Adiba Jaigirdar can do no wrong in my eyes! I’m a bit late to the game on this one but absolutely devoured this from my backlist. 

The Henna Wars is a proper emotional rollercoaster seeing all of the heartache and rejection that Nishat faces from her family and her peers - simply for wanting to be herself. The book does not shy away from difficult issues. There is frank inclusion of racism, cultural appropriation and homophobia - all of which makes you stop and pause whilst you digest Nishat’s reality with elements I could relate to and many I could learn from. 

I adored the sister relationship between Nishat and Priti. It felt so genuinely written with them rooting for each other so wholeheartedly but with some more difficult moments too. 

I don’t want to say anything that spoils this for future readers but I adored this book. It has definitely cemented for me that I will need to read everything by Adiba Jaigirdar! 

Thank you to Hachette, Adiba Jaigirdar and NetGalley for my early review copy in exchange of a fair and honest (late!!) review.