I will have to confess that I could not finish The Loophole. I was beyond excited about the premise of The Loophole, but I just could not get into the story. It could be reader error, I am sure that others are immediately drawn into The Loophole, I was just not one of them. I will have still highly recommend this book to young adult readers interested in myth retellings and will be interested in seeing what the author writes next.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

This was a lovely story about a queer teenage Indian-Muslim boy who is searching for his former boyfriend who has left to try and fix the world. Add in some magic and a mysterious girl who offers him three wishes? All bets are off.

I was surprised and charmed by this book. It wasn’t anything like I was expecting and I found myself thoroughly charmed by the characters and Naz Kutub’s writing.


Suspend your belief and you’ll have a great time.

4 stars

My very first thought here is that the title confuses me. I didn't see anything in this book I'd classify as a loophole. I liked some of the ambiguity regarding the nature of what was happening, whether or not magic was real, but overall I found it frustrating and coincidental.

The Loophole is a fun and unique novel that follows SY as he adventures around the world looking for his love. Kutub's debut tackles love, friendship, and found family for the Queer community. This book is a really fun Queer YA fantasy.

The Loophole's writing is fascinating because there are two stories and you get to see two very different yet distinctive writing styles from Kutub.. The main story that follows Sy and Reggie as they chase after Sy's ex is more in line with rudimentary YA writing, which leans toward the 13-15 age group. I think Kutub captures first love in a true way showing how it can consume you and what it means when you are forced to step away from that.

For fans of Aladdin, found family, and Queer YA love, this book is for you.

A desi teen who's also queer? How often do we see a book like this?? (The answer is almost never). Obviously, this was a must read.

When Sy's father finds out that he's gay, Sy is kicked out. Very typical desi dad things. He's been booted out of the house, might as well take advantage of this time to travel the world, right? Sy runs into many new side characters, including a genie named Reggie, who offers him three wishes. With Sayyed still reeling from being kicked out AND dealing with a painful breakup with his ex, he accepts the conditions.

Honestly, I’m at the point where the only thing I need to hear about a book to be interested is that it’s queer. Bonus points if it’s diverse in other ways, from disability rep to a BIPOC author. So I was already sold on this book before I even found out it was about mythology, another one of my favorite things. Of course, I still tempered hopes, since I’ve been burned by hyping a book up too much before, but I didn’t think there was any way this book could let me down that much. Unfortunately, I was very wrong.

This book felt messy and shallow, in so many ways. There are a lot of hard topics being touched on here, more than could ever reasonably fit in 336 pages. However, it seems like the book doesn’t want to actually discuss or think on these topics, and it literally just felt like they were added for shock value. Almost everything seemed to bounce off the MC, with very little time spent actually growing from or reflecting on anything. Every once in a while, a small reference would be made to some past traumatic event, but never in a way that actually mattered. It just added up and gave the whole book this ridiculous air, even though these are real issues that affect real people. This wasn’t helped by the main side character, Reggie, also being entirely impossible to take seriously. She was also clearly going through something, but we kinda sorta ignored that? Which I guess you could just say about everything when it comes to the ending. Nothing feels actually resolved, or at least resolved well, and it almost kind of felt like the journey was a bit pointless in the end? We just never saw the plot actually impact the MC all that much, so it just felt like we were going in circles.

Also, for a book that hinges entirely on love as the MC’s driving motivation, I didn’t find the romance all that convincing. The flashbacks only revealed how poorly Farouk and Sayyed seemed to treat each other, and there were so many moments where either Farouk felt super manipulative or Sayyed was just ignorant to the point of being extremely insulting. This just meant that there was nothing really keeping me invested in Sayyed’s journey, because I just couldn’t understand why he would go through all this based on the flashbacks alone.

Overall, I feel like the idea of this book was quite strong, but just wasn’t executed well. It needed to focus a lot more on the relationships between characters, and just the characters in general. It’s rare that a book suffers from way too much plot, but that was, in the end, the core issue here. There was just too much constantly happening for any of it to actually mean anything, and the characters never had a break to really grow or learn from anything before they were whisked away to the next traumatic event. It just did not work for me at all, even though I wish it had.

This was so great!! I really liked the main characters and the plot was well thought out. Good writing too, looking forward to reading more by this author.

Wonderfully hilarious and extremely heartwarming.

We follow an Indian American boy as he transitions from childhood or adulthood on an incredible journey. it's a story of self-love, self-discovery, and friendship- all my favorite things rolled into one.

This is an important read, especially for young people who feel so similar to Sayyed. Naz Kutub manages to tackle heavy issues with respect and realism while also writing a fun fantasy story.

This was a joy to read, and I'm excited to see what Naz Kutub has next.

3.5, rounded up

a very sweet book that manages to be lighthearted and encouraging despite juggling heavy subjects. the banter in this book is truly top notch and really illustrated all the characters for me; it was easy to tell people apart and I never got one character mixed up with another.

I went into this expecting a significantly more serious book so it threw me off a bit initially but once I got into the story I was fully engaged. I did like the ending and the focus on found family and friends as well. I would definitely rec this to folks who are looking for something cheery, perhaps while dealing with homophobia in their own life.

a fun globetrotting adventure following a boy chasing the one who got away with the aid of a mysterious (and potentially alcoholic) rich girl 🧞‍♀️💸✨

Naz is brilliant, not only in the art of storytelling, but also in his genuine personality and kind nature. I found the loophole set firmly above the high expectations I already had for it, and I'm grateful the glass ceiling shattered. What sets this book far above the rest is the truth woven into the story masterfully, Naz shows us what it means to be triumphant, to be true to who you are, and to trust in the process that elevates us into a different world. I am beyond proud.

Loved this book! From the very first page the characters are engaging and relatable.

NO SPOILERS but so many of my favorite tropes were artfully woven into this wonderful, fast-paced, poignant, and funny tale.
If adventure, intrigue, surprises, found family, 2nd chance romance, LBGTQ+ love, and a drunk genie are your thing, you're going to love this book, too!

I loved that this book gave the backstory of Reggie in drips and drabs, and I absolutely loved her as a character. Sy's journey could occasionally be frustrating, too, but I feel like that was partly the point - we are meant to be frustrated with his myopic inability to focus on anythng else aside from his woes.

An incredible read; chock full of interesting characters. Kutub has a promising future and I look forward to reading future books by him!

The loophole by Naz Kutub is such a beautifully written Young adult contemporary about a queer brown teenager's first love, familial relationship, friendships and Adventures. I love the arc the main character Syed goes through , absolutely adored the new friend he made and the adventure he went on. It's not often you get to read about a queer Brown teen going on an adventure. Absolutely would recommend high schoolers to read this book.

This is a short and breezy adventure that was funny, heartwarming and goes by so quickly! Read it in one sitting and I guarantee you will want to as well.

Thank you so much, NetGalley, Bloomsbury USA Children's Books, Bloomsbury YA for the chance to read this book in exchange of an honest review.

Sy wanted to be happy with his boyfriend, Farouk, but when he decided to left him and try to "fix" the world, the seventeen-year-old Muslim young man is stuck an dead-end coffee job, hoping for another chance to fix his own life. When a mysterious girl offers him theee wishes in exchange for his help. Even though it seems peculiar, everything proves she can grant at least a wish regarding money, when she deposits a million in Sy's struggling bank account. Now Sy decides to find the courage and to cross the Atlantic Ocean, hoping to find his missing ex and maybe have another chance at love. Helped by an otherworldly friends, scared to see new places and lands, Sy is brave enough to give himself a chance to try. He finds himself in a windwhirld of adventures, new chances and choices, in a brilliant and funny journey to find love and home and family.

Naz Kutub's debut is absolutely fantastic! First of all, a magical heiress helping a young man finding his true love? I'm already sold! The Loophole is a lovely, hilarious and sometimes moving story about Sy and his looking for true love, a place to call home and a family to belong. A magical encounter pushes him out of his comfort zone and into an adventure impossible to believe, when he will have to be brave enough to follow his heart and dreams.
I truly enjoyed reading this book. With care and sensitivity the author tackles important themes like abuse, religious and familial, traumas and the character's growth during his own adventure, coming to term with himself and what he wants.
A quick, but delicious read, totally recommended it.

A magical adventure that takes a queer Muslim boy around the world searching for himself and love. A soon-to-be-hit for sure!

The Loophole has been pitched as a magic adventure whose main character is a gay Muslim teenager. In a basic sense that is exactly what happens. When Sy meets Reggie and she tells him she can grant him three wishes, an adventure begins and his life is forever changed. Prior to meeting Reggie, he is basically just trying to make ends meet, while also trying to avoid the wrath of the father of the house. Sy's father is mentally and physically abusive; and never seems to pay for his faults. He also has a second wife and children that travels to see.

Sy has remained in the closet due to fear of his father; and fear of judgement from his religion. Only three people know his sexuality - his sister, his best friend, and his ex boyfriend Farouk. Farouk wanted to be more public about their relationship and travel but Sy was unable to get passed his fear and they break up. When Sy tries to contact Farouk post breakup, he discovers that he has completely gone off grid. Sy blames himself and becomes determined to find him and rebuild their relationship. Luckily he has the mysterious Reggie to help him along the way.

As a character, Sy is all over the place. Some of this is due to his abusive home setting. He has had to hide and pretend to be something else for so long he almost doesn't know how to do anything else. During his journey, he is coming to terms with himself and periodically tries to do some internal reflection. This is almost always interrupted by Reggie who does not want to go deep and analyze things. She is more of a fly by the seat of my pants kind of girl. She is used to people using her because of her abilities and then dropping her when she is no longer needed. Both of these characters have been hurt and together they form a found family.

I found the writing for Sy and Reggie to be awkward at times. things would happen or be discussed that would really have nothing to do with the plot. there was quite a bit of unneeded filler; and this made it hard for me get fully in depth with the story. I understand that Sy's journey is based on the classic tales of men on voyages or crusades'. I even liked the bit of mythology that was introduced. I honestly just felt like it could have been better executed.

The Loophole tackles some pretty intense topics such a child abuse, religious bigotry, and trauma. It is all handled realistically although the ending was not exactly how I pictured it. Like I said before, there were some things that could have been executed better. However, I'm glad to see some representation within the Queer Muslim community. I hope that this will continue with other books by author Naz Katub.

I really, really, REALLY enjoyed this book! It was a great balance of funny and emotional so that even when there is a heavy part, you didn't stay in this sad space for long. I love the dynamic between Syeed and his friends as well as the jinn in the story. The banter was great and the adventures they went on. I just felt a happy sigh when I finished it and I look forward to Naz's future work after reading this book!