A review by smillas_tales
Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating by Adiba Jaigirdar

medium-paced

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

3.0

I’ve known for a while I’m growing out of my love for YA contemporaries, but I can’t help but give them another chance every couple of months anyway. This book is the sign that I should probably just move on, cause while it was lovely and enjoyable and everything I would’ve loved a few years back, it just didn’t hit the way I wanted it to!

I’d heard nothing but incredible things about this one, and as usual I was super excited to pick up a sapphic romance, but it just felt way too young for me to really love it. I’m pretty sad about it tbh, cause it’s got so many amazing elements!

It’s (obviously) got wonderful bi rep, and Hani and Ishu are Bengali and Indian, respectively, and because of it the book focuses heavily on topics of racism, biphobia and discrimination. I really enjoyed this aspect of the book, but there were just too many things I didn’t love for it to shine through. 

The one major thing I couldn’t get over, was Hani’s refusal to acknowledge how absolutely awful her so-called friends were throughout the entire book. At first it was understandable, her not wanting to give up a life-long friendship, but the longer it went on the more it bugged me, especially because the friendship was the basis of every major conflict in the book.

In the end, I didn’t love or hate this book!While it’s not a new favorite, it’s got a lot of lovely elements, so if you usually enjoy YA contemporaries, I’d definitely still recommend this!