4.5 Stars

Thank you to Netgalley and Recorded Books for an ALC of this one.

In the wake of a terrorist attack in DC, a rise in Islamophobia brings three Black Muslim teen girls together through the blog they start.

This was so good and the audiobook was--wow. With three distinct narrators, all of the POV characters really stood out to me. They were each so well-developed and original even though the book was highlighting many of their commonalities. The characters were definitely the best part for me.

I also loved that this had three separate storylines for each of the girls, but at the same time everything was connected through snippets of the blog and their facetime discussions with each other. I think this was done really well and it was also a unique way to write a book.

I also think this is dealing with really important issues and that a lot of people could benefit from reading--and will hopefully also enjoy themselves, because it is a truly spectacular book.

Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Islamophobia, and Racism
Moderate: Bullying, Body shaming, and Hate Crime

'it doesn't matter what has been written in your story so far, it's how you fill the remaining of the pages that counts'

I recieved the arc in audio form through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review and I was so excited to give this story a chance.

That being said, first, I'm conscious I'm not the targeted audience who could probably feel represented by the characters, HOWEVER, I did take this chance to get an insight view on the struggles the Muslim community faces. Also, the following review will be a lot more about the plot, the characters, their development and how it made me feel since I can’t really speak about the accuracy of the Muslim representation.

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Through multiple pov, we meet Sabriya, Zakat and Farah; three black Muslim teens who find in each other the strength to raise their voice against Islamophobia though a blog, right after a terrorist attack happens in DC . Together, they show us a powerful, endearing yet brave story on how the Muslim community is affected by racism, everyday micro and macro aggression and Islamophobia overall. All that through friendship, family and the social empowerment of a community trying to heal from within while also trying to protect themselves without leaving hope for a better future.

Maybe that’s why, somehow it reminded to Moxie, although in a way more YA form and different social topic.

Definitely enjoyed how not only our main characters but also how they found In ‘You Truly Assumed’ a safe haven to discuss, raise awareness and relate with each other.

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Unfortunately, I can not deny it feels like it takes rather to long for the actual plot to start developing. Also, as much as I adore how friendship, family and raising our voices against racism and in this particular case, Islamophobia; is the center of the entire plot through the blog; truth is we don’t really get to see much of the blog itself, the real impact it had on people nor an in-depth detail on the struggles to push the blog through in terms of content.

Now, about the character themselves, I love the multiple pov and how their friendship reminds us that even if in the same community, each member has its own story, struggles and circumstances. Sabriya, Farah and Zakat might have so much in common but also, they’re so different. So, on that topic, I wish the personality of each of them would have been developed a lot better so that the reader can truly differentiate them no matter the format they are reading the book. Personally, I found myself kind of confused for at least 25% of the book on who was who and who did what exactly because of that.

Other than that, I believe it’s safe to say ‘You truly assumed’ opens the door to a 2022 where I hope we can get a lot more books representing not only the Muslim community but also set awareness over topics such as racism and many more affecting different groups.

Thank you Inkayard for the arc once again.

This was a really good story. It was modern and interesting, and I really enjoyed learning about each of the different characters and their individual relationships.
The characters could have been more deeply developed, as could the relationship between the main 3, but it feels like a decent balance for YA.
I have seen mixed reviews about the representation in this book, and I can't comment on that, but it is great to see a YA book with this leading cast, addressing such important issues.
The audiobook format itself was narrated beautifully and kept me engaged in the story throughout.
A book I definitely recommend, and I hope to see lots more like it in the future.

This book was amazing from the beginning until the end! Not only was You Truly Assumed inspiring, but it was a necessary story in the times of injustice affecting our youth of color. The main character was one you can root for as well!

I absolutely loved reading this book and learning about a different culture. You just do not realize the way some people are treated and it’s heartbreaking

Fabulous narrators! Heavy subject but so so good and interesting. I really enjoyed the story, I loved Farah, Sabriya, and Zakat. Amazing young Black Muslim women. Even if I have nothing in common with the characters or plot of a book, I can still be open-minded and have compassion for them and what they go through. I'm so disgusted by Islamophobia and what these fictional teenagers had to endure, and where real-life teenagers experience it every day. But on a happy note, the cover is so beautiful!! Also, how do people <i>not</i> think consent is sexy? Maybe not <i>sexy</i> in this instance but so very cute!! Even among a pair of teenagers in this book, when someone asked quietly, "Hey, can I kiss you?" I blushed! I swooned! It was so cute! Consent does not make things awkward or uncomfortable. It's fucking romantic y'all!

Thank you NetGalley for giving me this opportunity!

This book was slow to start, but I think the message is truly inspiring, and is a Ya Contemporary to dive into.

I do want to say that those who wished that there was more exploration about being Black Muslim and facing Islamophobia or more character development-sometimes the length and premise of the book is enough.

I am tired of diving into Black books or POC books where the forefront is always pain and a easy cheat sheet for nonpoc to grasp and understand what it is like to be in our skin.

This is a good book, and I cannot wait to add this to my classroom library.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.
Synopsis
In this compelling and thought-provoking debut novel, after a terrorist attack rocks the country and anti-Islamic sentiment stirs, three Black Muslim girls create a space where they can shatter assumptions and share truths.

Sabriya has her whole summer planned out in color-coded glory, but those plans go out the window after a terrorist attack near her home. When the terrorist is assumed to be Muslim and Islamophobia grows, Sabriya turns to her online journal for comfort. You Truly Assumed was never meant to be anything more than an outlet, but the blog goes viral as fellow Muslim teens around the country flock to it and find solace and a sense of community.

Soon two more teens, Zakat and Farah, join Bri to run You Truly Assumed and the three quickly form a strong friendship. But as the blog’s popularity grows, so do the pushback and hateful comments. When one of them is threatened, the search to find out who is behind it all begins, and their friendship is put to the test when all three must decide whether to shut down the blog and lose what they’ve worked for…or take a stand and risk everything to make their voices heard.

Wow! An absolutely brilliant book. I note it’s on a lot of reading lists for black history month and rightly so. I can also see a very valid place for it within school curriculum. The book comes with a necessary trigger warning for racism and anti Islam abuse. You may want to be aware of that.
This book pretty much gave me everything I want in a novel. A powerful storyline, well carved characters and timelines, but more than that I really learned a lot. We follow 3 black Muslim girls, who’s paths are entertained following a terrorist attack in dc, we learn about their lives, their values their fears, we journey with them through extreme racial abuse, and then through the journey of their blog and we see their hope and courage. It’s fantastic, I’m finding it hard to write a better description without adding spoilers. Add it to your reading list. You won’t regret it. Release date 8th Jan.

This is a really great book about standing up for yourself and others and the fear that comes along with that but also the validation when people relate to your experience. It's about finding communities where you feel safe and valued and leaning on those communities in times of pain.

I'm going to start my interview by saying that I was able to listen to an advanced audiobook copy and from what I've read in other reviews I want to mention that I think the narrators brought this book to life. I've read a lot of reviews where people say that the characters were two-dimensional but I had the opposite experience. They use three different narrators for the book and I was actually really impressed with how each of the MC's felt fully fleshed out and like a complete person despite this book being split into three POVs. It is a feat to have a multi POV book and have each of your POVs be complete and complex. The narrators did a fantastic job and I was constantly engaged.

So this book follows three Black Muslim teenagers and different areas of the US. Sabriya starts a blog called You Truly Assumed where she talks about her experience as a Black Muslim after a terrorist attack. Zakat and Farah join the blog and the three of them become fast friends. I kind of love this book highlighting that online friendships can be just as fulfilling and motivating and full of love. There was never any moments of them thinking that their online friendship was less than a in person friendship.

So basically You Truly Assumed gains some traction and in return also ends up having some islamophobic bigots trying to take them down. Each girl deals with this in a different way and each girl has different life experiences happening at the same time. Sabriya is volunteering to help families of the terrorist attack will also navigating some new romantic feelings for a boy. Zakat is spending the summer with her best friend and an unexpected old acquaintance who had been bigoted in the past. She is dealing with islamophobic and racist vandalism in her city and personal attacks. Farah is navigating how she and her boyfriend can do long distance and ends up going to spend a month with her semi absent father and his family. There's just a lot of things happening but it didn't get muddled in my opinion.

I do think it got a little bit predictable at times and things cleared out a little too easily but as a whole I think this was a stellar book and one that I would recommend. This is a debut and the author is like only 21 and so I am impressed. I'll definitely be checking out her future work.

Three talented narrators truly bring life to three incredible Black Muslim teenagers. The narration (and story) are both incredible. Well-written story, with complex, believable characters who experience tremendous growth. Even though this is a work of fiction, sadly, it's firmly grounded in the truth. Highly recommend this novel (and audiobook); it's engaging, entertaining, and allows a peak into a different culture.

this book is equal parts powerful and heartfelt. you truly assumed follows three Black Muslim teens who created a blog to fight Islamophobia in the wake of a terrorist attack. this is a book about helping the community, finding refuge in friendship and family, and fighting for the right thing despite all the hate and discrimination in the world. i love that it's full of heart and delivers an impactful message to its readers. the narrators also did a very great job with the audiobook. this is a solid YA contemporary that will resonate with a lot of people, especially Black Muslim teens.

* I received this audiobook as an advance review copy on Netgalley.

Overview: The novel narrates the story of three Muslim Black girls, Sabriya, Zakat, and Farah, living in different parts of America. A terrorist attack at a metro station in DC, perpetrated by a person initially mistaken as a Muslim, sets off a chain of events that leads to the creation of a blog called 'You Truly Assumed' by Sabriya. The blog aims to show how the teens feel as Muslims face hate and backlash. Zakat and Farah end up joining her in running the blog. The story narrates how their lives are impacted and how they eventually face their fears, stand up to bullies and navigate future plans as a Black Muslim.

Review:
The novel is an average young-adult novel that falls short of providing the Black Muslim angle to the story that it promises. The story makes the reader wonder whether the terrorist's mistaken identity as a Muslim can lead to anti-Muslim sentiment, backlash, and rallies in different parts of the country. At times it seems that this premise is very forced.

The novel might describe the discrimination a Black person faces well but the Muslim part of the girls' identity seems missing. Apart from Muslim names, a few Arabic phrases, and mention of an Islamic high school, the author does not offer anything that would make the reader feel that their identity as a Muslim is not just in name. Their thoughts, actions, and life are that of a typical American teen including parties, having boyfriends, etc. The reader is left wishing that there was some discussion of what goes on in the girls' minds with regards to their Muslim identity in daily life.

Moreover, in listening to the audiobook it is easy to get confused between the stories of the three girls, the back and forth and the narration does not make it easy to follow.

Overall, this novel does not provide the story that the reader is promised and in some parts, it reads as a very cheesy typical young-adult novel.

First of all, this premise is *chefs kiss*. I was so happy that I was able to get an ARC of this through netgalley. Despite this being an important read it sadly was just OKAY for me. I also think I'm not a fan of multiple POVs. I found myself getting very attached to Farah and her story.

Bri and Zakat's pieces of the story weren't as memorable to me but their voices and roles with the You Truly Assumed blog was very important. Yet, I feel like the racism and islamophobia that each of them were experiencing would've been better off as a solo story in a series versus trying to mesh it all into one.

Like others have mentioned, the pacing of the story was off and I think that's what caused me to lose interest in certain parts of the story. Overall, this was just an okay story that I wished would've been separated into multiple stories vs three different POVs in one. I hope to read more of Sabreen in the future!

I was provided an eARC in exchange for my honest feedback. Thank you Laila Sabreen, Inkyard press, and NetGalley for the arc!

Thank you to netgalley and Inkyard Press for the free copy in exchange for an honest review

3,5 stars!

TW: racism, Islamophobia/anti-Muslim hate and online harassment

After a terrorist attack Sabriya, a black muslim girl decides to write down her feelings on a blogpost and then accidentally makes it public - it then goes viral and she recruits two other muslim girls, Zakat and Farah. Their goal is to use the blog to spread awareness about islamophobia and to create a safe space for people who are apart of the community. We follow the girls separately as they overcome different things within their personal life and their communities, while they try to navigate their world after the attack.

I absolutely loved the plotline and what this book revolves around, and how it must be to be apart of muslim communties during times like these. I also enjoyed the characters to some extent.

However, despite the concept it felt a bit flat to me. I felt as though the characters were lacking some dimension and some personality. I wish we would have seen the girls interact a bit more, ant not just the last 1/4 part of the book.
The situations and problems that they were facing were a bit too easily fixed and the whole thing was very underwhelming. The message of the book got a little lost in my opinion.

I of course cannot speak to the representation and accuracy of the muslim community, but I think it’s very important to be knowledgeable about these things, and for a second walk in someone else’s shoes. I feel like despite my personal problems with this book, its definitely a book that everyone should look into, because it tackles very real problems. I think many young YA readers would enjoy this.

I loved the theme of friendship in this book and how the three main girls stuck together through the ups and downs of their blog, and how they triumphed in the face of racism. I did at times struggle to remember who was who as two of the characters sounded very similar - not sure if it was the same narrator or not.

thank you to RB Media for giving me access to an advanced audio copy of this in exchange for an honest review

3.75

as a white atheist i’m not the target audience for this book and i can’t say anything about the representation. i really recommend reading reviews from people who can!!

i really enjoyed this audiobook! it took me a bit to get into, but i think it was mostly because there were three different characters and voices i wasn’t familiar with.

i liked the three main characters, their stories and how they became friends. while some of the writing wasn’t my favorite and some parts felt awkward i do think it’s a story that will stay with me for a bit. it’s a beautiful story about hope, activism, friendship and family.

Yes, yes, yes!
It's so well done. It's paced beautifully, the character development of the main characters is *chef's kiss", the side characters all standout too. I really enjoy reading this. And let's not for the young African American Muslim woman POV. And since this was an audiobook ARC, the narrator did a great job, she has range.

<i>I received an advanced reader's copy of this audiobook for review purposes from the publisher from netgalley. this in no way influences my review and all thoughts and opinions are my own.</i>

this book follows three teenage girls: sabriya, zakat and farah as they try to find themselves and their voices as conflicted young Black muslim women in a growingly bigoted and intolerant world. The specifically unifying experiences they all go through because of their shared identity is at the heart of this book and I can’t speak for that representation, but I will say this book did a phenomenal job tugging at my heart strings and making me deeply resonate with all their emotions. it was tense, empowering, heartbreaking, adorable and hopeful all at once. ALSO IM MARRIED TO THAT COVER

this book feels more like an emotional journey told through the characters than a linear story, if that makes sense? the writing and characters are its true strengths and carry it seamlessly. especially with the blog posts, something about bri's writing just hits so close to home. it’s the perfect mixture of personal, poetic and political and I adored it. the mini essay on dreams with all the “weird plant metaphors” was actually my favourite x

I liked or even loved all the main characters! so essentially it all starts when sabriya decides to take her sister’s advice and make a temporary online journal to vent out her frustrations about the growing islamophobia surrounding a recent terrorist attack in the country. unfortunately she’s sort of not the savviest at tech and ends up actually posting it on the internet:’)

when her posts actually start getting great reception, especially from fellow muslim girls of colour, she’s hit by inspiration and decides to give blogging an actual shot. she starts “you truly assumed” as a safe space for a larger community of Black muslim girls and ends up connecting with zakat and farah, who also join the blog. zakat is an artist who’s really looking forward working with her best friend afreen at a bookstore over the break…until their summer plans are gatecrashed by lucy, who neither of them have seen in years but zakat remembers all too well from a scarring incident of islamophobia from her childhood. farah is a badass tech geek who’s leaving her city for about a month to meet her father and his family, but she also hopes to score some of the cool coding internships there and use the experience to flesh out how she feels about going long distance with her boyfriend, riley. farah’s siblings were ADORABLE and each of the girls’ personal arcs were really well done, but the one thing that fell flat to me was the friendship between them. i honestly thought the story would focus a lot more on their friendship, especially with that blurb, but a couple of generic text chains, two e-mails and one (1) brief facetime call between two of the girls was the extent of all their connection. that was definitely a huge disappointment, but there was so much to love about the book that the lack of one of the elements of the book i was probably most excited for barely took away from my enjoyment of the book. all the girls have gorgeous character arcs and dynamic supporting characters in their individual stories that make all of them stand out. the family relationships and their loyalty and love for their community were so prominent and heartwarming, and there’s an adorable dash of a mutual annoyances to lovers romance on the side too!

overall, id definitely recommend this. the fantastic character work and the writing kind of carried it for me. my only semi-regret is that i couldnt save all the beautiful quotes i wanted to because i was listening to the audiobook, but the amazing narration from all the voice actors most definitely made up for that:))

(also?? im kind of sort of most definitely in love with laila sabreen AND WILL FOREVER BE IN AWE OF HER WRITING THIS MASTERPIECE AS A TEENAGER IT MAKES THIS BOOK THAT MUCH MORE AMAZING)

4.5 stars

You Truly Assumed by Laila Sabreen is quite the debut. Told from the perspective of three Black Muslim teenage girls after a terrorist attack in Washington sends shockwaves through the country, it masterfully weaves together a tale about the clumsy process of growing up and the heartbreaking reality of living as a minority in America. Sabreen does not present us a world that is candy coated - Sabriya, Zakat, and Farah are subjected to racism, Islamophobia, and even death threats for working on the blog You Truly Assumed. However, the enduring power of their friendship and the journey that each girl undergoes to claim her voice provides a necessary beacon of light amidst the darkness.

There are definitely a few spots where the pacing does get a bit slow, but I still found myself staying up until 1:30 in the morning to listen to the audiobook so it clearly wasn't that much of an issue. I congratulate Sabreen on such a great debut and I look forward to reading more work from her in the future!

Thank you to NetGalley and Recorded Books for an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for a fair and honest review!

I thought this audiobook was great! I couldn't tell how many narrators the book had, because since the 3 main characters are all girls it could very well be one actress doing all voices. However, the voices felt very distinct and personal to me: you could definitely tell who's POV was being read through the narrators voice. Whether that is the job of one incredible actress or 3, it was great! Would definitely recommend this audiobook to anyone interested :)