Ayesha at Last - Uzma Jalaluddin
Overall, I didn't dislike this read, but I also didn't love it. I wasn't a fan of the length of the book (it was way too long), or how the dialogue felt forced at times, as well as the excessive amounts of miscommunication between characters, and how much of the plot relied on these miscommunications to move forward. Some things were also SO incredibly exaggerated, that I just wanted to chuck my Kindle across the room. Sheila should've been fired at the end, and Hafsa seemed like she learned absolutely nothing - despite her little "redemption arc" at the end. Same with Amir, he was insufferable and creepy, and then Khalid chooses to live with him? I def hated that weird storyline with Tarek, it was just way too much, but whatever. I also wish we saw more of the couple together, even if it was in an epilogue? It just felt incomplete. I did love both of them by the end though (even if Ayesha still kinda remained a pushover/people pleaser). Yay for that Khalid redemption though, lol.
I did enjoy how honest this book was in terms of depicting both the negative and positive aspects that come with belonging to certain communities, and also the emphasis that people aren't just good or bad - there's reasons for our actions, such as past trauma, upbringing, etc. Some of the side characters/family members were also fun to read about and I'm glad they were there to balance out the overly villainous characters.
The ending there with Khalid and Ayesha getting together and how Clara and Rob got engaged felt really rushed to be honest and I especially don't think the Clara and Rob plot worked that well. Overall I think I enjoyed my reading experience of this more than the book itself but that's bumped up my score. All of the men just sucked?? It was absolutely infuriating to read and none of them had the charm of the men in P&P. Whilst I appreciated that this centred on South Asians, and obviously because it's P&P you'll need to have prejudice included, I think some of the racism and xenophobia was just a bit too much for me. I just couldn't vibe with a lot of the relationships (familial, platonic, and romantic) because of how many of the characters I actively disliked. Also I wish we'd gotten more of Ayesha teaching and how she grew in that role, and whether she applied for/took the permanent teaching position. That was a little bit of a missed opportunity. I think as a book this was probably a 3 stars.
