First Comes Like is the story of two people finding love on the internet, albeit differently than either of them intended. It is a sweet, funny book with winning characters and a decidedly unconventional love story. Jia Ahmed is a YouTuber and beauty influencer who started out making videos in her bedroom. Going against the…
Is it possible for a couple to get married and then fall in love with each other? Delaney Diamond sets out to answer this question in her contemporary romance Queen of Barrakesch, book three in her Royal Brides series. Set in the fictional Middle Eastern country of Barrakesch, the novel transports the reader to a…
Classic literature takes center stage in Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know, the story of one girl’s search for the woman who inspired several of Lord Byron’s epic poems. Khayyam Macquet believes she has just tanked her university career – and in typical teenage hyperbole can’t help wondering if that means she has tanked her…
Mary H.K. Choi’s Permanent Record is a uniquely told, dazzling experience about sudden gifts of serendipity and happenstance as well as the workaday grinding world that surrounds us. The beautiful character work and realistic portrait of New York enchant, but with a heroine who feels more like a paper fantasy than a real person I…
Sometimes, an artist emerges to breathe fresh life into a classic and the reader is left agog with delight. Granted, there have been so many retellings of Pride and Prejudice released over the last few years I can barely scrabble to the top of the hill of them to see ahead to the Sense and…
Zara Raheem’s The Marriage Clock is a unique, beautiful story about a woman coming to accept herself – and the notion that maybe marriage isn’t everything. Leila Abid is looking for love, glamour and adventure, but so far all life’s given her is a mid-level job teaching high school English, a small room in her…
Sparks fly when a liberated Muslim woman meets a deeply conservative Muslim man in Ayesha at Last, a contemporary retelling of Pride and Prejudice. He watches for her every morning. Khalid Mirza’s view from his breakfast bar occasionally includes a fascinating glimpse of a woman in a purple hijab carrying a red ceramic mug as…
Slavery. It’s easy to assume it’s no longer an issue since it’s been banned in Western countries but the fact is, slavery is an ongoing issue in many parts of the world. And much as we don’t like to think about it, it often rears its head in our own backyards. Razia takes a look…
Given it’s set in the multicultural city of Toronto, it’s no surprise that Farah Heron’s début, The Chai Factor, delves into some serious issues such as racism and cultural and gender equality. Yet even so the author maintains some nice comedic flair and tells a sweet opposites attract romance making this an enjoyable read from…
Love from A to Z is a great modern character study wrapped in a fresh romance, wrapped in a coming of age tale. I did have some mild problems with it, but overall it’s a very absorbing, moving story of two people who have experienced loss and prejudice coming together to find love and understanding…