Thank you Netgalley and Hachette Children's Group for the arc.

Wow. This novel was breathtaking. A sapphic novel we all need to read! I adored the enemies-to-lovers trope and loved the school setting. I wish I had this book during my sexuality crisis growing up.

I appreciated how Jaigirdar did not hold back on the important topic we as a society need to discuss, i.e. cultural appropriation. As a Latina, I saw our culture become trends and it was so hard to hold your peers accountable when trying to fit in was hard enough. It was so satisfying to see a our main character, Nishat, shed light on it.

All my fears from when I was a teen finding out I was bisexual rushed back to me during this novel. I wish I had this book to make me feel less alone and understood, from the bullying to the fear of your parents and religion.

It was an emotional read with heartwarming moments and I recommend to all my sapphic sisters.

Enemies to friends to lovers - one of my favourite YA cliches.

This book is so much more than a cliche though - Nishat is flawed, selfish and occasionally quite whiny, although the things that happen to her are enough to make anyone quite upset. The protagonist was so much more real to me because I found myself disliking her at times.

The relationship between Nishat and her little sister Priti was an absolute delight, and I loved how the affection they felt for each other flowed off the page.

This book at its heart was an exploration of what it’s like to be a queer Bangladeshi girl growing up in Ireland (written by a queer Bangladeshi girl who grew up in Ireland) and it masterfully explores homophobia, racism, culture clashes and the sometimes unstable dynamic of tradition and modernity. It felt relevant to today through its discussions about cultural appropriation vs cultural appreciation, and the minority experience of micro aggressions.

But it is also a love story, and it’s impossible to escape that fact. Nishat and Flàvia make a sweet pairing and I was rooting for them from page 1.

I think what made this book stand out for me was that although it was a romance, everything wasn’t perfect. When Nishat came out to her parents they didn’t take it well and it was painful to read. But it was the realistic experience of so many queer BIPOC people. By the end of the book her parents are slowly coming around, but it isn’t a magical fix that makes everything perfect.

Similarly Chyna (the antagonist of the story) is told that she is racist and that what she is doing is wrong, and she seems to make some minimal steps towards positive change, but overall she doesn’t apologise and swear she’ll change her ways. This again is realistic to the experiences of many queer and BIPOC people in today’s society.

This book had heart and substance and an important message within it that I absolutely loved - would recommend to everyone.

I loved the idea of this book, and the fact it was set in Ireland made it even better for me. Seeing characters talk about things like the Junior Cert and Transition Year was just incredible. Though, several of the characters and the events in Nishat's school made me glad my days in TY are far behind me.

This book comes with several trigger warnings for homophobia and Islamaphobia. Ireland is becoming more diverse, but not always more welcoming and these thoughts and opinions, while completely abhorrent, are to be found in Ireland to this day. It's something Jaigirdar writes well. I also loved seeing some influences of Bangladeshi culture in this book, and always love a fiction book from which you can still learn something.

A really beautiful and heartwarming YA story exploring sexuality, homophobia, racism and appropriation. Jaigirdar also writes about the love between siblings and friends, the importance of communication between loved ones in order to understand one another and the immigrant experience in Ireland. Dealt with sensitivity and with nuance, The Henna Wars is a really stunning feat and I look forward to what Jaigirdar writes next!

"The Henna Wars" is a young adult contemporary novel about a teenage girl named Nishat who decides to participate in a business competition. She settles on going with painting original patterns with henna on people's hands and arms but soon realises that her best-friend-turned-enemy had a similar idea.

The narrative flows really nicely, the characters are well fleshed and relatable for the most part. The most interesting for me was probably the elements of eastern culture that I'm not that familiar with, especially the importance of henna and its meaning.

Overall, "The Henna Wars" is a nice young adult novel full of teenage angst and teens trying to navigate the complexities of relationships.

Content trigger warnings at the beginning of the book which made me love it from the start!
I loved the characters from the start and by the end I was in love with them! I think this book took a really interesting approach and I found the ending a really lovely way to finish the book though some parts were frustrating because I wanted a happily ever after!

A great YA read and one that talks about LGBT+ and addresses how bitchy girls can be sometimes! I loved that it wasn’t focused on being a romance, but talked about Nishat’s life journey through the timeline of a school project, I really found it interesting to reflect on the characters at the beginning of the book compared to the end and I’m inspired by how brave, strong and open Nishat became towards the end!

A great book that I loved reading, I flew through it and would definitely recommend this YA read!

When Nishat comes out to her parents, it doesn't go quite as well as she'd hoped. It could have gone worse - no one yelled, or threatened to kick her out, but... they just barely reacted. Acting like if they ignored what she'd just said, Nishat would forget all about it and it wouldn't be a problem. Tensions are strained at home because of this, so Nishat throws herself head first into her school business project, starting a business close to her heart - henna. But when a couple of white girls in her year also choose henna, the competition starts heating up. Especially because one of the girls, Flavia, is Nishat's long time crush. Fighting between all of her different identities, Nishat struggles to be true to herself, her culture, her sexuality, and her morals, when she sees sabotage as the only way to win.

The Henna Wars is an emotional and heartfelt novel while also being a funny, uplifting read. There were so many elements of this novel that I absolutely loved and was always desperate to get back to reading it.

When Nishta comes out to her Bengali parents, she's worried about their reaction, or more likely, their lack of reaction. She seeks comfort in the warmth and acceptance of her little sister Priti, and their close relationship was probably my favourite thing to read about in this book. The two sisters fight, they disagree, there's banter and competition between them, but deep down - actually no, not even that deep, it's quite surface level - there is an unconditional love between them that is stronger than most sister relationships I think I've ever read about. The support and care taking between the two is so heart warming to read, and it's a real strength of the characters but also of the author to be able to show the complexities and depth of the sisterhood. There are peaks and troughs to this relationship throughout the book, as there is in any sister relationship, especially when it involves teenagers, and sure, Nishat drops the ball more than once, but it's beautiful to read them power on together and mend those cracks when they do occur.

Priti is there for Nishat through everything she facing, from her parents resisting her sexuality, the homophobia she experiences when she is outed, and the racism they both have to face on a daily basis after resident school bully Chyna spreads rumours and makes fun because of their culture's food and customs. This is heightened when Chyna and Flavia, inspired by the one Desi wedding Flavia has ever been to, decide that they have the right to start a Henna company for the school project. Dirty tactics and sabotage galore, both teams are fighting to win, but after a spat with her best friends, Nishat is on her team alone.

The Henna Wars does such a good job and showing how racism and homophobia can be subtle and under the radar, but the effects of that sort of bullying can be just as devastating, and how they affect teenagers especially. The book in these places was hard hitting but sensitive, and shows how that sort of behaviour is overlooked and still prevalent in Ireland, and also the UK.

This was a tough book to read in many places, as Nishat deals with issues with her parents, her sister, falling out with friends, racism, homophobia, being outed at school, having to fight for her culture, but there is also so much optimism and uplifting hope from this book, too, and the novel is filled with cute and heartfelt moments between the characters, funny and witty remarks, and realistic and moving interactions. It was a diverse cast and there was heapings of details of Bengali culture to immerse the readers in Nishat's life.

Overall, I really LOVED this book so much, I can't recommend it enough.

I think I went into this expecting something quite light and fluffy, but The Henna Wars actually does grapple with some weighty issues. It also made me feel extremely tense at times - I get this a lot from YA now I'm older, and can't figure out if its either just the horror at being cast back to high school, or anxiety about the character's choices. Either way, I raced through this, and had a great time doing so for most of the book!
I absolutely adored Priti, Nishat's little sister. (I would probably read a sequel focussing on her, just saying).
The writing can seem a little clunky at points, but I always wanted to know what happens next, and I didn't feel dragged away from the characters at any point. There were also some plot points which felt slightly unresolved to me, but again, nothing so large as to distract from how uplifted I felt at the novel's conclusion.
The ending is quiet and sweet, and fits well with the rest of the story.
3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

I really really enjoyed this.

It is not often I relate to books so much, it is set in Dublin where I am from and I felt like I was transported back to transition year in my Catholic school.

I felt the friends really mistreated Nishat, but I guess that is teenage girls for you?

Overall really enjoyed, so much so that I stayed up until 2 am to finish it last night!

The Henna Wars is an amazing YA book tackling a huge range of issues which affect teenagers of colour and those who are part of the LGBTQIA+ community. The discussion around cultural appropriation was important especially in the trend led social media world in which we live. Nishat and Flavia’s relationship kept me interested to the end, wondering whether it would blossom or not. This wasn’t just a straightforward YA romance and I loved that about it. It had substance and was thought provoking. A must read for fans of YA fiction.

Set in Ireland this tells the story of Nishat a teenage girl originally from Bangladesh who upon coming out to her parents is met with silence, shame and uncomfortable tension. Not only is acceptable not forthcoming at home Nishat also suffers from bullying, homophobia, cultural appropriation and racism (both overtly and in the form of micro aggressions) at school.

The story follows a business studies project that finds Nishat competing against her crush Flávia when both set up businesses proving Henna and emotions and competitiveness become blurred. However I found the relationship between Nishat and her sister to be the real heartbeat of this story and was beautiful to observe.

Overall this was a lovely heart warming young adult book with a bit of substance, it had romance and angst but also real commentary about racism, homophobia and self acceptance which I really enjoyed reading.

Thank you @netgalley and Hodder Children’s Books for a copy of this ARC.

This is a really cute coming out story about two teen age girls. It isn't smooth sailing for them at all, in fact the story does go very low in places. The main character is awfully bullied for being gay and South Asian and is publicly outed.

Having said that there are some lovely moments, I felt very involved in her culture and family and I loved the sister relationship.

This was really sweet and I loved all of the relationship dynamics!
Nishat and Priti were some of the most realistic siblings I’ve read, loving each other and bickering and standing up for each other and getting in fights and making up. *chef’s kiss*
Flavia and Nishat’s banter and flirting and back and forth was SO GOOD. They were so cute and I love them.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Children’s Group for an early copy.

It genuinely makes me émotive to think about all the awesome representation we’ve had in YA and children’s books this year. What’s more, 2021 is looking to be even more diverse!

The Henna Wars is an awesome representation not only of queerness during your teenage years, but also of different cultural backgrounds and how those might affect the reaction to said queerness. It doesn’t sugarcoat anything, all while giving readers hope, and I’m grateful for that. Though I really do appreciate sweet, positive romance books, things aren’t that easy and it’s good for authors to explore those bad sides too.

I really enjoyed The Henna Wars and its characters, who are all really endearing. The only one that tended to anger and annoy me from time to time was Flávia, but this was definitely something I felt the author was doing on purpose!

To sum up in a few words, The Henna Wars is a beautiful story of first love and learning to accept people no matter who they might love. A truly wonderful example of what diverse YA fiction should be!

🌿BOOK REVIEW🌿

The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar

🌼🌼🌼🌼/5

“What I want more than anything else in the world is to feel like being myself isn't something that should be hidden and a secret. What I want is for my parents to be outraged that someone betrayed me, not ashamed of my identity.”

TW// homophobia, racism, being outed

Nishat’s parents moved from Bangladesh to Ireland in the hope that they could raise their daughters away from the constrictive culture that they experienced. One day, Nishat comes out to her parents as she wants to be proud of her identity instead of hiding it. She is met with an uncomfortable silence, followed by a tense atmosphere in the house as her parents keep telling her that her “choice” is wrong. At school, there is a business competition and Nishat decides to start up her own henna business! Everything seems perfect until her old friend Flávia and her cousin decide to start a competing henna business.

I really wasn’t sure what to expect from this book but I have to say, as it went on I fell further and further in love with it!! This is a gorgeous YA story that could really help a lot of people. It deals with the horror of homophobia and being outed before you are ready. It also covers what it means to be gay and Muslim, and how difficult it is to push against cultural barriers. For me, The Henna Wars covered cultural appropriation in a fantastic way and explained it in a straightforward manner that YA readers would be able to understand.

It is a heartwarming read that tackles many complex social issues, and I would highly recommend picking it up!

I was lucky to receive an eARC on NetGalley curtesy of Hodder’s Children!

Before I start, I would like to thank NetGalley and the Hachette book group for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. You can buy the book on Amazon here, and add it to your Goodreads here!

I also want to say that reviewing this book was so hard because I had so many mixed feelings about everything that was going on. I struggled to decide on what to finally rate this book because there were so many aspects I loved, but there were also some that were lacklustre.

WHAT I LIKED
The family + sibling relationships. AHH!! I LOVED THESE!! The relationship between Priti and Nishat was heartwarming. I feel a lot of others reviews cover how much they adored the sisterly love in this book, because it was TO DIE FOR!! However, one aspect I feel, is not mentioned as much, is the relationship between Nishat, Priti, and their parents. I loved the relationship Nishat had with her parents almost as much as the one she had with Priti… Although her parents were disapproving of her sexuality, and her being Lesbian in the beginning of the book, we see how they start making an effort and stepping out of their comfort zone for their daughter. They start watching Ellen DeGeneres, and researching about Lesbians in Pop culture to feel closer to their daughter, but just the way they react is beautiful.

The inspirational & moving messages. I love how the author combined so many important themes into this story. I also love how even after adding so many heavy themes, and topics, the story stayed a light fluffy read. A lot of contemporary novels cover these topics, and just don’t do justice to them. If you’re looking for a book that tackles issues like racism, homophobia, and so much more without getting too heavy, this is the book for you.

How each of the characters evolved, and grew from when they were first introduced. I loved how in ‘The Henna Wars’ you could clearly see the growth in every character mentioned. Not just the main character, but also minor characters, which helped create a sense of depth to all of them, and really bring them to life. It was also really interesting to see how all of them grew, and changed from their past selves introduced in the first few chapters.

WHAT WASN'T MY CUP OF TEA
The writing style. I don’t think it’s just me, because I know a lot of readers felt the same way, but at times the writing style felt a bit childish and bland. I felt that the author chose themes that could have definitely been conveyed using more emotion, and she could have expressed her voice in a more powerful way.

The pacing. Like Ash said in her review, this book was really slow at points. It could definitely have a faster pace, and cut down on the excessive elaboration. It was droning, and kind of boring at times. According to me, this book definitely could have been faster at some points…

OVERALL
I’ve given ‘The Henna Wars’ a rating of 3.5 stars (as you can see above). Please don’t let that deter you from checking out this book, because it’s a beautiful, fluffy, OwnVoices, contemporary read (we need more books like these)!! Apart from the reasons stated above, I would give this book 3.5 stars, because I just couldn’t find myself relating with the story. Yes, it was just the break I needed from complex magic systems, but it wasn’t my type… A lot of bloggers I know have made this a favourite of 2020, though, so it’s always best to look at a range of opinions!!

* * * *
4 / 5

This was fun and cute and sweet. Nishat's parents say she can't be a lesbian. In between dealing with that bombshell and trying her best in the school's business competition - where Nishat wants to run her own henna business, even if her two best friends aren't fully behind her - she doesn't really have time to deal with Flavia, the beautiful and charming young woman. But actually, she kind of does.

At least Nishat is interested, until Flavia sets up her own competing henna business. When Nishat accuses her of cultural appropriation, their fledgling relationship goes out like a light. This book is cute, and a very light read, full of teen drama and current, modern issues. My only problem is it was a touch too heavy handed on the social criticism, which can make it come off way too preachy.

I'd recommend this one on the basis of a great sister sibling relationship, a cute romance, and readability.

Trigger warnings: outing of a main character, racism, homophobia.

Full review live on my website on January 5th, 2021!

Everyone's been talking about this book all year, and I've been patiently waiting for the UK release date (January 7th, 2021). So when I was offered the chance to review it for the upcoming blog tour, I don't think I've ever answered an email so quickly in my life! And boy did The Henna Wars hold up to the hype!

I set myself a nice, sensible reading goal of the first 25% of The Henna Wars when I first picked it up. And then I accidentally read the entire book in a single sitting, stopping only to whine at Tal about my damaged feelings. I absolutely adored this book, and I'm so glad that I got the chance to read it. I can't quite explain how *full* my heart feels at repeatedly and openly seeing a character described as a lesbian on page - no matter how many queer books I read, it still means everything to me. I wish The Henna Wars had been around for me to read when I was a teenager.

Nishat's story was a gorgeous, heart-aching story of family and identity and I adored the way that she was shown trying to balance her cultural identity with her sexuality without compromising either. It's difficult in a way that I can't imagine - when I was dealing with my own teenage outing, at least I knew that my family were mostly accepting - but Adiba does an incredible job at portraying all of Nishat's heart-break and struggle without losing the thread of hope and queer joy that made me want to keep devouring the book. It tackles racism and homophobia in a straightforward way, showing it without innuendo or metaphor to hide how brutal and pervasive racism and homophobia can be in the UK, even coming from the people closest to us, and to Nishat. The rawness of Nishat's feelings when she discussed the cultural appropriation, particularly when it was coming from people who were either forthrightly racist to her or bombarded her with microaggressions, made it really hit home to me how casual and callous people (let's be real here, almost always white people) can be about taking other cultures and identities and exploiting them for our own entertainment.

The developing relationships in this book are truly what make The Henna Wars such a treasure to read. Nishat and Flávia's relationship is slow to develop as they overcome rivalry, family issues, coming out and a clash over the cultural appropriation involved in their henna competition. I particularly enjoyed the way that the characters were seen to be educating and informing themselves, something that I and my fellow white readers can do better at. While Nishat and Flávia's blooming relationship was a treasure to watch, my true delight was the relationship between Nishat and Priti, her younger sister. Seeing the dogged loyalty and unconditional love between them was incredible and truly made Nishat's struggle more bearable - I was so *glad* that she had someone in her corner no matter what, and their bond is a delight.

The writing itself was fun and easy to read, the dialogue felt so natural between the characters and I adored the way that they felt like authentic teenagers throughout. It also portrayed both queer joy and Bengali joy and I loved learning about Bengali culture through Nishat's life but also through googling the parts of the book I didn't recognise. I adored this book and I can't wait for Adiba's next release now, after reading The Henna Wars I just know it's a must read.

So many people seemed to love The Henna Wars that I was super keen to read it. I wasn't disappointed. It's so good! Especially in its exploration of cultural appropriation, it was so powerfully done. I really liked Nishat as a narrator, and all her relationships were described with lots of sensitivity. I think I loved her bond with her sister most of all. The lesbian romance was sweet and original. But there were also lots of hard, emotional moments as Nishat tried to maintain a positive relationship with her family after coming out, while also dealing with racism at school. There is lots going on in this novel and it's clear the author poured her heart into it.

I've had the difficulties of coming out as gay to my family, and not fitting into the mold they had planned for me. What I didn't have that these characters face is the social and religious pressure that they are 'wrong', and waiting for them to change. It was as eye opening as it was relatable, and is a must for everyone out there who wonders whether being true to themselves is worth the ripples it will cause.