I went into this thinking this was going to be amazing, as the description seemed great. Unfortunately, I was gripped by this book, and it wasn't as strong as I was hoping it would be. I got almost 15% before realizing it just isn't working for me. I do think there will be good topics and themes discussed throughout the book for teens that need to read it, but it wasn't working for me.

This book is beautifully written. It is a novel following a Muslim high school girl who experiences Islamophobia, racism, and more. As a young Muslim girl myself I really resonated with the story that was being told.

The book was very political, which at times can be heavy, but I feel that it is very beneficial to read and learn about. It's very eye-opening, developed well, and informative.

Another aspect of the book I enjoyed was that the main character was a poet so we get to read a lot of different poems throughout the book. They're all very well written and it's nice to see prose and poetry in the same novel, it makes the reading experience more engaging!

I really liked the main character as a whole. Her struggle with family, friends, school, and other things all felt very real and made her a well-rounded, dynamic, human character. I also thought all the side characters added to the story and were also well-written and developed.

Overall I thought this was a really well-written book with a strong and important message, that is both entertaining and important!

I found Nida's story to be really powerful and unfortunately probably all too familiar to many Muslims. I love to read stories from perspectives that differ from my own, to learn more about the world and the variety of people who inhabit it. I enjoyed the way this story was told through both poetry and prose chapters, and I bet it would be great on audio. However, I got a bit lost in the supernatural aspects--there wasn't really so much that it pulled me out of the story, but at the same time felt like not enough to warrant its inclusion at all, so I found that to be an odd choice.

Thank you to St Martins Press and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

I will happily leave a review for this when the racist remarks by one of their employees is addressed. I want to support the author, but also want to know they don’t support this behavior.

This is a book that will heal the inner child of every young person impacted by islamaphobia.

I want every Muslim-American woman to read this book, feel the pain of the characters and connect not only with those aches but with the journey undertaken to heal.

This book was amazing! I loved the nontraditional structure with the poetry separating the chapters because I felt like I was really getting to know Nida as a more dynamic character. The book also captures very well the struggle Muslims experience in America with prejudice, discrimination, gross misconceptions, and Islamophobia. Not only that, but the exploration of familial expectations and the pulls those can have also really resonated, and it was especially powerful seeing Nida's relationship with her Amma. I really enjoyed the author's writing style and how the words gave me an even deeper understanding and different perspective on a Muslim experience.

I don't know exactly how I feel about this book. There were times when I was going to give it three stars because I felt like it needed to go through another round of edits. There were some aspects of the story that were either too sudden or needed more time to play out and be examined. I also had issues with the over-exaggerated aunties. I've seen it too many times now. Can we just get some normal brown aunties at some point? I don't like seeing these caricatures of desi aunties and uncles, because this is all people are getting. Yes, sometimes aunties are like that, but also sometimes they're just PEOPLE and I want to see that as well.

Overall, this was certainly an important story about the experiences of Muslims in a country where we should be free to believe and practice what we want, but instead are expected to take off all our clothes in the pursuit of "liberation." I also liked the discussion on politics and how neither side is on our side any longer.

I did wish the poetry had been more... poetic. The the poems just read like the story in verse, and I wanted to see more poetic verses in line with the Pakistani ghazals and all Nida was referring to in the story.

this book was so emotional and i absolutely loved it. the characters were well developed and i loved the storyline! it showed the difficulties the fmc faces in her daily life, and i was so glad that it was represented in the book itself.

CW: incarceration, divorce (recounted), Islamophobia, xenophobia, racism, death of an uncle, police brutality, war

I would like to thank St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for inviting me to review a free e-ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Sarah Mughal Rana’s debut novel, Hope Ablaze, tells the poignant story of a Muslim teen fighting against a Islamophobic politician after she is illegally frisked at one his rallies and the poem she wrote about him goes viral.

A timely work about the current state of the world, Hope Ablaze is sure to be a new title on the must-reads of social justice literature in YA. Rana’s raw writing talent makes the injustices Nida faces during the course of the book palpable, so much so that you could feel every emotion that Rana puts into this book about being Muslim in a post-9/11 America. Nida’s poetry is poignant and beautiful, transporting readers right into Nida’s thoughts. While it may feel challenging at times to finish the book due to the hopelessness you feel alongside Nida, the information you gain from reading Hope Ablaze is worth it.

There are some critiques that I have for Hope Ablaze from a purely technical standpoint. First, when I was reading the poems that Nida writes, I couldn’t tell if some of them were actually happening in real life or from her own imagination (specifically regarding Nida’s mosque in the aftermath of her poem). Additionally, while I thought the magical realism was an interesting element for the book, I feel like it could have been fleshed out more but it wasn’t that bad. Nevertheless, the plot remained pretty consistent for a character-based approach and Nida does go through some good development throughout the book.

Now, I would encourage folks to read reviews from Muslim and Middle Eastern reviewers before deciding on whether or not to read the book, but I think the book is definitely worth reading. If you’re looking for a YA social justice read with a Muslim MC and a dash of magical realism, you would want to keep an eye out for Hope Ablaze when it releases in 2024.

I loved this book. It is especially relevant today with the anti-Islamic rhetoric on the news and the bombing of Palestine. The poetry was beautiful and powerful, and it paired well with the prose. This should be required reading for all young adults.

This is such an important and timely novel, and I think it is a book that needs a place in many high school libraries. HOPE ABLAZE is a story about resilience, faith, and protest within a small Muslim community in the United States. The sense of belonging runs so deep within this community, but outside of it, there is so much prejudice and hatred. I couldn't help but think of the parallels of this fictional story to very real events today, including the media's prejudice towards Palestinians and the lack of media coverage of a hate crime directed towards a Sikh man. While this book had many references to Islamic words and practices, I think that its message is universal. Also, it provides great insights into the fears and repercussions members of Muslim-American communities face when they truly speak their mind and practice their religion with no regard for what others will think. HOPE ABLAZE begs Americans to rethink what freedom of religion and freedom of speech TRULY means in the context of modern-day ideals. I am excited to see this book in the hands of young people, and from the cover to the context. I am also anticipating young Muslim readers to finally see their own voices, thoughts, and faith reflected in this incredible debut.

I thought I'd love this novel about a young Muslim woman who is secretly a poet. Her best friend enters her work into a contest without permission, and the repercussions are violent and horrific. But the characters were stock figures--the mother who doesn't want to rock the boat and is scared for her daughter in the current racist and Islamophobic climate in the US, the gossipy auntie who is annoying as hell, the clueless White girl who just wants to help her friend, the beloved uncle in jail--and the poetry was just meh. The plot required some willing suspension of disbelief, which took me out of the book, and there was a lot of material that felt like filler. It's a shame, because the premise is a good one.

Thank you Wednesday Books and Netgalley for this eARC, these opinions are my own. Not the typically book that I like to read but I really enjoyed this one. Hope Ablaze explores injustices that Muslims and the MC face on a regular basis. It showcases a big problem in America that is prejudice and injustices being allowed to happen or ignored because this country is ruled by the people in power and wealthy! I love that Nida felt empowered to stand up against injustice and use her voice for good! A must read!

Hope Ablaze" is a powerful and timely debut novel that beautifully weaves together themes of identity, resilience, and the power of self-expression. Nida's journey as a Muslim teenager in post-9/11 America is a compelling and relatable one, and her struggle to find her voice in a world that often misunderstands her faith and hijab is both poignant and relevant.

Sarah Mughal Rana skillfully portrays the challenges faced by Nida as she unexpectedly becomes a voice for her community and grapples with the weight of expectations from her family and society. The story's blend of magic and poetry adds a unique and enchanting dimension to the narrative, making it stand out. While the plot is both heartwarming and humorous at times, it doesn't shy away from addressing important issues such as racism and Islamophobia, tackling them with bravery and nuance. Readers will be inspired by Nida's journey of self-discovery and her determination to stand up for what she believes in. Overall, "Hope Ablaze" is a compelling and uplifting novel that celebrates the beauty of the Islamic faith and Pakistani culture while addressing critical social issues.

thanks to NetGalley for the eARC

⭐️=3.75 | 😘=1 | 🤬=3 | ⚔️=4.25 | 14+

summary: Muslim girl gets publicly frisked and harassed by the police; it goes viral for the wrong reasons, and she loses her ability to write poetry (like, with vague speculative elements) and more stuff happens??

thoughts: this is good, but the speculative elements occasionally threw me off? like I don’t think they were established/foreshadowed enough in the world building and just showed up out of the blue about a third of the way through, which was weird for me.

anyway. the poetry was surprisingly fine for the most point, but there were some inconsistencies––like, why were there still poetry inserts during the part where she couldn’t write?? idk. overall I still liked it, but there were just some confusing bits.

I admire what the author tried to do with this book - an unapologetic, unflinching addressing of the horrific and systemic Islamophobia faced by Muslims in America - and this book truly had so much potential... but unfortunately, felt like a struggling first draft.

The magical realism was abrupt, odd, and poorly written (and also I didn't realize it was supposed to be magical realism until after I was thoroughly confused). There's too much repetition, several inconsistencies, and I honestly did not like the "poetry letters" that were supposed to be powerful but just came off as... weak. Character development was also rather shoddy, and Nida didn't come off as convincingly changed by the end of it.

I genuinely wish I could have given this a stronger review, but unfortunately, it seems like the editors behind this book slacked off and didn't push the author into developing this book as solidly as it deserved.

I think this is an important and thought-provoking read, especially for folks who are not Muslim.

I was initially drawn to this book by the comparison to The Poet X, which I loved. I can see why the two books could be discussed together, but this one isn’t written entirely in verse.

I didn’t understand the secondary languages used in this book, but I think that actually added to the story, instead of taking away from it. It puts a non-Muslim reader in the position of being othered, which is an interesting role reversal.

Overall, I think this is a great book with a good message. I love that it’s targeted towards a YA audience!

Thank you to #netgalley for this ARC of #hopeablaze

This was one of the most heartfelt emotional debuts I’ve read in a very long time. As a pakistani Muslim, we rarely get own voice stories that are authentic to a religious/practicing brown Muslims pov/experience. And FINALLY WE GOT IT WE WIN 😭❤️ !!

I was not sure how to feel about potentially reading verse/poetry because I’m not a poetry type person but the way it was interwoven into the story was IMMACULATE! It really felt natural and was very beautiful!

One of my favourite parts about this was the very complex mother-daughter relationship. We don’t get that often and I’m so glad it was a highlight here and very much drove a lot of character development!

The Islamic, pakistani/immigrant sentiment (especially on the partition), hijabi commentary was also huge highlights of the book for me. There was so much diversity in this novel and reading the authors acknowledgements at the end - you can tell how much social Justice and human rights means to her.

This was such a beautiful story and a must read for everyone especially Muslims! This is the own voice story I’ve been dying to read!

It took me a bit to get into this story, but when I did I couldn’t put it down. Nida is a Muslim teenage girl in America who is a member of a poetry group in her Muslim neighborhood. But much of the poetry she writes is for her eyes only, a way to express her feelings and deal with adversity. She does not share it with the group. One day while getting ready to pray in a public park she is stopped, frisked, and humiliated by a political security force solely because of her Muslim dress. She writes about the experience of violation in her private journal but when that journal is swiped and the poem entered into a contest in her name the press portrays her as a terrorist. And her life as well of that of her friends and families is threatened. Nida’s attempts to explain herself and redeem her honor and that of her family backfire and nothing she does has the desired effect, at times making it even worse until she finally finds her voice. Hope Ablaze is a study in Islamophobia but in addition shows how the press often twists things and take one’s words out of context to fit whatever agenda they might be advocating. This should give everyone pause, regardless of race or political persuasions. The press has a lot of power and the way they report the news has a definitive effect on society. Look what happened in Nazi Germany. Thanks to Wednesday Books for giving me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was an excellent read. The author's presentation of Nida's experiences opened my eyes to the difficulties faced by Muslim Americans. The situations were plausible, which makes them more frightening. While I am not Muslim I could feel Nida's rage(and she had every right to feel that). This book should read in every high school.