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Fatima Tate Takes the Cake
Fatima Tate wants to be a baker AND enjoy some innocent flirting with her hot friend Raheem—but her strict Muslim parents would never approve of either...
Seventeen-year-old Fatima Tate, aspiring baker (100% against her conservative parents’ wishes), leads a pretty normal life in long drives with BFF Zaynab, weekly services at the mosque, big family parties, soup kitchen volunteering (the best way to perfect her flaky dough recipe!), stressing about college. But everything changes when she meets a charming university student named Raheem. Knowing the 'rents would FREAK, Fatima keeps their burgeoning relationship a secret... and then, one day, her parents and his parents decide to arrange their marriage. Amazing! True serendipity!
Except it's not amazing. As soon as the ring is on Fatima’s finger, Raheem’s charm transforms into control and manipulation. Fatima knows she has to call the whole thing off, but Raheem doesn’t like to lose. He threatens to reveal their premarital sexual history and destroy her and her family’s reputation in their tight-knit Muslim community. Fatima must find the inner strength to blaze her own trail by owning her body, her choices, and her future. Combining the frank authenticity of Elizabeth Acevedo and the complex social dynamics of Ibi Zoboi, FATIMA TATE TAKES THE CAKE is a powerful coming-of-age story that gives a much-needed voice to young Black Muslim women.
Seventeen-year-old Fatima Tate, aspiring baker (100% against her conservative parents’ wishes), leads a pretty normal life in long drives with BFF Zaynab, weekly services at the mosque, big family parties, soup kitchen volunteering (the best way to perfect her flaky dough recipe!), stressing about college. But everything changes when she meets a charming university student named Raheem. Knowing the 'rents would FREAK, Fatima keeps their burgeoning relationship a secret... and then, one day, her parents and his parents decide to arrange their marriage. Amazing! True serendipity!
Except it's not amazing. As soon as the ring is on Fatima’s finger, Raheem’s charm transforms into control and manipulation. Fatima knows she has to call the whole thing off, but Raheem doesn’t like to lose. He threatens to reveal their premarital sexual history and destroy her and her family’s reputation in their tight-knit Muslim community. Fatima must find the inner strength to blaze her own trail by owning her body, her choices, and her future. Combining the frank authenticity of Elizabeth Acevedo and the complex social dynamics of Ibi Zoboi, FATIMA TATE TAKES THE CAKE is a powerful coming-of-age story that gives a much-needed voice to young Black Muslim women.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published June 13, 2023
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2760 people want to read
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June 11, 2023
If you're looking for a book with good Muslim rep, this one is not it. (Minor spoilers ahead)
Fatima Tate is a Black Muslim girl who enjoys baking and dreams of becoming a pâtissier, but her passion is being refrained by her own mother who wants her to become a nurse. At the same time, Fatima also has a crush on a Muslim guy she met at a place she volunteered in, but never did she expect to be betrothed to him in such a short time.
I'll start with a few good things that I appreciate from this book:
- The beautiful cover itself.
- A ride-or-die kind of friendship between the Fatima and her best friend, Zaynab. Zaynab was always there for her, supporting every decision.
- Fatima standing up for herself at the end, even if it causes her grief and shame.
But these were not enough to cover the ick feeling I felt throughout the story. Firstly, what's the author's point of making Fatima's best friend a lesbian? This is normally a cliche plot for a Western contemporary book–but this is a character with Muslim reps. A book centering around Muslim community. I don't usually voice out my opinion on matters related to LGBT because I'm not knowledgeable enough for arguments, but it's clear as a day that Muslims aren't supposed to support LGBT. Call me conservative or old-fashioned, but if the Quran and Hadis say it's wrong, it is wrong. I can't believe I had to read a Muslim author writing "Love is love, and who the Hell are you to say what's haram", clearly trying to normalise this. Well, who are you to try making something haram into halal?
It's pretty much in the synopsis of the book itself that Fatima and her crush, Raheem, end up getting sexually involved before getting married, and it irritated me to no end. Raheem is definitely the most wrong here; him being an adult made him able to groom and manipulate Fatima into letting him touch her. But I would say that Fatima has her faults too. I have no idea how Muslims these days are so casual with men and women touching each other (ie: hold hands, hugging, etc), and the author seems to want to try normalising that as well. No. If you're not married or blood related, it's not even necessary to touch each other except when medical attention is needed (or something alarming that may be permissible). Yet, Fatima gave no second to think about it. She simply let him kiss her, and in no time, took off her hijab and let him do her. It disappointed me so much.
I know that this is the case of so many Muslims of this generation, and the author is depicting something real happening out there, but I still think the author could have written a better way to deal with it. When Fatima confided with Zaynab about what she did with Raheem, there did not seem to be any remorse or much fear of a sin so big. She asked Zaynab if Zaynab did it with her girlfriend and the conversation that follows end up in a laughter. I understand that these characters are minors, but I still feel uncomfortable with the way the author is trying to portray these things.
There are so many issues regarding matters that the author tried to paint as Islamic "tradition", when it's really non-permissible in Islam; I really just wanted to get this book over with. It did not help that the author's writing style is also rather on-the-surface. There was no depth and details at all. The story literally jumped into Fatima already having a crush on Raheem, and there was no build up to it. There was no reason for readers to root for her affection. Apart from the Muslim rep, I had also looked forward to the baking parts since it seemed like the main essence of the story, but every scene of Fatima baking felt like reciting a recipe. There was no magic in it, no sweet aroma or taste being described enough for me to imagine how the desserts she baked would look or taste like. It pains me that I had to skim all the baking parts.
At this point, it truly feels like I'm hating on this book. Perhaps I am, but with good reasons so. I can tolerate bad Muslim characters, but I can't tolerate authors who try to normalise the bad things.
To answer the question that some of the characters questioned in the book:
- Muslim female and male are allowed to be friends, but there are limits to it. Touches are non-permissible, whether innocent or friendly.
- Some Muslims do date before getting married, but it's advisable to have a chaperone in order to avoid any unnecessary issues arising.
As a Muslim reader who wants more books with Muslim rep by Muslim authors, this book really disappointed me.
Many thanks to Netgalley for the digital copy in return for my honest review.
(edit on 11/06/2023: I previously wrote Fatima to be Brown instead of Black, so thank you to the person in the comment for correcting me)
Fatima Tate is a Black Muslim girl who enjoys baking and dreams of becoming a pâtissier, but her passion is being refrained by her own mother who wants her to become a nurse. At the same time, Fatima also has a crush on a Muslim guy she met at a place she volunteered in, but never did she expect to be betrothed to him in such a short time.
I'll start with a few good things that I appreciate from this book:
- The beautiful cover itself.
- A ride-or-die kind of friendship between the Fatima and her best friend, Zaynab. Zaynab was always there for her, supporting every decision.
- Fatima standing up for herself at the end, even if it causes her grief and shame.
But these were not enough to cover the ick feeling I felt throughout the story. Firstly, what's the author's point of making Fatima's best friend a lesbian? This is normally a cliche plot for a Western contemporary book–but this is a character with Muslim reps. A book centering around Muslim community. I don't usually voice out my opinion on matters related to LGBT because I'm not knowledgeable enough for arguments, but it's clear as a day that Muslims aren't supposed to support LGBT. Call me conservative or old-fashioned, but if the Quran and Hadis say it's wrong, it is wrong. I can't believe I had to read a Muslim author writing "Love is love, and who the Hell are you to say what's haram", clearly trying to normalise this. Well, who are you to try making something haram into halal?
It's pretty much in the synopsis of the book itself that Fatima and her crush, Raheem, end up getting sexually involved before getting married, and it irritated me to no end. Raheem is definitely the most wrong here; him being an adult made him able to groom and manipulate Fatima into letting him touch her. But I would say that Fatima has her faults too. I have no idea how Muslims these days are so casual with men and women touching each other (ie: hold hands, hugging, etc), and the author seems to want to try normalising that as well. No. If you're not married or blood related, it's not even necessary to touch each other except when medical attention is needed (or something alarming that may be permissible). Yet, Fatima gave no second to think about it. She simply let him kiss her, and in no time, took off her hijab and let him do her. It disappointed me so much.
I know that this is the case of so many Muslims of this generation, and the author is depicting something real happening out there, but I still think the author could have written a better way to deal with it. When Fatima confided with Zaynab about what she did with Raheem, there did not seem to be any remorse or much fear of a sin so big. She asked Zaynab if Zaynab did it with her girlfriend and the conversation that follows end up in a laughter. I understand that these characters are minors, but I still feel uncomfortable with the way the author is trying to portray these things.
There are so many issues regarding matters that the author tried to paint as Islamic "tradition", when it's really non-permissible in Islam; I really just wanted to get this book over with. It did not help that the author's writing style is also rather on-the-surface. There was no depth and details at all. The story literally jumped into Fatima already having a crush on Raheem, and there was no build up to it. There was no reason for readers to root for her affection. Apart from the Muslim rep, I had also looked forward to the baking parts since it seemed like the main essence of the story, but every scene of Fatima baking felt like reciting a recipe. There was no magic in it, no sweet aroma or taste being described enough for me to imagine how the desserts she baked would look or taste like. It pains me that I had to skim all the baking parts.
At this point, it truly feels like I'm hating on this book. Perhaps I am, but with good reasons so. I can tolerate bad Muslim characters, but I can't tolerate authors who try to normalise the bad things.
To answer the question that some of the characters questioned in the book:
- Muslim female and male are allowed to be friends, but there are limits to it. Touches are non-permissible, whether innocent or friendly.
- Some Muslims do date before getting married, but it's advisable to have a chaperone in order to avoid any unnecessary issues arising.
As a Muslim reader who wants more books with Muslim rep by Muslim authors, this book really disappointed me.
Many thanks to Netgalley for the digital copy in return for my honest review.
(edit on 11/06/2023: I previously wrote Fatima to be Brown instead of Black, so thank you to the person in the comment for correcting me)
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April 13, 2023Unfortunately, this book was a massive disappointment. As a Muslim reader who gets really excited about Black Muslim rep, this book was everything that I DON'T want to see. The writing itself was mediocre; there was no character development; the plot was practically nonexistent. This was, quite frankly, a terrible first draft.
The "Muslim rep" was superficial at best, internalized Islamophobia at worst. "Conservative" parents, having sex in secret and having it used as a threat, the only 'religious' side character appearing ONLY to exist as the trope of the judgmental, hypocritical hijabi... there was absolutely no positive connection to Islam, no sense of Fatima having faith as a Muslim, nothing about her spirituality. She prays but it's always rushed or absent-minded, and it comes off as a chore rather than something sincere.
None of the characters are likeable or developed in any way. Fatima Tate herself is the most under developed main character I have ever come across, with her only personality trait being baking (and even that was poorly demonstrated! A baker in a baking competition should already know about chilling cookie dough ahead of time and what baking tips are used for frosting cupcakes!). The parents are portrayed in the most shallow of ways: a mean mom who constantly harps on about her daughter's weight and pressuring her to go into nursing instead of culinary school, and a doormat of a father. Raheem is a flimsy villain who also has no personality beyond being rich and good-looking.
There is no romance, not even in the beginning. We're given a rushed set of scenes where Fatima is checking out Raheem, suddenly ends up alone in his car, invites him into her house, ogles his butt while he prays... and then makes out with him like five seconds later. It's all awkward, stilted, forced, and boring. Where was the editor in all of this? This book is terrible and frankly needs to not be published until such time as the author learns how to actually write well and develop a plot and characters.
I am not just disappointed by this book, I am insulted that this is being used as "Black Muslim rep" when the Black Muslims I know and love are nothing like this and consider this a shameful example of "representation" in their name. It's a 0/10 for me. Literally nothing redeeming whatsoever, from a literary perspective or otherwise.
For Muslim readers: this was garbage. Badly written garbage. Oh yeah and there's a gay (Muslim) best friend with a nonMuslim girlfriend, and if you don't like that, well, you're just another hateful bigot, innit. This entire book is a crappy first draft that's just a diverse checklist to make nonMuslim publishers happy. Negative rating.
The "Muslim rep" was superficial at best, internalized Islamophobia at worst. "Conservative" parents, having sex in secret and having it used as a threat, the only 'religious' side character appearing ONLY to exist as the trope of the judgmental, hypocritical hijabi... there was absolutely no positive connection to Islam, no sense of Fatima having faith as a Muslim, nothing about her spirituality. She prays but it's always rushed or absent-minded, and it comes off as a chore rather than something sincere.
None of the characters are likeable or developed in any way. Fatima Tate herself is the most under developed main character I have ever come across, with her only personality trait being baking (and even that was poorly demonstrated! A baker in a baking competition should already know about chilling cookie dough ahead of time and what baking tips are used for frosting cupcakes!). The parents are portrayed in the most shallow of ways: a mean mom who constantly harps on about her daughter's weight and pressuring her to go into nursing instead of culinary school, and a doormat of a father. Raheem is a flimsy villain who also has no personality beyond being rich and good-looking.
There is no romance, not even in the beginning. We're given a rushed set of scenes where Fatima is checking out Raheem, suddenly ends up alone in his car, invites him into her house, ogles his butt while he prays... and then makes out with him like five seconds later. It's all awkward, stilted, forced, and boring. Where was the editor in all of this? This book is terrible and frankly needs to not be published until such time as the author learns how to actually write well and develop a plot and characters.
I am not just disappointed by this book, I am insulted that this is being used as "Black Muslim rep" when the Black Muslims I know and love are nothing like this and consider this a shameful example of "representation" in their name. It's a 0/10 for me. Literally nothing redeeming whatsoever, from a literary perspective or otherwise.
For Muslim readers: this was garbage. Badly written garbage. Oh yeah and there's a gay (Muslim) best friend with a nonMuslim girlfriend, and if you don't like that, well, you're just another hateful bigot, innit. This entire book is a crappy first draft that's just a diverse checklist to make nonMuslim publishers happy. Negative rating.
July 12, 2023
Hello All!
I would like to thank you for your interest in my debut, Contemporary YA novel, FATIMA TATE TAKES THE CAKE. It takes many hands to bring a traditionally published book into the world and I thank everyone who supported me along the way.
FATIMA is about a seventeen-year-old Black American Muslim who has to navigate between parental expectations & personal aspirations. The story follows Fatima, a high school senor whose arranged marriage (i.e. supervised courtship) to her secret crush is based on a lie.
Because F.T.T.T.C is a coming-of-age story, it contains themes you would expect: pleasing your parents vs making choices that please yourself, how to handle the consequences of bad decisions and taking the chance to go after your dreams. The story also includes how the privilege of wealth affects everyone around you.
Having three daughters who never had YA contemporary books with teens who were both Black and Muslim was a huge reason why I write these types of narratives.
I would like to thank you for your interest in my debut, Contemporary YA novel, FATIMA TATE TAKES THE CAKE. It takes many hands to bring a traditionally published book into the world and I thank everyone who supported me along the way.
FATIMA is about a seventeen-year-old Black American Muslim who has to navigate between parental expectations & personal aspirations. The story follows Fatima, a high school senor whose arranged marriage (i.e. supervised courtship) to her secret crush is based on a lie.
Because F.T.T.T.C is a coming-of-age story, it contains themes you would expect: pleasing your parents vs making choices that please yourself, how to handle the consequences of bad decisions and taking the chance to go after your dreams. The story also includes how the privilege of wealth affects everyone around you.
Having three daughters who never had YA contemporary books with teens who were both Black and Muslim was a huge reason why I write these types of narratives.
Want to read
June 15, 2024I went to the library today and when I saw this on display, I took it and hid it with random non fiction books, you're welcome 🙏
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automatic side eye from just the blurb
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automatic side eye from just the blurb
May 1, 2023
I was given an arc in exchange of an honest review
DNF. Pretty early on I figured out that this is going to be the typical, cliche book that demonises most practising characters and from where I left it, yes. That's exactly what this was.
I should've known with the blurb–the word 'conservative' was glaringly obvious but I hoped for better but next time I won't even bother.
We should be past this kind of Muslim rep. We don't need to constantly see practising Muslims demonised–as in, practising Muslims who aren't western and can differentiate between what they think is halal and haram and what is actually permissible.
What's most disappointing is that this is written by a Muslim author.
DNF. Pretty early on I figured out that this is going to be the typical, cliche book that demonises most practising characters and from where I left it, yes. That's exactly what this was.
I should've known with the blurb–the word 'conservative' was glaringly obvious but I hoped for better but next time I won't even bother.
We should be past this kind of Muslim rep. We don't need to constantly see practising Muslims demonised–as in, practising Muslims who aren't western and can differentiate between what they think is halal and haram and what is actually permissible.
What's most disappointing is that this is written by a Muslim author.
March 29, 2023
Fatima Takes the Cake by Khadijah VanBrakle is a coming of age story centred around Fatima Tate, a seventeen year old muslim teen who loves baking, her friendships and her family. Fatima meets Raheem, a 21 year old Muslim man who she soon begins developing a relationship with and who she is soon arranged to marry.
I loved this book so much that I finished the book in a day. At every free moment, I eagerly entered Fatima’s world to see how the problems she faced would be resolved. The story was never boring and was a fast, enjoyable read.
To begin with, Fatima is a sweet character with a lot of heart. She also goes through a massive amount of character development as she is put in challenging situations. I also really enjoyed that she had multiple supportive minor characters such as her best friend Zaynab, her father, her chef mentor Erica and Sarah Baker (Zaynab’s mother). I do feel like the relationship between Fatima and her mother could have been explored more.
The character of Raheem was well written too! His charm oozed through the dialogue while also maintaining an almost sleazy vibe. I believe his character should have faced more repercussions for his actions.
I also enjoyed the LGBTQIA+ representation and the cultural aspects within the novel. As someone who isn’t Muslim, it opened my eyes to parts of the religion that I didn’t know about. I also enjoyed that characters such as Brian weren’t afraid or deterred to ask questions about the Muslim faith within the book.
Overall, the book was a fantastic read that I couldn’t put down! I can’t wait to see what Khadijah VanBrakle writes next!
I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions within this review are my own. Thank you!
I loved this book so much that I finished the book in a day. At every free moment, I eagerly entered Fatima’s world to see how the problems she faced would be resolved. The story was never boring and was a fast, enjoyable read.
To begin with, Fatima is a sweet character with a lot of heart. She also goes through a massive amount of character development as she is put in challenging situations. I also really enjoyed that she had multiple supportive minor characters such as her best friend Zaynab, her father, her chef mentor Erica and Sarah Baker (Zaynab’s mother). I do feel like the relationship between Fatima and her mother could have been explored more.
The character of Raheem was well written too! His charm oozed through the dialogue while also maintaining an almost sleazy vibe. I believe his character should have faced more repercussions for his actions.
I also enjoyed the LGBTQIA+ representation and the cultural aspects within the novel. As someone who isn’t Muslim, it opened my eyes to parts of the religion that I didn’t know about. I also enjoyed that characters such as Brian weren’t afraid or deterred to ask questions about the Muslim faith within the book.
Overall, the book was a fantastic read that I couldn’t put down! I can’t wait to see what Khadijah VanBrakle writes next!
I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions within this review are my own. Thank you!
June 21, 2023
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Where do I even start with this book? I saw it as I was scrolling through NetGalley one day the cover and title intrigued me. Fatima Tate Takes the Cake? Is she a baker? I also thought the cover was very interesting. I clicked on it. And that’s where everything went downhill. The eye-catching opening line to the description has “enjoy some innocent flirting with her hot friend Raheem” I’m sorry what??? Alright, fine, let me just see what this is about, maybe it’ll get better.
It did not get better.
I almost DNF’d this book too many times to count. I had to force myself through it all while trying to figure out how to make a review for it. And now we’re here with the second complete rewrite of a review for the whole book because I did force myself to finish it and was sorely disappointed and angry.
Before I delve into this I do want to say that I can somewhat see what the author was trying to do with this book. The topics she’s talking about—expectations from family, abuse, the shortcomings of the Muslim community—are all very real and important and I do think they should be talked about but I don’t think this book was the way to do it.
We start the novel with Fatima, a 17-year-old high school senior who wants to be a pastry chef. Her parents want her to go to nursing school and disapprove of her dream to be a pastry chef because they don’t think it’s stable or secure enough to support her, they think that nursing is though (Oh boy it’s already starting, are all of us Muslims going to be stereotyped into this thing where parents only want doctor, lawyer, or engineer?). In chapter one the chef at the soup kitchen where she volunteers tells her about an opportunity of a lifetime—a baking championship. If Fatima enters it and wins she (and a parent, since she is a minor) will get to stay for three days at the college of her dreams and learn from renowned pastry chefs. Too good to pass up, right? Too bad she needs one of her disapproving parents’ signatures.
Now the actual plot of the book was alright. But it could have been executed way better. In the synopsis, it’s revealed that once Fatima and Raheem get engaged, he begins to be manipulative and controlling. Because of that, I expected it to be a bigger deal that he was like that and for it to happen earlier on. It didn’t though??? They didn’t get engaged until 46% into the book and it took even longer for the threats and control to begin showing through (and I’ll dive more into this later on as well). There was also the plot of Fatima entering the championship unbeknownst to her parents. That wasn’t a big deal either.
And what do I mean by that? I mean that when her parents discovered she had entered the championship and was a finalist (thanks to Raheem), they didn’t care. In fact, they showed up to the competition and cheered her on. And when she won second place they were nothing but proud of her and she faced NO consequences for going behind their backs to do this….I have no words.
Let’s throw up a wide lens and look at the whole plot. Throughout the book, the plot was just feeling too convenient. Let’s take the first chapter as an example: Fatima gets off her volunteer shift at the same time as Raheem? Yeah that’s normal they started at the same time. Her best friend Zaynab wasn’t there to pick her up immediately and she’s never late and always picks up Fatima? Ok, a bit buyable, maybe she got delayed. Fatima texts Zaynab asking her if she’s going to pick up Fatima then almost immediately gets into Raheem’s car so he can drive her home? GIRL WHAT- I just- That doesn’t even make sense. Between Zaynab not showing up, Fatima not giving her the chance to show up, and her just getting into this dude’s car. Like girl- every single person that I know knows not to get into random people’s cars, even if you work with them.
Even later on in the book everything was too convenient. Too many times another character (typically Zaynab) didn’t do what they were meant to (for example, show up to meet with Fatima or come to a training session at the gym) which meant that Raheem and Fatima were left alone. In another incident, Raheem conveniently showed up where Zaynab, Fatima, and Zaynab’s girlfriend Amber were having dinner. And Amber and Zaynab conveniently decided to leave the two of them alone. To me, that just felt like lazy writing. Give me a reason to believe that this incident would have happened even if Zaynab had shown up or some other character had done (or not done) something to get us to this point. You should not have to rely on a character (who, up until the book takes place, seems to have been nothing but the most reliable person in the world) being unreliable for your plot and character development to move forward.
And beyond moving your plot forward, things should flow. The first few chapters were excruciating to get through. I literally read the first 4 chapters then didn’t pick up the book for over a month because I didn’t like the idea of an entire book with chapters like that (interestingly the rest of the chapters weren’t like the first few, which made no sense to me, where is the consistency?) The writing wasn’t flowing and I found myself constantly having to put my phone down and breathe for a few minutes before picking it back up again. And that wasn’t just because of difficult-to-get-through chapters, it was everything in the book. The characters, the baking, the pacing, and so much maore.
Now for the pacing. Everything felt too fast and then too slow. The baking parts were written in so much detail that the writing felt too sloggy. I was crawling through those parts. Then other parts happened so fast that I had to reread them just to understand what was happening. Some chapters were only an hour while others were over the span of a week. Sometimes we’d have time jumps that made no sense and left me wondering how long the jump had been. I don’t think this was entirely the fault of the author as her editor should have picked up on this and fixed it.
One said thing that irked me oh so much was the baking, as I just said. For something that was so central to Fatima and supposedly relaxed her, it didn’t feel like that at all. The only times she baked were when she was asked to (such as when she was practicing or competing for the championship or the couple of times Zaynab’s mom asked if Fatima could bake for her work) and we never saw the effects of her baking. It was all about how she made something or another, in fact, those parts felt more like a recipe book than Fatima baking. Additionally, for someone who claims to love baking, she didn’t know all that much. Now I’m no baker, but I know a few tricks from watching and helping my younger sister out with some baking from time to time. The fact that Fatima was amazed by a chef putting their cookie dough into the fridge before putting it to bake astounded me. It’s impossible to read a cookie recipe and not hear about this trick. It’s even more impossible to be a baker who wants to be a pastry chef and not know about this. Once again, I’m not a baker and this is common knowledge to me. Everyone knows that, but apparently not Fatima. Because that’s so believable (/sarcastic)
One of the most difficult things for me to wrap my head around was the fact that Fatima was 17 and a high school senior. Between the way that she acted and her naivety, I couldn’t buy that she was 17, she seemed more like she was 15 or possibly 16. And before anyone tries to be like “This is a YA!! They’re only ‘childish’ because you’re reading YA!!!” I’m 16. My 13-year-old sister probably has more life experience and is less naive than Fatima. I genuinely can not believe that she’s meant to be 17. She just doesn’t have the smarts of someone who should be 17.
Fatima as a character was also a weak part of the book. Fatima is a hijabi who tries to pray all five prayers (even if she does struggle to get them all in on time every day) but then she’ll kiss the guy she’s crushing on and all she cares about afterward is if her parents will find out. There’s nothing in her thoughts about her connection to Islam or Allah, it’s only about what her parents and the community would say. That shows even more later on in the book when she and Raheem are engaged and she takes off her hijab in front of him then they sleep together (yes, you did read all of that right but I recommend rereading it). Nothing from her except worry that her mother will figure it out. And that just goes on.
When Fatima begins finding out how manipulative and controlling Raheem is and begins having second thoughts about getting married to him, he threatens to tell her parents, the community, and the Imam of their masjid about what they did, which would, since the community they live in is misogynistic they will forgive Raheem and his family but Fatima’s and her family’s good reputations will be down the drain and never to be seen again (WHOA let’s back up here real quick. Unfortunately, due to the more negative parts of society and the patriarchy, yes many communities—Muslim and non-Muslim—are patriarchal and misogynistic. It is not limited to Muslim ones, and Islam is vehemently against believing that men are better than women or that women are better than men).
And those threats are obviously very real to Fatima and she worries herself sick about what would happen to her and her family if that is exposed to her community BUT THEN NOTHING HAPPENS. She ends up calling off the engagement and literally running out of her own engagement party to attend the final challenge of her baking championship. And although Raheem did tell her parents what they did, there’s not even a mention of if he told the rest of the community or the Imam, or if Fatima and her family dealt with those consequences or not. Which means that all that worrying that the reader did on behalf of Fatima was left unanswered. It felt like there was a piece of the story missing. What happened to all of the serious threats? Why is she just living her life as if it was a breakup that caused her hurt because she was in love? Whyyyyyyyyyyy why why why
Overall, Fatima Tate Takes the Cake felt like the author was trying to do too many things but she didn't know how to and her editor was not helpful.
Where do I even start with this book? I saw it as I was scrolling through NetGalley one day the cover and title intrigued me. Fatima Tate Takes the Cake? Is she a baker? I also thought the cover was very interesting. I clicked on it. And that’s where everything went downhill. The eye-catching opening line to the description has “enjoy some innocent flirting with her hot friend Raheem” I’m sorry what??? Alright, fine, let me just see what this is about, maybe it’ll get better.
It did not get better.
I almost DNF’d this book too many times to count. I had to force myself through it all while trying to figure out how to make a review for it. And now we’re here with the second complete rewrite of a review for the whole book because I did force myself to finish it and was sorely disappointed and angry.
Before I delve into this I do want to say that I can somewhat see what the author was trying to do with this book. The topics she’s talking about—expectations from family, abuse, the shortcomings of the Muslim community—are all very real and important and I do think they should be talked about but I don’t think this book was the way to do it.
We start the novel with Fatima, a 17-year-old high school senior who wants to be a pastry chef. Her parents want her to go to nursing school and disapprove of her dream to be a pastry chef because they don’t think it’s stable or secure enough to support her, they think that nursing is though (Oh boy it’s already starting, are all of us Muslims going to be stereotyped into this thing where parents only want doctor, lawyer, or engineer?). In chapter one the chef at the soup kitchen where she volunteers tells her about an opportunity of a lifetime—a baking championship. If Fatima enters it and wins she (and a parent, since she is a minor) will get to stay for three days at the college of her dreams and learn from renowned pastry chefs. Too good to pass up, right? Too bad she needs one of her disapproving parents’ signatures.
Now the actual plot of the book was alright. But it could have been executed way better. In the synopsis, it’s revealed that once Fatima and Raheem get engaged, he begins to be manipulative and controlling. Because of that, I expected it to be a bigger deal that he was like that and for it to happen earlier on. It didn’t though??? They didn’t get engaged until 46% into the book and it took even longer for the threats and control to begin showing through (and I’ll dive more into this later on as well). There was also the plot of Fatima entering the championship unbeknownst to her parents. That wasn’t a big deal either.
And what do I mean by that? I mean that when her parents discovered she had entered the championship and was a finalist (thanks to Raheem), they didn’t care. In fact, they showed up to the competition and cheered her on. And when she won second place they were nothing but proud of her and she faced NO consequences for going behind their backs to do this….I have no words.
Let’s throw up a wide lens and look at the whole plot. Throughout the book, the plot was just feeling too convenient. Let’s take the first chapter as an example: Fatima gets off her volunteer shift at the same time as Raheem? Yeah that’s normal they started at the same time. Her best friend Zaynab wasn’t there to pick her up immediately and she’s never late and always picks up Fatima? Ok, a bit buyable, maybe she got delayed. Fatima texts Zaynab asking her if she’s going to pick up Fatima then almost immediately gets into Raheem’s car so he can drive her home? GIRL WHAT- I just- That doesn’t even make sense. Between Zaynab not showing up, Fatima not giving her the chance to show up, and her just getting into this dude’s car. Like girl- every single person that I know knows not to get into random people’s cars, even if you work with them.
Even later on in the book everything was too convenient. Too many times another character (typically Zaynab) didn’t do what they were meant to (for example, show up to meet with Fatima or come to a training session at the gym) which meant that Raheem and Fatima were left alone. In another incident, Raheem conveniently showed up where Zaynab, Fatima, and Zaynab’s girlfriend Amber were having dinner. And Amber and Zaynab conveniently decided to leave the two of them alone. To me, that just felt like lazy writing. Give me a reason to believe that this incident would have happened even if Zaynab had shown up or some other character had done (or not done) something to get us to this point. You should not have to rely on a character (who, up until the book takes place, seems to have been nothing but the most reliable person in the world) being unreliable for your plot and character development to move forward.
And beyond moving your plot forward, things should flow. The first few chapters were excruciating to get through. I literally read the first 4 chapters then didn’t pick up the book for over a month because I didn’t like the idea of an entire book with chapters like that (interestingly the rest of the chapters weren’t like the first few, which made no sense to me, where is the consistency?) The writing wasn’t flowing and I found myself constantly having to put my phone down and breathe for a few minutes before picking it back up again. And that wasn’t just because of difficult-to-get-through chapters, it was everything in the book. The characters, the baking, the pacing, and so much maore.
Now for the pacing. Everything felt too fast and then too slow. The baking parts were written in so much detail that the writing felt too sloggy. I was crawling through those parts. Then other parts happened so fast that I had to reread them just to understand what was happening. Some chapters were only an hour while others were over the span of a week. Sometimes we’d have time jumps that made no sense and left me wondering how long the jump had been. I don’t think this was entirely the fault of the author as her editor should have picked up on this and fixed it.
One said thing that irked me oh so much was the baking, as I just said. For something that was so central to Fatima and supposedly relaxed her, it didn’t feel like that at all. The only times she baked were when she was asked to (such as when she was practicing or competing for the championship or the couple of times Zaynab’s mom asked if Fatima could bake for her work) and we never saw the effects of her baking. It was all about how she made something or another, in fact, those parts felt more like a recipe book than Fatima baking. Additionally, for someone who claims to love baking, she didn’t know all that much. Now I’m no baker, but I know a few tricks from watching and helping my younger sister out with some baking from time to time. The fact that Fatima was amazed by a chef putting their cookie dough into the fridge before putting it to bake astounded me. It’s impossible to read a cookie recipe and not hear about this trick. It’s even more impossible to be a baker who wants to be a pastry chef and not know about this. Once again, I’m not a baker and this is common knowledge to me. Everyone knows that, but apparently not Fatima. Because that’s so believable (/sarcastic)
One of the most difficult things for me to wrap my head around was the fact that Fatima was 17 and a high school senior. Between the way that she acted and her naivety, I couldn’t buy that she was 17, she seemed more like she was 15 or possibly 16. And before anyone tries to be like “This is a YA!! They’re only ‘childish’ because you’re reading YA!!!” I’m 16. My 13-year-old sister probably has more life experience and is less naive than Fatima. I genuinely can not believe that she’s meant to be 17. She just doesn’t have the smarts of someone who should be 17.
Fatima as a character was also a weak part of the book. Fatima is a hijabi who tries to pray all five prayers (even if she does struggle to get them all in on time every day) but then she’ll kiss the guy she’s crushing on and all she cares about afterward is if her parents will find out. There’s nothing in her thoughts about her connection to Islam or Allah, it’s only about what her parents and the community would say. That shows even more later on in the book when she and Raheem are engaged and she takes off her hijab in front of him then they sleep together (yes, you did read all of that right but I recommend rereading it). Nothing from her except worry that her mother will figure it out. And that just goes on.
When Fatima begins finding out how manipulative and controlling Raheem is and begins having second thoughts about getting married to him, he threatens to tell her parents, the community, and the Imam of their masjid about what they did, which would, since the community they live in is misogynistic they will forgive Raheem and his family but Fatima’s and her family’s good reputations will be down the drain and never to be seen again (WHOA let’s back up here real quick. Unfortunately, due to the more negative parts of society and the patriarchy, yes many communities—Muslim and non-Muslim—are patriarchal and misogynistic. It is not limited to Muslim ones, and Islam is vehemently against believing that men are better than women or that women are better than men).
And those threats are obviously very real to Fatima and she worries herself sick about what would happen to her and her family if that is exposed to her community BUT THEN NOTHING HAPPENS. She ends up calling off the engagement and literally running out of her own engagement party to attend the final challenge of her baking championship. And although Raheem did tell her parents what they did, there’s not even a mention of if he told the rest of the community or the Imam, or if Fatima and her family dealt with those consequences or not. Which means that all that worrying that the reader did on behalf of Fatima was left unanswered. It felt like there was a piece of the story missing. What happened to all of the serious threats? Why is she just living her life as if it was a breakup that caused her hurt because she was in love? Whyyyyyyyyyyy why why why
Overall, Fatima Tate Takes the Cake felt like the author was trying to do too many things but she didn't know how to and her editor was not helpful.
April 12, 2023
Thanks a lot to Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
CW: Emotional Abuse , Gaslighting, Mentions of Islamophobia, Slight Homophobia
5 / 5 Stars
THIS BOOK IS SO GOOD!
Okay, now on to the actual review. As in, this was an amazing book & I'm reccomanding it to literally everyone out there.
While the blurb is kind of spoiler-y - which is why I won't repeat what it says - and you shouldn't expect plot twists left and right, I'd argue that a simple plot doesn't equal a simple book.
The characters are written amazingly. And yes, I'm aware that I used the word amazing like 3 times already. Try and stop me.
But it's true. Especially the antagonist.
Because of personal reasons, that I don't feel like talking about in some random review, I'm always especially sensitive to books that include emotional abuse. It's so easily overlooked because it leaves no visible scars. But the invisible ones, the ones that cut deeper than any fist ever could, those are the ones that need to be written with special care.
This book does an excellent job on that department.
My view lines of text are probably unable to tell you how well written I thought that part of the book to be.
Even though there are one or two - not more - scenes were I would have prefered the book to take a second & to let the scene breath.
Besides those 1-2 scenes, I don't have any complaints.
All the other characters are just as great. My personal favourit has to be Zaynab though. Her & Ambers inclusion meant a lot to me. I just fear that this book might suffer from some negative, homophobic reviews because of her. I've already seen a few were people hide their bigotry behind the mantle of religion, while the truth of the matter is: There is nothing in the Quran that justifies your hatred. (And no, Lot is not about queerness.)
What kind of god would make a whole army of people just so they can throw them in hell for the way he made them?
-> No god, that's who.
The book mentiones that a bit as well, but it's not really the main focus of things.
Final Thoughts:
Important, well written book. Can & will reccomand!
CW: Emotional Abuse , Gaslighting, Mentions of Islamophobia, Slight Homophobia
5 / 5 Stars
THIS BOOK IS SO GOOD!
Okay, now on to the actual review. As in, this was an amazing book & I'm reccomanding it to literally everyone out there.
While the blurb is kind of spoiler-y - which is why I won't repeat what it says - and you shouldn't expect plot twists left and right, I'd argue that a simple plot doesn't equal a simple book.
The characters are written amazingly. And yes, I'm aware that I used the word amazing like 3 times already. Try and stop me.
But it's true. Especially the antagonist.
Because of personal reasons, that I don't feel like talking about in some random review, I'm always especially sensitive to books that include emotional abuse. It's so easily overlooked because it leaves no visible scars. But the invisible ones, the ones that cut deeper than any fist ever could, those are the ones that need to be written with special care.
This book does an excellent job on that department.
My view lines of text are probably unable to tell you how well written I thought that part of the book to be.
Even though there are one or two - not more - scenes were I would have prefered the book to take a second & to let the scene breath.
Besides those 1-2 scenes, I don't have any complaints.
All the other characters are just as great. My personal favourit has to be Zaynab though. Her & Ambers inclusion meant a lot to me. I just fear that this book might suffer from some negative, homophobic reviews because of her. I've already seen a few were people hide their bigotry behind the mantle of religion, while the truth of the matter is: There is nothing in the Quran that justifies your hatred. (And no, Lot is not about queerness.)
What kind of god would make a whole army of people just so they can throw them in hell for the way he made them?
-> No god, that's who.
The book mentiones that a bit as well, but it's not really the main focus of things.
Final Thoughts:
Important, well written book. Can & will reccomand!
May 19, 2023
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
An honest, emotive debt that portrays the harsh reality of many girls - those with parental expectations, or abusive relationships, for example - while at the same time empowering them to pursue their dreams, no matter how big or small.
Can I just say that one of my favourite things about this book is that it portrays an incredibly realistic look at many Muslim communities across the world without making it seem as if said communities are without reason, a monolith, or exclusive to Muslims? There was a great range of characters here, who all practiced being Muslim differently - and I loved that! There will always be many different people in the ‘same’ community and this book did a wonderful job of showing that.
Fatima, our main character… I loved her. She was constantly being told that she wasn’t ‘enough’ - thin enough, black enough, Muslim enough, rich enough, etc. I’m sure that many of us can relate to her experiences in some way. But she focused on her dreams even when it was difficult, tried to be cautious, and her decision at the end was one that stayed true to her character and what she values. We see her give in to others but ultimately follow her on a journey of learning to prioritise her own heart.
Farina’s friendship with Zaynab was really heartwarming and I love that they were always there for each other, and cared deeply for the other’s needs and wants. Zaynab being a lesbian with a girlfriend and being accepted by her mother was a lovely addition to this book - as a queer Muslim, finding characters who are queer Muslims always makes my heart warm. We have always been here and we always will be - thank you to this author for including this subplot when it will no doubt be controversial among some Muslim reviewers. Making queer Muslims feel seen is so important and they definitely understood that.
I hadn’t even heard of the town Fatima lives in before this book, but I loved the glimpse we got of it - it added to the setting and atmosphere, and I learnt of many new foods and places.
I only have two ‘criticisms’, but neither warrant knocking off a star. The first was that the baking scenes, as pointed out by some other reviewers too, felt very ‘clinical’ - as in, I felt if I was reading a recipe rather than reading about a girl baking. Such technical details weren’t always needed - I would’ve preferred if those sections had been more immersive, for example, by using more references to the senses to really make the reader ‘taste’ the magic.
The second is that the first chapter does feel a tiny bit rushed. I don’t mind that we went in with Fatima already having a crush on Raheem, but I wanted to see a little more of their dynamic before their first kiss.
Overall though, this book blew me away. I would recommend everyone read it, even if they can’t relate to all aspects of Fatima’s story. It teaches powerful messages without being preachy and is nuanced enough to make you question certain aspects of society, but not enough to bog down the book. Plus, there’s amazing friendships, a great, breezy writing style - and, of course, baking! What’s not to love?
An honest, emotive debt that portrays the harsh reality of many girls - those with parental expectations, or abusive relationships, for example - while at the same time empowering them to pursue their dreams, no matter how big or small.
Can I just say that one of my favourite things about this book is that it portrays an incredibly realistic look at many Muslim communities across the world without making it seem as if said communities are without reason, a monolith, or exclusive to Muslims? There was a great range of characters here, who all practiced being Muslim differently - and I loved that! There will always be many different people in the ‘same’ community and this book did a wonderful job of showing that.
Fatima, our main character… I loved her. She was constantly being told that she wasn’t ‘enough’ - thin enough, black enough, Muslim enough, rich enough, etc. I’m sure that many of us can relate to her experiences in some way. But she focused on her dreams even when it was difficult, tried to be cautious, and her decision at the end was one that stayed true to her character and what she values. We see her give in to others but ultimately follow her on a journey of learning to prioritise her own heart.
Farina’s friendship with Zaynab was really heartwarming and I love that they were always there for each other, and cared deeply for the other’s needs and wants. Zaynab being a lesbian with a girlfriend and being accepted by her mother was a lovely addition to this book - as a queer Muslim, finding characters who are queer Muslims always makes my heart warm. We have always been here and we always will be - thank you to this author for including this subplot when it will no doubt be controversial among some Muslim reviewers. Making queer Muslims feel seen is so important and they definitely understood that.
I hadn’t even heard of the town Fatima lives in before this book, but I loved the glimpse we got of it - it added to the setting and atmosphere, and I learnt of many new foods and places.
I only have two ‘criticisms’, but neither warrant knocking off a star. The first was that the baking scenes, as pointed out by some other reviewers too, felt very ‘clinical’ - as in, I felt if I was reading a recipe rather than reading about a girl baking. Such technical details weren’t always needed - I would’ve preferred if those sections had been more immersive, for example, by using more references to the senses to really make the reader ‘taste’ the magic.
The second is that the first chapter does feel a tiny bit rushed. I don’t mind that we went in with Fatima already having a crush on Raheem, but I wanted to see a little more of their dynamic before their first kiss.
Overall though, this book blew me away. I would recommend everyone read it, even if they can’t relate to all aspects of Fatima’s story. It teaches powerful messages without being preachy and is nuanced enough to make you question certain aspects of society, but not enough to bog down the book. Plus, there’s amazing friendships, a great, breezy writing style - and, of course, baking! What’s not to love?
March 31, 2023
Baking is Fatima Tate’s happy place. All she wants is to bless the world with the gift of her delicious baked goods. But the pressure of her parents’ expectations keeps her from achieving her dreams of becoming a patissier. She has big enough problems, so she probably doesn’t need an entitled, manipulative narcissist to come along and take advantage of her, right? No, no she does not. But maybe a fall from grace is just what she needs to finally find her voice and take back control of her life. It was hard, uncomfortable, and infuriating to read about what Fatima went through, but I love that she comes out with so much strength on the other side at the end of the story. A brilliant read!
April 5, 2024
I always hesitate rating books about Muslim characters written by Muslim authors on the lower side because it might not be my lived experience but it’s someone’s lived experience so I’d say, in that sense, the representation is valid.
That being said…the internalized Islamophobia was kinda crazy 😭 what do you mean the main character thought mahr was “ridiculous” and “outdated” ?? like…girl, you don’t want free money ??? Like did she not know she also could’ve just said she didn’t want any mahr…omg and when she added the condition of her earnings being hers alone…as if that isn’t something already built into Islam…like girl…do you know your rights…? Aside from the questionable Islamic references, the dialogue (and writing style tbh) was pretty cringe…just no…and the baking stuff was also boring I skipped it whoops! There’s simply not much I liked about this book 😁 would not recommend 😁
That being said…the internalized Islamophobia was kinda crazy 😭 what do you mean the main character thought mahr was “ridiculous” and “outdated” ?? like…girl, you don’t want free money ??? Like did she not know she also could’ve just said she didn’t want any mahr…omg and when she added the condition of her earnings being hers alone…as if that isn’t something already built into Islam…like girl…do you know your rights…? Aside from the questionable Islamic references, the dialogue (and writing style tbh) was pretty cringe…just no…and the baking stuff was also boring I skipped it whoops! There’s simply not much I liked about this book 😁 would not recommend 😁
May 28, 2023
I recieved an ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I hate to give this book the same rating the raging homophobes are giving it, but at least it's for a different reason I guess?
To start with what I liked, this book didn't introduce the love interest in the conventional way. Chapter 1 he's already kissing the MC, and from then onwards we get a narrative of things being so good, so great, that it makes us think maybe it's TOO perfect. It disguises itself as a flaw, but it's actually intentional (I think) that in the end helps with Fatima's realizations about him.
However, the writing style and the way the characters think, behave and speak felt too juvenile for me, including the adults. And this could be an issue of the author's writing style, but I prefer to see it as an issue of age target. If this were marketed towards the 13-15 year old audience, it would be fine. But the characters are way too old to be the way they are, and most of them end up coming out as childish. This was a bit too much for me, since I don't gravitate towards those types of stories at all.
And as of the ending, I really think what this book tries to do is very important, but I don't think the execution was quite okay. Through the book, the MC is very adamant about her whole life crushing down if something gets out, we get multiple snippets into people's reactions to believe that it would be like so, and when her secrets get revealed.... nothing bad at all happens? I feel gaslighted as a reader lol. It's disingenuous to say to abuse victims that nothing will change if they fight with abuse, that their lives will continue just like they were before but without the abuser in them. The final chapter makes it seem like the only thing possibly going wrong-ish in Fatima's life is missing Raheem, or feeling stupid, but it had already been proven that this guy had A HUGE impact on their community and what people thought about lots of things, that he had the money to ruin her life, that he could find out where she was at all times, that he knew where she lived and wouldn't doubt to show up unannounced to her house. All of this just disappears in a Scooby Doo-like scene of "and I would've had my way if it wasn't for you, meddling kids!", which does more bad than good to the whole abuse conversation.
A few more rounds of editing, or an agent that dared to keep spinning the author's ideas until they were more solid, would've changed the quality of this book drastically.
I hate to give this book the same rating the raging homophobes are giving it, but at least it's for a different reason I guess?
To start with what I liked, this book didn't introduce the love interest in the conventional way. Chapter 1 he's already kissing the MC, and from then onwards we get a narrative of things being so good, so great, that it makes us think maybe it's TOO perfect. It disguises itself as a flaw, but it's actually intentional (I think) that in the end helps with Fatima's realizations about him.
However, the writing style and the way the characters think, behave and speak felt too juvenile for me, including the adults. And this could be an issue of the author's writing style, but I prefer to see it as an issue of age target. If this were marketed towards the 13-15 year old audience, it would be fine. But the characters are way too old to be the way they are, and most of them end up coming out as childish. This was a bit too much for me, since I don't gravitate towards those types of stories at all.
And as of the ending, I really think what this book tries to do is very important, but I don't think the execution was quite okay. Through the book, the MC is very adamant about her whole life crushing down if something gets out, we get multiple snippets into people's reactions to believe that it would be like so, and when her secrets get revealed.... nothing bad at all happens? I feel gaslighted as a reader lol. It's disingenuous to say to abuse victims that nothing will change if they fight with abuse, that their lives will continue just like they were before but without the abuser in them. The final chapter makes it seem like the only thing possibly going wrong-ish in Fatima's life is missing Raheem, or feeling stupid, but it had already been proven that this guy had A HUGE impact on their community and what people thought about lots of things, that he had the money to ruin her life, that he could find out where she was at all times, that he knew where she lived and wouldn't doubt to show up unannounced to her house. All of this just disappears in a Scooby Doo-like scene of "and I would've had my way if it wasn't for you, meddling kids!", which does more bad than good to the whole abuse conversation.
A few more rounds of editing, or an agent that dared to keep spinning the author's ideas until they were more solid, would've changed the quality of this book drastically.
May 11, 2023
I really want to be raging furious and upset by the lying, premarital hetero sex, normalized/celebrated lesbian Muslim, internalized Islamophobia, gaslighting, abuse, and labeling of Muslims as "conservative" and Islamic principles as "ancient and ridiculous" (keep in mind the characters and author are all Muslim). But honestly, the writing is so terrible that to feel that much emotion is just not that warranted for what the story is. I'm so disappointed in the entire writing quality of the book, that I couldn't appreciate the characters or story as written. I know elements of the story probably ring true, my privilege and arrogance don't blind me to recognizing that, and whether I agree or relate or identify with the Islamic representation is subjective, but it is not a good sign when reading- that screen shots are not enough, and I have to break out paper and pens to note the contradictions, plot holes, and inconsistencies. The cover is the best part, with its beautiful Black Muslim inviting YA readers to crack open the book and spend time with Fatima who dreams of following her culinary dreams despite family and toxic relationship obstacles. Sadly though, the text does not live up to the expectations the cover sets forth. It reads like a very early draft where the plot points, the climax, and the conclusion are laid out, but the dialogue, backstories, and relationships are yet to come in this very mature 304 page book.
SYNOPSIS:
Fatima Tate dreams of culinary school, but her mother demands a more practical degree of nursing. The only child of a nurse and mechanic, Fatima goes to a virtual charter school and has a best friend since 5th grade, Zaynab. who goes to a private school, yet constantly chauffeurs her around, covers for her, and whose relationship with Amber is a major thread in the story. One day, when Zaynab fails to pick Fatima up from her shift at the soup kitchen, Raheem, her crush who she has never really spoken to, offers to drop her off, he uses the excuse of not wanting to miss Asr salat to get in her house, and by the time the prayer rug is put away the two are kissing and holding hands. It has been a busy day for Fatima, she was also invited to join a teen cooking competition, and with that, all in the first chapter, the direction of the story is set. Add in the twist that her parents don't know about her joining the cooking competition, Raheem being revealed as a narcissistic, controlling, wealthy, manipulator who has his mom properly meet Fatima's parents resulting in the two quickly become engaged, and Fatima at some point having to finalize her college plans and you have most of the plot and spoilers of the book.
WHY I LIKE IT:
I wish there was more OWN voice Black Muslim culture inclusions. As with all the potential themes of the book, the writing just feels so superficial. The only thing quicker than the instant romance, is the reader's (my) instant disdain for the creep that Raheem is: from his arrogance to his ghosting, his hypocrisy to his gaslighting. There is no angst, attraction, sympathy, intrigue, nothing in his character makeup or in the relationship he and Fatima have.
The cooking thread is equally lackluster, I think most bakers have heard of refrigerating cookie dough, and where I should have been hungry or had my senses tingling, I found myself annoyed by the almost childish portrayal of the food scenes. If it was meant to show passion or a divide with her parents, it was all talk and no show. At times the text says how close Fatima is with her parents, how much she respects her mother's strength and her father's kindness, but lie after lie to them and their distance from the heart of the book, definitely do not show a complicated relationship, it once again, yep you guessed it, reads really flat and one dimensional.
Islamically there are concerns with the premarital relations, but even before that with the male and female being alone, the lying, the lgbtq+ relationships. I never understood why Fatima refuses to pray in congregation and attend Jummah it just says she doesn't join the community prayer, but she also doesn't pray with Raheem, which might have actually been sweet. She is noted to pray fajr late and it is a point of contention, she wears hijab, and says a lot of inshaAllahs, but while the text sprinkles in these touchstones, they don't seem to shape her identity, it feels like it is just the paradigm that she knows. She finds the mahr concept to be "ancient" and "ridiculous." The one character that speaks out against same sex relationships wears abayas, black abayas to be exact. She is also labeled the "haram police." Zaynab doesn't pray, doesn't cover, but presumably identifies as Muslim. Raheem says he is fine with her lesbian identity, but fears Fatima's relationship with her will ruin his future political career. The book never has any substantial commentary on the Islamic view of queer relationships and labels any one that has a problem with them as being "strict" and "conservative." The book says "love is love" and leaves it at that.
Constantly the reader is told that Fatima and Zaynab are best friends since 5th grade, no backstory as to why Fatima left for virtual school and Zaynab for private. We never see Fatima add anything to the friendship, Zaynab drives Fatima, feeds Fatima, consoles Fatima, it is all very one sided. So many story lines just fall off the page without resolution or insight. At one point Fatima is angry at Zaynab and doesn't want to share her with Amber, but then is mad that Raheem is wanting to take her away but nothing is ever done or explained or internally pondered over, it is just forgotten. I really despise how we are also told that Zaynab and Amber are the ideal couple, but nothing ever shows it. NOTHING. They are always fighting, Fatima is always on edge to even ask Zaynab about Amber. Zaynab and Amber fight about their graduation party and it magically all works out. Amber is shocked to know that Muslims won't accept them, and they seem to break up, but then they are together at the end so how did that get resolved?
Major plot holes: When Fatima's mom asks Fatima if she knows Raheem, she says no and four pages later her dad asks her what she thinks about Raheem and she answers him. This inconsistency mitigates the "reveal" at the end that they knew each other at the soup kitchen. Speaking of soup kitchen, the reader sees she goes once and then stops for finals and never resumes going, so how is it such and important part of her or Raheem's life? Does he return? Fatima gets driving lessons and a car, and is then driving alone, time line doesn't work, nor does what she is driving get articulated if she returned the Lexus. Extravagant gifts aside, it never fully explains where Raheem's grandfather made his wealth, it seems lacking because he doesn't want Fatima to work, but his mother does, in managing her father's inherited wealth. At the walimah it is very awkward between Zaynab and Fatima's mom, almost to the point I thought they might not know each other, or might have issues with her lifestyle, but by the end it is clear they know each other well, so I think the scene is just written poorly. I went back and read it and the familiarity of the families is definitely unclear and not consistent throughout. For Fatima's graduation Raheem gets permission to take her to dinner alone, for someone who is constantly watching money and loves cooking, it felt like it would be a big deal to be able to go out alone with her finance, to a fancy restaurant and savor all the flavors and ambiance. Nope, the scene is skipped, no details, no nothing. Lots of little details are skipped quite often, for example five people are qualified for the finals, only three names are given, just throw two more names in there, nope we get dot dot dot- it reads unfinished. At one point when Zaynab once again saves the day and picks up Fatima, they come back to Zaynab's house with Starbucks and meet at the fridge to get Pepsi's out, like three sentences later, Starbucks on the table forgotten.
Zaynab does have a slight character arc, but throughout needs someone to constantly side with her, and I don't know that she is very independent at the end. I don't think there is a decent relationship in the book between any of the characters, which is unfortunate, and religion and the masjid (labeled "patriarchal") are often portrayed in a negative light. The internalized Islamophobia was hard to swallow. At one point Fatima shakes a man's hand and says that she isn't one of those Muslims that has issues with that. It seems like this book checked a lot of boxes and for whatever reason didn't get the polishing it needed. It is unfortunate because OWN voice Black Muslim books with authentic rep and joy and complexities and nuances are so desperately needed, and this one just felt underdeveloped and raw.
FLAGS:
Language, closed door premarital sex, talk of sex, talk of condoms, child out of wedlock, cheating, lying, hetero and same sex couples, dancing, music, physical abuse, verbal abuse, gaslighting, controlling, stereotypes, internalized Islamophobia, male and female friendships, manipulation, blackmail, judging, deceit, hypocrisy.
TOOLS FOR LEADING THE DISCUSSION:
The cover will tempt younger readers to pick up the book, my only hope is the poor writing will cause it to be abandoned before the haram is glorified, normalized, and celebrated.
SYNOPSIS:
Fatima Tate dreams of culinary school, but her mother demands a more practical degree of nursing. The only child of a nurse and mechanic, Fatima goes to a virtual charter school and has a best friend since 5th grade, Zaynab. who goes to a private school, yet constantly chauffeurs her around, covers for her, and whose relationship with Amber is a major thread in the story. One day, when Zaynab fails to pick Fatima up from her shift at the soup kitchen, Raheem, her crush who she has never really spoken to, offers to drop her off, he uses the excuse of not wanting to miss Asr salat to get in her house, and by the time the prayer rug is put away the two are kissing and holding hands. It has been a busy day for Fatima, she was also invited to join a teen cooking competition, and with that, all in the first chapter, the direction of the story is set. Add in the twist that her parents don't know about her joining the cooking competition, Raheem being revealed as a narcissistic, controlling, wealthy, manipulator who has his mom properly meet Fatima's parents resulting in the two quickly become engaged, and Fatima at some point having to finalize her college plans and you have most of the plot and spoilers of the book.
WHY I LIKE IT:
I wish there was more OWN voice Black Muslim culture inclusions. As with all the potential themes of the book, the writing just feels so superficial. The only thing quicker than the instant romance, is the reader's (my) instant disdain for the creep that Raheem is: from his arrogance to his ghosting, his hypocrisy to his gaslighting. There is no angst, attraction, sympathy, intrigue, nothing in his character makeup or in the relationship he and Fatima have.
The cooking thread is equally lackluster, I think most bakers have heard of refrigerating cookie dough, and where I should have been hungry or had my senses tingling, I found myself annoyed by the almost childish portrayal of the food scenes. If it was meant to show passion or a divide with her parents, it was all talk and no show. At times the text says how close Fatima is with her parents, how much she respects her mother's strength and her father's kindness, but lie after lie to them and their distance from the heart of the book, definitely do not show a complicated relationship, it once again, yep you guessed it, reads really flat and one dimensional.
Islamically there are concerns with the premarital relations, but even before that with the male and female being alone, the lying, the lgbtq+ relationships. I never understood why Fatima refuses to pray in congregation and attend Jummah it just says she doesn't join the community prayer, but she also doesn't pray with Raheem, which might have actually been sweet. She is noted to pray fajr late and it is a point of contention, she wears hijab, and says a lot of inshaAllahs, but while the text sprinkles in these touchstones, they don't seem to shape her identity, it feels like it is just the paradigm that she knows. She finds the mahr concept to be "ancient" and "ridiculous." The one character that speaks out against same sex relationships wears abayas, black abayas to be exact. She is also labeled the "haram police." Zaynab doesn't pray, doesn't cover, but presumably identifies as Muslim. Raheem says he is fine with her lesbian identity, but fears Fatima's relationship with her will ruin his future political career. The book never has any substantial commentary on the Islamic view of queer relationships and labels any one that has a problem with them as being "strict" and "conservative." The book says "love is love" and leaves it at that.
Constantly the reader is told that Fatima and Zaynab are best friends since 5th grade, no backstory as to why Fatima left for virtual school and Zaynab for private. We never see Fatima add anything to the friendship, Zaynab drives Fatima, feeds Fatima, consoles Fatima, it is all very one sided. So many story lines just fall off the page without resolution or insight. At one point Fatima is angry at Zaynab and doesn't want to share her with Amber, but then is mad that Raheem is wanting to take her away but nothing is ever done or explained or internally pondered over, it is just forgotten. I really despise how we are also told that Zaynab and Amber are the ideal couple, but nothing ever shows it. NOTHING. They are always fighting, Fatima is always on edge to even ask Zaynab about Amber. Zaynab and Amber fight about their graduation party and it magically all works out. Amber is shocked to know that Muslims won't accept them, and they seem to break up, but then they are together at the end so how did that get resolved?
Major plot holes: When Fatima's mom asks Fatima if she knows Raheem, she says no and four pages later her dad asks her what she thinks about Raheem and she answers him. This inconsistency mitigates the "reveal" at the end that they knew each other at the soup kitchen. Speaking of soup kitchen, the reader sees she goes once and then stops for finals and never resumes going, so how is it such and important part of her or Raheem's life? Does he return? Fatima gets driving lessons and a car, and is then driving alone, time line doesn't work, nor does what she is driving get articulated if she returned the Lexus. Extravagant gifts aside, it never fully explains where Raheem's grandfather made his wealth, it seems lacking because he doesn't want Fatima to work, but his mother does, in managing her father's inherited wealth. At the walimah it is very awkward between Zaynab and Fatima's mom, almost to the point I thought they might not know each other, or might have issues with her lifestyle, but by the end it is clear they know each other well, so I think the scene is just written poorly. I went back and read it and the familiarity of the families is definitely unclear and not consistent throughout. For Fatima's graduation Raheem gets permission to take her to dinner alone, for someone who is constantly watching money and loves cooking, it felt like it would be a big deal to be able to go out alone with her finance, to a fancy restaurant and savor all the flavors and ambiance. Nope, the scene is skipped, no details, no nothing. Lots of little details are skipped quite often, for example five people are qualified for the finals, only three names are given, just throw two more names in there, nope we get dot dot dot- it reads unfinished. At one point when Zaynab once again saves the day and picks up Fatima, they come back to Zaynab's house with Starbucks and meet at the fridge to get Pepsi's out, like three sentences later, Starbucks on the table forgotten.
Zaynab does have a slight character arc, but throughout needs someone to constantly side with her, and I don't know that she is very independent at the end. I don't think there is a decent relationship in the book between any of the characters, which is unfortunate, and religion and the masjid (labeled "patriarchal") are often portrayed in a negative light. The internalized Islamophobia was hard to swallow. At one point Fatima shakes a man's hand and says that she isn't one of those Muslims that has issues with that. It seems like this book checked a lot of boxes and for whatever reason didn't get the polishing it needed. It is unfortunate because OWN voice Black Muslim books with authentic rep and joy and complexities and nuances are so desperately needed, and this one just felt underdeveloped and raw.
FLAGS:
Language, closed door premarital sex, talk of sex, talk of condoms, child out of wedlock, cheating, lying, hetero and same sex couples, dancing, music, physical abuse, verbal abuse, gaslighting, controlling, stereotypes, internalized Islamophobia, male and female friendships, manipulation, blackmail, judging, deceit, hypocrisy.
TOOLS FOR LEADING THE DISCUSSION:
The cover will tempt younger readers to pick up the book, my only hope is the poor writing will cause it to be abandoned before the haram is glorified, normalized, and celebrated.
December 21, 2023
This was a great coming of age story featuring a Black Muslim American teen who wants to be a professional baker despite her conservative parent's strict wishes otherwise. Fatima navigates her passion for baking through a teen baking competition while also getting to know a new husband prospect, Raheem, who ultimately turns into a controlling figure in her life who threatens to reveal her sexual history to her parents and their religious community. Great on audio and perfect for fans of authors like Sabina Khan or Farah Heron. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest revivew!
Read
June 26, 2023As a queer baker, I want to give this five stars If only to counteract the raging homophobes in these reviews. Unfortunately, this book wasn't as good as I hoped it would be.
My issues with the book though have nothing to do with any of the representation. There is a Black Muslim main character who has a Black lesbian Muslim best friend and people are pressed about that in the reviews. Using your religion as a shield for your bigotry is not a good look. I loved how casually accepting this book was.
First off, I think this book would be infinitely better if all of the details were not given away in the summary. Like there's no surprises. Nothing happens beyond what you already know was going to happen and that's just not a super fun read for anyone. You know that the supposed love interest is an asshole and you know that he's going to be a dick about it and you know that they have sex and you know all this stuff which leads for a very boring read. So not only was the plot kind of a struggle to get through because there's nothing keeping your attention cuz you already know what's going to happen, but the ending was so lackluster and completely without any conflict that again, it was boring.
My second issue was the baking. For a book called Fatima Tate Takes the Cake and being told that the MC has this huge passion for baking, you'd expect more baking. The only time she bakes at home is when other people need things and she secretly enters into this baking competition that is such a small part of the book. As for the actual baking content, it felt like the author took a cookbook and took the directions for specific recipes and put them into procedural sentences with a character. There was no passion behind any of it and no descriptive details. I know how to make a Swiss meringue buttercream I don't need a book to give me directions on it. There were some little weird inconsistencies that made me think the author maybe doesn't actually have any baking experience especially when the main character talks about how she's never heard of chilling cookie dough, doesn't know what piping tips would you be used for a cake, and then uses a paddle to make a meringue. None of those things are something that someone who has been supposedly baking for 9 years would either not know or do so that was a bit weird to me.
Unfortunately this was a bit of a flop for me both in terms of baking content and storyline itself. I love seeing a Black Muslim main character and I love seeing the queer acceptance with the secondary character but this book needed a few more rounds of edits and the summary needed to be much more secretive. I genuinely think that would have helped so much.
My issues with the book though have nothing to do with any of the representation. There is a Black Muslim main character who has a Black lesbian Muslim best friend and people are pressed about that in the reviews. Using your religion as a shield for your bigotry is not a good look. I loved how casually accepting this book was.
First off, I think this book would be infinitely better if all of the details were not given away in the summary. Like there's no surprises. Nothing happens beyond what you already know was going to happen and that's just not a super fun read for anyone. You know that the supposed love interest is an asshole and you know that he's going to be a dick about it and you know that they have sex and you know all this stuff which leads for a very boring read. So not only was the plot kind of a struggle to get through because there's nothing keeping your attention cuz you already know what's going to happen, but the ending was so lackluster and completely without any conflict that again, it was boring.
My second issue was the baking. For a book called Fatima Tate Takes the Cake and being told that the MC has this huge passion for baking, you'd expect more baking. The only time she bakes at home is when other people need things and she secretly enters into this baking competition that is such a small part of the book. As for the actual baking content, it felt like the author took a cookbook and took the directions for specific recipes and put them into procedural sentences with a character. There was no passion behind any of it and no descriptive details. I know how to make a Swiss meringue buttercream I don't need a book to give me directions on it. There were some little weird inconsistencies that made me think the author maybe doesn't actually have any baking experience especially when the main character talks about how she's never heard of chilling cookie dough, doesn't know what piping tips would you be used for a cake, and then uses a paddle to make a meringue. None of those things are something that someone who has been supposedly baking for 9 years would either not know or do so that was a bit weird to me.
Unfortunately this was a bit of a flop for me both in terms of baking content and storyline itself. I love seeing a Black Muslim main character and I love seeing the queer acceptance with the secondary character but this book needed a few more rounds of edits and the summary needed to be much more secretive. I genuinely think that would have helped so much.
July 20, 2023
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!
First of all, this one of the most gorgeous covers I've seen in a long time, props to the artist!!
Secondly, as I am not a Muslim reader, so I of course can't comment on the Muslim representation within this book, so please look to other reviews from Muslim readers for this!
I do think this book was underdeveloped - the characters didn't feel fleshed out or like real people. The main character only had one personality trait of loving baking - there was nothing else to her really, and this felt the same for the rest of the characters, they just had one trait to them and that was it (they were rich, or they were mean, or they were the best friend). The story also felt rushed, especially in the beginning - Fatima meets Raheem and they hang out together within the first 20 pages - where was the pacing? It felt all over the place throughout the book, and it made for a jarring reading experience every time I picked up the book. I think this book had great potential but just needed a serious going over to properly develop the storyline, fill out the plotholes, and make the characters feel genuine.
First of all, this one of the most gorgeous covers I've seen in a long time, props to the artist!!
Secondly, as I am not a Muslim reader, so I of course can't comment on the Muslim representation within this book, so please look to other reviews from Muslim readers for this!
I do think this book was underdeveloped - the characters didn't feel fleshed out or like real people. The main character only had one personality trait of loving baking - there was nothing else to her really, and this felt the same for the rest of the characters, they just had one trait to them and that was it (they were rich, or they were mean, or they were the best friend). The story also felt rushed, especially in the beginning - Fatima meets Raheem and they hang out together within the first 20 pages - where was the pacing? It felt all over the place throughout the book, and it made for a jarring reading experience every time I picked up the book. I think this book had great potential but just needed a serious going over to properly develop the storyline, fill out the plotholes, and make the characters feel genuine.
April 2, 2023
I was really looking forward to reading this book as the synopsis had me interested but after reading I was very disappointed. This book is not Muslim rep and mixes culture with religion which is one of my biggest pet peeves. It essentially tries to change what religion says and says it’s okay to do certain things which aren’t permissible in Islam. The author often claims something as a cultural thing when in fact it is a religious thing and not permissible in Islam. This book and the writing style is also quite immature and I DNF’d it because it disappointed me so much. I would definitely not recommend as halal Muslim rep.
September 28, 2025
I received this ARC from Net Galley in exchange of an honest review.
This book is just so GOOD
Fatima Tate a young Muslim woman, wants to be a baker but her parents clearly doesn’t approve her choice of career , and want her to study medicine.
The only moments, she truly can be herself and exercise her passion is at the soup kitchen where she’s a volunteer. But it’s also the place where she meets Raheem, a young Muslim. After some time getting to know each other, they began do date in secret. But one day she learns that a young man is interested of marrying her , this man is Raheem. Both their family are going to organise this marvellous events for their family but also for their community. But all of this could turn very wrong, and choosing between nurse school or her passion won’t be her only problem.
First I feel like I need to precise that I am atheist for some reason so I don’’t know anything about this religion.
There is a lot of thing I liked in this book, first the friendship between Zaynab and Fatima is just incredible, you can really feel that no matter what they will always be here for each other and that’s the best thing knowing what happen in this book. The fact that Zaynab is lesbian is just what makes me confident in thought that no matter your religion is, that you are Christian, Jewish, Muslim… you shouldn’t hid your homophobia behind your religion ( I think people saying that an LGBT character have nothing to do in this book, haven’t understand at all this book and I can only compare them to Imani )
Fatima is kind of a rebellious character but in a good way. She’s standing up to what she believes is right for her like going to her baking competition behind her parents back knowing fully that they want a better life for her but can you really be happy in a job, where yes you can gained more money out of it but where you’re not fully dedicate or passionate by it. But also with Zaynab when Imani or Raheem are completely disrespectful to her .
The relation that she has with her religion is beautiful and you can feel the love she has for her community but also for her family even when she did things that she shouldn’t, she has the need to do the right thing even if don’t end well for her and I think the relation that she has with her family permitted for her to do her final choice about the marriage with her and Raheem and I’m very great full for this happy ending.
I’m also very grateful for that sorority in this book obviously with Fatima and Zaynab but also with Fatima and Chloe. She could just left Fatima with her problem but no she helped her and gave her some advice so she could finally be free.
The only negative thing are the baking scene, I just feel like it could be a little more natural. I felt like reading a recipe and nothing more, I couldn’t really feel the passion in this scene but it wasn’t enough to knock out a star.
ENFIN un 5 étoiles!!!
Il y a beaucoup de choses que j’aime dans ce livre.
Premièrement l’amitié de Zaynab et Fatima, le type d’amitié où elle sont là l’une pour l’autre dans n’importe quelles situations. Mais plus généralement la sororité de ce livre surtout avec le personnage de Chloe (je ne vais pas vous en dire + sur ce personnage il faudra le découvrir par vous même.)
Et j’ai grandement apprecié que Zaynab soit un personnage queer et permet d’explorer la relation entre religion et homosexualité , et dénonce l’utilisation de la religion pour cacher son homophobie. Et je pense que ceux qui disent qu’un personnage LGBTQIA+ n’a rien a faire dans un livre avec rep musulman n’a pas compris CE livre et je peux seulement comparer ces personnes avec le personnage d’Imani.
Ce livre est plein de rebondissement mais reste heureusement sur un Happy Ending.
Le seul point négatif que je peux lui trouvé sont les scène de cuisine où je trouve manque un peu plus de passion.
D’ailleurs il faut que je teste les recettes 🙃
This book is just so GOOD
Fatima Tate a young Muslim woman, wants to be a baker but her parents clearly doesn’t approve her choice of career , and want her to study medicine.
The only moments, she truly can be herself and exercise her passion is at the soup kitchen where she’s a volunteer. But it’s also the place where she meets Raheem, a young Muslim. After some time getting to know each other, they began do date in secret. But one day she learns that a young man is interested of marrying her , this man is Raheem. Both their family are going to organise this marvellous events for their family but also for their community. But all of this could turn very wrong, and choosing between nurse school or her passion won’t be her only problem.
First I feel like I need to precise that I am atheist for some reason so I don’’t know anything about this religion.
There is a lot of thing I liked in this book, first the friendship between Zaynab and Fatima is just incredible, you can really feel that no matter what they will always be here for each other and that’s the best thing knowing what happen in this book. The fact that Zaynab is lesbian is just what makes me confident in thought that no matter your religion is, that you are Christian, Jewish, Muslim… you shouldn’t hid your homophobia behind your religion ( I think people saying that an LGBT character have nothing to do in this book, haven’t understand at all this book and I can only compare them to Imani )
Fatima is kind of a rebellious character but in a good way. She’s standing up to what she believes is right for her like going to her baking competition behind her parents back knowing fully that they want a better life for her but can you really be happy in a job, where yes you can gained more money out of it but where you’re not fully dedicate or passionate by it. But also with Zaynab when Imani or Raheem are completely disrespectful to her .
The relation that she has with her religion is beautiful and you can feel the love she has for her community but also for her family even when she did things that she shouldn’t, she has the need to do the right thing even if don’t end well for her and I think the relation that she has with her family permitted for her to do her final choice about the marriage with her and Raheem and I’m very great full for this happy ending.
I’m also very grateful for that sorority in this book obviously with Fatima and Zaynab but also with Fatima and Chloe. She could just left Fatima with her problem but no she helped her and gave her some advice so she could finally be free.
The only negative thing are the baking scene, I just feel like it could be a little more natural. I felt like reading a recipe and nothing more, I couldn’t really feel the passion in this scene but it wasn’t enough to knock out a star.
ENFIN un 5 étoiles!!!
Il y a beaucoup de choses que j’aime dans ce livre.
Premièrement l’amitié de Zaynab et Fatima, le type d’amitié où elle sont là l’une pour l’autre dans n’importe quelles situations. Mais plus généralement la sororité de ce livre surtout avec le personnage de Chloe (je ne vais pas vous en dire + sur ce personnage il faudra le découvrir par vous même.)
Et j’ai grandement apprecié que Zaynab soit un personnage queer et permet d’explorer la relation entre religion et homosexualité , et dénonce l’utilisation de la religion pour cacher son homophobie. Et je pense que ceux qui disent qu’un personnage LGBTQIA+ n’a rien a faire dans un livre avec rep musulman n’a pas compris CE livre et je peux seulement comparer ces personnes avec le personnage d’Imani.
Ce livre est plein de rebondissement mais reste heureusement sur un Happy Ending.
Le seul point négatif que je peux lui trouvé sont les scène de cuisine où je trouve manque un peu plus de passion.
D’ailleurs il faut que je teste les recettes 🙃
May 30, 2023
Thank you Netgalley and Holiday House for providing me with this ARC.
First off: This cover??? How gorgeous!!😍😩
This is one of those books that really surprise you. Just looking at the cover I expected a YA book with a generic competition as its major plot point (in this case a baking competition). But omg this book is so much more.
Fatima is a young impressionable Muslim girl who struggles keeping up with her parent‘s wishes of becoming a nurse and their expectations regarding marriage although she dreams of nothing more than becoming a patisserie chef.
I’ve found it very refreshing that Fatima was portrayed as what she is - a teenager on the brink of adulthood who, from time to time, likes to defy parental rules and harbors crushes - no matter her religion or cultural background.
At the beginning of the book Fatima meets the older Raheem while volunteering and it soon becomes evident that they feel more than friendship towards each other.
Raheem seems to good to be true, and when by a twist of fate Fatima and Raheem are ought to be married, Raheem turns out not to be the Prince Charming Fatima thought he was but instead shows he’s manipulative and controlling side.
In the end, Fatima shows her strength and successes in standing up for herself when Raheem betrays her trust and tries to lessen her worth as a young woman.
This book is so realistic. It doesn’t matter if you are a religious Christian, Muslim, Jew or belong to another denomination, or non at all - chances are that teenagers are going to participate in premarital activities of some kind. I absolutely love that the author takes this stand and also normalizes the existence of queer people within religious groups.
There were just so many things I liked about this book that it would go beyond the scope of this review.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
First off: This cover??? How gorgeous!!😍😩
This is one of those books that really surprise you. Just looking at the cover I expected a YA book with a generic competition as its major plot point (in this case a baking competition). But omg this book is so much more.
Fatima is a young impressionable Muslim girl who struggles keeping up with her parent‘s wishes of becoming a nurse and their expectations regarding marriage although she dreams of nothing more than becoming a patisserie chef.
I’ve found it very refreshing that Fatima was portrayed as what she is - a teenager on the brink of adulthood who, from time to time, likes to defy parental rules and harbors crushes - no matter her religion or cultural background.
At the beginning of the book Fatima meets the older Raheem while volunteering and it soon becomes evident that they feel more than friendship towards each other.
Raheem seems to good to be true, and when by a twist of fate Fatima and Raheem are ought to be married, Raheem turns out not to be the Prince Charming Fatima thought he was but instead shows he’s manipulative and controlling side.
In the end, Fatima shows her strength and successes in standing up for herself when Raheem betrays her trust and tries to lessen her worth as a young woman.
This book is so realistic. It doesn’t matter if you are a religious Christian, Muslim, Jew or belong to another denomination, or non at all - chances are that teenagers are going to participate in premarital activities of some kind. I absolutely love that the author takes this stand and also normalizes the existence of queer people within religious groups.
There were just so many things I liked about this book that it would go beyond the scope of this review.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
July 4, 2023
17 year old Muslim baker, Fatima, can't believe it when her crush Raheem expresses an interest in her. So much so, that he proposes marriage in the way a good Muslim should. But it turns out Raheem is not as great as he seems.
I had no idea which way this book was going to go considering I went into it totally blind, with the gorgeous cover initially reeling me in. The writing was easy to read but the arc copy had a lot of formatting and spelling errors, which I hope were picked up in the editing process. The storyline was decent for a YA book however a lot of inconsistencies were in the book religion-wise. I'd be keen to read more by the author as she definitely shows promise.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
I had no idea which way this book was going to go considering I went into it totally blind, with the gorgeous cover initially reeling me in. The writing was easy to read but the arc copy had a lot of formatting and spelling errors, which I hope were picked up in the editing process. The storyline was decent for a YA book however a lot of inconsistencies were in the book religion-wise. I'd be keen to read more by the author as she definitely shows promise.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
August 6, 2024
give me 24 hours to process this crap. i promise.
naw, bc y'all don't even KNOW how tempting it is to sit down here rn and just write up this whole thing in a vent
but i know better than that, so yeah
naw, bc y'all don't even KNOW how tempting it is to sit down here rn and just write up this whole thing in a vent
but i know better than that, so yeah
dnf
February 10, 2024DNF 65%
I am…not sure what to think about this. I am not a Muslim reader nor a Black reader. This book is own voices in both those respects. But the extreme homophobia happening in the reviews on here is NOT okay. The fact that this author decided to include a queer side character and have it mostly be not a big deal, is not something to scream about.
I think the main disconnect here that people may be having is that this is a story with an intersectional experience, a Black Muslim teenager. But again, that’s my opinion as someone not remotely that identity.
From a critical writing standpoint? It is average, not great. But it’s also a debut.
From a content standpoint? Yes premarital sex happens, especially with teenagers, yes abusive relationships exist, and yes queer people exist. So for people to get very angry about those things happening in their own community…take y’all’s head out of the sand. This author decided to bring up some things that are not celebrated, but they are happening.
I have read a lot of own voices Muslim romances that include wonderful inclusive ideas and characters, especially with younger generations. Those stories are amazing! And like with literally any identity, not amazing stories and people exist too. It sucks. People can suck.
Let’s shut down this homophobia and enter the current century, thank you.
I am…not sure what to think about this. I am not a Muslim reader nor a Black reader. This book is own voices in both those respects. But the extreme homophobia happening in the reviews on here is NOT okay. The fact that this author decided to include a queer side character and have it mostly be not a big deal, is not something to scream about.
I think the main disconnect here that people may be having is that this is a story with an intersectional experience, a Black Muslim teenager. But again, that’s my opinion as someone not remotely that identity.
From a critical writing standpoint? It is average, not great. But it’s also a debut.
From a content standpoint? Yes premarital sex happens, especially with teenagers, yes abusive relationships exist, and yes queer people exist. So for people to get very angry about those things happening in their own community…take y’all’s head out of the sand. This author decided to bring up some things that are not celebrated, but they are happening.
I have read a lot of own voices Muslim romances that include wonderful inclusive ideas and characters, especially with younger generations. Those stories are amazing! And like with literally any identity, not amazing stories and people exist too. It sucks. People can suck.
Let’s shut down this homophobia and enter the current century, thank you.
July 4, 2023
I’m not Muslim or even religious but I really don’t get everyone downvoting this book? There’s negative aspects to every religion, sorry it’s true! Why is having the author write about that a bad thing? That’s their right. I thought Fatima’s parents faith and their respectful understanding of difficult situations showed Islam in such a positive light. They showed love to Fatima through all her mistakes and guided her with faith and love. What’s better than that? Also this book wasn’t meant to be about Islam, it’s clearly about a young woman’s life who just so happens to also be Muslim. I thought it was great. I’ll gladly read more by this author.
March 20, 2023
This story was well executed, well written, and I loved watching Fatima grow as a person. I feel like there were also important conversations/topics in this book as well.
April 30, 2023
I received an ARC for this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book talks about the struggles and choices a muslim teen has to make upon graduation regarding her life, schooling and future partner. She has her own dreams and desires, but has to balance that with what her parents want for her. I enjoyed this book and feel it would be good for young adult readers. I loved the friendship between Fatima and her best friend, who happens to be a lesbian. I’m hispanic, but can definitely guess that’s a big issue in the Muslim culture. Glad the author was able to talk about this in her book. I also enjoyed the baking parts and the recipes provided at the end of the book. What upset me was how easily Fatima goes along with everyone’s wishes and doesn’t speak up for herself. First time reading a story based on a Muslim character and interests in reading more.
This book talks about the struggles and choices a muslim teen has to make upon graduation regarding her life, schooling and future partner. She has her own dreams and desires, but has to balance that with what her parents want for her. I enjoyed this book and feel it would be good for young adult readers. I loved the friendship between Fatima and her best friend, who happens to be a lesbian. I’m hispanic, but can definitely guess that’s a big issue in the Muslim culture. Glad the author was able to talk about this in her book. I also enjoyed the baking parts and the recipes provided at the end of the book. What upset me was how easily Fatima goes along with everyone’s wishes and doesn’t speak up for herself. First time reading a story based on a Muslim character and interests in reading more.
May 18, 2023
If you're looking for a halaal Muslim rep, then I would not recommend.
I have other thoughts but I just needed to get that out of the way.
I'll be back with more thoughts.
I received an e-arc of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
I have other thoughts but I just needed to get that out of the way.
I'll be back with more thoughts.
I received an e-arc of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
May 3, 2023
When I started this one, I was hoping to read about a girl growing into her own strength an believing into something. I am not Muslim myself therefore I hoped this would give me a better insight into everyday life and growing up in a religious household.
Unfortunately, this book did not.
There were huge parts where i was wondering if Fatima was religious at all or if she just followed traditions and rules because her parents expected her to. Also: Where were the emotions? I neither believed Fatima being in love nor her best friend having genuine feelings for her girlfriend.
Also why put in a gay Muslim character dating a non-Muslim when you never discuss the obstacles that come with that? As Zayneb was pushed very far into the background this felt really pseudo-representative.
I did not even really enjoy the baking scenes and i love food descriptions.
I know where this book wanted to go but unfortunately it did not reach its goals.
Unfortunately, this book did not.
There were huge parts where i was wondering if Fatima was religious at all or if she just followed traditions and rules because her parents expected her to. Also: Where were the emotions? I neither believed Fatima being in love nor her best friend having genuine feelings for her girlfriend.
Also why put in a gay Muslim character dating a non-Muslim when you never discuss the obstacles that come with that? As Zayneb was pushed very far into the background this felt really pseudo-representative.
I did not even really enjoy the baking scenes and i love food descriptions.
I know where this book wanted to go but unfortunately it did not reach its goals.
April 10, 2023
Fatima Tate Takes the Cake follows Fatima Tate (surprise surprise), a muslim girl who's greatest passion is baking. Her parents want her to get married to Raheem, who also happens to be Fatimas crush – how convenient... But what first seems like a dream quickly turns into a nightmare, because when the engagement is finalized the façade of the, seemingly, perfect Raheem shatters.
Although I mainly enjoyed the novel it had its flaws. First of all, the plot felt a bit rushed at points, which made me as the reader question if I had missed important parts. Furthermore, Fatimas feelings could have been explored more deeply, as the problems she had to deal with must have induced really complicated sentiments; there were some traces of this, but it could have been portrayed in a different way to amplify the significance of the events in her life.
What did I like? Well:
The ending
Fatima's and Zaynab's friendship was very sweet.
The baking elements.
The interesting storyline
So, overall I liked Fatima Tate Takes the Cake, and I think it was a good book considering it's VanBrakle's first novel.
Many thanks to Netgalley for this advanced reader copy!
Although I mainly enjoyed the novel it had its flaws. First of all, the plot felt a bit rushed at points, which made me as the reader question if I had missed important parts. Furthermore, Fatimas feelings could have been explored more deeply, as the problems she had to deal with must have induced really complicated sentiments; there were some traces of this, but it could have been portrayed in a different way to amplify the significance of the events in her life.
What did I like? Well:
The ending
Fatima's and Zaynab's friendship was very sweet.
The baking elements.
The interesting storyline
So, overall I liked Fatima Tate Takes the Cake, and I think it was a good book considering it's VanBrakle's first novel.
Many thanks to Netgalley for this advanced reader copy!
February 1, 2024
So-o.
A lot of reviews on here blasted the writing and complained it wasn't good. HA! Now I know what they were really complaining about.
I read this in two days and couldn't put it down because the plot and twists and turns were GRIPPING and compelling. The subject matter was original and unique and it was mind-blowing and novel to read about teenage Muslim characters making complicated and messy decisions, i.e., living human lives. Now THAT is good writing. The writing is suitable for it's genre (YA) and its audience (teens).
Also, why do some Muslim readers only want books with "perfect" Muslim representation? That is not good art. Good art will push boundaries and make you think. The author tells the reader on the dedication page that the book is for those Muslim teens who don't feel Black enough or Muslim enough. This is for THEM. If that doesn't resonate with you, then put the book down. Allah's heart is not small and vindictive like a man's (paraphrasing from "A Place For Us"); the ummah should be strong and loving enough to accept us all.
Anyway, I am Muslim and I give this 5 stars. Bravo to the author for having the guts and honesty to write for teens who are judged and ostracized as not being Muslim enough. Let only Allah judge us and let us only support and love each other. Frankly ashamed to read so many comments slamming a Black Muslim female author's debut book (the anti-Blackness and misogyny in our community is disgusting).
Looking forward to this author's future work.
A lot of reviews on here blasted the writing and complained it wasn't good. HA! Now I know what they were really complaining about.
I read this in two days and couldn't put it down because the plot and twists and turns were GRIPPING and compelling. The subject matter was original and unique and it was mind-blowing and novel to read about teenage Muslim characters making complicated and messy decisions, i.e., living human lives. Now THAT is good writing. The writing is suitable for it's genre (YA) and its audience (teens).
Also, why do some Muslim readers only want books with "perfect" Muslim representation? That is not good art. Good art will push boundaries and make you think. The author tells the reader on the dedication page that the book is for those Muslim teens who don't feel Black enough or Muslim enough. This is for THEM. If that doesn't resonate with you, then put the book down. Allah's heart is not small and vindictive like a man's (paraphrasing from "A Place For Us"); the ummah should be strong and loving enough to accept us all.
Anyway, I am Muslim and I give this 5 stars. Bravo to the author for having the guts and honesty to write for teens who are judged and ostracized as not being Muslim enough. Let only Allah judge us and let us only support and love each other. Frankly ashamed to read so many comments slamming a Black Muslim female author's debut book (the anti-Blackness and misogyny in our community is disgusting).
Looking forward to this author's future work.
September 30, 2023
Thank you net galley for providing me with an advanced readers copy in exchange for a honest review.
I have mixed feelings....... There were many parts which I did enjoy such as the easy to read writing, making it hard to put the book down. The portrayal of female alliance (especially between the main character and her best friend) was also wonderful.
The characters themselves felt realistic,as they all had different quirks, personality traits and flaws.
The topic of self discovery and following ones dreams along with the emotional manipulation, possessiveness and imbalance of power regarding financial status in unhealthy relationships was also well done.
However what I did have issue with, was the plot itself,which at some points did feel like the author was struggling regarding how to properly balance out both the storyline of Fatima taking part in the Baking competition, while also focusing on the aspect of her struggles regarding the relationship with Raheem. I think that this is most likely due to this being the authors first book, and I'd be very open to read anything else she might write in the feature.
Overall a fun and easy read perfect for anyone wanting to get out of a reading slump.
I have mixed feelings....... There were many parts which I did enjoy such as the easy to read writing, making it hard to put the book down. The portrayal of female alliance (especially between the main character and her best friend) was also wonderful.
The characters themselves felt realistic,as they all had different quirks, personality traits and flaws.
The topic of self discovery and following ones dreams along with the emotional manipulation, possessiveness and imbalance of power regarding financial status in unhealthy relationships was also well done.
However what I did have issue with, was the plot itself,which at some points did feel like the author was struggling regarding how to properly balance out both the storyline of Fatima taking part in the Baking competition, while also focusing on the aspect of her struggles regarding the relationship with Raheem. I think that this is most likely due to this being the authors first book, and I'd be very open to read anything else she might write in the feature.
Overall a fun and easy read perfect for anyone wanting to get out of a reading slump.
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