Review: This is How You Fall in Love, Anika Hussain

If you’re looking for an adorable rom-com, I definitely recommend This is How You Fall in Love. Read my full review below to find out more about this lovely read!

This Is How You Fall in Love by Anika Hussain
Published by Hot Key Books on February 2, 2023
Genres: contemporary, romance, young adult
Format: ARC
Source: Author
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Zara and Adnan are just friends. Always have been, always will be. Even if they have to pretend to be girlfriend and boyfriend...
Zara loves love in all forms: 90s romcoms and romance novels and grand sweeping gestures. And she's desperate to have her own great love story. Crucially, a real one. So when her best friend Adnan begs her to pretend to date him to cover up his new top-secret relationship, Zara is hesitant. This isn't the kind of thing she had in mind. But there's something in it for Zara too: making her parents, who love Adnan, happy might just stop them arguing for a while. She may not be getting her own love story, but she could save theirs.
So Zara agrees and the act begins: after all, how different can pretending to be in a relationship with your best friend be to just hanging around with them like usual? Turns out, a lot. With fake dating comes fake hand-holding and fake kissing and real feelings... And when a new boy turns up in Zara's life, things get more confusing than ever.
The course of true love never did run smooth, but Zara's love story is messier than most...
A hilarious and heartfelt romcom, told with a light touch, perfect for fans of TO ALL THE BOYS I'VE LOVED BEFORE, EXCUSE ME WHILE I UGLY CRY and HANI AND ISHU'S GUIDE TO FAKE DATING.

I received this book for free from Author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

☂️ TRIGGER WARNINGS:

mentions of parent’s death (in the past), diabetes.

There are no spoilers in this review.

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I ENJOYED…

☂️

• One of my favorite things about This is How You Fall in Love was the characters. The main character of this story, Zara, is a Desi teenager, a bookworm, a romantic at heart and a huge fan of rom-coms. I found the way she was depicted realistic as a whole: she makes mistakes, she’s sometimes angry and impulsive, she’s certainly a teenager in all of her glory and, well, that’s a young adult book and I expected it. Most of it all, I loved it. I immediately found myself caring for her and wanting her to have her own happy ending.
• Of course, I have to mention the friendships, next.
  • The friendship turning into a fake-dating scheme between Zara and Adnan was absolutely LOVELY, from beginning to end. It’s cristal clear how close they are, how much they know and care for each other. I loved loved LOVED their bond, their banter and everything else about them.
  • Extra brownie points for the female friendship in this story, between Zara and Sadie. They’re both huge fans of rom-coms and Sadie’s an incredible friend all along. Loved them!
• Having a romance fan (both of books and movies) as a main character really added a little extra something to this story. We definitely see how expectations clash with reality, how everything Zara builds up in her head doesn’t end up happening as planned, because, well, life isn’t a perfect rom-com.

• I really appreciated how Zara’s parents were included in the story. They’re the whole reason Zara agrees to this fake-dating scheme in the first place, they’re present and I just really loved some scenes between Zara and her mother, as well.
• Hats off for a book that didn’t turn out to be exactly what I thought it would be. No spoilers, here, but I liked how it surprised me a little bit here and there!

I HAD A HARD TIME WITH…

☂️

• Still keeping this without any kind of spoilers, so I’ll keep it vague here. I have to admit that I was a bit thrown at how quickly some situations turned around, in the story. I feel like some changes really happened a little too fast and, while I was pleasantly surprised at how everything turned out, I just wasn’t completely satisfied by how quickly it all happened.
• I didn’t manage to care for Cami, one of the main character and the entire reason behind the fake-dating scheme, which made me a bit sad. I had a hard time understanding her and, even by the end of the story, I guess I just maybe, wanted to know a bit more about her.

OVERALL

☂️

If you’re looking for a lovely YA contemporary read filled with romance, great characters and lovely surprises, I definitely recommend this book!

FINAL RATING : 4 stars!

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📚 Books similar to This is How You Fall in Love that I’d recommend:

• Check out my list of YA books with fake-dating,
• And this list of recommendations of YA books with the friends to lovers trope.

Did you read This is How You Fall in Love, or do you want to? What’s the last book that surprised you? Let me know in comments!

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