This book is a YA muslim romcom co-written by Faridah Abike-Iyimide and Adiba Jaigirdar; Faridah writes Tiwa's chapters and Adiba writes Said's chapters.

I was worried that I wasn't going to understand a lot of this book with me not knowing a lot about the muslim religion but you really didn't need to know to be able to enjoy this book. It was such a sweet story. The romance element was adorable and it ended up being a friends-enemies-lovers relationship. It was also a comedy so there were parts in this that made me laugh but more made me laugh because you got to know the characters so well so you were laughing because of their personality or mishaps.

There was baking/sweet treats as well as a cat in this book which I love, it really brought the whole story together. Overall, I highly recommend this book if you have enjoyed the likes of Jenny Han, Axie Oh or Beth Reekles. I read it really quickly, I couldn't put it down, it was just a happy, cosy hug of a book.

Four Eids and a Funeral is a sweet, light-hearted contemporary YA novel of friendship, community and love. It follows ex- best friends Said and Tiwa in the town they group up in, trying to work together to save their local Islamic Center. It is a fun, happy book where most things are wrapped up neatly by the end, perhaps slightly too easily and conveniently at times, but I think it's a good fit for YA and perhaps younger readers. Still, as an adult it was an enjoyable read with likeable characters. It touches lightly on a range of issues familiar to many teens, from friendship breakdown, parents divorcing, parental academic expectations and racism.

The authors' voices work together well and the book feels seamless. I have read books by both authors and I would say this is more similar to books I've read by Adiba Jaigirdar (The Henna Wars, Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating) than those I've read by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé (Ace of Spades, Where Sleeping Girls Lie). This is what I expected due to the genre. It is a contemporary YA romance, with no thriller elements. Fans of the books I mentioned by Adiba Jaigirdar will definitely enjoy, as will many YA fans.

i’m sad to be so underwhelmed by this book… i was really holding out hope that this would be a good one. to clarify, four eids and a funeral is not bad, it’s just… fine.

i read adiba jaigirdar’s work for the first time at the beginning of this year with the dos and donuts of love, which was fine but meh and a little half-baked (no pun intended), which honestly puts it almost entirely in line with how i feel about FEAAF. and then there’s faridah, who, for a long time, was right near the top of my favourite authors list after reading the ARC of ace of spades. but… i don’t know if she’s falling off or what. because i also read the ARC of her most recent book earlier this year, where sleeping girls lie, and again i was a bit disappointed (although the reception to that book since its release has been quite positive, so i’m in the minority). and so, while a lot of what i disliked about this book is reminiscent of what i’ve disliked about adiba’s work, i don’t know that i can entirely blame it on her alone. and it makes me sad to think that i might be going off of faridah as an author too.

to get into the details of FEAAF, it’s quite a typical friends-to-enemies-to-lovers YA romance. the writing falls more on the teen side of the YA scale, so it sometimes felt a little juvenile. the conflict between the two main characters, said and tiwa, felt petty and predictable, and the issues that they went through both together and with other characters felt like they resolved themselves fairly quickly. tiwa, i felt, came off as more hard-headed and less reasonable, and it was hard to get behind her character even though i really wanted to.

i liked that the story focused on two muslim characters, which we don’t see enough of in literature, tv, or film. their faith and community forms a central part of the plot, and i liked that a lot of the islamic rituals were depicted as part of the characters’ day-to-day lives, not just used as something to push the plot forward. i also liked the fact that tiwa was a black muslim character, which i feel is even more underrepresented. that said, there were a couple moments where it seemed like there might be some sort of discussion about the layers of racism that black muslims face within the islamic community and how they aren’t always perceived as “true muslims”… but it was so surface-level and i wish it had been dug into more. i don’t know why it was brought up in the first place if it was not actually going to be explored. it’s not clear how the writing was split between the authors - if adiba wrote all of said’s perspective and faridah tiwa’s, or if there was some other method used. i might expect the lack of depth if adiba was heavily involved in the writing of tiwa, as a lot of the big topics in dos and donuts also stopped short of saying anything meaningful. i think faridah tries to say more in her books about the big issues. but again, i don’t know how the writing of tiwa and her story was handled.

the romance itself was fine. the chemistry wasn’t crazy, and i didn’t find myself especially rooting for them to get together, but i suppose the relationship did as much as it needed to do for the story to work.

i wish there had been a slightly deeper look at tiwa’s family. they go through something pretty traumatic that i feel isn’t explored enough. tiwa also has a pretty major achievement as a direct result of that traumatic event that is just brushed aside and forgotten about, which is weird as i thought it was quite a big deal. something else that is also brushed aside after the first few chapters is the inciting incident for the whole book, the titular funeral for ms. barnes. she was painted as this person who was incredibly meaningful to both tiwa and said, and yet by the end of the book i still can’t really figure out why she was so meaningful to them. i feel like she’s just there as a plot device (and for the cat, of course).

i know this review has been a little negative, and again, it’s not a bad book, it’s just fine. i was just hoping for a little more. still, this is a good book to pick up if you want a quick, lighthearted friends-to-enemies-to-lovers romance. massive thanks to Usborne and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC of 'Four Eids and a Funeral' by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé and Adiba Jaigirdar.

Two of my favourite authors have come together and made a book baby? Perfection. And my gosh, was this actual perfection. 'Four Eids and a Funeral' is a nice contemporary that you can just fly through. With Muslim rep (and queer rep also!) This book is to DIE for. If my queens wanna come back together for another book, I wouldn't complain.

Having been a long-time fan of Adiba Jaigirdar's works (especially A Million To One) I was so excited to read another piece - and written alongside Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé! What a treat!

The developing story between Said and Tiwa was so sweet at times, the authors really sold just how well both characters worked to each other's strengths. It was cute and I quickly got invested in not only their flourishing reunion but the quest to save the Islamic Centre. Four Eids and a Funeral gives the impression of a strong community (despite the odd piece of ignorance and pushback). There are some moments I thought could be explored a little bit more - but this might be the author's trying to focus on the positives between the two focal characters.

"Four Eids and a Funeral" by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé and Adiba Jaigirdar is a heartwarming story about friendship, loss, and making amends. Said and Tiwa, former friends who became enemies, find themselves thrown back together as they work to save their local Islamic Center. Bonus points for the dual POV which I absolutely adore.

One thing that could have been explored more in this book is how the characters deal with the loss of their mentor. It's a big part of the story at the beginning but fades away as things go on and it's not mentioned again.

Furthermore, the swift resolution of conflicts and the characters' rapid forgiveness felt somewhat rushed, ultimately detracting from the overall enjoyment of the story.

Despite these small issues, "Four Eids and a Funeral" is a great read. The characters are lovable, the story is engaging, and it's amazing to see diverse representation. Fans of young adult romance will definitely enjoy the connection between Said and Tiwa. 

Overall, it's a promising collaboration between Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé and Adiba Jaigirdar and I am excited to see what they do next!

A special thanks to @NetGalley and @UsborneYA for providing a review copy of "Four Eids and a Funeral"!

I wanted to try and read a book out of my comfort zone and I chose this book to be my first attempt since Eid was coming up and the title has the word itself in it. I’m not a big reader of books that have a form of reality and as Muslim this book has reality in it. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get into the book because I’m not comfortable with books like this. Lesson learned but I want to add. I’ve got NOTHING against the book. It’s just a personal preference and maybe being in the wrong headspace didn’t help.

Anything with a chapter title called Muffin Slut was always going to be epic!

"Strangers become friends, friends become enemies, and enemies turn into nauseatingly cute couples..."

Adiba Jaigirdar is on auto-buy author list, so when Four Eids and a Funeral was announced I was sold, sign me up, it was a no brainer.
The pairing of Adiba Jaigirdar and Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé was brilliant, I haven't read anything by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé before but I have added a few to my tbr list.
The story follows Said and Tiwa, two former friends-turned enemies, who find themselves back in each other's orbit while they try to save the local Islamic Centre and deal with loss.
I loved the structuring of this novel, the main story is interspersed with flashback scenes with alternating perspectives of Tiwa and Said. I personally enjoy multiple points of view, and these two characters were fully realised and had great personalities that made them so engaging and enjoyable to read. The voices of the two authors merged seamlessly and I hope they do another joint novel together as this was a lovely story.
The only thing that felt a little unrealistic was how quickly everything was resolved and everyone was forgiven, it felt rushed.
Overall I'd highly recommend this book, it's a lovely young adult romance, full of great diverse characters and it'll give you the feels!

Thank you @NetGalley and @UsborneYA for the eARC of Four Eids and a Funeral by
@dibs_j and @Faridahlikestea

I really loved this!! It was adorable, funny, emotional and just so incredibly well written — Àbíké-íyímídé and Jaigirdar are excellent co-writers and I can’t wait to read more of what they publish together.

I really loved both Said and Tiwa, and I thought they had great chemistry and I enjoyed seeing them reconcile their friendship…that then turned in to something more. Their journey together and as individuals felt organic and natural, a testament to the writing skills of both the authors for making their characters feel so human.

I loved the plot, and felt the frustration and anger of both Said and Tiwa at the prospect of losing their community center. I really liked how this book highlighted the importance of those communal spaces, and how they are so important to the people who use them — it connects people, makes them feel seen, gives them a sense of belonging.

I also felt it was really great that this book also explored further real life issues, such as the racism and ignorance Tiwa, a young Black girl, receives from the Muslim community.

Considering that the death of Said’s and Tiwa’s elderly mentor was the catalyst at the start of the novel that brought the, back in to each others proximity, I wish we explored more of their grief and memories regarding that. I felt it was very present at the beginning of the novel but by the end I had largely forgotten about this. This is why this book isn’t quite a 5 star for me, sometimes I felt the book didn’t go all the way with something as it could have and dropped some plot points sooner than I would have liked.

I really liked exploring Said’s dreams of being an artist and the struggle he had throughout this book with being anxious about telling his parents. I think his story was well written and I wish I could see the mural he painted for real!

I did enjoy this one for the most part, but sadly not as much as I'd hoped. I liked both of the main characters, and thought this book was often funny. However, the story itself felt like a string of events that I felt were often glossed over and didn't always feel interconnected. Something would happen, followed by something else, and then the impact of the first event seemed to be missing. For instance, we start the book with a funeral of a Said's mentor, and his sister makes him leave school early to attend it, but we never quite feel the emotional impact throughout the book, making the reasoning behind why Said had to leave school for it confusing. I felt the same way about the ending, which felt rushed. Overall, I just don't think this book felt fleshed out enough to really work.

This was a really cute book about second chance romance, friends-to-enemies and racism. I really enjoyed the writing style that both authors employed and the dual POV worked really well in progressing the story. I particularly enjoyed how we got to see each of their cultures interspersed throughout the narrative.

All in all, it was a well-paced book with delightful characters and a storyline readers can't help but devour.

3.5 ⭐️

A pretty cute YA romance! I expected it to be a little funnier and maybe faster paced but overall not a bad book. The repeating “eureka” moments got a little annoying.

Just a heads up that even though both main characters are Muslim, this is not a halal romance.

I really appreciated the ease of the Muslim representation. There are frequent mentions of praying, or asking Allah for help, in that casual way that Muslims perform these regular acts of worship. It was also really easy to read, with POVs from both main characters. Both of them are compelling people to follow, but the romance felt lackluster to me. When we first meet Said and Tiwa, we find out that they used to be friends but aren't anymore, and of course it takes a while before we find out why. It's not that the reason doesn't make sense, it's how it came about that left me scratching my head.

There was a moment in this book where I thought I'd be getting some very important commentary on racism within Muslim communities. Tiwa is going door to door to gather signatures for a petition, and came in contact with people she recognized from the Islamic center, but who didn't recognize her. Her being Muslim is called into question, and there's an implication that it's because she's Black. But the book falls short of really digging into this topic, which is a shame in my opinion.

Although lots about this book was predictable (after all it was advertised as a classic enemies-to -lovers story) what I enjoyed most was the inclusion of Muslim and Bangladeshi cultural references. I’m not from either of those backgrounds so I can’t comment on the accuracy of the representation, but it felt realistic and I appreciated the insights.

They were scenes that made me laugh and others that made me almost shed a tear. I liked the characters and especially the friendship between Said and Julian which, although in the background, was a lovely depiction of male friendship; the setting of the town felt quite real and , as with a number of books I’ve read recently, the theme of artwork and how it can draw people together, be used as an agent of change, and be a way to express deep feelings, was used well.

I’m not a fan of dual narrators and kept forgetting to read chapter titles and so didn’t always keep track of who was speaking, but that is my fault!

There are a few swear words (I wish authors would just leave these out – I don’t think that would detract from the authenticity of the characters and I doubt anyone would notice their absence!) but it’s still one I will recommend in my school Library, not least for the representation of ‘everyday’ Islamic culture.

Thank you to NetGalley and Usborne Books for the ARC.

Said and Tiwa were the best of friends a couple Eids ago but they haven't spoken to each other since. When Said comes back home early from boarding school because of a funeral, Tiwa is surprised to learn he's staying for the rest of the summer and he will be the one to help her save the Islamic Centre.

I really liked reading about the Muslim community in New Crosshaven. I loved reading about the different South Asian food that had me craving for some too. The only thing that I didn't like was the fact that they had a Muslim / LGBT thing in here, it didn't sit right with me. But otherwise a good read.

If you've read any of my other recent book reviews, you'll know that I start them all off in the same way and that is by saying that every book I read and review starts off with the full heart-load of 5 stars and that I'm always hopeful that they'll all still be firmly stuck in place by the time I close the back cover. You'll also know that I'm not shy about taking off stars, usually for copyright or trademark infringement but if there's a magic little sentence then that star stays firmly in place. I also always give my reasons for taking off stars, they don't just disappear for no reason.

Let's get going shall we?

I love reading and learning about other cultures and I'm hoping I'll come out of the other side of this book a better person cos right now I have to admit that I don't know what an Eid is or even how to pronounce it! I'm guessing that it's a date because of the cover and this is a children's book, but I'm hoping I'll find out for sure as I read this book.

I'm also a romantic at heart, but comedy is a toughie for me... most comedic books, especially rom-coms don't usually even start a smile... will this book be any different? I really hope so!

Oh dear, a trademark infringement already... I'll give the authors the benefit of the doubt, but one more mention of a trademarked or copyrighted anything and the first star is coming off.

I don't know anything about Ms Barnes but I already care and understand after a single chapter. Will this book have me in tears rather than laughter?

Oh dear, there's a swear at the start of the second chapter that really isn't appropriate for such a young audience so the first star is coming off already unfortunately.

And now there's a well-known singer so the wobbly star has officially fallen... that's two stars lost in 2 pages - will they be the only ones?

And another even worse swear on the next page that is really only suitable for older teens rather than the younger teens that this book is aimed at... this book started off amazingly well and I could honestly see me enjoying every word, but not any more. Will I get to 25% without losing another star?

And another swear two paragraphs later... how on earth did this book get published?!

In the space of only three pages, this book has gone from "great going!" to "I give up already" because there's another trademark mentioned. It was a fantastic first chapter but I'm quickly losing hope of regaining that sense of being desperate to keep reading unfortunately.

Now children who are still at school are able to legally drive! Maybe I'm out of touch with America, but over here in the UK that's illegal until you've got at least your provisional driving license! That's another star gone now! After only two chapters I'm already down to 2 stars so there's only one possible one left to lose before I stop reading waaay before the end of the book!

I've made it through 6% of the book so far this afternoon and I've already had to take 3 stars off... will I make it to 10% without taking off the last one?

Apparently there's 6 hours and 45 minutes left in the book so it seems like a good opportunity to finish for the night and get stuck in again tomorrow. Thankfully that chapter was considerably better than the previous ones so maybe the authors were both having bad days when they wrote them?

Chapter 6 was OK to good-ish so hopefully I'm over the not-so-good bits now. Gonna aim for another chapter before lunch and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it'll leave me feeling more positive than negative about the book.

Thaaat's more like it! This book definitely has it's good points so the bad ones can almost be put to one side. I've got 6 hours and 8 minutes left in the book apparently so I'm gonna aim for one more as I've read two in just under an hour so I'm hoping I'll've read another one in plenty of time.

Just finished reading the third chapter of the morning and I think I get where the comedy bit of this rom-com is supposed to be, but it's a bit gentle for me and I haven't even started to smile yet.

Just finished Act 1... does that mean that I'm a third of the way through the book or something? The authors are well into the characters lives now which makes for better reading I reckon.

And there goes the final star for copyright usage. Only 36% of the way through and I'm giving up unfortunately.

A delightful romance that brings together former-friends-turned-enemies for a common cause. When the Islamic Centre burns down, Said Hossain and Tiwa Olatunji are finally forced to get past what happened years ago to ruin their friendship.

Over the course of reading this book, readers are also given a desperately-needed opportunity to look at the lighter and more human side of a much-maligned community. The two writers collaborating on the story have done a great job with this one.

Worth a read if you enjoy sparky and eventful romantic tales, with a splash of multiculturalism thrown in.

4.5 stars.

This was an absolutely delightful young adult romance that I would highly recommend to fans of the genre.

This book follows Said and Tiwa, two former friends-turned enemies, as they are brought back together properly for the first time since their friendship ceased in order to try and save their local Islamic Centre from demolition. The novel swaps between Tiwa and Said, and I found both characters to be equally fun to follow. Their personalities were distinct but flowed well together, and I was definitely rooting for them both. Additionally, the way in which the novel was structured, with a main timeline interspersed with flashes back to previous Eids, worked really well, and the pacing was effective.

The only thing stopping this being a 5 star for me is that the resolution felt too easy. Whilst huge amounts of angst would not have fitted the tone of the story, it did feel a little unrealistic how quickly everyone could bounce back.

All in all, absolutely worth the read.

So excited for this swoony YA romance! Who doesn't love a good hate to love and being such a fan of the Netflix series Never Have I Ever I got similar vibes from this book! I really enjoyed the storyline and the characters and am so looking forward to sharing much more soon!