I read this book in pretty much one sitting. I was drawn in and simply had to know what happened next. The ending definitely caught me by surprise. From start to finish it’s hard not to find these two so endearing. Though their actions may have been crazy, they were carried out with good intentions. Problems arise, but welcome to see the importance of being true to yourself and not being over concerned with keeping others happy. The Primary School Library Alliance is calling on the government to match-fund the private investment it has brought into helping primary schools c... So Zara agrees and the act begins: after all, how different can pretending to be in a relationship with your best friend be to just hanging around with them like usual? Turns out, a lot. With fake dating comes fake hand-holding and fake kissing and real feelings... and when a new boy turns up in Zara's life, things get more confusing than ever. The course of true love never did run smoothly, but Zara's love story is messier than most...

Have you ever enjoyed something so much that it felt like you were floating the whole time? Well, that’s how I felt throughout this whole book.

By Author / Illustrator

There is a nice message at the end about the love of friends being the most important kind of love, and I’d definitely recommend this to a teenage or tweenage reader, especially one looking for representation of themselves in books or who could do with some diverse reading. Authors, if you are a member of the Goodreads Author Program, you can edit information about your own books. Find out how in this guide. I also really enjoyed exploring Zara’s family relationships, and loved that unlike most YA novels, her parents were just present enough in the narrative to know they existed (and there to support her if necessary) without being too involved to make their inclusion seem unrealistic. I also really liked their positive and rather candid approach to sex (and the ‘sex talk’). Having a romance fan (both of books and movies) as a main character really added a little extra something to this story. We definitely see how expectations clash with reality, how everything Zara builds up in her head doesn’t end up happening as planned, because, well, life isn’t a perfect rom-com.

I will start by saying the story for this didn't go how I expected. The friendship between Zara and Adnan was cute. I didn't see why there was such a focus from the other main characters for them getting together. While the premise of fake dating was good, I feel like some of it fell flat. Some of the reasoning for her being on the dates with Cami and Adnan made no sense. And I really didn't like how Cami treated Zara after she was doing her a big favor. That being said, the premise for this book was a little too messy. While I did think the ending was unexpected and a bit refreshing. It became a bit confusing at times to keep up with all the lies. However, the characters annoyed the HELL out of me. Every single one of them. Especially Adnan and Cami, who, despite asking Zara to do this massive favour for them so they could be together in secret, had the audacity to be mad at her for not doing that quite right. There were parts where I was pretty confused about - like, why couldn't they just hang out without Zara there, especially somewhere not in public? I didn't quite understand all of that. It felt like Cami and Zara were just being pitted against each other for drama's sake and I think it would've been a better message for that not to happen. Zara loves love in all forms: 90s romcoms and romance novels and grand sweeping gestures. And she's desperate to have her own great love story. Crucially, a real one. So when her best friend Adnan begs her to pretend to date him to cover up his new top-secret relationship, Zara is hesitant. This isn't the kind of thing she had in mind. But there's something in it for Zara too: making her parents, who love Adnan, happy might just stop them arguing for a while. She may not be getting her own love story, but she could save theirs. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!Coffee house Caffè Nero has announced the 16-strong shortlist for the inaugural Nero Book Awards, recognising the outstanding books of the past 12...

But then... I met him. Yahya. You might not know who I'm talking about so here's the lowdown: there was a guy I liked. A guy whose lips felt like clouds and who smelled like coffee infused with the tiniest hint of tobacco and chai with lemons. A guy who made me feel like myself at a time when I had to lie to just about everyone I knew. A guy who surprised me every day. I didn't anticipate falling for him, but I did. 'And then my world blew up…’” – Zara, This is How You Fall in Love

Hobbies

This is a place for encouragement- for downcast writers (no matter how they are published or what they write), for curious readers, and for connections. This is How You Fall in Love' by Anika Hussain was a delightful read. Adnan and Zara have been best friends since forever. Their families spend Sunday dinners, holidays to Bangladesh and every other major life event together. When Adnan falls for new girl Cami, he stumbles across a big problem - they need to keep their relationship a secret due to Cami's overprotective family. Enter a classic fake dating scenario which challenges the boundaries of Adnan and Zara's relationship. Is the love they feel for each other actually like siblings or something more? this book encompassed everything necessary for a cute young/first love rom-com. Zara, the MC, is a lovely, wholehearted and sweet character who I instantly liked and felt I could relate to. Her relationship to Adnan, her boy best-friend, was unbelievably cute and i thoroughly enjoyed reading their story. The plot was more complicated than I had anticipated but I am here for it! life is messy and this was an avid description of messy love, and life, can be. I really felt the story come to life, which made me enjoy the story more as all the sub-plots were equally interesting! the ending was well-written and I felt that Zara had been on a journey (excuse the cliche!) and had come to appreciate her family and friends, and all the ways they loved her. Only promote your work in the promotion categories, which will be clearly labeled by genre. Failing to follow this rule won't make you many friends. Sorry. I really appreciated how Zara’s parents were included in the story. They’re the whole reason Zara agrees to this fake-dating scheme in the first place, they’re present and I just really loved some scenes between Zara and her mother, as well.