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Young revert living the cutie life while trying to keep her heart as soft as possible, iA.

The Marriage Clock is a Must Read! πŸ€“πŸ“–




I LOVE reading and I've mentioned in the past that I listen to audiobooks at work to help pass the time and I regularly check the book section at work for any good books to check out. So you can imagine how I felt when I spied The Marriage Clock by Zara Raheem! The cover caught my eye right away! A bright sunflower yellow with a girl in a pink salwar, it just jumped right out at me! 

I picked it up and after reading the little blurb on the back, I quickly opened it up and started reading it to see if it was my cup of tea and wow! Was it!! ☕πŸ¦”πŸ’• I put it back and vowed to get it on payday in two days only to come back and see we were sold out! That really peaked my interest and I went on Audible and got the audiobook and listened to it for two days and went on the adventure that is The Marriage Clock and just wow!! This book is amazing!

So? What is it about?

Leila is a young muslimah whose parents aren't happy that she's not married at the ripe old age of twenty-six. They give her a deadline to find a husband in three months in time for their 30th anniversary party. At first, they try to arrange a marriage for her, but after she pleads her case, her mum agrees to let her find her potentional partner on her own and not interfere. Unfortunately, her mum insists on introducing her to people, calling a rishta auntie and even tricks her into going on a date while claiming none of this is interfering, it's just "helping". 

*WARNING: there be spoilers ahead*

I'll admit I didn't physically read the book since we were sold out at work, but I've listened to the audiobook twice so I might get some of the names slightly wrong.

One of my favourite parts of the book was when Leila went on a muslim dating site and was texting and chatting with Mahmoud! I really thought he might end up being "the one" and was horrified when her mum took her phone and talked to him behind Leila's back! So you can imagine how excited I was when they were supposed to go on their first date... only for him to turn out to around twenty years older than he'd claimed!!! Total shock! I remember hearing this part at work and my jaw just dropping like, 'no! way!' 

The whole part with her budding romance with Hisham in India had me absolutely giddy! I felt like, 'finally!!' and was so sure that they would end up together so you can only imagine how cheated I felt when it turned out he was engaged the whole time! It just felt like it came out of nowhere, like something out of a Bollywood movie. For me, it just felt like Leila wasn't allowed to have any lasting happiness or find love. 

While, I totally loved the book (I legit listened to it back to back after finishing it, because I liked it so much), there were some things I either didn't like or that after I finished it, didn't really match. 

I really loved Leila and the funny and sarcastic things she said throughout the book, however, at the end when she mentioned the picture with her parents at her twenty-sixth birthday, it just feel surreal. For someone that's supposed to be twenty-six, the way she acted and spoke was more like someone sixteen. Even if she'd just been three years younger, maybe it wouldn't have come across as so immature and childish, but even then, I think maybe it'd be pushing it.

The whole thing at the end with Zain just seemed totally unbelievable. Not to be harsh, but he knows her in real life and their mums are even friends, so I really can't believe he had no way of getting her number or just going over to her house and explaining what happened. If it was someone she'd only talked to on the dating site, that would've made a lot more sense. 

While I did like the ending, but the speech at the end and everyone just accepting it and clapping and cheering just seemed so anti-climatic. It was so good, but then the book just ends right there and it felt like it'd ended so abruptly. I would've really liked if there was a little more so things ended more well-rounded. And it seemed like Tanya's fate was thrown in somewhat randomnly and it didn't seem to fit in with the rest of that part. The book was some kind of rom-com, but there was absolutely no love or happy ending. 

Speaking of Tanya, I didn't like how she was described as more conservative just for wearing hijab. It just isn't realistic, muslimah wear hijab for a variety of reasons and being conservative is probably very low on the list of reasons. 

All in all, I think The Marriage Clock is a really good read (or listen) and I would rate it 7/10 ♡ I really really recommend this book to all of my muslim friends and even told my Darling everything that happened throughout the entire thing and he thought it was really good too.





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