Zaheerah

books, Contemporary, LGBTQIA, Poetry, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Short stories

Mini-review: Ripped Pages, sunfish and others

December 23, 2018December 22, 2018by ZaheerahLeave a Comment

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ (5/5)

Princess Valentina braves the unknown and escapes the tower her father locked her in. A sweet and adorable F/F retelling of Rapunzel. This short story has a lot of potential. I would have definitely loved to have read a full-length version of this where we follow Valentina from being forced into the tower by her abusive father, to her life growing up in solidarity, to then finally breaking free and finding her own space in the world. But M. Hollis does a very good job in condensing everything into such a short number of pages.

A very short but satisfying read.

sunfish by Shelby Eileen

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ (4/5)A short poetry collection exploring relationships, grief, and loss. Deeply moving pieces that were interesting to read.

in the absence of the sun by Emily Curtis

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ (3/5)

I read this and sunfish because I wanted to branch out what kind of books I was reading. I have a love/hate relationship with poetry, I don’t know where it stems from but slowly I’m more open to reading poetry than I had in my younger years. But this was a pretty good collection, very quick, very impactful. There isn’t much to say, for me, but I guess, it was an okay reading experience.

No Man of Woman Born by Ana Mardoll

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ (4/5)

*I received a copy via the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book.*

A really cool collection of fantasy short stories where transgender and non-binary characters take centre stage. No Man subverts gendered prophecies of tales that are old as time. There are pronunciation guides provided for each story. And that’s what I liked a lot since I follow Ana Mardoll on twitter, they’re very informative and a pretty interesting person. I was already aware of some nonbinary pronouns, but this book introduces me to some I wasn’t aware of.

My favourite of all the stories was either Tangled Nets or His Father’s Son. All are amazing but these two caught my eye the most and was most intriguing to read.

books, Romance, Young Adult/ Teen

Review: Enchantée

December 16, 2018November 29, 2018by ZaheerahLeave a Comment

Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3/5)
* I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. This in no way affected my opinion of the book.

Camille Durbonne must find a way to provide for her sick sister while escaping the clutches of an abusive brother. Relying on her limited knowledge of magic, she transforms herself into a baroness and begins to gamble at Versailles. Quickly, she hones her skills but magic has a cost and soon she discovers leaving Versailles is much harder than it looks.

What I loved the most about this book was how vividly Trelease painted Paris in the 18th century. As Camille transforms, she comes to face the rich who she has despised her entire life. The rich who live in luxury while families like Camille’s waste away. The world building shines through, 18th century Paris with a tinge of magic in its streets: its street fashion, printing system, hot air ballooning, and games.

Camille is a determined and headstrong lead, driven by her situation to make a better life for herself and her sister. I really like her as a lead. She tends to get the better of herself and assumes she knows best for her sister, who rightfully calls her out on it. A terrific sibling dynamic between them.

There are the beginnings of a good discussion with the male love interest who is biracial. (Indian and French) Both India and France see him as an outsider, and there’s a moment where she discusses his identity and how he struggles to find his place. I just wish this was considered more, he was basically a ghost for a good portion of the book.

I did struggle with the length of this book. There’s a lot of moments where you’re just going through it, part build-up as we watch Camille learn the ways of the court, part was just me as reading getting partially bored in some moments. You’re left waiting for something to happen, but it felt like it takes way too long for the actual plot to move on from Camille being introduced into the court. But once it picks up, it gets a lot more exciting, and I really enjoyed it in the end.

Overall, There’s a lot of small tidbits that stuck to me and mixed with the writing and plot and the way the author used real historical events that worked with the plot, it was really great. A lot will be put off by its length, but the world was something else and enjoyable to explore. I actually enjoyed this much more than I had expected.

GoodReads | Amazon | Book Depository | Author

Content warning: abuse (physical, emotional, verbal), gambling addiction, alcoholism.

books, Other

Review: The Fallen Children

December 13, 2018November 29, 2018by ZaheerahLeave a Comment

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ (2/5)

One night everyone inside Midwich Tower falls mysteriously unconscious in one inexplicable ‘Night out’. No one can explain what happened during those lost hours, but soon afterward Keisha and three other girls find they’re pregnant – and the babies are growing at an alarming rate.

One night everyone inside Midwich Towerfall unconscious in a mass blackout. No one can explain why they all fell asleep at the same time, or what had happened during those hours, but soon after residents Keisha and others realise they’re all pregnant. And something isn’t right about these kids.

I really enjoyed how David Owen was trying to address the themes of guilt, shame and judgment of young people. Its concept is quite intriguing which attempted to examine the treatment of young children via its supernatural themes. The diverse cast of characters is what pulled me to this book.

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books, top ten tuesday

Favourite Book Quotes: part two

December 11, 2018December 6, 2018by Zaheerah5 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature once hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, but has now moved to That Artsy Reader Girl! Each week, a new topic is put into place and bloggers share their top ten (or your own amount) accordingly.

This week’s topic is freebie week so I decided to do a continuation post of a previous TTT topic which was Favourite Quotes. The last time I had done it was back in 2016 (!!!) so I thought it would be cool to update that list with more quotes from some of my more current reads.

“If the decision you’ve made has brought you closer to humanity, then you’ve done the right thing.”
― Tahereh Mafi, A Very Large Expanse of Sea

“And I think about all the things we could be if we were never told our bodies were not built for them.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, The Poet X

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books, Contemporary, Romance

Review: Sofia Khan Is Not Obliged

December 3, 2018December 27, 2018by ZaheerahLeave a Comment

Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3/5)

Sofia Khan is single and ready to mingle, all in the name of her forthcoming Muslim dating book. Sofia is a Pakistani, hijabi Muslim working in the publishing industry. Age thirty and, to her parent’s exasperation, unmarried, Sofia finds herself writing a Muslim dating guide at the point in her life where she’s very much crossed it off forever.

Sofia Khan is neither a tragedy or a issues book which most books around Muslims tend to be about. Which I absolutely commend this book on, but this book just sits right on the middle for me. I didn’t actually hate it, but I didn’t love it either. I think what I liked about this book was how unlikeable Sofia was to me. She’s a witty protagonist who makes poor, poor decisions. Who finds herself in the worst situations that she works well to get out of. I liked how light-hearted it all was, yet critical of a culture that places women’s value on marriage. The moments of culture-clash were relatable and hilarious especially in her workplace which Sofia called ‘the most white-centric, middle-class industry there is‘, and she’s not wrong.

I really enjoyed the way the book lays out, with its diary-like entries and text message. It’s somewhat choppy as some points, but Sofia’s voice really comes through this way. I loved the family dynamics and the customs that I literally see every day.

I was certainly thrown off by the central romance, mainly because I hadn’t expected that to come. I was so fixed on a particular part that I hadn’t realised it was going in a completely opposite way. The surprise in the final pages was actually quite interesting. It literally took me until the last line to realise what was happening.

I think what I actually dispised about this book a lot was the microaggressions. And, in my opinion, it really ruined the book for me. Sinead @ Huntress of Diverse Book put it to words more easily than I could ever, with specific examples that didn’t sit well with me either. She’s also quite hypocritical and narcissistic in a way that she doesn’t seem to realise and I was hoping it would kick in when she recognises the double standards that she holds.

Like Sofia’s mother, and her innocently asking ‘What is this click?’, Sofia Khan is not Obliged merely didn’t click with me. But I am interested in reading its sequel because of that last chapter actually surprised me.

Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository | Author

Content warning: colourism, ableist language, fatantagonistic language, aceantagonistic language, aroantagonistic language. (Credit to Sinead) Death of a parent. (more to be added)

Author: Zaheerah