The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar

 When Nishat comes out to her parents, they don't accept her as who she is. They say Nishat can be whoever she wants as long as she's not herself. They also say Muslim girls aren't lesbians. Nishat can't hide who she is, but she also can't lose her family. In a world where no one else seems to except her besides her family, Nishat is running out of people she can confide in. As if that wasn't bad enough, an old friend from her childhood comes back into her life. Nishat falls for Flávia right away. When a school competition has students create their own business, Nishat and Flávia both chose to do henna, even though Flávia would be appropriating Nishat's culture.

The Henna Wars is officially my favorite rom-com! This book is definitely in my top 10 favorites of all time. I felt so emotionally involved in this story it wasn't even funny. The Henna Wars seemed to be over too quickly.

I loved Nishat and Flávia's relationship. They were an adorable couple and even when they were rivals, I was rooting for them. There were so many cute moments between them and there's such good fan art for these two online.

Along with Nishat and Flávia, another relationship that I really liked was Nishat's bond with her sister. They were so cute together. Even though Priti was only a side character, I adored her. I felt so protective of both girls like I would literally kill anyone who hurts these two.

There were a lot of melancholy moments in this book. Nishat's family situation was really sad. On top of that, all the tough stuff Nishat went through because of her sexuality and culture was terrible.

One thing that I found interesting about The Henna Wars formatting is there is a content warning page in the front of the book. I've never seen something like this in a book before but I really liked that it was included.

Page Count: 400 pages

Published: May 12, 2020
Genre: contemporary
My rating: 5 stars

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