Counting Down With You by Tashie Bhuiyan

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 Karina Ahmed's plan for the future is to survive high school by keeping her head down and following her parent's strict rules, even if it includes giving up her dream. When her parents go abroad to Bangladesh for a month, Karina expects peace in her life. Instead, a simple lie unravels everything. Tutoring Ace Clyde, the school's resident bad boy, was already crossing a line. But pretending to date him? It's out of the question. If she goes along with Ace's fake dating plan, Karina is promised a dozen books a week. Though Karina agrees, she can't help but start counting down the days until her parents return.

Reading this book put a smile on my face. It was such a cute contemporary. This book seemed to have everything. There was a good blend of friendship and family dynamics. The fake-dating trope is always so much fun too. Counting Down With You was so much fun, yet so emotional at the same time.

Though this book looks pretty long, I flew through it so quickly. It took me only two days to get through this 450-page book. Once I started reading, I just couldn't stop. I lost track of time a lot while I was reading because I was just so invested in Karina's story.

I loved all the characters in this book. Karina was quirky and well written. She was also so relatable. Especially with her anxiety. I definitely know what she's going through with that. If any book going to win the award for best side characters, it's Counting Down With You. I loved Cora and Nandini. They were hilarious and reminded me so much of my own friends. Karina also has the best grandmother ever. She was so supportive of everything Karina did.

I'm always skeptical of the "bad boy" trope, but Ace was great. I loved Ace. He was such a sweetheart. He and Karina were such a cute couple! I'm always a sucker for the opposites attract trope too.

The only characters in this book I didn't like were Karina's parents. They were awful. I hated how manipulative they were. They were so verbally abusive. I just absolutely hated them.

Page count: 464 pages

Published: May 4, 2021

Genre: contemporary

My rating: 4.5 stars

Trigger warnings: anxiety, panic attacks, verbal parental abuse

Buy this book!

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