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Review: Saints and Misfits by S. K. Ali

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Saints and Misfits by S. K. Ali

Saints and Misfits
S. K. Ali
Salaam Reads
Published June 13, 2017

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About Saints and Misfits

How much can you tell about a person just by looking at them?

Janna Yusuf knows a lot of people can’t figure out what to make of her…an Arab Indian-American hijabi teenager who is a Flannery O’Connor obsessed book nerd, aspiring photographer, and sometime graphic novelist is not exactly easy to put into a box.

And Janna suddenly finds herself caring what people think. Or at least what a certain boy named Jeremy thinks. Not that she would ever date him—Muslim girls don’t date. Or they shouldn’t date. Or won’t? Janna is still working all this out.

While her heart might be leading her in one direction, her mind is spinning in others. She is trying to decide what kind of person she wants to be, and what it means to be a saint, a misfit, or a monster. Except she knows a monster…one who happens to be parading around as a saint…Will she be the one to call him out on it? What will people in her tightknit Muslim community think of her then?

SAINTS AND MISFITS is an unforgettable debut novel that feels like a modern day My So-Called Life…starring a Muslim teen.

My Review

This book made me think a lot about the way that we tend to reduce people to being just one or two things– because it did the opposite so well. Each character is so different and has so many layers. I feel like we often see people of faith represented in sort of cookie cutter ways, and I loved seeing all the varied representations of different types of people here. It might be the most honest, authentic stories centered around a faith community that I’ve ever read. (I loved ONCE WAS LOST by Sara Zarr, too.)

Janna faces her own misjudgments about the people around her as well as being pleasantly– and sometimes unpleasantly– surprised by those around her. I loved her relationship with her elderly neighbor and the way his friendship impacted her and her friendships with Tats and Sarah and Sausun. Janna learns a lot about courage, finding her voice, and learning to speak up for herself. It’s about confronting evil even when it emerges in what should be a sacred space.

The book doesn’t just tackle hard issues and relationships and faith questions, though. It’s quirky and funny and so much fun to read. Janna’s voice is often self-deprecating and wry and smart. I loved that.

All in all, I really enjoyed reading SAINTS AND MISFITS, and I totally bawled through the big climactic scenes where Janna does the thing she most needs to do. MISFIT IN LOVE, a new adventure about Janna and her family and friends, comes out soon, and I really can’t wait to read it.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Most major characters are Muslim.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content – Trigger Warning
A boy grabs a girl and pins her down, groping her against her will.

Spiritual Content
Janna references prayer and attends several events at the mosque with her family. Her uncle is the imam, and as part of her job helping with the mosque website, she helps with the grammar of some answers to questions people in the community have asked about Islam.

Violent Content
See romance trigger warning. There are also some instances of online bullying. Girls post pictures of Janna without her hijab and others post cruel comments on the photos.

Drug Content
Janna and her friend attend a party where teens are drinking. Janna does not drink alcohol.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support running this blog. I received a free copy of SAINTS AND MISFITS in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Broken Wish by Julie C. Dao

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Broken Wish (The Mirror #1)
Julie C. Dao
Disney-Hyperion
Published October 6, 2020

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indiebound | Goodreads

About Broken Wish

1865
Hanau, Germany

Sixteen-year-old Elva has a secret. She has visions and strange powers that she will do anything to hide. She knows the warnings about what happens to witches in their small village of Hanau. She’s heard the terrible things people say about the Witch of the North Woods, and the malicious hunts that follow. But when Elva accidentally witnesses a devastating vision of the future, she decides she has to do everything she can to prevent it.

Tapping into her powers for the first time, Elva discovers a magical mirror and its owner—none other than the Witch of the North Woods herself. As Elva learns more about her burgeoning magic, and the lines between hero and villain start to blur, she must find a way to right past wrongs before it’s too late.

My Review

BROKEN WISH was not the book I expected it to be. (Not in a bad way!) I thought it might be dark, the way that FOREST OF A THOUSAND LANTERNS is. I thought it would be strictly from Elva’s point-of-view.

It’s not nearly as dark as Dao’s debut novel, which didn’t bother me at all. I liked the sort of quaint, small town feel of Hanau, where the story is set. There are a few references to Grimm’s fairy tales, and the setting of the story definitely felt like a place where those tales would happen.

The story isn’t limited to one point-of-view. The early chapters are told from the perspective of Elva’s mother, who befriends a solitary neighbor and later learns that she’s a witch with the power to give her the one thing she desperately wants– the ability to have a child– in exchange for her friendship.

BROKEN WISH then shifts to Elva’s point-of-view, and we learn about her special gift and the struggle she faces: she must either hide her gift forever or risk being exiled, or worse. She’s a sweet girl who wants to believe the best of everyone. I loved her courage and her unwavering commitment to the people she loved.

Another thing that I enjoyed is that BROKEN WISH is mainly a story of female friendships. Agnes (Elva’s mother) and her relationship with Mathilde (the solitary neighbor with magical abilities), and then Elva’s relationship with Mathilde, both as mentor and friend.

On the whole, I really enjoyed reading this book, and I’m really excited to read the rest of the series, which looks like it’ll be four books, each written by a different author. The next book in the series will be SHATTERED MIDNIGHT by Dhonielle Clayton and will be set in New Orleans in 1928.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Major characters are white and German. Mathilde grew up with an aunt and her female partner.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
No profanity. In one scene, a woman makes reference to a group of men saying awful things about her, some of them sexual.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
Mathilde and Elva both have magical abilities. Performing magic requires a kind of exchange, and if the exchange is not met, the magic can take an unexpected price.

Violent Content
Children sicken after eating poisoned candy. A group of angry men say cruel things to a woman and call for her to be hanged.

Drug Content
Elva’s parents drink alcohol at a party.

Note: I received a free copy of BROKEN WISH in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support the costs of running this blog.