Love, Hate & Other Filters review

Love, Hate & Other Filters
by
​Samira Ahmed

Maya Aziz dreams of being a film maker in New York. Her family have other ideas. They want her to be a dutiful daughter who wears gold jewellery and high heels and trains to be a doctor. But jewellery and heels are so uncomfortable . . .
She's also caught between the guy she SHOULD like and the guy she DOES like. But she doesn't want to let Kareem down and things with Phil would never work out anyway. Would they? Then a suicide bomber who shares her last name strikes in a city hundreds of miles away and everything changes . .

BUY HERE

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My review

~I was sent a copy from the publishers - all opinions are my own~

I give it - 4/5

My review - What a wonderful story! This book is more than just a cute romance story. This book is about a Muslim teen who is dealing with racism and hate crimes. 

I was captivated from the first page. I really enjoyed Samira's writing and the way she told the story. I felt sorry for Maya and what she was going through. This book is very important as this thing still happens to this day. Maya is growing up. She wants to be independent but, also trying to please her parents. She shows the struggles in this story. She is a very strong character. She knows what she wants and what she wants to do to get it. Trying to fit all of these into her self, being the perfect daughter, dealing with growing up as an Indian Muslim woman and wanting to be independent. Sometimes, it can be too much and she often finds her self running away.  

This story shows the hatred and backlash Muslims receive after a terror attack. Maya and her family have to deal with this from people she thought where friends and neighbours. People who didn't treat them differently before it happened. I felt Samira did a really great job at this. It is really enlightening and eye-opening and like I said, a very important read and it shows how quickly people's attitude can change towards you. 

This book also shows Maya lacking in the romance department. She has Kareem, who has been picked out by her parents as someone suitable for Maya. Then, we have Phil. the non-Muslim boy at school. They are both so very different from each other. It's a choice of either making her parents happy or, choosing what she wants in life. 

Overall-It was a very intriguing story. I enjoyed reading about Maya and her journey, she has a great drive and ambition and this book really brings an important topic to YA. 

(Also-check out goodreads from teen Muslims who have some great reviews on this book and the rep!)