good stuff:

• own-voices novel about a lesbian muslim & bengali girl !!!!!!
• my favorite part was nishat and priti’s relationship because i’m a sucked for a good sisterhood relation
• the symbolism of the henna
• white privilege and cultural appropriation play a huge part of this book, which was great

not so good stuff:

• the romance. i just did not care for the romance in this book. i was ready to but, as it usually goes, i didn’t. i understand why it is a thing, i understand flávia’s character and i understand their dynamic but i just wasn’t invested in it. at all. i kinda wished there was no romance...
• the writing (and this is were my rating >really< went down). there were important topics this book was dealing with, like cultural appropriation, homophobia, white privilege,... but it didn’t do much with and for them. the writing made this discussion very subtle and surface level. we didn’t get to dwell on the severity of any of those things.

i guess that’s how ya books usually goes but at the same i know ya books that dive into heavy topics without losing it’s essence so...