A great book should be one that the reader can not put down once they start.  And this is a Great Book!.  It gives the reader a look into a different american culture than they may see in their community.  

Danyal is a “dumb” boy, and he knows it.  All he wants in life is to become a chef and open his own restaurant.  However, he is a muslim boy, and that will just not do.  Muslim boys are to marry well, get good jobs, and support not only his wife but his extended family as well.  Danyal’s parents fear this will never happen.  It is partly why they host arranged marriage meet ups. 

Bisma is a muslim girl who has tarnished her reputation.  That tarnishement comes from something seen as partially no big deal in many american cultures.  Bisma is a victim treated like a black sheep.  She is also a sweet girl, who loves books and libraries, and just wants to be happy.

Then there is the Renaissance Man, a yearly school competition for the best and brightest.  That is until the kid considered the dumbest is picked to present a history paper on Churchill.  How can he ever do this right?  Danyal is not good at school.  He wants to graduate, but he also wants to make his parents proud, and bring light to the bad things done by people considered heroes.  It will take a help from his friends new and old, to see his way to the end of the project

This book is a rom com, but it is also an exploration of traditions that may seem foreigh to many americans.  The idea of marrying or being engaged right out of highschool is a scary concept, or something that reeks of the past. However it is a custom alive and well right now in the US and around the world. 

It also looks at history, what it is, who tells it, and how history is different today, then history was yesterday.  Perception changes everything.  This creates a life lesson for everyone and brings forth a topic not taught in most schools - the Bengal Famine of 1943.

How does a man see himself? It is a question Danyal is often trying to answer.  Part of what makes this book so rare is that the reader gets the male point of view from a male author in the romance genre.   The book goes beyond gender roles, while at the same time examining them in the context of a specific community.

   

The cast of characters, while mostly all brown muslims, has so many differences.  It helps a reader understand that a person is more than the color of their skin, or their religion.  There is even a tiny love triangle with a girl named Kaval, but it’s more of an upside down V since one of the relationships is very one sided.

This review makes this sound like a very serious book, it is a rom com meaning comedy.  It makes the reader smile and feel giddy.  It is at the heart, a happy book, about a happy boy, wanting to make a sad girl happy.  And as a reader, it is a journey that once started can not end until the final page with all the happy smiley people.  

Read-a-likes for this book are hard to come by as it is so unique.  For YA romance with muslim characters try Love from A to Z  by S.K. Ali, Love Hate and Other Filters by Samira Ahmed and Not the Girls You’re Looking For  by Aminah, Mae Saif.  For YA romance written by a male author try Looking for Alaska  by John Green, or Super Fake Love Song by David Yoon.  

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