Review: LOVE FROM A TO Z by S.K. Ali
Love from A to Z by S.K. Ali Also by this author: Saints and Misfits
Published by Salaam Reads on April 30, 2019
Genres: Contemporary Fiction, Young Adult Fiction
Pages: 352
Source: Netgalley
Amazon
Goodreads
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
LOVE FROM A TO Z Review
S.K. Ali’s Love From A to Z is an incredibly moving story that just had so many emotions running through my head the entire time I was reading. Sometimes it made me sad, sometimes it made me angry and frustrated, but at times, it also made me smile. I love that Ali’s storytelling is so powerful and authentic that it can evoke so many emotions. Love From A to Z was such a great read for me because the story just has so many layers, each one equally meaningful and compelling. It features a blossoming friendship between the main characters, Adam and Zayneb, but then it also tackles weighty topics such as Islamophobia. Finally, it features a character who is trying to cope with the life changing diagnosis of multiple sclerosis he has just received.
I became attached to Adam and Zayneb right away. They’re both such great kids, but they each have the weight of the world on their shoulders. Adam has just been diagnosed with MS, the disease that took his mother’s life. Adam remembers how crushed his father was when she died, so now he’s afraid to tell his father that he now has the same disease. I loved that he wanted to protect his father so badly, but my heart just broke for Adam thinking about him trying to keep such a huge thing secret.
Zayneb tugged at my heartstrings too. As the only Muslim student in her class, she is a target of blatant Islamophobia, especially from the supposed authority figures in the school. I hated that it kept happening, but I was in constant admiration of Zayneb because she refused to just sit there and take it. Instead, she is fierce and brave, standing up for herself and speaking out against the hatred that keeps getting thrown in her face. The situation at school is especially frustrating though because every time she stands up for herself, she somehow ends up being the one to get in trouble, while the bigot gets off scot free. When Zayneb actually gets suspended from school for sticking up for herself, her parents send her to stay with her aunt in Qatar for a while to cool off and to try to come up with ways to fight Islamophobia without doing things that could negatively impact her own future.
Adam and Zayneb meet on the plane to Qatar, and the chemistry was instant. I was immediately rooting for them to become friends (and hopefully more than friends) because I loved both characters so much and they just seemed like they would be perfect for each other. I was also rooting for them to deepen their connection because they each just needed someone in their corner so badly.
Aside from these two characters and their moving journeys, I was also a huge fan of the way the story was formatted. Inspired by famous art entitled Marvels and Oddities, both Adam and Zayneb keep journals where they record marvels and oddities they encounter in their lives every day. The story unfolds through these journal entries, which just makes Adam and Zayneb’s journeys all the more intimate and personal as they each battle the demons they’re facing.
S.K. Ali’s Love From A to Z is a book that I’d love to recommend to everyone. It’s a beautiful story about family, friendship, love, and support, as well as a hard-hitting story that strikes a powerful blow against Islamophobia.
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:
French fries happen. Like the perfect fries Adam and his mom used to make together.
An oddity: whatever gives you pause. Like the fact that there are hateful people in the world. Like Zayneb’s teacher, who won’t stop reminding the class how “bad” Muslims are.
But Zayneb, the only Muslim in class, isn’t bad. She’s angry.
When she gets suspended for confronting her teacher, and he begins investigating her activist friends, Zayneb heads to her aunt’s house in Doha, Qatar, for an early start to spring break.
Fueled by the guilt of getting her friends in trouble, she resolves to try out a newer, “nicer” version of herself in a place where no one knows her.
Then her path crosses with Adam’s.
Since he got diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in November, Adam’s stopped going to classes, intent, instead, on perfecting the making of things. Intent on keeping the memory of his mom alive for his little sister.
Adam’s also intent on keeping his diagnosis a secret from his grieving father.
Alone, Adam and Zayneb are playing roles for others, keeping their real thoughts locked away in their journals.
Until a marvel and an oddity occurs…
Marvel: Adam and Zayneb meeting.
Oddity: Adam and Zayneb meeting.
About S.K. Ali
S. K. Ali is the author of Saints and Misfits. She lives in Toronto with her family, which includes a very vocal cat named Yeti. Her second novel, LOVE FROM A TO Z, a story about finding love in the time of Islamophobia, will be published on April 30, 2019 by Simon & Schuster. She also has a picture book co-authored with Team USA Olympic Medalist, Ibtihaj Muhammad, THE PROUDEST BLUE releasing on October 22, 2019, published by Little, Brown. Find her on twitter at https://twitter.com/SajidahWrites, on instagram at https://www.instagram.com/skalibooks/ and on her website at https://skalibooks.com/.
Top Ten Tuesday – First 10 Books I Ever Reviewed
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!
This week’s TTT topic is First 10 Books I Ever Reviewed. Okay, I’m using the term “reviewed” very loosely here since these titles come from around the time I first joined Goodreads. I joined back in 2008 and when I first started out, I rarely ever wrote more than a sentence about a book, if I even did that much. I think I set up my account, “reviewed” a couple of current reads, and then got sucked down the rabbit hole of rating books I’d read in order to supposedly get better book recommendations generated by GR. I also must have only been interested in putting ratings on books that I liked because as you can see, these first books reviewed are almost all 4 and 5 star reads.
My, how my review style and my taste in books has changed over the years…
* * * * *
First 10 Books I Ever Reviewed
WATER FOR ELEPHANTS by Sara Gruen (4 STARS)
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE by Jane Austen (5 STARS)
THE THIRTEENTH TALE by Diane Setterfield (4 STARS)
THE KITE RUNNER by Khaled Hosseini (5 STARS)
ANGELS & DEMONS by Dan Brown (5 STARS)
THE LORDS OF DISCIPLINE by Pat Conroy (5 STARS)
A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS by Khaled Hosseini (5 STARS)
BLEAK HOUSE by Charles Dickens (5 STARS)
ONE FOR THE MONEY by Janet Evanovich (4 STARS)
1ST TO DIE by James Patterson (3 STARS)
* * * * *
What are first books you remember reviewing?
Review: THE MOTHER-IN-LAW by Sally Hepworth
The Mother-in-Law by Sally Hepworth Also by this author: The Family Next Door
Published by St. Martin's Press on April 23, 2019
Genres: Mystery, Thriller
Pages: 352
Source: Netgalley
Amazon
Goodreads
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
THE MOTHER-IN-LAW Review
Sally Hepworth is quickly becoming a go-to author for me when I’m in the mood for domestic dramas and mysteries. Her latest novel, The Mother-In-Law is no exception, with Hepworth delivering both a compelling family drama as well as a riveting mystery.
The novel focuses on two women, Diana and Lucy. Diana is Lucy’s mother-in-law and the two of them have a very uncomfortable relationship, to put it mildly. Even though they have known each other for 10 years, Diana still treats Lucy like a stranger. Lucy can’t figure out why Diana seems to hate her so much and at a certain point, has just given up on trying. Lucy and her husband Oliver have a good life together, only making contact with Diana when necessary, and such is their life. That is, until a phone call from the police informs them that Diana is dead and that it is an apparent suicide based on some evidence found at the scene. Lucy and Oliver are shocked because Diana is the most formidable person they’ve ever known and the last person they would expect to commit suicide. When the coroner’s report comes back, however, the possibility that it was actually murder is suddenly on the table and the police begin investigating.
So many questions immediately start swirling about. If Diana did take her own life, why? If foul play was involved, who could possibly want to hurt her and why?
*****
If you like complicated characters, then this is your book because Diana is about as complicated as they come. She has devoted much of her life to charitable causes and is a beloved and respected member of her community because of this. Diana’s altruistic nature does not apparently extend to her actual family members. Even though she’s a very wealthy woman, Diana expects her children to stand up on their own two feet and make lives for themselves without handouts from her. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it certainly creates some uncomfortable and tense moments when her children find themselves struggling. It doesn’t make Diana the easiest character to warm up to, but it definitely made me curious about her.
Where Diana is a character that is hard to warm up to, Lucy, on the other hand, is a character I loved immediately. She lost her mother to cancer when she was only 13 years old, so when Lucy falls in love with Diana’s son Oliver and agrees to marry him, she’s over the moon about meeting Diana. She can’t wait to finally have a mother-figure back in her life and goes out of her way to make sure she’s as likeable as possible at their first meeting. Her dream is shattered immediately, however, when it becomes clear Diana has no interest in her. It’s not that Diana is mean to Lucy because that’s not her nature, it’s more that she’s completely standoffish – as polite as she knows she has to be, but otherwise, basically a cold fish. Their relationship starts off that way, and even after 10 years of marriage, it’s still pretty much the same. This made me immediately sympathetic to Lucy and had me shaking my head at Diana and saying “OMG, why are you like this?”
Aside from the way Hepworth draws her characters, one of my favorite parts of The Mother-In-Law is how she weaves together her tale. She effectively moves the story back and forth between the different characters’ perspectives, particularly Diana’s and Lucy’s, and between the past and present to gradually paint for her readers not only a complete portrait of Diana, but also toward the answer that we are ultimately all waiting for: what really happened to Diana. I thought Hepworth’s choice of these elements was a perfect way to unravel both the mystery of Diana herself and of her death. Getting little glimpses into Diana’s earlier life gave me a much greater understanding as to why she’s the way she is, which in turn made me more sympathetic to her.
Other highlights of The Mother-In-Law for me were its quick pacing, its suspenseful plot twists, and the fact that the story was never predictable. The ending, in particular, shocked me because I didn’t see it coming, not even for a single second!
Sally Hepworth’s The Mother-In-Law is a riveting read from start to finish. Unraveling the mystery of Diana and why she is the way she is kept me turning the pages just as much as the desire to know what happened to her and if anyone else was responsible. Hepworth’s books have been compared to those of Liane Moriarty, and I think the comparison is a good one. If you’re into domestic dramas and mysteries with plenty of twists and turns, The Mother-In-Law is the perfect read for you. It definitely made me appreciate how simple and uncomplicated my relationship with my own mother-in-law is.
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:
Someone once told me that you have two families in your life – the one you are born into and the one you choose. Yes, you may get to choose your partner, but you don’t choose your mother-in-law. The cackling mercenaries of fate determine it all.
From the moment Lucy met Diana, she was kept at arm’s length. Diana is exquisitely polite, but Lucy knows, even after marrying Oliver, that they’ll never have the closeness she’d been hoping for.
But who could fault Diana? She was a pillar of the community, an advocate for social justice, the matriarch of a loving family. Lucy had wanted so much to please her new mother-in-law.
That was ten years ago. Now, Diana has been found dead, leaving a suicide note. But the autopsy reveals evidence of suffocation. And everyone in the family is hiding something…
From the bestselling author of The Family Next Door comes a new page-turner about that trickiest of relationships.
About Sally Hepworth
Sally Hepworth is the bestselling author of The Secrets of Midwives (2015), The Things We Keep (2016) and The Mother’s Promise (2017), and The Family Next Door (Feb 2018). Sally’s books have been labelled “enchanting” by The Herald Sun, “smart and engaging” by Publisher’s Weekly, and New York Times bestselling authors Liane Moriarty and Emily Giffin have praised Sally’s novels as “women’s fiction at its finest” and “totally absorbing”.
Sally’s novels are available worldwide in English and have been translated into 15 languages.
Sally lives in Melbourne, Australia with her husband and three children.