This is the third book in a series
This is a heartwarming and compelling read. An easy book to become engrossed in. The pacing was perfect. The characters are written beautifully and are so believable.
A great book

I absolutely have adored Nadiya Hussain as soon as I saw her on the Great British Bake Off, I loved her. I love her cookery books and I'm always loving her on TV too.  I was really intrigued when she started her series of books about the Amir Sisters and I really love her writing style. I do enjoy books that are easy to get into and I absolutely adore the cover designs. So when The Hopes and Triumphs of the Amir Sisters came out in January, I knew I needed to read the next book, It does work as a standalone book.

I think the first book is still my favourite of the series but I think that's because of the introductions of all the characters and it all being so new. If you were looking for a new book series to get into, I totally recommend this one. I look forward to the next chapter of the Amir Sisters story.

Well after reading some of the reviews on GR I was going into this book with some trepidation. I thoroughly enjoyed it! No idea what book those people read🤷‍♀️.

I loved Mae, I LOVED being a fly on the wall with the complexities of family life and sisterhood.
I will definitely be looking at reading the others in the series.

Really enjoyed this book thank you. Vibrant, believable, characters and an absorbing plot. I will ensure I look out for this author in the future!

When i started reading this book I did not realise it was a 2nd in a series, which led me to struggle getting my head around which characters were being addressed. However after a couple of chapters I fell completely into this book! It was heartwarming with real characters all of which i feel i could learn something from. A very nice finding your own path story which i feel many young adults would benefit from reading. If there are to be more in this series i would be sure to pick up!.
Thankyou to Netgalley for sending me an ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

I have a little confession to make. Yes another one. Although I have Nadiya's other books in the series on my huge and ever increasing 'to be read' mountain, I haven't actually read one yet. However now I realise just how fabulous 'The Amir Sisters' series is, I can certainly say that they won't be on that 'TBR' mountain for very much longer. I thoroughly enjoyed reading 'The Hopes & Triumphs Of The Amir Sisters' but more about that in a bit.
This episode of the series is told mainly from the point of view of Mae, who is the youngest of the sisters. I found it easy to warm to Mae from the start and I felt rather protective of her throughout. Mae is unsure of who she is at the moment. She is the youngest of the siblings and she hasn't got any children, unlike her sisters. Mae is a student at university but she isn't finding living away from home all that easy. Mae and her siblings were inter reliant on each other and so Mae hasn't felt the need to form friendships outside the family home. In the Amir household there's always something happening or babies to be looked after. Mae has led such a sheltered life up to now and university life is a shock to her. I suppose in a way she has fear of the unknown. Eventually Mae decides that she needs to live her life, have new experiences and make new friends. Her attempts don't always have the best results but I kept everything crossed that things would work out for her in the end. Mae is just lovely, she is a bit naïve, she is initially very low in self esteem but she is extremely kind and very compassionate.
I must be honest and say that it took me a little while to get into this book, which has more to do with the fact that I was tired and in pain when I started to read and finding it hard to concentrate and cannot be taken as a criticism of the author. Once I got into the story, that was it- I just couldn't put the book down for any length of time. I totally immersed myself in the lives of the Amir family and I felt right at home with them. Reading 'The Hopes & Triumphs Of The Amir Sisters' became an addiction. I would pick the book up only intending to read a chapter or two but I would still be sat there reading four or five chapters later. It didn't take me long at all to get through this story, which I had mixed feelings about. Don't get me wrong I was pleased to finish because it meant that I knew how this episode of the series ended but I was enjoying the author's writing style, the characters and the storylines so much that I just didn't want the book to end, so I was disappointed to say a temporary goodbye to the Amir family. I soon cheered up though when I realised that I had the other books in the series to catch up on.
'The Hopes & Triumphs Of the Amir Sisters' is well written. In the Amir family, the author has created characters that you won't fail to warm to. She describes the characters so well that they seemed to spring to life and jump off the page as it were. They seemed just as real as you and I. The author has a familiar writing style which grabs your attention and draws you into the story. Reading this book felt more like a discussion between friends than a written book. In other words reading this book felt like a pleasure and not a chore. I hope that makes sense. The author uses such vivid and realistic descriptions that I did feel as though I was part of the story myself.
In short, I thoroughly enjoyed reading 'The Hopes & Triumphs Of The Amir Sisters' and I would definitely recommend this book to other readers. I will definitely be reading more of this author's work- in fact as soon as I get a moment I will be reading the first books in the series. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 5* out of 5*.

This book first appealed to me when I spotted the cover, its so pretty in the illustrated style that I love. The story also sounded just my cup of tea too as I love books that have a big family at the centre. I then discovered it was the third book in a series, which was exciting as it meant i had two whole books to explore. I read books one and two in quick succession and completly fell in love with the four sisters, their world and travelling along their personal journeys with them.
In book one we are introduced to the four Amir sisters, Fatima, Bubblee, Farah and Mae. We are offered a real insight into each of their lives, with all of them are facing their own struggles. Book two allows us to catch up with the girls but has slightly more of a focus on Farah and her journey. Throughout both books the sisters face some real ups and downs with some quite sad and shocking events being thrown at them. Despite this and the occasional falling out they are however both peppered with a sense of love and togetherness that this family feel for each other.

In this book we focus a little more on Mae, the youngest sister’s and her journey. Having finished books one and two and knowing Mae from these stories I was a little hesitant going into this book because if I am honest, Mae was my least favourite character in the previous books. However, I always find it interesting to read a story focused on a character who isn’t my favourite as it is nice to get more of an insight and see if my opinion of them changes.

I loved this book! It just had so many elements that I love in a story. I think my favourite part was the beginning which is set at a UK university and following Maes life whilst there. Universities are one of my buzz settings in books, especially when the characters are living on site. This is an experience I never had so I always enjoy seeing what it may have been like to live away from home. However Mae’s experiences are not the positive ones you often see portrayed and I really liked that it explored how lonely university life can be if you don’t immediately make friends and ‘fit in’. I really empathised with Mae’s experience as I remember my first year of university feeling incredibly lonely. You can suddenly be hit with so many changes and feel like a big fish in a small pond and this book really captured that feeling.

Throughout this book we also saw Mae navigate relationships, explore her sexuality, battle feelings of being lost as her family evolve whilst she is away, not knowing her place and feeling like she doesn’t fit in and how this can impact on your education and lead to possible dangers. This book also offers an interesting insight into how it may feel to be a teenager walking the line between honouring your culture, traditions and family beliefs whilst trying to carve your own path. It was also great catching up with the rest of the family I have come to love from the prior books and experience the mix of happy, sad and funny moments.

Overall I think this is a thoughtful, well crafted and paced story and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I cannot decide if this book or book one is my favourite now. It was great getting to know Mae better and seeing her more vulnerable side compared to the bubbly silly sister of previous books. I am sad I am now up to date with this series and hope there will be more books to come from the Amir sisters in the future.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book for review.

Review of The Hopes And Triumphs Of The Amir Sisters by Nadiya Hussain.
Posted on January 23, 2020 by Sue

I didn’t realise that this book was part of a series, but that said, it is a very good stand-alone book. I didn’t feel the two previous books had to be read in order for the storyline to make sense.

This particular book centres on the youngest of the Amir sisters, Mae. Mae is coming home for the holidays, excited to see her family as she has been at University. Her brother-in-law is supposed to be picking her up, only he isn’t there when Mae exits the train.

Feeling a little deflated that her family seem to have forgotten about her, Mae does what she always does and cracks a joke about what has just happened.

The family seem to have evolved in her absence and Mae feels extremely left out. Trying to get the attention of her family whilst at home isn’t working, so Mae decides to go back to Uni early. She feels really hurt by her family’s lack of interest in her life at Uni and a few tears start to escape when she’s on the train heading back.

After her crying bout on the train she decides to put her make-up on. Her attention is drawn to a man sitting opposite her and at first she thinks he is flirting with her, but it soon becomes apparent he is acting in a creepy manner.

A few days later she discovers that the man from the train had secretly filmed her putting her make-up on and had posted the video onto social media, commenting about how women think they are entitled to do these things and so on. Mae is horrified to find that the video has gone viral and that there are so many negative comments about her.

Feeling alone and hurt she decides to go to a bar to have some fun. After having too many drinks she is dancing on the dance floor when a young man starts grinding his body against hers. Unbeknownst to Mae he has also spiked her drink.

They go outside and luckily for Mae a couple of young women save her from the potential attacker. But Mae remembers nothing of this as she has started to black out due to the drugs.

One of the young women, Ji Su takes her back to her dorm and stays with her to make sure she is OK. The next day a friendship between the two develops and they soon become inseparable. Mae hasn’t really been putting the work in for her course but with the help of her new found friend she begins to study.

By the end of the year Mae’s lack of effort for her studies is showing and it emerges that she has failed her first year. To make things worse she has also had a falling out with Ji Su. She was supposed to be moving in with Ji Su for the summer but has to go home as the two friends are not speaking.

Once home she is too ashamed to tell her family the truth about her failure. Her parents had paid for her first year at Uni and she worries what they will say when they learn of her failure. She is determined to pay them back and decides to get a job. She finds work at a local amusement park, her role is the back end of horse! In this role she meets Abdul-Raheem and they hit it off immediately. A romance blossoms but she isn’t certain where it can lead.

Abdul-Raheem is a black muslim and Mae is worried about her family’s reaction. They are Bengali and are very set in their ways. Mae keeps her relationship a secret from her family as she doesn’t want a scene. Nor does she want Abdul-Raheem to be insulted or hurt by the way her family will react to him.

But one evening when she is babysitting for her sisters she finds she needs Abdul-Raheem’s help. He comes over and helps her with Zoya, her niece, who has been a little unwell. But unbeknownst to them Mae’s step-nephew, who has a crush on Mae, has witnessed Abdul-Raheem in the house with Mae and he blows her secret by informing the family that Mae has a man round at her sisters house.

The whole family turn up and what happens next is an ugly scene where her parents are racially abusive to Abdul-Raheem. Once he has left there is a huge argument which ends with Mae leaving and going in search of her boyfriend. He lets her spend the night, but he refuses to engage in anything physical as he is a devout Muslim and to have a sexual relationship with her would go against his religious beliefs.

The argument almost tears the family apart, their opinions of every aspect of Mae’s life are quite extreme, but none more so than how they reacted to her involvement with Abdul-Raheem.

As soon as I started reading this book I was hooked. Mae is lost. She is struggling with her feelings. Her identity. Her sexuality. Her role in life. She struggles with her feelings over what it would mean to date a black boy, and she knows that her family would never accept Abdul-Raheem.

This book is very thought provoking, especially when dealing with the issues of race, religion, class and culture. Delving into Mae’s life gives an insight into the role a young, nineteen year old Asian girl plays in the dynamics of her family. A family that is very close knit and who stay true to their traditions and way of life.

Mae doesn’t feel like she fits in anymore within the family dynamics, we see this as she explores her sexuality, her freedom, and her role in life. The troubles that ensue give the reader a glimpse into the very real struggles young Asian women are facing.

Towards the end of the book Mae finds her way and makes up with her family. Her parents eventually understand what she is trying to tell them and she goes back to University to study a new course. She finds herself and is optimistic for her future.

This book is so wonderfully written, the story flows well, the characters are likeable and their issues drive the story forward. The cultural differences are quite subtle until the major argument, but even then I found I could see all perspectives.

This is a MUST read, even as a stand alone book, but I have to say I am eager to read the other books that make up the series.

Brilliant storyline that highlights the struggles young Asian women face, and the family bonds that a close knit family share. A heartwarming story that had me gripped throughout.

Highly recommended.

Such a wonderful heartwarming story, full of lovely characters, real relationships, family, friendship and love. This book is what I always think of as a look after yourself book, the type I read when I need a smile or a hug. It’s guaranteed to make you feel a bit less alone and more positive. Truly lovely story and warm writing

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

This is not the usual genre I read, but every now and then I do like something other than a thriller. I have to say this is such a charming tale of family and love.

Mae is 19 and in her first year at uni, she’s lonely and feeling a bit lost. She has a really bad day and heads for a bar….now this girl doesn’t touch alcohol normally, but ends up just a bit worse for wear and a guy tries to take advantage of her. She is rescued and taken home by Ji Su…..

Mae and Ji Su become close friends, but one night a shared kiss changes things. They stop speaking and then Mae fails her first year and heads home.

Here, family chaos with babies and sisters, she feels invisible.

She gets a summer job and meets a lovely, kind man, Abdul-Raheem….a possible relationship her family would just not understand or accept.

Will Mae make the right decision for herself?

A beautifully written tale of family, sexuality, faith, acceptance and growing up.. A funny, warm hug of a read. I loved every minute.

Thank you to Jess at HQ and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this lovely book for free. This is my honest and unbiased review.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. This was a really enjoyable easy read with great characters. I would recommend

Heart warming and funny. This was a delightful tale about family and the bond between sisters. Breezed through this one!