Can’t Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings where bloggers share the books they can’t wait for. I use it here on my blog to highlight an upcoming release I’m excited for and tell you why it should be on your TBR!
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Title: Zara Hossain Is Here
Author: Sabina Khan
Publisher: Scholastic
Release date: April 6, 2021
Pre-order It from Bookshop.org!
Synopsis: “Zara’s family has waited years for their visa process to be finalized so that they can officially become US citizens. But it only takes one moment for that dream to come crashing down around them.
Seventeen-year-old Pakistani immigrant, Zara Hossain, has been leading a fairly typical life in Corpus Christi, Texas, since her family moved there for her father to work as a pediatrician. While dealing with the Islamophobia that she faces at school, Zara has to lay low, trying not to stir up any trouble and jeopardize their family’s dependent visa status while they await their green card approval, which has been in process for almost nine years.
But one day her tormentor, star football player Tyler Benson, takes things too far, leaving a threatening note in her locker, and gets suspended. As an act of revenge against her for speaking out, Tyler and his friends vandalize Zara’s house with racist graffiti, leading to a violent crime that puts Zara’s entire future at risk. Now she must pay the ultimate price and choose between fighting to stay in the only place she’s ever called home or losing the life she loves and everyone in it.”
- I loved Sabina’s debut, The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali, and have been waiting for more from her ever since!
- Queer rep! From what I’ve heard, Zara is bisexual and her love interest is a lesbian. I’m always down for queer YA.
- This book deals with immigration and Islamophobia–two topics that are incredibly important. I’m really looking forward to adding this book to my library’s collection!
- I won an ARC in a giveaway and am now even more excited! I can’t wait to pick it up and dive in.
- I’m in love with the cover: the stark contrast of red and black stripes, Zara looking defiantly at the viewer, the dripping paint on the white lettering.
- Because you should be reading and supporting #OwnVoices books by Muslim authors!
- It’s an intersectionally diverse book that also deals with Islamophobia and xenophobia. These are subjects we all need to be reading & engaging with.
- If you enjoyed Sabina’s debut as much as I did, you won’t want to miss this one! But it’s also a great starting point if you’re new to her work.
- It should especially be on your TBR if you’re a YA contemporary reader who enjoyed Love, Hate, and Other Filters by Samira Ahmed or Something in Between by Melissa de la Cruz!
Is Zara Hossain is Here on your TBR?
Books. Libraries. Also, cats. 