Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin

Publisher: Berkley
Published: June 2019
Genre: women’s fiction
ISBN: 9781984802798
Rating: ★★★★★

Ayesha Shamsi has a lot going on. Her dreams of being a poet have been set aside for a teaching job so she can pay off her debts to her wealthy uncle. She lives with her boisterous Muslim family and is always being reminded that her flighty younger cousin, Hafsa, is close to rejecting her hundredth marriage proposal. Though Ayesha is lonely, she doesn’t want an arranged marriage. Then she meets Khalid, who is just as smart and handsome as he is conservative and judgmental. She is irritatingly attracted to someone who looks down on her choices, and who dresses like he belongs in the seventh century.

When a surprise engagement is announced between Khalid and Hafsa, Ayesha is torn between how she feels about the straightforward Khalid and the unsettling new gossip she hears about his family. Looking into the rumors, she finds she has to deal with not only what she discovers about Khalid, but also the truth she realizes about herself.

You know a classic retelling is good when you stop comparing it to the original and get swept up in the new narrative! I read this book earlier in the summer and it blew me away.

There’s a new Lizzie and Darcy in the house and their names are Ayesha and Khalid! Jalaluddin did such an amazing job with her Pride & Prejudice for the modern age, and I loved the way she incorporated all the classic antics (a flighty, boy-obsessed figure; an image/reputation-obsessed matron; a sensible but judgmental heroine; a quiet and misunderstood hero; oh, and letters!) and spun it on its head.

I especially appreciated the discussion of what it means to be Muslim in the 21st century, of the many ways one can express faith and values. Within the first fifty pages I wanted to scream at Khalid’s boss and it made me so angry to think that discrimination like this happens everyday (so incredibly unfair and horrible!), so seeing sweet marshmallow Khalid stand up at the end was excellent justice.

I enjoyed watching Ayesha’s character grow and develop in her artistic strength as well, piecing together what it means for her to be an Indian Muslim woman living life on her terms. Her Nana’s constant quoting of Shakespeare made me smile, her silly brother’s schemes made me laugh out loud, and her amazing and supportive best friend Clara I wanted to hug forever and always.

It is very difficult for classic retelling to receive a full five stars from me, but this one deserved every single glowing star. Loved it. I can’t recommend this enough!!

The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez

Publisher: Forever
Published: June 2019
Genre: women’s fiction
ISBN: 9781538715604
Rating: ★★★★.5

Kristen Petersen doesn’t do drama, will fight to the death for her friends, and has no room in her life for guys who just don’t get her. She’s also keeping a big secret: facing a medically necessary procedure that will make it impossible for her to have children.

Planning her best friend’s wedding is bittersweet for Kristen — especially when she meets the best man, Josh Copeland. He’s funny, sexy, never offended by her mile-wide streak of sarcasm, and always one chicken enchilada ahead of her hangry. Even her dog, Stuntman Mike, adores him. The only catch: Josh wants a big family someday. Kristen knows he’d be better off with someone else, but as their attraction grows, it’s harder and harder to keep him at arm’s length.

The premise has your standard romcom meet cutes and such—best man and maid of honor meet under interesting circumstances, she’s dating someone else, they spend lots of time together, will they won’t they—but the big draw for me was the way Jimenez handled infertility. Here is a young woman (24!) with a partial hysterectomy scheduled for very real, very serious health reasons. It means she won’t be able to have kids. But our hero does want kids—a whole baseball team of them, and all his own. Kristen is crushed.

Though a lot of their issues could’ve been resolved if they just had a conversation earlier in the relationship, I was surprisingly not frustrated by that because Jimenez does a fantastic job with humor and levity. Nothing about Kristen and Joshua’s banter or conversations felt forced—they really are funny, and I felt it was true to their characters too (Kristen using humor as a shield, Joshua because he’s trying to be positive). I wish Kristen was real so we could be friends. We could stay up late and have fun and eat tacos in sketchy parts of town, but also have really great, insightful conversations about the pros and cons of motherhood and what it means to be a woman.

The raw honesty in this novel was a breath of fresh air and, like The Flatshare, I was so beyond happy to have read it. If you haven’t already, get your hands on this book!

The Library of Lost and Found by Phaedra Patrick

Publisher: Park Row Books
Published: March 2019
Genre: contemporary
ISBN: 9780778369356
Rating: ★★★★

Librarian Martha Storm has always found it easier to connect with books than people–though not for lack of trying. She keeps careful lists of how to help others in her superhero-themed notebook. And yet, sometimes it feels like she’s invisible.

All of that changes when a book of fairy tales arrives on her doorstep. Inside, Martha finds a dedication written to her by her best friend–her grandmother Zelda–who died under mysterious circumstances years earlier. When Martha discovers a clue within the book that her grandmother may still be alive, she becomes determined to discover the truth. As she delves deeper into Zelda’s past, she unwittingly reveals a family secret that will change her life forever.

Martha has spent her life caring for others. She’s a volunteer at the library, she does laundry and clothing mending, is rebuilding the local school’s Chinese paper dragon, she took care of her ailing parents for 15 years, she looks after her niece and nephew when her sister randomly drops them off, and so much more. She checks off her to-do list one by one, and believes she’s content and happy because she’s needed by people. But when a book of short fairy tale stories appears on her doorstep, written by her grandmother and signed/dated after her grandmother’s supposed death, Martha’s world is rattled. What happened to Nana? Why did she write these stories? Why did Martha’s parents lie to her about Nana’s death? What made Nana disappear?

I was originally drawn to the “volunteer librarian living a quiet life” aspect of the story, and I’m so glad I read it because it’s much more than that. Martha really digs into her past, breaking down what she knew as a child, what she saw and understood, and finds that looking through a different lens tells a whole other side of the story. There are several chapters throughout the novel through Martha’s mother’s point of view, which really express what it’s like to be in an emotionally abusive and manipulative relationship, why many women stay in these relationships, and that difficult balancing act of pleasing the people you love.

There’s so much of Martha’s character that rang true for me personally. I’ve often felt overburdened from friends’ and family’s needs. But there’s a difference between being helpful and being a doormat. Poor Martha struggled for decades to find her voice and draw those boundaries. Reading her narrative was like reading a reminder for myself to continue to speak up when overwhelmed, to ask for help, to suggest other options, to continue to learn to say no.

What a lovely, heartwarming, comforting read. This is a story for fans of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. It’s about loneliness and grief. It’s about what happiness and necessity truly mean. It’s about self-care and growth. It’s about boundaries and friendships. It’s about abuse and gaslighting and homophobia. It’s about love and tenderness and imagination. It’s a hidden gem of a story, and I highly recommend you read it!

This qualifies as book 8 of 10 in my library books challenge.