Misfit in Love - S. K. Ali (Blog Tour & Review)

Date of Reading: 22/05/2021

Author: S. K. Ali

Publisher: Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers

Publication Date: May 25, 2021

Source: NetGalley

Rating: 3/5

(This review is part of the blog tour organised by Hear Our Voices Book Tours)

About the book:

In this fun and fresh sequel to Saints and Misfits, Janna hopes her brother’s wedding will be the perfect start to her own summer of love, but attractive new arrivals have her more confused than ever.

Janna Yusuf is so excited for the weekend: her brother Muhammad’s getting married, and she’s reuniting with her mom, whom she’s missed the whole summer.

And Nuah’s arriving for the weekend too.

Sweet, constant Nuah.

The last time she saw him, Janna wasn’t ready to reciprocate his feelings for her. But things are different now. She’s finished high school, ready for college…and ready for Nuah.

It’s time for Janna’s (carefully planned) summer of love to begin—starting right at the wedding.

But it wouldn’t be a wedding if everything went according to plan. Muhammad’s party choices aren’t in line with his fiancée’s taste at all, Janna’s dad is acting strange, and her mom is spending more time with an old friend (and maybe love interest?) than Janna.

And Nuah’s treating her differently.

Just when things couldn’t get more complicated, two newcomers—the dreamy Haytham and brooding Layth—have Janna more confused than ever about what her misfit heart really wants.

Janna’s summer of love is turning out to be super crowded and painfully unpredictable.

Review:

        "Misfit in Love" is a companion novel to "Saints and Misfits" one of the most popular works of S. K. Ali. Since many advocated it as a standalone, I went blindly without even checking what happened in the first book. Well, surely you can read it as a standalone, but not knowing Janna's back story clearly puts you at a disadvantage.

        It took me half of the pages to warm up to her character. Even with all her grand ideas of studying British lit to deconstruct it, I felt she is just a regular love struck teenager who cannot make any sense of the undercurrents in her own family. In a way, that is true. But what makes her different is the way she comes in terms with the realities around her, determined to be the liberal minded being she always preaches of. 

        A girl who is hard on herself having the courage to analyse her own actions must surely be applauded. A braver man would have floundered in a similar situation. It does make you look at weddings in a different light. No doubt they are scary with all the family drama getting unravelled, but it could be an occasion for a happy beginning too. And I do love the way the love story proceeded. It is not always I get to be right about the suitor among all the misdirections.

Favourite quotes:

"Books are tidy and contained and bring closure. Sometimes not full closure, but there's an arriving at a destination that's perfect." - 25

"When you see the world as divided, when you're prejudiced, it's not about expanding hearts -- it's about shrinking your capacity to love." - 176

"It seems people show their prejudiced hand when family lines get crossed." - 225

"But I've just realised that people cry at weddings, yes, because of happiness, but also because they represent a life change . . . " - 237

Meet the author:

S. K. Ali is the author of Saints and Misfits, winner of the 2018 APALA Honor award, the 2017 Middle East Book Honor Award, and a 2018 William C. Morris Award finalist. Her second novel, LOVE FROM A TO Z, a story about finding love in the time of Islamophobia, was an Entertainment Weekly Top Ten Young Adult Book of 2019. She also has a picture book co-authored with Team USA Olympic Medalist, Ibtihaj Muhammad, THE PROUDEST BLUE, which debuted on the New York Times bestseller list.