This is my third book by the author and I’ve enjoyed each one. She writes YA novels featuring Bengali minorities living in Ireland. Not only do they face racism for their culture and religion they also face schisms within their own culture too. This is a loosely based retelling of John Tucker Must Die. Meghna and Rani used to be best friends. They are both smart and STEM oriented in their schools. Rani’s family has more wealth and social connections. She is also always the winner or best when it comes to science competitions.

Meghna has also been secretly dating Zak. He is popular, smart and sporty. When all three are in a competition to get into a Young Scientist Exhibition Meghna realizes Zak is also dating Rani. Theirs is more an understanding between families but has been known for more than a year. Rani and Meghna decide to pool their talents to see if they can beat and expose Zak at the international competition.

This is a fun story. I love the Indian food descriptions. The girls not only face parents who have traditional rules but battle sexism in STEM where white males are often the judges. It felt realistic how they rediscovered their friendship. I like the recognition of f/f feelings leading to a few kisses, but that isn’t the focus of the story. For middle schoolers and up.

Not sure if it’s because it took me so long to read this one but it was just OKAY! I am a big fan of this author so this was kind of a letdown as it’s not as well done as her other works. But nonetheless I would recommend.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

Rani Choudhury Must Die was a treat to read! I loved the tension present everytime we got a scene with Rani and Meghna. Even if they weren't together, I could still sense it! Meghna's energy throughout the book was immensely present. I appreciate how she stands by her thoughts and actions, and has a somewhat 'gives-no-fuck' attitude (which just might be anger issues 👀). Rani, on the other hand, has a very 'doesn't-like-any-conflict' vibes. Both the characters are so beautiful, smart, and talented, it's awesome. If you like best friends to strangers to lovers, pick up this book ASAP. The diversity and cultural nuances this book contains are 🤌🏼

🦋 My immediate reaction after finishing the book:
The flutters I got in my belly while reading this are no joke.
I truly believe that nothing is better for your health than reading a teen sapphic romance novel 💖

I can definitely say that I am not the target audience of this book (I'm an adult), but I do think this is a solid contemporary YA read with great representation and cultural aspects.

Rani and Meghna are ex-best friends who reconnect when they find out their boyfriend is the same person and who cheated on them both. They team up to get revenge and beat him in a young scientist exhibition. They want to create an app that can be used to catch cheaters and provide mental health advice.

Unfortunately, Meghna's character is quite annoying. She hates Rani for a reason that is not explained enough to justify the level of hatred coming from Meghna.
Rani is a lovely character who tries to be the voice of reason in many situations to counteract Meghna's fire and stubbornness.
Their reconnection through the revenge plot is the main focus of the book. Their friendship needs healing, and they slowly start to trust each other once again.
The sapphic romance plot is a bit out of the blue at the end, but I did see some very subtle signs we're heading that way, mostly in Rani who's lesbian coded (it's not stated in the book) and who has a thing for Meghna from the beginning even if she doesn't recognize it.

A big part of the story is the Bangladeshi representation. Both Rani and Meghna are very proud of their Bengali origins, and their culture plays a significant role in how they act. The parental expectations, the common discrimination against them because they are dark skinned, and much more. These themes are significant but not overpowering in the book, which is still very much lighthearted.

There are some great side characters in the book, too, who mostly try to be the voice of reason.

One thing that I couldn't really get behind is that two bright and talented young women decide to get revenge on a boy throwing away their great ideas about climate change and their culture. It's almost diminishing to women in STEM when they are portrayed in such a shallow way.

Overall, an entertaining read.

this sapphic dual POV Young Adult romance by Adiba Jaigirdar, Meghna and Rani (ex-best-friends-turned-rivals) realize they're dating the same guy, so they team up to beat and expose him at a big science competition!

First of all, can we please talk about how beautiful the cover is!! I was love in with it since the first time I saw it. and the book is just as beautiful!!

I loved this book and Adiba Jaigirdar's writing. The Pace and the slow burn was perfect, hooking me to the story. I was rooting for them to get together. I really liked that it was dual POV and we can read from both of Meghna and Rani's perspective. Both of them are so smart and intelligent. Them teaming up to get revenge from their Cheating Ex and realizing their feelings for each other in the process was everything. atp I think everyone knows how much I love academic rivals to lovers trope;)

If you're looking for a book with girls in stem, them getting revenge on their cheating ex and rivals to lovers then definitely read this book!!

This was my first time reading a Adiba Jaigirdar's book and I loved it so much and I've became a fan of her and her writing. I'm so excited to read the other books <33

Adiba Jaigirdar has become one of my auto-read authors for YA contemporary fiction because the Dos and Donuts of Love was one of the cutest, most heartfelt sapphic romcoms l've ever read! Rani Choudhary Must Die has done the same with its sharp-witted and passionate heroines.
One thing I REALLY appreciate about Jaigirdar's stories are that they always highlight Bangladeshi/South Asian diaspora issues as well as issues in the home countries. I really connected with Meghna's character and the ostracizing her family faces for being working class among a sea of bourgeois desi diaspora. This an experience that is so often overlooked and definitely made me and my own experiences with South Asian communities feel seen. Meghna's project also highlights the climate catastrophes that Bangladesh has been experiencing and also often overlooked by popular media.
I'd recommend Rani Choudhury Must Die to fans of revenge plots and Sapphic romance, YA stories that draw in extremely important analyses of race and class, and stories about diaspora experiences that also center the Global South.

Don't you love when frenemies come together to get back at their cheating ex?

Following ex best friends Meghna and Rani, who had a fallout after Meghna dad's company went bankrupt, and haven't spoken in years.

With Rani being so perfect she seems to have it all go her way, Meghna thinks that finally she has something that Rani doesn't, her boyfriend Zak, but when she finds them holding hands at their science exhibition and confronts Rani she realizes that Zak has been two timing them.

What's next? They team up to create a new project that not only will expose Zak for what he is, an a**hole, but will also hopefully win over his project at the EYSE competition. But as they start working together and all the things they left unsaid start to emerge along with some old feelings they start to realize that the feelings they had for each other were beyond those of two platonic best friends.

First of all, I am all in in exposing cheating boyfriends, while the project may not be at all realistic (because of data privacy) it was so entertaining to read them develop it. I loved all the science talk, my inner science lover was beaming at all the projects and experiments wishing I could see them from up-close.

Another thing I loved besides the dynamics between Rani and Meghna is their relationships with their other friends, and how they found these friendships after their fallout and how even if it's not a friendship that started in childhood it can be just as meaningful.

And of course the cherry on top was Meghna x Rani. Seeing them go from friends to strangers to enemies/rivals to you know from both their points of view made this book so captivating I couldn't put it down, and finished it within days.

This book is the perfect read for this season, it will be like a ray of sunshine during this days that is getting dark so early.

thank you @coloredpagesbt @fiercereads for the gifted copy! 🎀

Rani Choudhury Must Die was the cutest highschool story! @dibs_j did such a good job of highlighting women in STEM while taking us along Rani & Meghna’s crazy journey. they went from being childhood best friends to rivals to dating the same boy at the same time to bonding over hating him & falling for each other in the process! i liked how the FMCs grew from comparing themselves to each other to celebrating each other’s strengths. i also loved all the cultural nuances; it was so interesting to see how these Bangladeshi families stayed true to their heritage while living in Ireland. true to the title, if you liked John Tucker Must Die and always wanted the girls to choose each other over him, this is the book for you! 🤍

cons: i generally thought the story dragged too much on the boy and i wish we had dove more into the girls friendship history. it was definitely a slow burn, but i would’ve liked to see more of that interest from Meghna instead of just little glimpses from Rani. also there’s no way their app woulda held up in court, but it was a cute plan to get them together 😭😭

RANI CHOUDHURY MUST DIE is a sapphic rivals to lovers YA romance about two ex-best friends who find out they've been cheated on by the same guy, so they decide to work together to expose him by designing an app for people to catch two-timers. but as they spend more and more time together, they stop caring so much about exposing him and instead start falling for each other. adiba jaigirdar is hands down my favorite sapphic YA author, so i knew i was going to love this book and i was not disappointed! rani and meghna's relationship developed so beautifully and i loved seeing their development throughout the story.

read if you like:
- john tucker must die
- academic rivals to lovers
- women in STEM

thanks to netgalley and feiwel & friends for the advanced copy!

This book is another victim of poor marketing. RANI CHOUDHURY MUST DIE is really not a romance, but rather a contemporary following two ex-best friends overcoming their differences to team up for revenge against the guy who cheated on them. There's a slight sapphic romance at the end, but it's not integral to the story, and in some ways (view spoiler)

CW: cheating ex, gaslighting, colorism, sexism and misogyny, racism

I finished this book feeling dissatisfied, and I think it's because the book felt surface-level in multiple areas. I feel like my MFA professor saying this, but I wanted everything to go a little deeper. The original destruction of their friendship and their healing. The torn rift between their families. The toxic behaviors both of their families possess, with Rani's parents borderline discouraging her from having a career in STEM and Meghna's parents unable to stop comparing their daughter to Rani. There is no reckoning for any of those pieces. The bulk of the story is about Zak cheating and their app, which is Plot A, sure. But side plots are also important to develop fully, and they felt half-baked.

But onto some positive things! Because this book may have not have blown me away, but it's a solid book that I would feel comfortable recommending to people.

The book is set in Dublin and the main characters use public transit, something I always want to see more of in YA. It's dual POV, and I can't figure out how I didn't mix the two up because I could not tell you what made each voice unique, but I kept them both straight in my head. A sign of talent, I guess!

I have beef with a lot of books featuring women in STEM, especially with coding, because the author skips over it often and it's all off-page. It sort of feels like the author has no idea what they're talking about and they're trying to hide that. (*cough* When Dimple Met Rishi *cough*) I did not get those vibes from this book! The science felt authentic and well-researched, even if the app did have some glaring issues. (Thankfully, those are addressed in the book. I was going to drop the rating more if they hadn't been.)

The title bothers me a bit. Why is the book focused so much on Rani and her demise when she literally is one of the narrators? I saw another review suggest that it should be "Zak Sardar Must Die" because it aligns more with John Tucker Must Die, the inspiration, and I have to agree.

I learned so much about Bengali culture, not much about Irish culture. That's okay with me, since both main characters and Zak are Bangladeshi and that identity is very important to them. I also want to note that while Meghna does have queer friends who have labels, neither Meghna nor Rani use any of sort of language to define their sexuality.

The best part of the book was the running joke "How many Ranis/Meghnas do you know?!" I laughed every single time.

I'll have to pick up this author's backlist because I found the writing to be solid and I would love to further learn about the intersectionality of queer romance and Bengali culture.

Rep: queer Bangladeshi main characters (sexualities never specified); many Bangladeshi side characters; Nigerian side character who uses they/them pronouns; lesbian Filipina side character

Thank you to Fierce Reads for a finished copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I've read a few of Adiba Jaigirdar's books, and by now it's safe to say I'm just not a fan of her writing. The plot development and motivations for their romance, app direction, and revenge plot just made no sense, and I could not immerse myself in the story. I like how unapologetically Bengali her stories are; the references in there make no attempt to justify or explain themselves to an unfamiliar audience. You either get it or you don't. Look it up or use context clues already. That being said, the scenes when they clashed with their conservative Muslim families, the misogyny from Zak or other characters did not feel organic, and only felt like they were there to check all the intersectional boxes of WOC in Ireland, in STEM, in a conservative Muslim family, which resulted in all the characters feeling really flat.

Two ex best friends discover that they are being cheated on by the same guy while also competing against each other at the big science competition, and decide to team up to not only win but to expose him (while possibly falling for each other). Meghna is tired of being compared to her ex best friend turned rival, Rani. Everyone except Meghna's boyfriend Zak seems to think that Rani is perfection. Rani is tired of feeling like she doesn't have any say in her own life, from how her mother wants her to look to how her parents want her to date the close family friend Zak... so when Rani and Meghna both discover that Zak has been playing them both while also dating a third girl, and all three of them are in the science competition, Meghna comes up with the plan to expose and beat Zak at the competition with Rani as her partner... yet working together means facing the old feelings of why their friendship fell apart in the first place and the romance brewing between Rani and Meghna right now. This book just didn't really work for me sadly, I adore academic rivals to lovers, I love sapphic stories...but this just felt like it was missing something. The entire relationship between Meghna and Rani just didn't feel all that well fleshed out and I didn't really believe their romance at all. I liked that they repaired their friendship but it just didn't feel like they were actually in love with one another. While this one was a miss for me, if you like academic rivals to lovers between best friends, I'd say give it a go maybe you'll have a better time than I did.

Release Date: November 12,2024

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group | Feiwel & Friends for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

I've been in a ginormous reading slump lately so I really just couldn't get into this one. Nothing against the book, it just didn't have that spark that made me want to continue reading.

4.5 stars! Thank you to NetGalley, Fewiel and Friends, and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for this advanced copy! You can pick up Rani Choudhury Must Die on November 12, 2024.

This was such a cute and heartwarming YA sapphic romance! I loved the growth our two main characters, Rani and Meghna, experienced throughout the story, and I was thoroughly hooked on their revenge plotline for their shared cheating ex. The emphasis on them recovering their friendship and realizing there was something more behind it was so well done, and I'm glad they realized that Zak LITERALLY does not deserve the time of day (though I wouldn't have been disappointed by a bit more humiliation on his part).

It was really interesting to read a YA story set in another country besides the US. Just goes to show how I can expand my reading even further! But I loved the blend of Bangladeshi and Irish culture we witness throughout the story.

Definitely pick this one up for a rivals to friends to lovers sapphic story about two competitive STEM nerds!

We love to see STEM girlies, ex best-friends turned rivals, and cheaters who get what's coming to them. Rani Choudhury Must Die is a story that becomes impossible to put down. Not only does it deliver swoons and laughs, but also conversations about what a rivalry does to someone. When we feel like we are constantly never enough the pressure gets to us. Those feelings erode our relationships and we become insecure in our love. Both for Rani and Meghna they are both comparing themselves and being compared. And Jaigirdar examines rivalries and the impact in multiple ways.

I love getting into Adiba Jaigirdar novels and knowing what I'm going to get. There queer, Bengali representation, which sounds like a niche market on the surface, but is oh so delightful and encouraging to read.

The premise of two rivals finding out they're both dating the same guy and enacting a plot to get revenge. A tale as old as time, but with such a modern flair, how could I not find it utterly enjoyable?

The pace was timely, the story gripped me right from the beginning and it made it difficult to put down.

A little slow and underdeveloped in the beginning, but eventually it picked up a bit and I ended up really enjoying myself!

While reading this I thought that the title didn't fit this book at all and since Rani and Meghna teamed up together for a science project and were focused on getting revenge on Zak for his cheating.

This felt immature and superficial. Most of the competition felt unbelievable in that the girls' project had morality issues and was readily accepted by the science teacher in charge. The friendship between Rani and Meghna needed healing after family issues that were out of their control and I enjoyed how they learned to trust each other. But then, out of no where came the romantic feelings for each other. Without having knowledge of their relationship before the family fallout, I never felt the connection. Rani and Meghna weren't honest with each other until the end when they expressed their love for each other.

There were some very interesting aspects of this book. The characters were unique. As several of only a handful of Bengladeshi teens in Ireland, it was interesting to learn about the family lives of Meghna, Rani, and Zak. Some of the plot points were also unique. I enjoyed following the trails and tribulations of the characters as they entered various science contests and learned about their projects. The relationships between the characters were uneven. Some relationships were more fleshed out while others were more shallow and surface level. One of the main science projects described in detail in the book seemed far-fetched in that it did not seem likely that this idea would have really been accepted in a competition, since gathering some of the data for it was a bit morally and ethically questionable.

5 out of 5 stars

Rep: Bangladeshi-Irish Muslim MCs, SCs, and former LI; queer (implied bi) MC, queer (implied lesbian) MC, non-binary Nigerian SC, lesbian Filipina SC

Content warnings: Cheating, colorism, internalized racism, sexism, body-shaming, emotionally abusive parents, gaslighting, victim-blaming, invasions of privacy, microaggressions, debt/poverty/classism. Mentions of genocide and the climate crisis as they apply to various STEM fields.

Adiba Jaigirdar is officially cemented not only as an auto-buy author for me, but as one of *the* best sapphic romcom writers of all time. She is simply incapable of writing a bad book!! Her protagonists are charming, complex, and funny, while her villains induce genuine fury. She gives us the most wholesome sibling relationships and melt-worthy, believable romances.

At first I was frustrated with Meghna's seemingly-petty hatred for Rani since it's one-sided. But then I remembered that she's only 17, and that I acted like that as a teenager myself. We can't and shouldn't expect high schoolers to have the same level of maturity as adults with fully-developed brains!

On top of having fantastic character development, "Rani Choudhury Must Die" joins all of Jaigirdar's other novels in being an absolute master-class in telling intersectional stories. The unique oppressions Rani and Meghna face as Muslim women of color in STEM is central to the plot, but it also delves into prejudices within their own community. I've read books where authors make excuses for harmful beliefs because of tradition, and I've read others where authors generalize about all members of their community being terrible. But Jaigirdar seems to walk this line with ease. She doesn't shy away from talking about aspects of Bengali-Irish culture that can cause pain, but she also celebrates her culture. I really appreciated one particular discussion about how Western people have preconceived notions about non-Western practices that they deem "backwards," even when they don't actually hurt anyone.

In short: I love reading about women in STEM! I love when women talk about their passions! Adiba Jaigirdar, please never stop writing!

**HUGE thank you to Feiwel & Friends for granting me an eARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**