Love, Hate and Other Filters is an own voices debut novel by Samira Ahmed that follows Maya, an Indian-American Muslim teen with a passion for film making, through her life leading up to leaving for college and also her experiences after the aftermath of a terrorist attack.

As the book started I fell in love with Maya as a character straight away, she was sharp and witty with times I was actually laughing out loud. I loved how she addressed certain situations were becoming a bit of a cliche of the rom-com style movie.
I didn’t however feel much of a connection to any of the other characters, they all seemed to be a bit of a stereotype but not in an intentional way, there was the love interest who could do not wrong, the feisty best friend, and a rather bland attempt at a love triangle. I found Kareem a rather pointless character as he was very prominent in the first half of the novel then kind of pushed aside and forgotten about. I really did enjoy him as a character and feel that he may have been better if he was introduced as a best friend rather than a potential love interest.

I think that the matters addressed in the novel, such as racism and the reaction people have to the muslim community in light of any terror attack is so important. Those parts of the novel resonated with me the most and felt the most fleshed out. Sadly the rest didn’t quite live up.
The end seemed to be rushed and didn’t quite feel satisfying, it could have possibly benefited from a few extra chapters just to wrap things up slightly more. I would have especially liked to see more of Maya when she was in college.

A part of the book that didn’t quite gel with me was the third person story that was on the end of each chapter that was telling the story of the bomber who committed the terror attack. I’m not quite sure if this was just a slip on my behalf whilst reading but I didn’t find this to be obvious when reading and wasn’t until close to the end of the novel I realised. I thought it to be more cinematic ideas that Maya was having that related to events of the chapter. I do really like this as an idea but felt it possibly wasn’t executed well enough.

Overall I did enjoy reading the novel, it was fast paced and gripping with an extremely likeable main character. I think that the world needs more own voices novels and those that deal with topics such as this one did, it just a shame that I found certain parts not up too the standards of the rest.

Thank you, NetGalley for eARC in exchange for an honest review.
https://bookstalebyme.wordpress.com/2017/12/28/love-hate-other-filters-arc-review/

I really enjoyed this book. While it is presented as YA, I still felt it was really relevant to a 30 year old. Maya is struggling with her dreams of being a filmmaker and her duty as an indian/muslim daughter. Her dilemma over which university to go to is then overshadowed as a terrorist attack by someone with the same surname as her. While Maya feels very much American, others at her school start to view her differently. The book is well written and the subject matter is interesting and relevant.

I have to admit, I did not expect this book to be this good. I am not a big fan of what you would call “a casual teenage novel”, and yet this was simply just my taste. Maya represents a powerful brown young girl in America just like Starr is a strong black teenager in “The Hate You Give” by Angie Thomas. In a parallel world, I see these girls meeting and becoming genuine friends,truly. I am pretty much waiting for a sequel of this book, that’s for sure!

Love, Hate and Other Filters is a quick read that teens are sure to enjoy. The teen voices are original and this story offers something new to the existing YA landscape. Maya is an extremely relatable narrator, and I found myself reminded of episodes of Masters of None, as both main characters come to terms with their Indian heritage as well as parental expectations and obligations.

The supporting characters in Love, Hate and Other Filters were equally well-done, and Violet is definitely the fictional best friend we all need, equally Hina is the stuff aunties are made of. I could have done without the constant reminders of Phil's dimple.

The plot is somewhat simple but the story is extremely relevant and necessary. The dual narrative didn't add much to the storyline but it didn't feel distracting either. The major drawback for me was the unnecessary love triangles (but if you love the trope this is the book for you), and the fact that the first half of the book was devoted to a purely romantic plot point. The denouement feels a bit rushed but oddly satisfying.

There were a couple sexist phrases that went unchecked within the narrative, so it may be worth keeping an eye out for them.

In summary, Hate and Other Filters is a great debut and one that I would recommend to anyone looking for a quick read, interested in learning and understanding other cultures, or looking for a quick fully YA.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for approving me for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book, I'll admit, was captivating from the very first page to the end. I thought it was a timely, important story and it was even better that it included a diverse cast of characters and points of view, especially seen as the protagonist was Indian-American and Muslim. I really enjoyed how the author also tackled the challenging topic of Islamophobia head on and doesn't dance around it, like many other well renowned authors tend to do. (Yes, this tea is scalding)

Love, Hate & Other Filters follows the life of Maya, an aspiring film director, who is stuck between chasing her dreams or pleasing her overbearing parents. In this midst of this, she's tackling a romance set up with Kareem by her parents, while also developing feelings for the popular jock in her school, Phil. The plot goes totally one way and you think you can predict the ending, when all of a sudden, there's a terrorist attack near her town by a man with the same surname as her. Suddenly the spotlight is turned on her and her family and those around her wonder whether they can be trusted or if they had a connection to the crime. 

I really liked how tense and engaging this book was. However, I did at certain points feel like the pace was too slow and the integration of scenes wasn't written that well. I loved the characters of Maya and Violet and their friendship, but I found Phil to be a particularly bland, boring and predictable love interest.

This book comes to you in two very distinct parts. The first is a version of All The Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han, with our main character, Maya, attracting the interest of two boys: the very sweet parents-approve Muslim and the most popular guy at school that Maya's had a crush on for years.

In the first chapter, she seems really into Kareem. They meet at an Indian wedding and have a lot in common, with Kareem encouraging Maya to pursue her dream of being a film-maker. It was cute and I was looking forward to the romance unfolding, following in the footsteps of When Dimple Met Rishi. 

Then Paul gets introduced later and there's this contrived way from them to hang out: teaching Maya to swim. Paul was an exciting prospect because I haven't read many interracial relationship before, but I couldn't get behind their romance because Paul was already in a relationship. He's hanging out with Maya in a definitely romantic fashion, and neither of them show any remorse for the fact that what they're doing is cheating. It wasn't okay in Anna and the French Kiss and it's not okay here. I can't root for a couple when I know there's another girl outside the page that's getting her heart broken.

The cheating thing felt especially bitter when Kareem was so lovely and an all around great guy. I didn't understand that something which started quite flirty quickly fizzled out into 'let's just be friends'. I've never been on the 'wrong' side of a love triangle before, so this was an interesting experience and one that I hope never to have again.

So, if you haven't got the sense already, this is definitely a contemporary romance. It stays that way for around 60-70% of the book. The rest of the story takes a complete U-turn from this.

At the end of every chapter, you get this tiny scene that slowly tells the story of a suspected suicide bomber that shares the same surname as Maya. They are in no way related, but the town reacts as if Maya's family is responsible for the trauma. The 15% where this storyline is pursued feels like a different book. I wish it had played a bigger part in the book as a whole, because it felt like I was waiting and waiting to get to the moment described on the blurb, and the romance was just filler until then. Regardless, this plot line was powerful and will always be relevant to what's going on in the world, but particularly this year when every day we seem to wake up to news of another terror attack, or more mass injuries. It was jarring to place these two things together, but realistic in the way that a terror threat is always going to deeply disturb a normal life.

However, if I didn't know this book was going to have such a powerful perspective on the repercussions of prejudice, hatred and Islamophobia, I don't think I would have kept reading beyond the halfway point.

I'm so pleased that more books like this are being published, and that I got the chance to read about a character so far from my own perspective. It's definitely inspired me to try and find more books like this in 2018 - and also finally get round to The Hate You Give...

Love, Hate and Other Filters by Samira Ahmed

This book is a perfect example of the stories we need right now. A seventeen year old Indian-American Muslim girl living in a small town trying to balance what it means to be Muslim, Indian and American. Maya just wants to go to prom, go to college, make movies and have a boyfriend. She wants to be a normal teenager. But her parents want her to be a traditional Indian girl, stay close to home, become a lawyer and marry a successful Indian man. Appeasing them, while staying true to herself is becoming a problem. Then there is a terrorist attack and the person they suspect is a Muslim and Maya feels all eyes on her. When her parents’s office is attacked it becomes apparent that though she may see herself as an American, born and raised in the United States, others will choose how they see her and treat her accordingly.

This book was incredible and a complete joy to read. It’s funny because when I first started reading it I felt like a teenager again. I remember the butterflies and the feeling of being near my crush or of simply having a crush. I remembered the excitement of planning to go to college. I remembered simply going to school and being around my friends. Maya felt like an average teenage girl who likes a boy. Then subtle comments were made about airport screenings and having brown skin. Then things became not so subtle and it became very clear the pain Maya was in and the fear. Ahmed created a story that had me reeling back in forth with emotions, the joy of being young and the fear of being targeted. Her world building lured me into a place of security and then threw me into a place of restlessness. Her characters were well developed and believable with the necessary amount of nuance needed to pull off this story.

In this day and age stories like Maya’s are what we need more of. The plight of an American girl being targeted for her heritage, faith and culture because of someone else’s pure ignorance is relevant now, because it is happening and it is so very wrong and troubling. In Ahmed’s hands and with her writing skill this story was brought to life and the truth was laid bare. She created beautiful characters that you couldn’t help but relate to. She did a beautiful job writing about Indian culture. And she told an important story that will hopefully help other’s build empathy towards situations they don’t understand. I’m excited for this book and I’m excited to read more from Ahmed.

Maya was the type of character that I have been missing in YA. I loved that she loved doing art and I could really relate to dream of going to college, willing to do anything to get there. I really appreciated the fact that her family and her had some conflict, it created a great family dynamic since they tend to defend their Indian Muslim traditions. This being said, Maya was a teen with two different identities who merged and made her into the strong independent girl that she is. I am a big fan of powerful books that touch on sensitive topics like Islamophobia. I recommend reading this if you like Jenny Han.

I loved that the first half of this was us learning about Maya and seeing her life before. Showing how her culture affects her everyday life.
This is such a quick read that you're captivated from page 1

Thank you Netgalley and Hot Key books for this ARC in exchange for an honest and fair review.

*Potential Spoilers*

This book has helped me understand so much and I would definitely recommend this to so many people.

After reading That Hate U Give I was definitely in the mood for something similar and this fits that bill so well. This book has taught me all about the racism in America right now and has shown me how it affects those on the other side, which as a British woman is not something I am familiar with unless it has been shown on the News channel.

It has also shown me a great deal how much the media don't help when something as big as happens and how it has an affect on not only the community that is assumed to be involved but those around them.

I absolutely loved the writing, it had me gripped and I honestly didn't want to put it down.
I loved the characters and seeing the way that the Muslim Indian culture works which is definitely not something I have ever witnessed or been a part of.
There are various different trials and tribulations and Ahmed uses such amazing language that you feel that you need to keep reading to see how they turn out and if she can succeed in getting herself to New York or have her parents be happy with the life she wants to lead.

I loved the character of Maya, being able to see the character grow and develop is fun to read and had me feeling that it was a character I could feel some form of connection with her and the development that she has over the course of the novel. I loved being able to see how she goes from trying to do what is expected of her by her parents to being her own person.
I also loved both love interests, Phil and Kareem, the differences and the similarities between them both is amazing.

However I would have liked to have seen more of Kareem, it felt that he was such an easy going character that he was able to help create a good balance for such a serious subject matter.

I also would have liked to have known whether Phil managed to succeed in his plans for college and going to the wild and doing everything he wanted to do.

Additionally I would like to have seen how Brian was charged and punished for what he did as I feel I didn't get enough closure in that aspect.

However I would definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoyed THUG. It is definitely a must read for 2018.

I recieved this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review


Maya is passionate about making movies it's the only thing she wants to do but her parents have other idea. Born into an Indian Muslim family they want her to marry
an Indian boy and become a lawyer staying closer to home than she desires to. However this story is filled with so much more than this, it's got own voices, love, hate, racism and many more topics that are important today.

I loved this book, Maya was an enjoyable character, she was filled with passion and drive for what she wanted out of life and this really did show throughout.

This is about love, yes but the main point in this novel is the importance in not being ignorant, when the suicide bomb happens everyone assumes that the act itself is done by a Muslim man which leads to devastating death threats for Maya and her family and racist abuse from a student at school.
Everything in this book just makes me and i'm sure many readers stop and think for a second that many people deal with this on a daily basis just because they are a different skin colour or religion, when in reality we as human's are all equal in the eyes of god and should be equal in each other's eyes too and as for terrorism, it does not have a religion or race it's simply about an act
done by an evil person acting alone or with others to hurt or kill.

This was such a powerful novel and i believe many people should read it, it also had really good characters and great writing throughout, flowing in a nice way that made it a rather quick read.

I look forward to reading more from this author in the future

I thought this was great. A little slow to start (and I couldn't take the name 'Phil' seriously - as a Brit it just makes me think of 40 year old plumbers) but Maya was a great character and it quickly veered away from being a typical love triangle story. A realistic and heartbreaking look at the effect of Islamophobia today, while being intertwined with a sweet romance. Would love to see more of Maya.

For such a short book, Love, Hate & Other Filters packs quite a punch. It tackles Islamophobia, identity struggles, first love, and so much more.

It took me no time at all to get sucked into this book and fall in love with Maya. She’s such a great main character and I loved following her on her journey as she tried to be a Muslim, and an Indian, and an American, and a teenager.

The romance really took a back seat here. Sure, it was present throughout the book, but everything was really about Maya, instead of Maya and the love interest(s).

I felt like it could have been longer, because once I was sucked in it was over in no time at all, and I would have happily read another 100 pages of Maya’s story. The pacing was really good though, and I can’t fault it.

Love, Hate & Other Filters was a fantastic #ownvoices read. I’d highly recommend it!

Honestly, I am not really familiar with Islamophobia and I think books with that that theme is really important. As well, I’m not a Muslim and not well-educated with Islam, so, I don’t know if Samira Ahmed did the justice on presenting it.

Maya Aziz, an Indian-Muslim, lives in Chicago and dreams to study film making in New York. However, a terrible incident happened that brings their community to hate and fear her family.

Hina is the coolest Auntie! And I don’t know if I’m Team Kareem or Team Phil. Kareen is an Indian-Muslim, a gentleman, sweet and humurous. Phil is American, Maya’s classmate since kindergarten, but they only got close now, and he has a girlfriend named Lisa. However, I do felt what Maya feel towards Kareem. He’s like a big brother that she never has, but I’m still rooting Kareem and Maya!

Just a thought of a possibility that the suicide bomber has same religion like you (I know for a fact that Muslims always receive the hatred when there are attacks even though not all terrorists are Muslims), but what’s worst is the possibility that you have the same last name with a suicide bomber. I want to hug Maya because I know how suffocating it is, but I’m glad to see how strong woman she is. She is being rational and understands her parents though her dreams are shattered. Muslims who lives anywhere in the world always struggles because of negative image of Islam in the media, and most people around them stereotypes.

I’m learning so much about Indian’s culture and Islam from this book. I couldn’t stop searching at Google the Indian words especially the foods, to help me imagine what it is. As a Filipino, I noticed that there are Indian cultures and traditions that was mentioned in the book that are similar to Filipino culture and tradition. Moreover, I like it that this book does not mainly focus on the romance but also focuses on culture, religion, family relationship and friendship. The characters are likable though at some point there are parts wherein it is predictable. Love, Hate and Other Filters focused on Maya’s life but I like it that I get snippets of the other perspectives. But overall, I like this book so much.

It took me so long to finish this because I had those days wherein I do not want to move or do anything. The book is not the problem but me. I enjoy reading this book because it does not only give me added knowledge but also this book also represents POC. I highly recommend Love, Hate and Other Filters to other readers because of its diversity, especially to those wants to understand more about Asian culture and Islam.

This is a really timely book about being a Muslim in America. It's equal parts serious (Islamophobia, issues stemming from being the child of immigrants) and light hearted (love triangles, having to attend terrible family weddings). I'd recommend it both to anyone who's experienced Islamophobia or who is maybe a little bit sheltered and doesn't understand the issues Muslims face these days.

This is a classic case of it's not you [the book], it's me. I've been on a mystery kick of late, and I don't think I'm quite past it. A YA contemporary book is just not going to cut it. That being said, this was still a really good book, even though I rounded down to 3 stars.

Love, Hate & Other Filters is about Maya, an aspiring filmmaker living in a town in Illinois. To start with, the book switches between chapters from her point of view, and brief interludes from the terrorist's point of view. That was my first major sticking point, because I didn't see a reason to include these interludes. All they served to do was break up Maya's narrative and that sort of thing doesn't really fit into a contemporary book. It makes sense to have that sort of thing in a mystery book (not that I particularly like it as a trope), but it just felt out of place in this. It makes more sense the further you get into the book - it's like a parallel story going on, and even later is used for things like newspaper articles, and all that works - but it's just to start out with that I struggled with it.

The other problem with the first half of the book I had was the love triangle. Particularly the fact that one of the people involved in it was a 21 year old. And Maya is 17. It definitely felt a little uncomfortable. At least it wasn't a serious love triangle. It kind of died off pretty quickly, which was nice. The only thing was all the romances in this book seemed kind of unsatisfactory, and just a bit lacking in character development. We know from the start that Maya has a crush on Phil, but then about two thirds of the way through suddenly it's being called love, without any sort of development to back it up. Heck, they're not even together at that point. It also had a pretty unsatisfactory ending, but I guess it makes sense. They're 18 at the end, and going off to completely different universities. And they weren't even properly dating so far as I know? So you can see why I called it unsatisfactory (even if it is realistic).

One last point: the pacing of the book seemed a little off. It goes pretty slowly for the first half of it, or so, and then everything's crammed into the next 40%. And then it slows down again for the last 10%. Either it could have been better spaced out, or the book could have been longer to deal with that - the ARC was only about 250 pages long, so it was short, as far as books are concerned.

Overall, I enjoyed this book, and I am being a little harsh in rounding down, but I think I wasn't in the right mood to enjoy it as much as I might have otherwise.

Absolutely fantastic! I’ve heard some great hype about this book so I was a little bit worried that I would ultimately end up disappointed but not at ALL. This is such a well written book that I almost can’t believe it’s a debut and the story is told so frankly that it really highlights the reality of living as a young Muslim in America.

A timely and important read, this was at times utterly heartbreaking. However, it was also tremendously fun. Maya is three dimensional and leaps off the page, getting inside her head was such a privilege as a reader. This was also LOL-funny at times, the jokes were on point and witty and contrasted with the more poignant moments of the story, this made for a emotionally compelling and vastly entertaining read. Confronting a topic such as Islamophobia is hard, but here it was tackled with complexity and sensitivity. This is a book I'd recommend to everyone, it's easily one of my favourite reads of the year.