3.5 A sweet childhood friends to lovers romance. I love a Desi romance especially the close family dynamics and this one was great.
Sana needs to get married so her mother will put her in the guardianship of her autistic brother. As she is going through the process of finding a good arrangement her childhood best friend comes back into the picture.
I loved all the descriptions of people, food and clothes. I think some of the plot moved a little slow for my preferences and some area went to quickly like the end couple of chapters.
Overall enjoyable.
Thanks to NetGalley and Alcove Press for an eARC.

I loved this book so much! From the first page, I was just hooked. Really tugged at my heartstrings as an older sister with a disability. Please, please, go read this book! I will for sure be buying and reading it again!!
Thank you alcove and netgallery for the arc!

Thank you NetGalley for an arc! This was such a fun read! I love the Muslim representation and a childhood friends to lovers trope! Sana and Daniels banter and chemistry was so good! The second chance romance aspect had me on the edge of my seat rooting for them. The family drama and societal and religious pressures was super relatable especially being Muslim. I also enjoyed the autism representation and Sanas relationship with her little brother was so wholesome.

Perfect for fans of Sonali Dev and Uzma Jalaluddin, Noreen Mughees's immersive debut novel reunites star-crossed childhood. Thirty-three-year-old hijabi Sana Saeed has put away her childhood dream of ishq—an all-consuming, sweeping.

Thank you to Netgalley and Alcove Press for the eARC.

The chemistry between Sana and Daniel in the book was top-notch, with the author doing a good job of describing their emotions and feelings for each other. The book has likeable characters and a good storyline, ticking off a lot of things. However, Sana's character needed more development and her bickering with Daniel should have been prolonged. The book gets a 10/10 for representation, as it includes the common desi experience of a business partner running away with all the money.

This one just didn't work for me in the way I'd hoped for -- I love reading stories based in cultures unlike the one I grew up in, so getting to explore a romance story from a Muslim perspective was really interesting. But the drama between the families and the gaslighting and manipulation from certain parties was just a bit too much to cope with. I hope the book finds its audience, and I look forward to trying another story from this author in the future! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this ARC.

Amazing book that show you what it’s like being the daughter who has to put her family first instead of her own happiness and what it’s like being a Muslim women in this day and age. I cried a couple of times as the way that the author wrote the fmc was so real that I felt like she was someone I knew in real life. This pulled my heartstrings , made me laugh and I had a great time reading. I would recommend this for everyone

Thank you to the author for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC

This is a great multicultural story of love, family, belonging and the ties that bind us to our loved ones. Loved every bit of this feel-good story - the characterisation and the cultural appropriation are all on-point!

I did not know what to expect coming into this book, but I ultimately had a good time reading. We follow two childhood friends who reunite after a dramatic falling out between families. All the descriptions from clothes, to food, to how intently each character was staring at one another made me want to keep turning each page to get more. Aside from minor typos in some of the pages, I do think some parts of the plot lingered longer than needed and some parts I wish would have gotten more attention, especially towards the end. Solid three stars for me.

Thank you netgalley and Alcove Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

CW: Islamaphobia, ableism, death of a loved one (past), grief, family tensions, parental abandonment (past), ableism, sick loved one

It's really great to see more diversity in romance novels. This was a lovely, angsty desi romance just brimming with desi culture. How Sana was positioned at the cusp of trying to decide between an arranged marriage and the position her family has put her in vs. where her heart has lead her to. Both Sana and Daniel have a lot going on with their families and it's not easy for them to choose with their hearts, it's the hard choice. There was such lovely and soft prose all while amping up the tension between these two.

Steam: 0.5

I love the autism and Muslim rep, but hated the gaslighting and the drama (it was just too OTT for me). Other than that I really enjoyed the book!

I'm not normally a fan of "G" rated romance novels, however I'll make an exception for this one. I enjoyed the second chance of romance between Sana and her former love. This book did a fantastic job of inclusivity and understanding family dynamics. Especially considering the sensitivity of Sana, at 33, deciding to enter an arranged marriage to please her family.

Thank you Alcove for providing me with an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

I don’t even know where to begin to tell you how much I LOVED this Desi romance novel filled with family drama, childhood love, Incredible Autism individual/family rep, this honestly felt like probably I was watching one of my Asian dramas/soap opera

It had me intrigued from the first pages and I could not help but to love the vivid scenes, cultural/family dynamics, the food, the chai.. I swear I could smell every dish mentioned on this novel. ( it made me hungry and jealous quite a few times)

33 year old hijabi Sana Saeed is the middle child and due to be up for marriage. ( arranged marriage by her mother) it’s the only way for her mother to agree to leave her as the guardian of her sweet, autistic younger brother, Zia.
Sana and Zia are a package deal, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

She has given up in finding her true love, her childhood love and agrees to her mothers terms. Everything seemed to be finally in place until THAT childhood love..appears out the blue. Now we find Sana *engaged* to another man, and with her childhood love back in her life.. she’s gonna have to make life changing decisions.

Thank you, NetGalley and publisher for the ARC!

I was excited to see the representative of Muslim here and greatly appreciated this book...I liked the dramatic family problem (oh I'm a BIG fan of it), I love the gentle touch of culture here and there, it's comforting and beautiful. However, It's a bit hard for me to go through the gaslighting in the book, I feel like pull my hair out in frustration :(.

I was drawn to this one because of the autism rep, however I wasn't really a fan of the writing. I wasn't hooked right away and my mind kept drifting off while reading.

Thank you to Netgalley and Alcove Press for the eARC.

One of my favourite thing about this book is the chemistry between Sana and Daniel, It was top-notch. The author did a good job describing their emotions and feelings for each other. Overall, it’s a good book with likeable characters and a good storyline. It ticked off a lot of things but I feel like it could have been better. Sana’s character needed some more development and I feel like her and Daniel’s bickering should have prolonged a little longer.
Lastly, 10/10 for representation. “Business partner ran away with all the money” was also included in the plot, that is something every desi family has to go through once😭. We love to see it.

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy. I appreciate that this is a halal romance, without profanity. The themes of family, grief, environmentalism, and kismet can all be discussed. I enjoyed that the author defines the Urdu in context, and I didn’t need a glossary or text-a-friend. Thank you for closure and a happy ending.

I really enjoyed this story! It’s filled with so many ups and downs as Sana finds herself stuck in an arranged engagement. She will do anything for her family, even if it means ignoring her heart’s desires. She is in love with her lifelong friend Daniel, but there is a bad history between their families that is keeping them from being together. I was so invested in the story and you could just feel the love and attraction between them even when they tried to deny their feelings. This is such a beautiful story of second chances, family dynamics, and following your heart.

Thank you so much NetGalley & Alcove Press for the arc!

Thank you Netgalley for this arc! This isn’t a trope I’m very familiar with but I enjoyed reading it. The cultural element was very interesting as I didn’t know much about arranged marriages going into this and I think Noreen Mughees built her world beautifully. There were times where I felt the pacing was a little off but all in all I found it a compelling read.

I really enjoyed this book, it wasn’t a topic that I was too familiar with, but it didn’t take long for me to be wrapped up in Sana’s predicament!
Having to choose between family and yourself isn’t always easy and Sana is experiencing that 1st hand, does she marry the man that her family approves of, that her mother thinks is the right man for her, or does she follow her heart and choose her childhood best friend, the only man she’s ever loved, even if it means being disowned by her mother.
This book has it all, love, tradition, family drama, and it opens your eyes to a family dynamic that is still very popular today but doesn’t get discussed often.