Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

Love from A to Z by S.K. Ali

15 reviews

vanessamariebooks's review against another edition

lighthearted reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I read this for my Diversity is Lit bookclub, but this just wasn't for me. I can see why others like it, but I was just really bored throughout it. My full thoughts here: https://www.youtube.com/live/Af2pR2L0SWw?si=0AV_X3T9midIX20W 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Chronic illness, Islamophobia, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Cultural appropriation, and War

notsobinaryart's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Islamophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

Moderate: Car accident, Murder, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and War

Minor: Animal cruelty, Genocide, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, and War

Additional content warning: heavy usage of Harry Potter references, especially Hogwarts Houses. Written in 2019, so before JK Rowling was out as a known TERF, but please know there are at least a dozen references to Harry Potter throughout the book

dar0822's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Islamophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, and War

mahaofhyrule's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Islamophobia, Grief, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and War

Minor: Cultural appropriation

heidifuglevand's review against another edition

inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Islamophobia

Minor: Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Cultural appropriation

internationalreads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Hate crime, Racism, Islamophobia, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, and Injury/Injury detail

lida_magg's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Racism, Islamophobia, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Cultural appropriation

ohlovehandles's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

The concept of the book is great, but I honestly took a long time to get through it. There were points where I loved the writing and enjoyed where it was going. Then other parts where it dragged on and made it difficult to enjoy. 

It's a beautiful love story and I'm glad that we're finally getting to a point where halal romance books could be a mainstream thing that a lot of Muslims could just walk in a bookstore and get. I still would've liked for more care to have gone into the structure and writing. 

Overall I think someone who's 13 would enjoy this a bit more and not necessarily be too critical on the writing. The thing is, it's a romance following characters who are 18+ and touching on a lot of dense and dark topics, it should have aimed to be written with the standard of readers within that age range and maturity in mind. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Hate crime, Racism, Islamophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Cursing, Violence, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Car accident

kingrosereads's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

“This is a love story. You’ve been warned.”

Fantastic, brilliant, beautiful, effortless YA contemporary romance that is also a drama and somewhat of a coming-of-age.

I’m not even going to go into depth about what the book was about. You just need to know that two very beautiful souls serendipitously meet and they fall in love while going through the hardest things a person can go through. 

This book was beautiful from start to finish. It is unapologetically Muslim and I friggin loved every second of it! I love Zayneb’s passion and Adam’s ability to see the beauty in the world. At first I didn’t see the chemistry between them and aside from them both keeping this journal based off an ancient manuscript, I didn’t think they had much in common since they’re SO different. But the book just unfolds in this amazing way, where you fall in love with Zayneb and Adam as individuals then watch them come together and fall in love with them as a couple. 

Zayneb is dealing with Islamophobia throughout the book (at school, on a plane, at the pool, etc) and the injustices in the world make her righteously angry. And she tries to “tone down” her anger, but she learns she doesn’t have to hold back, she just learns how to be smarter than the bigots. Then there’s Adam and he is this peaceful soul that I just adored and is more behind-the-scenes in his support. He’s such a family guy and I loved his softer way of caring. They both deal with loss and grief in their own ways that make you want to tear your heart out. 

I think this book does a fantastic job depicting a traditional Muslim relationship, grief, anger, prejudice, and dealing with a chronic medical diagnosis. I can’t speak for its accuracy but it seems authentic and raw. I loved that these two opposites started meeting in the middle on their own in a natural way (they weren’t forcing themselves to change to fit with the other). The book had me grinning like a fool, crying like a baby, and it even had me laughing a few times. Just a gorgeous, well written story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Death, Hate crime, Xenophobia, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Racial slurs, Racism, Murder, and War

ashes2003's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

You, I like you. A daily dose of controversial cheesy romance that I completely stuffed my face with. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Islamophobia, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Cultural appropriation