on randomness of the heart. The layers - a love journey told across generations, and the ripple effect of generational decisions - added depth to what was, in the end, a rush to a Cinderella happy ending.

Sara Hamdan's novel, What Will People Think?, is a heartfelt and humorous exploration of identity, cultural expectations, and self-discovery.

I was hooked instantly when the novel opens to her performaning standup that I laughed out loud to!

Set against the vibrant backdrop of New York City, the story follows Mia Almas, a woman leading a double life: by day, a diligent fact-checker at a media company; by night, a budding stand-up comedian performing in secret.

Hamdan masterfully intertwines Mia's contemporary struggles with her grandparents' past in Palestine, offering readers a rich narrative that spans generations and continents. There are parts that were a bit slow, but overall I enjoyed it!

What Will People Think? by Sara Hamdan is a heartfelt and humorous coming-of-age story about Mia Almas, a Palestinian-American woman balancing her secret comedy career with her conservative family's expectations. As Mia pursues her dreams and a forbidden romance, she uncovers family secrets that challenge her newfound confidence. Hamdan's debut novel is both funny and touching, exploring themes of identity, love, and self-discovery.

I really enjoy books that make me laugh. What Will People Think by Sara Hamdan was one that fit the bill.

Great, funny, page turner of a story threaded with historical fiction. I read this one quickly and loved the characters.

Mia is a twenty-something college graduate paying her dues as an online news fact checker. Both of Mia's parents died young. She lives with her protective, undocumented Palestinian American grandparents in a tiny New York city apartment. In her busy life, she feels the most free when she is on stage performing as a stand-up comic, something she could never tell her grandparents. One day her grandmother shares an old notebook with her with a captivating love story that took place in Palestine and written in Arabic. Translating it bit by bit while also finding her way as a young adult in the big city, Mia makes a discovery that stuns her to her core.

I loved the author's exploration of the conflicting forces of familial and societal expectations, post-9/11 prejudice, humor, and finding oneself in one's early 20s. Mia built authentic connections in a city that can sometimes be lonely, and that felt good to me as a reader. The story contains a historical fiction arc that skillfully weaves together the various cultural events that shaped Palestine in the later part of the 20th century. My one criticism of the book is that at times, the conflicts in the story wrap up too neatly. Still, with good pacing and an interesting mix of characters, this was an enjoyable read.

What WIll People Think is a story that crosses several times periods and continents. It is Mia's becoming herself, while also realizing who her grandparents are.

Really wholesome and sweet! Incredibly happy to see publishers release books representing the stories of people from this diaspora. Stories like these were non existent when I was growing up! A younger me would have been so excited to read a cute love story set in NYC that also delved into Palestinian history covering the displacement and adversities Palestinians endured immediately after their displacement and then generations later during the 9/11 war on terror era when Islamophobia/anti-Arab sentiment was at it’s peak.

I usually avoid the romance genre in my regular reads but I'm very glad I branched out and got to read this one.

Thank you to the publishers for the ARC!

I liked this book. The first pages hooked me because they seemed to deliver strongly on the premise--a Palestinian American twenty-something raised by conservative grandparents has a secret Ms. Maisel-esque comedy career. Sign me up! But the pace really dropped after that. For a lot of the book the comedy element is gone, which was confusing. On the other hand, we spend a lot of time in her grandmother's journal, and I really loved those elements. I loved that entire narrative, I loved the mystery of the sisters, the forbidden soldier, etc.
To me it just felt like two different books, kind of. I wish the two narratives had been blended together a little more seamlessly. Because they were both interesting, but it didn't really feel like Mia's story completely.
I did like this book, and I really loved the acknowledgements. They were probably the longest acknowledgements I have EVER READ! But they really helped tell the story behind the book and that made me appreciate it more, if that makes sense.

I would recommend this to a friend!