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.

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Hope Ablaze
Sarah Mughal Rana
4.53
15 ratings13 reviews

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She lost her words but found her voice.

All My Rage meets The Poet X in this electric debut that explores a Muslim teen finding her voice in a post-9/11 America.

Nida has always been known as Mamou Abdul-Hafeedh’s niece - the poet that will fill her uncle’s shoes after he was wrongfully incarcerated during the war on terror. But for Nida, her poetry letters are her heart and sharing so much of herself with a world that stereotypes her faith and her hijab is not an option.

When Nida is illegally frisked at a Democratic Senatorial candidate’s political rally, she writes a scathing poem about the politician, never expecting the letter to go viral weeks before Election Day. Nida discovers her poem has won first place in a national contest, a contest she never entered, and her quiet life is toppled. But worst of all, Nida loses her ability to write poetry. In the aftermath of her win, Nida struggles to balance the expectations of her mother, her uncle, and her vibrant Muslim community with the person she truly wants to be.

Thank you to the publisher for the eARC!


I loved this book so much and am so glad for it's existence.
Hope Ablaze is a pure gem from start to finish. I felt every injustice Muslims and the MC was being dealt with. I felt pure rage that so many injustices against innocent people are ignored because of powerful and rich people. I loved reading about my Pakistani culture and history. I loved the community of Al-Rasheed that was so supportive and beautiful! I also loved Nida's development as a poet and how she used her voice to stand up for everything that is wrong with this world. A powerful read I would definitely recommend!

Rating: 4.5 stars

I love this book with my whole heart. Do yourself a favor and get a copy.

The story follows Nida - a teen hijabi girl with a passion for (and legacy to uphold of) poetry. When she stops to pray in a park, she's detained and de-hijabied by the security officers for the democratic candidate in the upcoming political election. To deal with her emotions over the traumatic ordeal, she writes a scathing poem about the candidate...which gets leaked and goes VIRAL. Now she's in the spotlight, struggling to write, dealing with ever-deepening layers of islamophobia, and surrounded by people all with their own opinions about what she *should* be doing.

How will Nida get through it? Will she find her voice again? You'll be rooting for her every step of the way, whatever the outcome.

Gorgeously written, extremely thoughtful, and scattered with warmth and humor, this debut is going to be one of the best of 2024, no doubt.

A poignant and raw story that will definitely touch the hearts of many readers - from the wonderful poetry inserts, to familial relationship (oftentimes messy and hard) and friendships that were a big theme in this book (unlike most other YA novels that focus a lot on romance - these types of books are oftentimes a breath of fresh air and very much needed as well), and exploration of intersectionality, politics (and how it mostly serves interests of only certain groups), and faith.
I do recommend checking out reviews from own voices reviewers when it comes to Islam representation, but all in all a read that made you think and definitely worth checking out as soon as it releases.

Poetry, religion, culture, social change… I never expected to see so many interesting concepts explored in a book but Hope Ablaze is unlike anything else that exists out there. Despite my rating it a three stars, Hope Ablaze is a book that I am glad has found its place through the publishing industry.

THE GOOD
1. Poetry is a central focus in this book and it is a unique touch. I’ll be honest, I’m not really a poetry person and I think a lot of it went over my head, but I can still appreciate its existence in this story. It made what we are dealing with a lot more tangible. Poetry was the core of this book and instead of Nida just telling us how much it means to her and how powerful her poetry is, she shows it through constant poems. It’s part of everything the characters connect over and the passion for spoken word and writing is so clear.

2. The diversity of the characters are not limited to just the author’s identity group. Muslims are so diverse and I’m happy to have seen Muslims of many different ethnic backgrounds on the pages of these books. I am happy that YA readers today can grow up with a book that mentions all our unique ethnicities, as well as how we bond over religion.

3. The light on casual Islamophobia — something that really stuck with me was Nida explaining jihad in the context of Islam and how religious language constantly has its meanings warped for the narrative of painting violence. This is a reality Muslims still live, where small things are made synonymous to some kind of evil motive.

4. The representation of being Muslim is real and its exactly what I’ve been looking for. There is a certain scene in which a character talks about how they want to start giving up music and how it’s been helping clear their mind… that scene alone is just the perfect embodiment of what type of representation I’ve been seeking from Muslim stories. Our characters are not perfect Muslims. No one is looking for perfect Muslims in a story, but Muslims that resonate with them. Muslims that are aware they are sinning and don’t make excuses, but simply acknowledge it as is and accept that they will try to do better, in their own time and ways. I also appreciate that the negative parts of being Muslim, like Islamophobia or “restrictions” of Islam, are not the only parts of the Muslim experience explored in the story. This goes back to point two, but the Muslim community of Al-Rasheed really made my heart warm.

THE CONS
1. The way certain language was used did not make sense entirely (and I am a reader who is Muslim). For example, the use of wallah and wallahi confused me. I am an Arabic speaker in the Middle East, so maybe this really is how Muslim Americans speak in the West, but I noticed wallah and wallahi sometimes being used as verbs or even in sentences they did not need to be. E.g. “I could wallahi that I hadn’t left my notebook” — I don’t think I’ve ever said nor heard anyone use wallah like this. Also, wallah is not used as casually as every other conversation; the word has weight and I was a little unsure as to why it was being used for certain dialogue. Going to give the benefit of the doubt and still say, maybe this is how non-Arabic speaking Muslims speak but it did unfortunately bother me every time I saw the misuse on the page.

2. Despite being the audience this catered to, I still think certain words/cultural phrases needed contextual explanations. This is a tricky one, because I’m not one who believes a POC should have to cater the representation in their book to a specific audience. But, I really think it could’ve added more to the story in this case. I enjoyed how completely “Pakistani” and “Muslim” Nida was in her mannerisms and dialogue, as well as all the other characters. But I think for a reader who is not Muslim nor Desi to leave this story feeling like they learnt a lot about this culture/religion, it would’ve benefited from a glossary or even Nida’s narration explaining words like bakharni or izzat. It limits the pool of readers who can successfully read the book the way it was intended to be read when they cannot understand certain things.

E.g. I remember prior to reading Crazy Rich Asians, I didn’t know a single thing about Singapore — and reading the explanations of cultural aspects in that book gave me the push to learn more. Today, despite not being a Singaporean, I feel that I can connect more with Singaporeans because I have this one book I read one time that taught me so much about it. I think that’s the experience I would like a reader who is not Muslim or Desi to have after reading Hope Ablaze - a greater understanding of what it means to speak like a Muslim, as well as the cultural quirks of Pakistanis.

3. The writing/choice of scenes is not my favorite at times. The book is short but I didn’t feel I could binge through it in one go because not every scene kept my attention. At times, I felt like I was only reading Nida’s conversations about the same thing but with different characters. There were some that were impactful, like ones with her Mamou, but otherwise I found myself skimming some scenes and waiting for something to happen.

All in all, I still think this is a great Muslim book and will resonate with many readers. Unfortunately, in my case, I didn’t find the whole story to my taste but I will definitely keep up with the author and root for her in her path!

genuinely in my opinion, this is such a strange book that just. fundamentally does not understand the modern american political landscape. rana refuses to give any identifying details as to where or when this story takes place beyond "post 9/11 united states", a decision which she never justifies. if the point is that the events of the book could happen anywhere, at any time after 2001, i think i just inherently disagree with that conceit. islamophobia simply manifests differently in pennsylvania, in indianapolis, in los angeles, in new jersey, in boston, in alabama, in texas, in detroit, in arizona, etc etc etc. and it's different in 2002 vs 2022.

its adherence to these vagueries does the opposite of what it probably intended, undermining what i think is the book's central premise. it led me to scrutinize the story's setting and context far more heavily than its limited scope and understanding of america could hold up under.

it's also got some weird aave and slang problems that made me cringe so hard i started squirming in place. so there's that.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

So, this was undoubtedly one of my most anticipated reads of next year and it absolutely crushed and exceeded my expectations. This book does require, to a degree, that you suspend your understanding of the current sociopolitical terrain of America precisely because it is a reimagining of sorts of post-9/11 America. However, while this doesn’t follow the exact same historical linear events as in real life, it does reflect the current reality in America for certain communities.

This novel overall provides a much-needed discussion on the rampant manifestations of Islamophobia in the West by focusing in on the Pakistani diaspora. I genuinely had a visceral body reaction to what Nida, her family and her community had to go through. I think Rana really nailed evoking these feelings of frustration and ire in her readers by illustrating a range of Islamaphobic encounters, both subtle and large-scale, and the way they can often be tangled with ethnicity and race. In particular, these emotional moments were emphasized by the poetry in this book which simultaneously at times acted as alternative modes of storytelling of narrative events.

Rana cleverly leveraged Nida’s relationships with her friends and teachers to illustrate the overlooked, more subtle pervasive forms of Islamophobia. Specifically, questions of agency and saviourism are oftentimes attached to broader debates on the hijab and a lot of individuals fail to consider the alternative infantilizing ways this can work to harm Muslims on a smaller, individual scale. These kinds of microaggressions rarely go viral the way large-scale encounters do but are still quite insidious, so I really appreciate Rana drawing attention to this.
Meanwhile, the narrative, at its core, revolves around more large-scale demonstrations of Islamophobia. Importantly, it was at these moments that rampant racist and Islamophobic rhetoric was directly challenged. I think a lot of fruitful discussions can be drawn from these moments. I want to underscore that Rana did an excellent job illuminating one particular perspective on Islamophobia, and this was never really pushed as an objective truth for all communities.

I also want to mention how familial relationships were handled and explored. Oftentimes in the diaspora, families communicate through gestures— to offer thanks, regrets, apologies, or forgiveness. However, sometimes it’s not enough to make these gestures, as evidenced by Nida’s relationship with her mother. I think Nida’s pain really spoke to this kind of phenomenon that a lot of diasporic women (and their relationships with the women in their families) can relate to, making for an authentically and honest read.
In a similar vein, there was one plot thread that explored generational pain and trauma which I think was cleverly woven into the larger narrative at hand by tracing Nida’s historical roots. These historical lineages were well-researched and concurrently pulled from the author’s personal background, making for what is evidently a vulnerable read for both Rana and readers who can relate.

A touching journey of self-discovery underscores and shapes this narrative, offering a semblance of hope in how we can collectively take action and move forward against racism and Islamophobia across the Pakistani diaspora in the West. The novel doesn’t try and push an unrealistic ending by suddenly resolving Islamophobia, which the author acknowledges the complexity of particularly because of the intersectionality of it all. Instead, Rana poses several questions to her audiences concerning how, as marginalized communities, can we effectively mobilize in the face of systemic policies which hinder and impede such organizational processes. More pointedly, it looks toward the two-party system and rightfully criticizes its shortcomings in the context of racialized Muslim communities, offering a supplementary critique of its weaknesses.

Overall, this debut speaks to both the potential and success of Rana’s storytelling skills and ability to critique such a complex issue. I’m eagerly waiting in anticipation for forthcoming work from Rana and I’m so excited to see where she’ll take us as readers next time!