The Love Match
-
- $10.99
-
- $10.99
Publisher Description
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before meets Pride and Prejudice in this swoony and thoughtful romantic comedy from debut author Priyanka Taslim.
Zahra Khan is basically Bangladeshi royalty – but being a princess doesn’t pay the bills in New Jersey. While Zahra plans to save money for college by working through the summer at a tea shop, her meddling mum is convinced that a “good match” in marriage will solve their family’s financial woes.
Enter Harun Emon, the wealthy, devastatingly handsome and . . . aloof boy Zahra is set up with. As soon as they meet, Zahra and Harun both know it’s not going to work. It’s nothing like the connection she has with Nayim Aktar, the new dishwasher at the tea shop, who just gets her in a way no one has before. Deciding to slowly sabotage their parents’ plans, Zahra and Harun pretend to date, while Zahra explores her feelings for Nayim. For once in Zahra’s life, she can have her rossomalai and eat it too.
But life – and boys – can be a royal pain. With her feelings all mixed up, will Zahra be a good Bengali kid or can she find her one true love match?
Perfect for fans of Jenny Han, Sandhya Menon, Emma Lord and Beth O’Leary.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Jane Austen meets Bengali cinema in Taslim's joyful debut. Teenage Zahra Khan wants to be a writer, but her widowed, meddling Amma has other plans: to match Zahra up with a "suitable" Bangladeshi, Muslim boy. Amma's concerns about Zahra's future stem from Zahra's father's death, from which the family has struggled to financially recover. To help make ends meet, Zahra defers her acceptance to Columbia University to work at a Pakistani tea shop in Patterson, N.J. Amma sets Zahra up with handsome, affluent Harun Emon, 18; though the pair have no interest in each other, they fake-date to placate their families. Meanwhile, Zahra falls for coworker Nayim Aktar, "an orphan from a poor, fragmented family" and recent arrival from Bangladesh. But as her romantic feelings for Nayim flourish and her pretend relationship with Harum begins to feel real, Zahra is left at a crossroads between what her family expects and what she desires. Characters authentically and humorously code-switch between traditional Bengali and contemporary American sensibilities, imbuing dialogue with a rat-a-tat pace. Taslim draws from lived experiences, as detailed in an author's note, to offer a textured exploration of intersectional South Asian Muslim identity. Ages 12–up.
