She Wore Red Trainers: A Muslim Love Story

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what I genuinely loved about the characters was how we got to see them in such a real way. Especially in amirah’s case, we got to see this well-developed personality of this teenage girl who is so proud of her religion and is educated but has seen her mother suffer so much at the hands of terrible men that she has sworn off marriage and love for herself

I was so excited when I heard that a Muslim YA romance was coming out and I looked forward to reading it once I got it. But having read it all I can come up with is, 'it was okay'. Which makes me sad. When Ali first meets Amirah, he notices everything about her—her hijab, her long eyelashes and her red trainers—in the time it takes to have one look, before lowering his gaze. And, although Ali is still coming to terms with the loss of his mother and exploring his identity as a Muslim, and although Amirah has sworn never to get married, they can’t stop thinking about each other. Can Ali and Amirah ever have a halal “happily ever after”? She Wore Red Trainers by Na’ima B. Robert – eBook Details The bloke he tries to marry her to is a Saudi guy who makes her wear Niqab just to see him! Their religious values are obviously not compatible. He then makes her take it off so he can observe her looks like she's some sort of farm animal!

It's preachy, but I do believe this one is more interesting and better written than Boy vs. Girl. (either that or my standards have fallen). So make of that what you will. The characters are so realistic inspite of the typical ya storyline. But yes, this one will stay with me. The parents, the friends, the siblings. The Muslim community and their rich culture, the beliefs and the changing times. The discussion gets hot and quite liberating in the plot. It didn’t just include coming to terms with what the characters wanted, but it also tied in with religion, since Islam is a huge part of every practising Muslim’s life.

I love this one more so because of the outspoken characters, specifically the main female character. She has a past she's not proud of but she's so responsible, she's independent and living her dreams inspite of the limitations she had to face because of the so called 'rules' a girl had to follow. Yet, when my own journey towards a halal marriage began, it was filled with all the flutterings and excitement I wanted. The limitations we faced only sweetened the freedom found after the nikah was performed. Love flourished after the wedding, in the secure happiness of marriage.But wait! He then calls everything off when Amirah's stepfather mentions that she may have had a sinful past! You know, despite the fact that she may have changed? What a horrible person. Just like Amirah's brother, who is always painted heroically by the narrative.

I got about half way through this book and I didn't want to finish because I was completely bored with everything. It felt like not much had happened. I didn't care about the characters at all. There was something about the way he moved - strong, graceful, rippling, like a cat - that made something flutter in my stomach." Amirah is the second child in a family of 5 kids, their family had no stable father, their mum gets married after every divorce in the search for happiness, this leaves her broken and depressed after each marriage, and her children their share of the break, especially Aminah because she is left with the care of her siblings at her mercy.

My jaw dropped. ‘You mean it’s a council flat?’ Whatever I had been expecting, it wasn’t that! An image of our beautiful house here in Hertfordshire flashed through my mind and it was as if a knife had twisted in my heart. A council flat? Moving on. Even though at first glance the story appears to be a romance through and through, it’s so much more than that. It’s also about family and dealing with different traumas and different kinds of grief. I loved the siblinghood from both the MCs sides, they were different and yet similar in a way that they both cared so very deeply for their siblings. I also loved the sense of community, how everyone got together to do something for the youth and to make their summer better. Until Mum died, that is. Because then our superhero lost his powers and fell to earth, broken. And there was no one around to shield us anymore.