A sweet, funny story about fake dating your best friend. The story revolves around Zara and Adnan who have been best friends their whole lives thanks to their families being close. When situations arise and Adnan needs a fake girlfriend who better to ask than his best friend Z? A tale as old as time at this point, but the author found a way to kind of subvert all the typical trope parts and make them fresh and new again too. Learning more about a culture I understood little of was fun since both of the main characters are from South Asia. A cute little story, great for a fun quick read.

Oh my god, that ending!! I kept trying to turn the page not realising it was finished!
I loved this book, the life lessons learned, the relationships found and the relationships built upon. It was such a beautiful, messy story of young adults finding their way.

I absolutely loved this book, it’s raw, funny, emotional and it was utterly delightful. I loved every single character, it had me snorting with laughter at some points and there parents Omg embarrassing parents down to a T. I love fake dating tropes in romance novels but I was not expecting it to go the route it did, I was guessing even until the end. Also that ending! I hope book two is in the way as I need to know what happens between Zara and Yahya.

This is a great romance book for teens - especially those that may still be a bit young for the ones that include a bit of spice! I love how it follows Zara’s journey through love and gives you a real insight into the different challenges teenagers face when navigating relationships. Great for those who love fake dating stories!
It was great to see south Asian representation - I wouldn’t be able to comment on whether I felt this accurately reflected this community as I am not south Asian myself but it felt authentic and genuine. I think it will resonate with a lot of young south Asian girls as they are often not represented in literature.

-This was wonderfully messy in the romantic drama element and I was so here for how complex and confusing it became. And at no point did I know who she would choose, and could see valid ways it would work for anyone she could've ended up with. This is the romantic drama I like to see.
-Appreciated the parents and the relationship we saw between Zara and her mother. It was close and tight, but it was also parental at the same time and captured that well.
-Desi rep to this fake dating romance. I can't speak on the rep but it was playfully and seemingly well done
-I liked getting to know the friends and side characters too. Feel like they were well developed enough as well
-And I liked the way and place the story ended. A little open ended but closed up enough for us to know where everything is going to lead in the end, even if we don't see it play out
-Sometimes the throwbacks were a bit too... why do we need this right now? Pokemon go felt like it aged the book rather than gave it that nostalgic feel I think the author might have been gearing towards. And alienates people who don't really know what it is / weren't involved in that hype (as I am assuming most current teens won't be able to connect with?) Okay this is a specific thing, I should calm down.

This is How You fall Fall in Love by Anika Hussian

3. 5 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley and BonnierBooks for the arc.

From the writing style you can tell the intend audience is very young adults just coming into thier teen years.
It's a very easy read and has such a cute narrative. We also are exploring how Muslim family are and how protective they are of thier children. I liked the use of famous pop culture and servers which are used in today's society. Annah and Zaras are best friend who are fake dating so he can Date another girl.

I really enjoyed this - engaging well written characters and a funny charming and self aware narrative. 4.5 stars

'This is How You Fall in Love' is absolutely adorable.
This young adult contemporary romance is not your typical fake-dating trope and I think
Anika Hussain did a fabulous job with it.

As Zara navigated her fake relationship and its very real consequences, she encountered a multitude of different types of love, something even she, as an avid rom-com fan, couldn't have picked out from a movie or a book. I think that this self-discovery journey is written beautifully.

And last, but definitely not least, I adore the setting of this book. Amazing representation of the Desi culture in the UK and a modern-day, teenage romace with references to social media and even the pandemic, but with not an ounce of cringe in it. Well done for that!

Excellent addition to the UK literature!

This was a cute read. It is a YA so I found the chapters to be quite quick. The relationships in the book were comforting between friends, family, crushes.

As its a YA read I would say it is definitely more suited to that age group. With the language, references to social media and pokemon (which went over my head even as a 90s kid)

Overall a nice read

Thanks to Hot Key Books and Netgalley for the review copy of this novel. An overall enjoyable read with some unexpected twists that avoid the usual pattern of this trope, but with some rough edges that aren’t unexpected in a debut novel.
Zara is obsessed with romance novels and the grand romantic gestures and waits for the day when she can have the real thing. She’s prepared to wait for it, so when her life long best friend Adnan asks her to fake date him to cover for his budding romance with Sophie, she doesn’t really mind that much and thinks it will take her parents off their own relationship struggles. The problem is that Zara and Adnan’s parents have always dreamed the two would get together and now that it seems they have they can’t help but pressure the two of them in every way possible. The result is strains in everyone’s relationship and leads Zara to question everything about her desires and goals.

Worth the read for the colour and vibrancy of Adnan and Zara’s families with their warm loving relationships and interactions that come across authentic for the most part.

I am all for books about Muslims because I feel there isn't enough out there, but when
it's not accurate, i wonder why anyone ever bothers.

I actually rated this book 4 stars because I really liked the easy writing, the storyline
and how it wasn't predictable. Also, I am the biggest fake dating fan, so I was always
going to be intrigued

The characters are fun and young, I loved their vibes, BUT I guess for me, I felt like they
didn't represent me?

I do think Muslim authors can write whatever they want, however they want to, and that
they shouldn't HAVE to write Muslim characters, but if you do, you've got to show some
respect.... i would never give this book to my kids as it sends the wrong message (in
my opinion)

As an adult, though, and taking it at face value, it was a good read! (lt is very much on
the young side of YA, just FYI)

This is by far one of the cutest books I have read in a while! It only took me about a day to read as I couldn't put it down!

I like the main character love a good romcom - but they can be a bit cheesy, this had all the cheese and a realistic look at love in all its shapes and forms.

There were a few odd plot points like the reasoning behind the fake dating was a bit weak, but hey I was here for the drama!

If you to are a fan of romcoms then definitely worth a read!

I had fun and think this a very entertaining ya rom com, a bit crazy at times.
Fast paced and entertaining, I liked the characters.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

I was so ready for this YA rom-com to subvert the fake dating trope and offer up something fresh and exciting. Sadly, I was sorely disappointed. I think the author wanted to do too much. She tried to flip fake dating on its head but added in a love triangle/square that soon became exhausting. I felt not enough attention was given to each relationship amongst the four leads.

I wasn’t won over by the characters and never found myself invested in the outcome of their fake dating scheme. I couldn’t really understand a lot of their actions and some of the plot points were made to seem a lot higher stakes than they actually were. The characters almost viewed themselves as celebrities instead of sixth formers, believing that everyone was watching their every move and there’d be a whole scandal if the truth got out. This melodrama got old quick.

On top of that, I didn’t gel with the author’s writing style. It was meant to reflect teenage voices but a lot of it felt unrealistic. The language which was used captured a very specific moment in time which felt a bit jarring. The humour fell flat for me, which was unfortunate as that’s usually a surefire way for me to connect to characters. The group of friends themselves didn’t seem to share any solid connections between them. Something that supposedly bonded the female characters was their love of rom-coms. While this was initially a cute piece of information, the story leant too heavily on this “trait” in lieu of actual plot points. Romance tropes were explained way too much, to the point where it felt educational.

OVERALL: This promising YA romance aimed to subvert the fake dating trope but was bogged down by exhausting melodrama and the lack of a clear focus.

Would I recommend?… No, while I respect the attempt at turning a tried and true trope on its head, other YA fiction have done a better job

So this isn’t my favourite read of the year so far but I will go through the high and low points. The positives from the book that I have taken away is that I have enjoy reading into the Desi culture as I haven’t read a lot fiction books which contain the culture. I also loved Zara was passsionate about books and reading which is great to see a fellow book lover do.

In this book features a Fake dating troupe, not a huge fan of this troupe normally and I wasn’t a huge fan of how this one played out. It felt all over the place in terms of the relationships, the friendships and the family that it made my head hurt.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a nice YA romcom. The storyline was a little bonkers at time but that's what we love romcoms for right? I'm not really one for more than one romance per book so I did lose some interest in some characters but I did like that Z was the main character throughout. I gave this book 3.75/5

3.5 stars.

A very enjoyable, well written young adult romance. Zara and Adnan are just friends, no matter how much their friends and family wish they would be more. But when Adnan starts liking someonek who isn't allowed to date, Zara steps in as the decoy, the fake girlfriend, and things start getting complicated.

Our protagonist Zara is a very likeable character and I loved her relationships with other people. Zara and Adnan's friendship is so well established from the get go and I really enjoyed their scenes together. I also love Sadie and their friendship, I love seeing female friendships in YA.

There were some parts that just felt forced to me. I can't say too much as it will give the plot away, but there are a couple of twists that I did enjoy, but they didn't really make much sense. The romance itself just became a bit messy and confused, and I was a bit unsatisfied with the ending because my favourite couple didn't end up together even though it was obvious to me they were perfect for each other.

I understand what she was doing. Adding a new twist to make it different and less cliche, and it would have worked if she hadn't had me rooting for someone else.

Saying that, this was a very entertaining fake dating romance. It's so readable, I flew through it, and would highly recommend. It's the best YA Contemporary I've read for a while.

I feel like I went into this book expecting a little too much because it had all of my favourite tropes like fake dating and friends to lovers but it really fell flat for me which is upsetting!

I appreciated the British Desi rep in this book and felt it was done very well and realistically. I also liked how she had a healthy relationship with her parents and could talk to them about anything. Honestly, I think the rep was probably the best part of this book.

I really enjoyed Zara's character but at some points, it felt like she was doing a little too much for other people, especially Adnan (he kind of annoyed me, he seemed a bit selfish at times). At some points I felt myself wanting more from Zara and Adnan's friendship, it felt like we were just constantly told they were best friends, and I would have preferred to see actions to back it up.

Overall, it was a quick easy read and I loved the message at the end but I feel like it also came out of nowhere and seemed just added on to give the novel some solid substance.

Thank you Netgalley and Bonnier Books UK for the arc!

"This Is How You Fall In Love" is a Young Adult romance story that follows Zara and Adnan who have been best friends since... forever. Everyone thinks they should be together, but they have absolutely no interest in that! When Adnan begins dating Cami, a girl at school whose kind of forbidden from being in a relationship... Zara and Adnan begin a fake relationship to help cover it up.

It's a feel good story that I think a lot of teenagers will enjoy. The characters are really diverse which is great to see - I haven't seen a YA romance that centres South Asian characters before, so that was really encouraging. I think this will be a really lighthearted read that most will enjoy.

Personally, it wasn't my cup of tea. The writing style is easy to read, but at the same time I found it quite difficult to follow. At times, it read like a conscious stream of thought, with some sentences being unnecessarily long. This can work sometimes, but in this case I feel it didn't. Unfortunately, due to my struggiing with the style of writing I didn't finish the book. That being said it is a cute storyline that I think a lot of teens who like romance will find joy in!

I'm not much of a young adult contemporary reader anymore so I went into this book without really knowing what I'll feel towards it. However, this book surprised me in many ways. I was hooked from the first page. It touches on different types of relationships within the world all while our main character Zara is trying to get through the whirlwind of emotions that will happen.

We meet many people throughout this book that are important to the story in their own ways. We also have a fake dating plot that is the centre of the story but this one doesn't go the way the majority of fake dating plots go and I think that's why I enjoyed it.

I was invested in the characters and there lives and I couldn't stop myself from reading more. I was finding every chance I could to read because I just had to know what was going to happen.

Overall the story was incredible and was written amazingly, it's a very simple and easy to read writing style perfect for younger readers but I also think adults or younger adults can read it and take a lot away from the book too.