books, Contemporary

Book Review: Stained

by Zaheerah2 Comments on Book Review: Stained

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* I received an ARC of this book from the author.  This in no way affected my opinion of the book. Also, TW: Mentions of rape and abuse.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Stained is an upcoming debut novel by Abda Khan that follows Selina, a British-born Pakistani young woman who is raped by her close, well-respected family friend. Selina is eager to do well in school so she can get into University, but her grades in Economics are the only thing that’s stopping her from achieving her future.It is then when a trusted family friend offers to tutor her but he preys upon Selina’s trusting nature and sexually assault her. Not wanting to bring dishonour on her family and deceased father’s name, we follow Selina go to extreme length to avoid the imminent scandal.

I really appreciated this story. I loved the character of Selina and her story. Despite facing such awful adversity and horrible trauma, she remained strong. She did her best to keep moving forward and learning to find herself despite all she’s faced. And how everything leads to her not reporting the assault is all too realistic and extremely upsetting. There’s so much to like about this book. Khan’s writing style allows us to fully understand Selina’s action and her situation. I had some issues with the speech sometimes since it felt quite stiff and didn’t read well but that issue is quite minor compared to how much I enjoyed the rest of the novel. The ending is a happy one, well as happy as it could be, considering what happened. It showed great growth in Selina and how she survived everything ordeal. She was given the opportunity to love again, while she doesn’t outright decline it, she simply takes a step back to focus on herself rather than what everyone else thinks. And I enjoyed that.

As relevant this book is, I would be very specific in who I recommend it to. There are so many triggering topics that are brought up: rape, miscarriage, murder etc. It’s important to the mentality of the reader that you’re aware. Stained is short but in that time Khan has created a novel that is so important and addressed such an important issue. I am so grateful that I have been given a chance to read this.

you can find the books at:
GoodReads | Author’s website | Amazon |

books, top ten tuesday

Need to be on TV

by Zaheerah1 Comment on Need to be on TV

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TOP TEN TUESDAY IS A WEEKLY FEATURE HOSTED BY THE BROKE AND THE BOOKISH! EACH WEEK, A NEW TOPIC IS PUT INTO PLACE AND BLOGGERS SHARE THEIR TOP TEN (OR YOUR OWN AMOUNT) ACCORDINGLY.

Ink and Bone

I would literally give anything to see Ink and Bone as a T.V. show (for some reason, I would prefer it to be on Netflix) I have SO many ideas of who I would like to play each character. (Aside from Khalila, I don’t have a definitive FC for her yet)

The Song of Achilles

Out of all the books on my list, TSOA, I think, is the only one which has been optioned for a possible mini-series and I’m so excited!!  The producers of BBC’s Peaky Blinders has the rights to it and I so hope it happens soon because I love TSOA.

Demon Road

While I wasn’t a huge fan of book two, the whole concept and plot of Demon Road is something I would love to see on TV. Similar in the style of Supernatural, maybe?

The Name of the Star

I was super interested in Jack the Ripper when I was 15 for some reason and so TNOTS is something I could definitely see as a BBC programme.

Seven Ways We Lie

I wasn’t sure if this had rights for TV because I remember Riley mentioning something about. So I check and it does!!! It’s currently in development since June 2016. The producer has worked on a load of other films, Ella Enchanted being one of them.

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Radio Silence

PLEASE, I WANT RADIO SILENCE AS A SHOW SO BAD. I CAN TELL IT WOULD BE SO CUTE AND ADORABLE AND AMAZING.

The Foxhole Court

Someone, anyone, please send millions of copies of TFC to Netflix HQ, thank you.

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

Somewhere within our crowded sky, a crew of wormhole builders hops from planet to planet, on their way to the job of a lifetime. To the galaxy at large, humanity is a minor species, and one patched-up construction vessel is a mere speck on the starchart. This is an everyday sort of ship, just trying to get from here to there.

But all voyages leave their mark, and even the most ordinary of people have stories worth telling. A young Martian woman, hoping the vastness of space will put some distance between herself and the life she‘s left behind. An alien pilot, navigating life without her own kind. A pacifist captain, awaiting the return of a loved one at war.

ImAGINE THIS AS A SHOW. IMAGINE HOW BEAUTIFUL IT WOULD BE.

The Darren Shan Saga

I’m going to pretend that the mess that was the Cirque Du Freak movie didn’t happen. I had put myself all through that mess just for the story and Josh Hutcherson. And they completely ruined the story! So I would love to see a TV where they didn’t replace a Debbie with a silly monkey girl.

Thief

Thief is one of my favourite Malorie Blackman novels, but I’ve recently heard that Noughts & Crosses may become a show so I’m glad something of hers is coming to TV.

books, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Young Adult/ Teen

Book Review: Machination & Counterpart

by Zaheerah2 Comments on Book Review: Machination & Counterpart

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* I received an ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.  This in no way affected my opinion of the book.

I originally read Machinations but never wrote a review for it and since then, I also got a Kindle copy of its sequel so I decided to do a double review.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

When I first requested this on NetGalley, I didn’t think much of it. I just wanted something sci-fi to read but, I have to admit, I was pretty impressed.

Plot-wise, I really liked it. This kind of plot had always low-key been my favourite. The Machination series is set in a post-apocalyptic world where machines have risen against humanity. Following Rhona Long when she is killed on a rescue mission gone and later wakes up in a new body, a clone of herself. While I wished the description of the machines themselves were more detailed (like the higher echelon) but I was quite satisfied with the overall way the world works.

Continue reading “Book Review: Machination & Counterpart” →

books, Monthly Rewind

Monthly Rewind: August 2016

by Zaheerah5 Comments on Monthly Rewind: August 2016

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  • Results day 😥 – AKA possibly one of the worst moments of my life, Tbh. I just missed the expected grades I needed to get into Sussex. I was sorely disappointed, mainly because they don’t take into consideration my EPQ grade which I got an A in. My plan now is to retake my exams by taking a third year but the college is being so frustrating!!! I asked if I could immediately apply for a third year on results day but a senior at college told me not to do it!! She said it would be better to take a foundation course so that I automatically get into my chosen course. But I felt more comfortable paying for my retakes rather than adding an extra 9K in student loans. I tried my luck with the foundation course but they were filled up already and now I’m getting no response from college about the third year 😭😭
  • Visited family in London – Since we couldn’t go last month on Eid, we decided to go this month for a couple of days since my aunt recently have birth to her first child, a baby girl!! 
  • Got a job!! – probably one if the few good things that happened this month. It’s a part time waitressing job at a restaurant. The pay is minimum wage and its alright for me since this is one of my first proper job. I intend to really just stay there for a couple of months for the experience until I find something better.

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I read 7 books this month! Here’s some of them: (ill add links once I’m back in Brighton) 

  • The Novice by Taran Matharu
  • Stained by Abda Khan
  • Counterpart by Hayley Stone
  • Songs of Princes by Janell Rhiannon
  • Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton
  • Bloodwalker by L.X. Cain
  • Aceldama by John Hazen 

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That’s it for this month! Tell me what went on in YOUR life this month! What sort of things were important for you this month? New obsessions? New TV shows? Or book? Any new song recs (I’m always open for new music!)? Best books you read this month?

books, top ten tuesday

Back to School

by Zaheerah6 Comments on Back to School

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish! Each week, a new topic is put into place and bloggers share their top ten (or your own amount) accordingly.

As of writing this post, my education path is somewhat unsteady right now. I didn’t get into my Uni place, and was unable to take the foundation course since they ran out of spaces so quickly. So right now I’m waiting on my college to respond back about me coming back to college to do a third year and retaking a couple of my exams. I had so many ideas about what I wanted to do for this week but I decided to make a top seven list of books I’ve read for school/college (in no particular order)

  1. The Iliad – I had taken Classics at college and in the first year we studied The Iliad. It was one of the best books I’ve read for school and it’s one of my all time favourites now. (And because of this I ended up reading The Song of Achilles which is also a favourite so yay!)
  2. Of Mice and Men – The amount of copies of this book we had at secondary school which had ‘george kills lennie’ on the front page was so silly but so funny.
  3. An Inspector Calls – So much suspense, it was great and the arguments everyone had over who was to blame was so funny.
  4. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry – One of the first books I had read about racism and class distinction. The English department at my secondary school could never really keep up with the books we had to read so we never finished this in class but I was glad I decided to finish it on my own.
  5. The Alex Rider series – I read half the series in primary school with my reading group but we never got to finish the series since everyone kept mucking around. I hope to finish this series one day when I have the time.
  6. Women’s Life in Greece and Rome – This was a source book we had to read for the other half of classics in college and it was so interesting to read about the lives of women who lived in Athens. My favourite was Neaera !!
  7. The Clouds – Even to this day, I still don’t understand the Clouds but it was a strange and hilarious read.
books, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Young Adult/ Teen

Book Review: Rebel of the Sands

by Zaheerah2 Comments on Book Review: Rebel of the Sands

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you can find the book at:
GoodReads | Author’s website | Amazon | Bookdepository
my review:
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

[EDIT 14/01/17: I’m adding link’s to Fatima and Aimal‘s review of Rebels because I urge you all to read them. Their criticisms were more well explained than mine]

I have never wanted to finish a book so quickly than this one. And I don’t mean it nicely. I was expecting this. I should’ve turned the other way when I saw it in Waterstones. I should’ve trusted my gut feeling and not listened to the random girl talking to her friend who said this was ‘the best book she’s ever read,’

Originally, I was intrigued by the Western/ Middle Eastern concept but only after a couple of pages, I realised how terribly clichéd it was and decided that this fusion was a terrible idea and she didn’t pull it off if you ask me.

I’m guessing the western concepts were the dustbowl towns and gun-toting civilians and when it came to the Middle Eastern aspects it was folk tales and mythology. As much as I loved Aladdin and Thousand and One Nights, it shouldn’t be the only model for stories about the Middle East and its people and culture. Desert, magic, threats of forced marriage and oppressive family. Rebel of the Sands is just one of many that are part of the YA fantasy boom that utilises Islamic folklore as the main concept of their novels but fails so badly. Her fusion felt so forced and artificial, more western than Middle Eastern. You could easily tweak a couple of things and just like that, the backdrop could easily become the dystopian USA. (And it breaks my heart knowing that publishers PREFER this, knowing that somewhere a Middle Eastern writer has probably written a fantasy book with their own folklore twist but their voice was passed over and they have to watch Hamilton and so many others make their debut from barely even touching their culture.)

The world-building was nothing special, and that’s a damn shame considering the concept and so much could’ve been done with it. The way this world runs was so confusing. These people drink yet pray so I’m assuming the predominant faith is Islam. If it isn’t, Hamilton hasn’t done much to clear the air since it’s entirely ambiguous. (Is there even a time period? Where are we?)

I keep reading all these 5 star reviews where they gush over Amani and Jin, but honestly, I don’t see it. And why I can understand with other YA couples but, with these two, I see absolutely nothing and I’m pretty sure you’re all lying to me about their relationship being amazing. Amani and Jinn have zero chemistry. Amani rarely acknowledges her feelings for Jin. And his introduction was so funny, I couldn’t stop laughing. We were only eight (eight!) pages in and she spent like a paragraph on how beautiful Jin was despite her being really anxious about to do a shoot off to win money, she still has the time to mention how extremely beautiful this random boy is. (Also, don’t you just love it when soldiers are chasing you and the only way you can hide is by kissing a boy you barely know #justgirlythings.) There’s also a huge time jump of around two months where these two supposedly become greater friends and I was so annoyed. The beginning could’ve easily been cut to allow us to see their friendship develop.

I have to admit Rebel of the Sands does pick up around the 200 page mark where what you’re promised to find is actually introduced to the story. It takes a very long time, though, and by the time I got there I was bored. I have no faith nor interest that the sequel will even be an improvement.

Paperback, 358 pages
Published February 4th 2016 by Faber & Faber
ISBN: 0571325254