I had a bit of trouble in the beginning developing compassion for the main characters. They were definitely enemies to lovers. Emmitt definitely won me over before Mina though (his character was made to be so awful sounding but ending up being my favorite). I ended up liking this book for the most part except the parent story line. The parents were childish making those scenes very cringe!

I really enjoyed it and I think Tashie Bhuiyan gets better with every book. However, I did find parts of it cringy and the identity struggles and family struggles didn't feel as authentic as in her first book. I wish I loved it more but it just doesn't translate the way I want it to.

What a great book! I really enjoyed the humor and banter, the romance, but most of all, the portrayal of a complicated family. Several of Mina's relationships were explored in-depth, which is so great for teen readers to see. The way that she and her sister supported each other in the face of parents who did not was lovely. This is a really fun book with a lot of substance, which is perfect for so many of my students!

I fell in love with Mina instantly. With an unfiltered honesty, a close sister relationship, and a snarky sense of wit, she enchanted me. And her quick comebacks and not afraid of insults? Mina was going to be my favorite element of A Show for Two from the beginning. Focused on an escape, Mina just wants to escape her parents. The ways they don't believe in her, support her, and make their love conditional? That broke my heart utterly. Her life is full of wanting.

And what I love about A Show for Two is that Bhuiyan explores these different paths. These teens who are at crossroads. Who want a different life than what is envisioned for them. And how they manage to fight for and dream of their future. Sometimes we can be so focused on leaving, that we don't stop to consider the how or why. We can live behind these screens, these comfortable lies, and these dreams.

I was excited to pick this book after picking up Bhuiyan's debut "Counting Down With You," however I have to be honest and was a bit disappointed. I found a lot of similarities between this one and her previous novel and it somehow didn't click with me. A lot of this book's marketing emphasized the love story but I was not really invested in it until the very end. I did enjoy a lot of the parts of the book-- the humor, dialogue, and parts of the romance were super fun and cute. However, I wish I clicked with it a bit more than I did.

Mini Review: I absolutely loved Tashie Bhuiyan's first book, COUNTING DOWN WITH YOU, so I went into this book with high expectations, and I was not disappointed! I would definitely recommend this YA novel!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

A Show for Two was one of my most anticipated releases of the year, and it did not disappoint!

This book follows Mina who strives to win a short film competition, get into her dream school across the country, and leave New York due to her complicated relationship with her parents. Indie film star, Emmitt Ramos, who is going under a secret identity to her high school to research his next role, agrees to be in her short film if she helps him with a photography contest. It covers topics like friendship, familial relationships, mental health, and obviously romance as Emmitt and Mina start developing feelings for each other.

Tashie Bhuiyan has such an incredible way of writing cute, romantic moments that always has me squealing out loud, and this book very much had the same effect. Mina as a character was layered, and expressed an unlikability that made her character development even more satisfying by the end. Emmitt was quite the charming love interest, and it was such a pleasure reading about him falling in love with Mina through the subtlest details. The family drama created a lot of tension throughout the story. I personally didn't relate, but I know there are a lot of people that will. Although I didn't love this one as much as Counting Down With You, I still thoroughly enjoyed it, and I can't wait to see what Tashie comes up with next!

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
While I’m not a huge Tom Holland fan, I loved that the concept of A Show for Two was inspired by him being Tashie Bhuiyan’s classmate when he went undercover at her school.
Bhuiyan strikes the balance by drawing from that experience and creating a relatable scenario of wish-fulfillment, while also making the celebrity love interest a distinct character in his own right, setting the book apart from the fanfic-to-publication books with serial numbers vaguely filed off. There’s obviously an audience for those, and that’s great, but Bhuiyan’s approach allows readers who aren’t part of that specific fandom, as I am, to approach it from their own angle.
I also found myself really connecting with Mina. A big component of her story is her experience as a diaspora Bangladeshi and non-practicing Muslim. And while I’m neither Bangladeshi nor Muslim, I felt her sentiments about her conflicted relationship with her culture. Her experience with depression also rang very true for me. Her relationship with her family is very fraught, and there isn’t much in the way of closure for those relationships, but it makes sense, given Mina’s perspective.
The romance does get a bit lost in the shuffle between the number of things going on. And in some ways that’s fine, especially as it is more about Mina coming into her own. But I did wish their hate-to-love romance had had more time to shine, especially considering the book also had time for a film competition, and to hint at Emmitt’s own family issues. Their relationship development is pretty cute for what it is, however, and he’s a cute, if slightly underdeveloped, love interest.
This is an enjoyable read, and much like Bhuiyan’s debut, there’s a good balance of sweetness/lightheartedness and delving into more serious issues. If you enjoy celebrity romance and/or are interested in a complex exploration of being Bangladeshi-Muslim American, I recommend picking this up.

I thought A Show for Two was really similar to the author’s previous book Counting Down With You: same characters but with different fonts. I liked that the relationship between Mina and Emmit was less superficial though, I felt like their issues were more valid and less tropey. The only issue I had with this book was the I didn’t quite feel the passion that Mina had for USC.

Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this novel. 4/5 stars.

CW definitely for parental emotional/mental abuse and gaslighting. I was prepared for it a bit by reading Bhuiyan's other novel, but this one has it a lot more engrained and deeper. I found myself wondering why no one stepped in to help Mina in a situation that was clearly unhealthy and not safe for her and her sister.

Regardless, I love Mina. I love the plot of this. Mina's mental health struggles are also an important part of the story. The romance is adorable, but it also doesn't overshadow the rest of the book and the idea of finding one's home -- especially when displaced within a diaspora. I love love love how Emmitt and Mina develop their relationship, and I love how Emmitt also grows as well as Mina and how they influence one another. Also, the ending? ADORABLE. The gifts he gives her...perfection.

The emphasis on film and photography is amazing, and it left me with "feel good" feelings at the end. I only deducted a star because I didn't like the complications between Rosie and Mina, and I think more could have been done to explain why Mina and Rosie were both acting the way they were.

The title kind of says it all, but let me explain what this book is about. The concept of “A Show for Two” is based on author Tashie Bhuiyan’s absolutely wild high school experience, where Tom Holland went undercover as a transfer student at her high school in order to better understand American high schools before filming his first Spider-Man movie.

Bhuiyan’s version of Tom Holland is named Emmitt Ramos, and he’s a Chinese-Spanish-British actor best known for indie films. After accidentally running into him and cussing him out while she’s having a terrible day, protagonist Mina Rahman finds out Emmitt has dyed his hair blond and adopted an American accent in order to attend her school to do research for his upcoming role in a highly-anticipated movie.

Mina, determined to win a short film competition, decides casting Emmitt will be the easiest way to propel her to victory. Emmitt, who longs to pursue photography, wants to participate in a competition but doesn’t know his way around New York City. And so, despite their unfortunate first meeting and their lingering dislike of each other, Mina and Emmitt agree to help each other.

And then they fall in love. You know how these stories go.

Mina and Emmitt’s relationship is absolutely adorable. I love a good hate-to-love story, and I was captivated by the way that the two of them slowly open up to each other. Neither of them are perfect people, but as far as straight people go, they’re doing pretty well. I loved reading about their travels around the city, searching for the perfect places to take pictures. Emmitt’s lack of knowledge on city culture was wonderfully endearing, from his ignorance on halal carts to his inability to swipe a MetroCard.

But “A Show for Two” is about so much more than movies and photography and famous people who are definitely not Chinese Tom Holland. Mina has depression, exacerbated by her relationship with her verbally abusive parents. The Rahmans treat their children cruelly, trying to mold Mina and her sister to their unrealistic expectations, and Mina’s dream — to go off to film school in California — stems from a desire to be as far away from her parents as possible.

I loved Mina’s journey into figuring out her own true hopes for her future. She makes a lot of mistakes along the way, but she learns a lot about what truly matters to her, as well as what represents home for her. Despite “A Show for Two” ostensibly being about her romance with Emmitt, her relationships with her sister and friends were a highlight of this book for me.

But what I think Bhuiyan does so well in “A Show for Two” is making it clear that Mina’s parents do not act this way because of their culture or their religion. Mina yearns to be more in touch with her Bangladeshi Muslim roots as so many other children of a diaspora do. Other characters are shown with loving, caring families who support their dreams; Mina knows that her culture is not to blame for the way her parents are.

As is typical with books involving culture or family or diaspora, this book did in fact make me cry. My roommate was none the wiser, and then I tweeted that I cried from reading this book, and she saw my tweet and turned around in her seat, concerned for my well-being, but at that point, I’d already stopped crying. Love that for me.

“A Show for Two” comes out on May 10, 2022. I received an early copy from the publisher, Inkyard Press, in exchange for an honest review.

4⭐️
amazing,show stopping,spectacular, never the same
watch me be the first person to go buy this when it comes out
I loved this book so much a new favourite
Thank you net gallery and ink yard press for this arc!

First off, I want to thank the publisher and NetGalley for sending me an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I always want to be honest in my reviews, which is why I have to admit that I did not love this book like I expected I would. The premise sounded so interesting to me: inspired by when Tom Holland went undercover as a regular high school student at Bhuiyan’s school, the main character, Mina Rahman, meets Emmitt Ramos, an indie star who goes undercover at her school to prepare for his first big mainstream role in a huge franchise. Mina, who dreams of being a screenwriter, wants the film club to finally win the Golden Ivy student film competition. Her two goals are to win this competition and get into her dream school, USC, so she can leave New York behind. Emmitt could be the key to them winning if he were to star in their film. He agrees to be a part of it as long as she agrees to be his tour guide for a photography contest that he’s entered. They go to the five boroughs of New York, and she starts to look at New York in a different light. But then everything starts to fall apart, making her wonder if winning is worth sacrificing so much. 

Starting off with the positives, I do think that Bhuiyan wrote how hard mental illness can be pretty well. I sympathized with Mina, and how she wrote about her struggles with depression made me understand her desire to leave, even though you could tell who she really wanted to run from was her parents, not New York. I admit that I think it would’ve been nice for the family storyline to have a more hopeful ending, but I understand that not every family gets to improve their relationship, so I can't say it isn't realistic. I still liked to learn more about what happened later on with her family.

However, the way she resolved a different issue with her best friend was done too easily. I don’t think everything has to be completely okay between the characters in the end because that isn’t very realistic, but there should be an understanding that while the relationship isn’t great now, they will work on it. That’s why I like how Bhuiyan resolved the issues that Mina had with her sister, Anam. It's not really fully resolved; it is a beginning to improve.

One of my biggest issues was that I was not that invested in the couple until the last half of the book. They did have some very cute moments, but the banter was only okay, as well as the nicknames. I do like the hate-to-love trope, but it could have been done better. Also, for anyone who is planning on reading this because they think Emmitt will be like Tom Holland, they are completely different from each other. Hopefully there are other aspects of the book you’ll find interesting enough to give it a shot, but just a warning since I went into this assuming that, and I’ll admit that I was surprised how Emmitt was when he was introduced. I did keep reading because I mainly wanted to see if Mina’s situation would get better. 

Overall, the writing is okay, and there were certain things that could be better, but it got me to keep reading. I give it 3/5 stars. 

CW: depression, verbal and psychological parental abuse

I was so excited to read a show for two because I absolutely loved counting down with you but sadly this fell short for me. The romance, I just didn’t feel that connection between them. There were so many other things going on as well that my main concern wasn’t their relationship. I was getting annoyed at times like when her sister and best friend were getting mad at her. I don’t see why they were mad? They expect Mina to drop her dreams just so she can stay put. It didn’t sit right with me. Overall, it was a quick and easy read!

3.5⭐️ (rounded up)

In this story about a young girl with dreams of being a filmmaker and clashing often with the undercover actor at her school, I think this story- at its core- is a story of overcoming abuse and knowing how to truly lean on one’s support system. It’s about redefining what “home” means and prioritizing personal wellness.

Mina is on the cusp of graduating high school and is determined to get into a California film school as a means of getting away from her abusive parents in New York. If she wants to get in, she’ll have to win a film competition, something that has taken the spot of her number one priority in her life. We watch as she navigates deeply uncomfortable interactions with her parents as well as struggle to accept the decision to leave her younger sister behind to deal with their parents all on her own.

I think this book will be very important for young teens just understanding that they may be in abusive households or don’t know it yet when the abuse they’re facing is strictly verbal and psychological. In moments of manipulation and verbal abuse from Mina’s parents, it is always immediately followed up by paragraphs of internal narration where Mina breaks down what was said and done and why it was wrong and hurtful. It’s almost educational in these moments and I appreciate Mina’s openness with her personal mental health struggles.

The book had a tendency to be a bit heavy-handed with the pop culture references to the point of reading like a millennial showing their Gen Z research. References to Tiktok and Hamilton solidify the book in a very specific time period that dates it upon publication. It’s a personal pet peeve but something I still felt needed to be lightened up on.

On the topic of lightening up on material, though, I think the depiction of a British accent through Emmitt felt a bit cartoonish at times with how frequently he calls people (mainly Mina) “love.” I think a major issue I have with liking Emmitt is in how his accent is depicted. I think if he were a reflection of better research or just made to be American, he would’ve felt a lot more tangible and less like a caricature. I did appreciate the conversations he had with Mina about feeling disconnected to his heritage/cultural identity, though. These characters feel made for struggling diaspora kids doing their best and still feeling like frauds to claim their own culture.

I think, overall, this book will be very helpful and necessary for people who have a difficulty navigating their relationship with religion, culture, and interpersonal relationships as a result of abuse within the home. The selling point should be the emotional aspect over the underdeveloped romance.

I love Tashie's books, she never disappoints.
A Show for Two was exactly what I needed this Ramadan. It was light hearted but also it discussed serious topics like breaking away from your families standards. As a first generation immigrant who often has a lot of expectations set for her by her family, I found myself relating to Mina a lot. It was so sad to see her struggle so much to want to prove herself to others. But while she was trying to prove herself, she also realized what she was losing when trying to meet everyone else's standards.
What I loved-
- boy falls first trope
- the diversity
- celebrity undercover trope
- THE LOVE INTEREST WAS SO AMAZING
- the high school setting
- New York City vibes

What I didn't love-
- I wish we got more resolution between Mina and her family! A lot of time was spent throughout the book discussing Mina's familial problems and instead of addressing the issue with her parents, it felt like Mina ran away from them.
- the writing wasn't my style, that is just a personal preference though.
OVER ALL I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH, I recommend reading it when you want a light hearted read with some serious undertones :)

To begin with what I really appreciated about this book, I think that the characters are very expertly developed and as a reader I seemed to almost naturally care for them. Being YA, I think this book perfectly balanced the characters making the mistakes and decisions young people need to be making without making the characters frustrating or exasperating.
Moving into my personal point of contention with this book, I do feel that based on how the book was presented to me I was expecting more of a developed romance than I got. I loved Mina's character arc, don't get me wrong, but I do think that had more time been spent on the relationship arc, the book would have felt more fleshed out.
Lastly, this isn't a compliment or a criticism because it is such a personal preference, I did not enjoy that this book made me sad. It hurt WAY more than I expected a book with such a sunshiney plot/cover/character to hurt. This made me sad.

Mina and her family are immigrants from Bangladesh and Mina's family has not adopted the attitude and habits of the parents of other American teenagers. Mina is desperate to become independent and she is convinced that her best opportunity to do so is to leave New York and to study film at USC. To do so, she needs to win a film scholarship with her group. When she gets an opportunity to gain the help of a British actor, Emmitt, who is visiting her school, she takes it, even though to get his help she has to help him with his project of photographing New York City. Through this process Mina learns that family and friends are important and she has to decide if she really wants to leave her sister behind to cope with the parents by herself. A good story with lots of high school drama.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

"One of these days, I'm going to be convicted of murder. It's inevitable at this point."

Actual Rating = 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4

I read Bhuiyan's debut work, "Counting Down with You," and thought it was good but not great. The TL;DR of "A Show for Two" is that, while it's not perfect, you can definitely see the author's growth and I will continue to watch her development.

I won't get into the plot because the summary does a good job and it's frankly a pretty standard coming-of-age/YA romance. That's by no means a knock against the book, there's nothing wrong with taking something that's been done before and putting your own spin on it.

The strength of "A Show for Two" is its characters. Mina has a sort of exhausted defiance to her that I found incredibly relatable, and Emmitt is a cinnamon roll in disguise.

While it wasn't the star of the show, the subplot that revolved around Mina's relationship with her parents had a surprising amount of depth for a YA novel, though Bhuyian's debut touched on similar themes from a different perspective. I found the discussion of the way guilt is used on children to be very interesting. My grandparents are devout Catholics and it appears that one thing devout Irish Catholics and Bangaledshi Muslim parents have in common is using guilt to manipulate the children in their lives (some anyway, obviously not all). Not the best thing to bond over maybe, but there you go. Mina also uses jokes and sarcasm as a way of dealing with the stressors of life, which I think a lot of us can relate to. I'd say she edges on bitter now and then, but who doesn't?

The friendship between Rosie and Mina, while it suffered its ups and downs, was very realistic and their banter held some of the funniest lines in the book.

I will say that I would've liked to see more Emmitt, perhaps even have some chapters from his POV. He was a developed character and got his fair share of page time, but "A Show for Two" is definitely Mina's story. There's nothing at all wrong with that but Emmitt is interesting in his own right and the book maybe would've been more balanced with his own POV. I'll be interested to hear other readers' take on this. Also, the fact that he used a Howl quote to flirt with a fan really just made my freaking day.

I will say that I'm kind of old school and don't always love it when I can tell an author's politics from their writing, even if I happen to agree with the opinion being expressed, and you definitely can with Bhuyian. This is a trend I've been seeing increasingly, especially within YA, and if I'm in the minority that's totally cool. It does take some of the subtlety out of a text when I feel like I'm hearing the author's voice instead of the characters, which does happen a few times in "A Show for Two." That's just my opinion and others may feel totally different. I didn't take any points off my star rating for this.

This has nothing to do with the text, but the references to Chloe Gong and her upcoming "Foul Lady Fortune" were fun little Easter eggs. I don't follow either author on social media but I'm assuming they're friends IRL.

On a super nit-picky note - some of the texts in this novel are shown as a thread, which is cool. However, some others are just woven into the text and they aren't shown in italics or a different font or anything. Makes for a slightly confusing reading experience, though this might get resolved in the final rounds of editing.

CW: depression (lead), parental abuse (emotional, verbal)
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Despite the heavy moments, I had so much fun reading this book. I haven’t been reading YA much anymore, and this book reminded me why I’ve loved these books so much. Heartfelt and hopeful, the friendships and sisterhood and romantic relationship in this book warmed my heart.
Seeing Mina fall in love with her city reminded me of a time in my life when I saw my hometown with new eyes after some time healing when I lost my dad. Once Mina finally realizes that she cannot outrun her trauma, she can finally see past the fog and see that it’s possible to carve out a better life for herself.
I liked Mina and Emmet together. Watching the two of them let down their walls for each other made me feel so soft. Though they have different home experiences, they relate to one another in their shared belief that they’ve both missed out on fully embracing and experiencing their cultures.
I liked Mina. I have a feeling some people will label her as an unlikable main character, but I truly enjoyed her. She can be a little snappy, and she is very focused on her main goal. She read like a real teen, dealing with real hardships, struggling to manage all of these relationships and commitments while also fighting self doubt and depression. I think her best friend and sister could have shown her more grace, but I do realize not everything works out this way. Her parents, for example— ideally, they could have acknowledged their abuse and Mina could have gotten closure, but sometimes the best thing is to focus on yourself instead of trying to change others.
I thought 5-years-later epilogue was cute! I really like when there’s a glimpse within fandoms, and I think that tweets are a cute way to show that.
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4.5 stars, A SHOW FOR TWO by Tashie Bhuiyan is available May 10! Thank you to HCC Frenzy and Netgalley for the chance to review an eARC.