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.

“It’s scary that names can speak for someone before they are given the chance to open their mouth. Names can decide whether who lives and dies, between who can live in peace and who has to live in fear. Between those who can tell their own story and those whose stories are assumed before they can even pick up a pen.”

‘You Truly Assumed’ follows the story of three Black Muslim girls who come together after a terrorist attack to create an online blog in which to share their experiences with islamophobia and racism and stand up to all those people behind it.

Before I start sharing my thoughts on the book I’d love to express my awe for the cover, the color palette and the illustrations are so so gorgeous. Besides that, I’d also like to point out that I’m not much of an audiobook listener, yet the narration of this book had just the right pace, the right touch of emotion added to it.

On another note, I found the premise of the book promising and interesting from the beginning. And I guess it really depends on how one sees it, but I feel like even though it was totally accurate, I personally expected something else. You get to meet these three very different teenagers, all with their different interests and hobbies, who later become friends because of the things they do share with each other: being Black, Muslim, and experiencing the pains and fears of being in a society that still attaches terrorist attacks with a religion, rather than the person itself. As much as I loved getting to follow along their storylines and see how they grew on a personal level, I’ll admit I was expecting to see even more about the blog posts and how they came to impact other people’s lives, how it transcended beyond just the three of them. I feel that the beginning was very strong and compelling, but towards the end it failed to meet my own expectations.

What I value and highlight about this book is that it shows us how these girls’ lives, as well as the people around them, change so much because of something completely external to their religion and their beliefs. Even prior to the attack, they had to worry about themselves and their loved ones being safe, about being careful, about standing up for their community. Something this story accomplishes is showing how blind hate can affect someone’s life and how despite all the hate and the assumptions, Bri, Zakat, and Farah go on sharing their stories with other Muslim teenagers who may relate. I’ll definitely keep my eye out for this author’s upcoming books and charming characters!

That being said, this is my personal opinion as someone who doesn’t belong to neither the Black nor the Muslim community, so as much as I loved learning about their stories and the important conversations brought up, my takes are solely based on plot and characters, and not on accuracy and representation.

Lastly, I want to thank RB Media and NetGalley for this ARC.

<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)

I really liked the story, it is well written, it went directly to my heart.
It may be a little long for nothing, maybe a few things are there without reason it seems. Since there is three characters with all of them having stories, some little things could be cut I think. Like all the step mother problems were maybe too much, there is already so much happening.
The audio version is really good, it took a little time before I was able to realize who was here characters are though. Sometimes the man voices seem a little caricatural.is et all I would give it 3,75 ⭐️

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 :)

What a great story concept! Representation matters and this book will make people feel seen. Its powerful messages of finding your home and being brave in the face of adversity come through strong and clear. When not addressing hate, the story celebrates girls doing what they love, learning about relationships with family and friends, and figuring out life.
You Truly Assumed is set up to be something special, but is let down by the writing. The story wants to be compelling but lacks the emotional depth to manage it. The pacing struggled and so much happens off page that is vital to the believability of an overnight viral blog and a solid friendship. The three main characters, while having very different backgrounds and life stories, are flat. I found myself still mixing them up dangerously late into the book.
Voices like this author are ones I'd like to see more often on bookshelves. I hope future novels from Sabreen will improve the weaknesses here and give us more books with just as beautiful cover art.

You truly assumed I'd read this and not yell about it till next year. 

I'm so thankful for #netgalley and #harpercollins for providing me with an arc of this beautiful masterpiece. 

This book holds so much power and love in it. This sounds cheesy but its true. I've never been so moved by how close a community is as I was in this book. The love between the main characters and their families, between them themselves, between the members of the community. It put me in tears each time. 

While we're on the theme of tears, I cried from chapter 1. What these characters all think when they hear about the attack in the beginning, the way its like a synchronised heartbreaking choreo all Muslims go through when in the same situation, hurts me. And from then on my attention was on this book and this book alone. I've finished it in a couple of days! 

The themes the book gets to are so important. The way it discussed the different identities, of being both black and muslim and discussed the prejudice faced for being either or both was well done. The colorism in the muslim community is unfortunately still so prevalent and the islamophobia does still exist no matter which community you belong to and having those characters talk about their experiences with each identity and how they tried to separate and polish them separately until they realised that the two identities are interconnected was wonderful. Intersectionality is so important to me in books and this one was done very well however briefly it was mentioned.

I feel like no matter how affected I was with the islamophobia and the collective freak out of the muslim communities over terrorist attacks, and how much I cried simply reading these characters thoughts it will never compare to the hurt and devastation Muslims in non Muslim countries feel in these situations. It makes me more thankful to have the opportunity to see part of what they feel like and go through as a Muslim who always lived in the security of Muslim countries. 

The way the book also shows friendship and solidarity hit so close to home. The girls connecting so fast over shared experiences and forming such a beautiful friendship filled with love and support and using it to create a safe space for everyone like them touched my heart. They really had so much love for their communities it puts me in tears! 

The characters themselves are diverse with their own experiences with Islam and being black. All of them have different family situations affecting them. There's the strict protective family, the outgoing loud family, and the two families in one. I loved how all of them are showed to be loving and proud and appreciative despite how different they are.

*I received a copy of this audiobook from Netgalley, and I'm leaving an honest review.*

I don't often give five stars to contemporary fiction, but I could not put this book down. I love the premise for the novel, and despite the challenges that the characters go through, I found it very inspiring. To quote Amanda Gorman, "There is always light. If only we're brave enough to see it. If only we're brave enough to be it." This book was a journey for three Black Muslim teens as they discovered their voices and found the courage to be the light for their communities. They combatted racism and bigotry and found support in love and family. Sabriya, Zakat, and Farah all came from different backgrounds with different interests, and their stories and growth were very relatable. The narrators did an excellent job bringing them to life. This book is a stellar debut from Laila Sabreen, and I can't wait to see what she comes out with next.

“Everyone deserves to see themselves represented…” ♥️

I adored this story - all three girls went on such an identity journey and I loved how they embraced their multifaceted identities.
I especially loved the blogging element and the indie book shop Zakat works at!! Loved the narration too, the voices were distinct but not over the top

You Truly Assumed by Laila Sabreen

Personal Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 Stars

Book Statistics:
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Fiction
Trigger Warnings: Islamophobia, Racism
Year of Publication: 2022
Pages: 352

Thank you to RB Media and NetGalley for providing me an ARC of 'You Truly Assumed' in exchange for an honest review.

'You Truly Assumed' was one my most anticipated releases for this year. Not only because of it's unique synopsis and the representation for Black Muslim women all over the world but also because, they were the center of the story.

It was a story that helps people understand more what others might be going through. 'You Truly Assumed' gave me as a person another taste of the discrimination and injustice people of color and people of other religions face every day. As a reader that bonds easily with the main characters of each story I read, the only thing I wanted to do is protect and help Sabriyah, Zakat and Farah.

Each of them have a different story that with each page I wanted to know more about. With their differences, with their dreams and fear about the future, their lives and of those they love, I wanted to read more and experience their pain, relief and be as hopeful as they were, with them.

It was also beautiful to witness Sabriyah, Zakat and Farah have this deep, honest and true connection to their religion and their culture and how devoted they were to defend their community!

By their actions and bravery, I was inspired to do the same. Be brave, be hopeful and give the world my most honest self despite what other people say.

'You Truly Assumed' is an important book that everyone should read and then reflect on it's impact in their lives.

It's only January 31st and this is already one of my favorite books of the year. This is such an empowering YA novel. I've already told my best friend who teaches high school English that he needs this for his classroom library ASAP! I love the three different narrators and seeing how their relationship evolved over the course of the novel. The audiobook is fantastic! I'll be picking up a hard copy after pub day to have in my personal library!