Jill's Book Blog

Review: That Can Be Arranged: A Muslim Love Story

Title: That Can Be Arranged: A Muslim Love Story
Author: Huda Fahmy
Genre: Memoir, Humour, Graphic Novel
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: March 10, 2020
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Chaperones, suitors, and arranged marriages aren’t only reserved for the heroines of a Jane Austen novel. They’re just another walk in the park for this leading lady, who is on a mission to find her leading lad. From the brilliant comics Yes, I’m Hot in This, Huda Fahmy tells the hilarious story of how she met and married her husband. Navigating mismatched suitors, gossiping aunties, and societal expectations for Muslim women, That Can Be Arranged deftly and hilariously reveals to readers what it can be like to find a husband as an observant Muslim woman in the twenty-first century.
So relevant in today’s evolving cultural climate, Fahmy’s story offers a perceptive and personal glimpse into the sometimes sticky but ultimately rewarding balance of independent choice and tradition.

Review:

This is a hilarious graphic novel memoir about Huda’s experience with an arranged marriage.

It starts with a disclaimer about her wearing a hijab in the illustrations. The character in the graphic novel is an extension of herself, so she is always drawn wearing a hijab. However, in real life, she doesn’t wear it to bed, to shower, or to get her hair done, even though her character in the book does. She made this disclaimer funny, because she said anyone who skipped that disclaimer would wonder why she was wearing it to bed. She drew the character with a hijab every time for consistency in the book, not because that is what she actually does.

I loved the way she compared the courtship of an arranged marriage to a Jane Austen novel. They both have nosy, older women poking their noses into the lives of young people. There were suitors who came to meet her parents, like in an Austen novel. She also had to be chaperoned on any dates, like Austen’s heroines. This was a great way to compare her situation to older novels. It shows how universal these ideas of courtship are, because Jane Austen’s characters were doing the same things hundreds of years ago as what Huda did today.

This is a great graphic novel!

Thank you Andrews McMeel Publishing for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Top Ten Tuesday – Books I Wish Were Around When I Was a Child

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and it is now hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s theme is Books I Wish I Read as a Child. These are books that I wish were around when I was a child. Here’s my list:

1. Fairest of All (Whatever After #1) by Sarah Mlynowski

2. Flunked (Fairy Tale Reform School #1) by Jen Calonita

3. The Wishing Spell (The Land of Stories #1) by Chris Colfer

4. The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #1) by Rick Riordan

5. The School of Good and Evil (The School of Good and Evil #1) by Soman Chainani

6. Target Practice (Cleopatra in Space #1) by Mike Maihack

7. Jinxed (Jinxed #1) by Amy McCulloch

8. Guts by Raina Telgemeier

9. DC Super Hero Girls: At Metropolis High by Amy Wolfram, Yancey Labat (illustrator)

10. Sunny Side Up (Sunny #1) by Jennifer L. Holm, Matthew Holm

(All photos taken from Goodreads)

What’s your list of books on your Top Ten Tuesday?

Happy Pub Day – April 28

Happy Pub day to all of these new books!

The Heirloom Garden by Viola Shipman

The Summer Villa by Melissa Hill

The Sweeney Sisters by Lian Dolan

The Secrets of Love Story Bridge by Phaedra Patrick

Seven Endless Forests by April Genevieve Tucholke

Don’t Call the Wolf by Aleksandra Ross

Incendiary by Zoraida Córdova

What books are you most excited for this week?

Blog Tour Review: The Heirloom Garden

Title: The Heirloom Garden
Author: Viola Shipman
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Graydon House
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: April 28, 2020
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

In her inimitable style, Viola Shipman explores the unlikely relationship between two very different women brought together by the pain of war, but bonded by hope, purpose…and flowers.
Iris Maynard lost her husband in World War II, her daughter to illness and, finally, her reason to live. Walled off from the world for decades behind the towering fence surrounding her home, Iris has built a new family…of flowers. Iris propagates her own daylilies and roses while tending to a garden filled with the heirloom starts that keep the memories of her loved ones alive.
When Abby Peterson moves next door with her family—a husband traumatized by his service in the Iraq War and a young daughter searching for stability—Iris is reluctantly yet inevitably drawn into her boisterous neighbor’s life, where, united by loss and a love of flowers, she and Abby tentatively unearth their secrets, and help each other discover how much life they have yet to live.
With delightful illustrations and fascinating detail, Viola Shipman’s heartwarming story will charm readers while resonating with issues that are so relevant today.

Review:

This book tells the story of two women from different generations who are brought together by their experiences of war. Iris’s husband was killed in WWII, and her daughter passed away a few years later. She now finds peace in her garden, but she hasn’t left her house in years, closing herself off from the world with tall fences. In 2003, Abby’s family moves into the house next to Iris’s, which Iris rents to them. Abby’s husband has just returned from the Iraq war, but he is a shell of his former self. Abby’s kind daughter, Lily, is curious about the old lady who lives next door, which leads to an unlikely friendship.

This book was a tearjerker. Iris is mourning her husband and daughter decades after their deaths. She still talks to them. It was heartbreaking to see show her life was standing still, for the most part, since they died. Even though Abby’s husband returned from his war, he was so traumatized that he wasn’t himself anymore. Abby and Iris had similar experiences with being left behind in the aftermath of a war.

I loved the dual narratives of Abby and Iris. They had different perspectives, being from two generations, yet there were similarities in their lives. Both of them had their husbands go to war. They were both working in scientific jobs, where they weren’t given opportunities they deserved because they were women. Though they were working in these fields fifty years apart, not much had changed in the way women were treated in the workplace.

I found the gardening aspect of this book fascinating. I don’t know much about gardening, but it was amazing how it brought people together in this book. There was also a scientific side of it, which was described by Iris. She created her own unique flowers. I also didn’t know about the process for saving plants through the winter. Iris would pack them away in her basement to save them for the spring. It made sense, but I had never thought about that process before.

This is a beautiful story!

Thank you Graydon House for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Author Info:

Viola Shipman is the pen name for Wade Rouse, a popular, award-winning memoirist. Rouse chose his grandmother’s name, Viola Shipman, to honor the woman whose heirlooms and family stories inspire his writing. Rouse is the author of The Summer Cottage, as well as The Charm Bracelet and The Hope Chest which have been translated into more than a dozen languages and become international bestsellers. He lives in Saugatuck, Michigan and Palm Springs, California, and has written for People, Coastal Living, Good Housekeeping, and Taste of Home, along with other publications, and is a contributor to All Things Considered.

Have you read The Heirloom Garden? What did you think of it?

It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? – April 27

This blog meme is hosted by Book Date. It is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organize yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment, and er… add to that ever growing TBR pile!

What I just finished:

This weekend I finished The Heirloom Garden by Viola Shipman.

What I’m currently reading:

I’m currently reading The Sweeney Sisters by Lian Dolan.

What I’m reading next:

Next I will be reading The Secrets of Love Story Bridge by Phaedra Patrick.

What are you guys reading this week? Have you read any of these books?

Jill’s Weekly Wrap-Up – April 26

Here are my reviews for the week with my ratings:

Eat, and Love Yourself ★★★★★
Ruthless Gods (Something Dark and Holy #2) ★★★★
Camp Spirit ★★★★
Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors (The Rajes #1) ★★★★★
Rival Magic ★★★★
Elizabeth I: The Making of a Queen ★★★

I did 8 weekly blogging memes:

How was your week? What did you guys read?

Sundays in Bed With… The Heirloom Garden

The meme that dares to ask what book has been in your bed this morning? Come share what book you’ve spent time curled up reading in bed, or which book you wish you had time to read today! This meme is hosted by Midnight Book Girl.

This Sunday I’m reading The Heirloom Garden by Viola Shipman.

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Goodreads Synopsis:

In her inimitable style, Viola Shipman explores the unlikely relationship between two very different women brought together by the pain of war, but bonded by hope, purpose…and flowers.
Iris Maynard lost her husband in World War II, her daughter to illness and, finally, her reason to live. Walled off from the world for decades behind the towering fence surrounding her home, Iris has built a new family…of flowers. Iris propagates her own daylilies and roses while tending to a garden filled with the heirloom starts that keep the memories of her loved ones alive.
When Abby Peterson moves next door with her family—a husband traumatized by his service in the Iraq War and a young daughter searching for stability—Iris is reluctantly yet inevitably drawn into her boisterous neighbor’s life, where, united by loss and a love of flowers, she and Abby tentatively unearth their secrets, and help each other discover how much life they have yet to live.

With delightful illustrations and fascinating detail, Viola Shipman’s heartwarming story will charm readers while resonating with issues that are so relevant today.

What book are you in bed with today?

Six for Sunday – Books on Your TBR From Someone Else’s Recommendation

This meme is hosted by Steph at A little but a lot. The weekly prompts for 2019 can be found here.

This week’s prompt is Books on Your TBR From Someone Else’s Recommendation. Here’s my list:

1. Would Like to Meet by Rachel Winters

2. If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane

3. The Wedding Date (The Wedding Date #1) by Jasmine Guillory

4. Before I Let You Go by Kelly Rimmer

5. The New Husband by D.J. Palmer

6. Regretting You by Colleen Hoover

(All book cover images from Goodreads)

Did you make a Six for Sunday list?

Review: Elizabeth I: The Making of a Queen

Title: Elizabeth I: The Making of a Queen
Author: Laura Brennan
Genre: Nonfiction, Biography
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: April 30, 2020
Rating: ★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Elizabeth I is arguably one of the greatest monarchs and women of English history. Against an uncertain political and religious backdrop of post-reformation Europe she ruled at the conception of social modernization, living in the shadow of the infamy of her parents reputations and striving to prove herself an equal to the monarchs who had gone before her.
This book seeks to explore some of the key events of her life both before and after she ascended to the English throne in late 1558. By looking at the history of these selected events, as well as investigating the influence of various people in her life, this book sets out to explain Elizabeth’s decisions, both as a queen and as a woman.
Amongst the events examined are the death of her mother, the role and fates of her subsequent stepmothers, the fate of Lady Jane Grey and the subsequent behavior and reign of her half sister Mary Tudor, along with the death of Amy Dudley, the return of Mary Queen of Scots to Scotland, the Papal Bull and the Spanish Amanda.

Review:

This book talks about important events that shaped Queen Elizabeth I’s life. These include the marriages of her father, Henry VIII, her feud with Mary Queen of Scots, and her battle with King Philip I of Spain.

I was disappointed that this book showed things that happened around Elizabeth, rather than her actual life. The book is supposed to be about events that shaped her life, but there was not much reference to Elizabeth’s actual life. The explanations of how these events affected Elizabeth’s life were quite short compared to the long descriptions of what happened. Almost the entire first half of the book was about Henry VIII and his wives. He was Elizabeth’s father so he greatly shaped her life, but she didn’t live with him at that time, so she wasn’t actually present for most of the book.

There was also a lot of the author’s opinion in the book, rather than just stating the facts. There were many parts where she talked down to the reader. For example, she said that people used paintings to see what other people looked like because they didn’t have cameras. If you’re reading this book about Tudor England, it’s presumed that you know they didn’t have cameras hundreds of years ago. She didn’t need to talk down to the reader to explain things like that.

This was a disappointing book that talked about events that happened during the life of Elizabeth I, but not her actual life.

Thank you Pen and Sword for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.