A British South Asian Gossip Girl is a good description for The Exes. Karim is a famous social media influencer whilst Zara is just an ordinary A level student who has her sights set on university. Their chance meeting leads to each of them finding something they were missing.
The book deals with some heavy topics including abortion choices, the damage that social media exposure can do to self-esteem and relationships, and the reality of restrictive family expectations. Throw in a creepy online stalker, a love triangle and friendships under strain and you have all the ingredients of a strong debut novel.

I devoured this book! It lived up to its premise, gossip girl meets crazy rich asians, with a whole lot of drama, a couple of crazy family members and dysfunctional backstabbing friendships to put the Upper East-Siders to shame!

I particularly enjoyed it being set in London - it felt so familiar and nostalgic to read, a reminder of my own secondary school days!!

The writing style flowed easily and I was throughly entertained by Mr Ex’s gossip blog posts which had me scrambling for clues to try and decipher who they were!!

Touching upon the very real and raw moments of toxic family relationships, patriarchal biases and the harms of social media, the author did justice to the heavier topics she explored.

All in all, a strong debut novel!! There was some moments where the pacing felt a little quick, and i wasn’t a huge fan of the love triangle between Zara, Karim and Imran. Nevertheless, I adored Zara and Karim’s dynamic so so much!!

Can’t wait to see what the author writes next!