Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating by Adiba Jaigirdar

 2021 Pride Read-A-Thon Book Review:

Hani and Ishu’s Guide To Fake Dating 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5⭐️

I love fake dating leads to falling for each other stories. This takes it to an entirely new level. I love Hani and Ishu. Their hearts and feelings and fears and struggles make them a captivating pair, each on their own but also as a team. 

My heart ached for the pain that Hani’s “friends” cause her. And I also felt so heartsick for Ishu and Nik and the struggle they both faced as they tried to find their way to a sisterhood. 

I think too, I felt somewhat sad for Ishu’s mother even as I was upset at the way they treated their daughters. 

The complexity of relationships in the pages of this story…just so much, so real. 

And holy crap did I ever want to tell of the principal of their school. What an awful way for an educator to act, but sadly not uncommon. 

Books can do a few things. They help us feel seen by the representation in the stories. And they help us to see those we may not have any or much knowledge of and/or contact with and learn about the lives other people live, hopefully making us better humans in the process. 

As a white Jewish woman in America I am not qualified to and so I will not comment on the accuracy of the representation of the Bengali and Muslim experience. If you’ve read this book and do see yourselves in it and have an opinion/thoughts on the representation and feel comfortable sharing, I’d love to know your thoughts.