Danyal is a character with a good, kind heart. He's had a crush for years on a friend's sister. He gets picked to be a competitor in something called the Renaissance Man at school by a cranky old history teacher out of spite. His parents are working on an arranged marriage and have a meeting with the family of a girl named Bisma. Such a sweet love story, the journey to embrace ones own identity, and making ones own path in the world. There is a lot to this story but it all felt fleshed out and part of a complex, every day life. ( )

First off, I almost DNF'ed this book due to an excess of language at the beginning. However, I plowed on and am so glad that I did. Honestly, this book has the potential to be one of my favorites of 2020.
Much like my history class this past school year, this book talked about things that politicians did that are a 'no-no' subject to discuss. Unlike my class which discussed only Americans, this one talked about Churchill. I learned more about him, both his successes and his mistakes that I did not know before.
The character growth in this novel was phenomenal and I enjoyed that it was told from a male POV, which is severely lacking in YA.
The #1 reason that I liked this book was because it made me think. There were things I agreed with and other things that I did not but it was handled well for the most part. Some parts were a bit preachy but the majority of the novel was not this way.
And that ending *heart eyes*. I almost melted.

Rating: 5/5
Language: the whole spectrum
Romance: one character has a past, nothing is described in detail
Spiritual: The characters are all Muslim.
Violence: discusses events in history that resulted in death

*I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All thoughts are my own and a positive review was not required. ( )

*I got this book for review from the publisher*

I really loved this book. I thought this book was the prefect elements of YA roncon but also tackled the elements in the Muslim community. This book had so much diversity as well and found it be such a informative read that was also super fun and funny and made me laugh out loud. I loved how the book only had a male lead and loved how this book tackled family drama, passions, and romance and academic element. I loved the side characters in this read and the romance made me so happy! Will def read more by this author in the future. ( )

*I got this book for review from the publisher*

I really loved this book. I thought this book was the prefect elements of YA roncon but also tackled the elements in the Muslim community. This book had so much diversity as well and found it be such a informative read that was also super fun and funny and made me laugh out loud. I loved how the book only had a male lead and loved how this book tackled family drama, passions, and romance and academic element. I loved the side characters in this read and the romance made me so happy! Will def read more by this author in the future. ( )

This book was funny but also heart breaking in parts, light but super heavy, and ultimately was memorable. I enjoyed that there was no extra explanation for Danyal being held back at school except that he was not good at it. Bisma and Danyal together were so much love. It was heavy handed with some of it's descriptions of others especially the jilted "almost-love" and the super religious friend, but those didn't diminish my enjoyment.
Ultimately I will describe this as a honest book. I truly enjoyed it and I am so glad about the diverse reads available now ( )