ARC Review: Queen of the Tiles // my most anticipated read of 2022 has become a new favorite

I am so so so happy that this book didn’t disappoint.

Y’all know I was completely freaking out when I found out that there was going to be a Malaysian Muslim main character solving a potential murder mystery. I was dying to get this book, and my friends and family can attest to that since they were subjected to my endless frantic screaming.

I actually contacted the publisher (my first time ever doing so btw! yay for new experiences!!) and very professionally, kindly, but totally begged asked them for an ARC of the book.

and I got it.

*cue intense hysterical laugh-crying, jumping up and down, and lots of squealing*

I’m not being extra nor am I exaggerating; that was my actual physical IRL reaction when they said yes. There are so many firsts tied to this book for me: first YA mystery book I’m seeing with a Muslim main character, set somewhere that’s not a US boarding/highschool, first time I directly contacted a publisher asking for an ARC, first time getting approved for a book that I personally requested, and also the first time that I actually literally freaked out and physically fangirled when I received the copy.

My family was staring at me in shock because I have never ever shown that much excitement for anything in my life. And once I calmed down enough to write a coherent and very professional reply, all the fear and doubt came crashing in.

What if after all this anticipation and excitement, I didn’t like the book?

So I didn’t read it. For two months. Partly because I was afraid of being disappointed, and partly because of my somewhat reading slump. Mostly though, I was so nervous I wouldn’t enjoy it.

But I did. And I am so thankful and so happy that I did.

Before I get into the full review, here are a couple of disclaimers: there are no spoilers in this review; I was given a copy of this book in exchange for a review, however, all opinions and thoughts are my own.

Without further ado, let’s get started!

Queen of the Tiles by Hanna Alkaf – Anticipated Reads of 2022 // muslim MC solving a mystery

I desperately want this book.

I want it so badly 😭

Words can not describe my sheer need for this.

Young Adult, Mystery, Muslim-Rep, Malaysian-Rep

Queen of the Tiles
by Hanna Alkaf

They Wish They Were Us meets The Queen’s Gambit in the world of competitive Scrabble when a teen girl is forced to investigate the mysterious death of her best friend a year after the fact when her Instagram comes back to life with cryptic posts and messages.

CATALYST
13 points
noun: a person or thing that precipitates an event or change

When Najwa Bakri walks into her first Scrabble competition since her best friend’s death, it’s with the intention to heal and move on with her life. Perhaps it wasn’t the best idea to choose the very same competition where said best friend, Trina Low, died. It might be even though Najwa’s trying to change, she’s not ready to give up Trina just yet.

But the same can’t be said for all the other competitors. With Trina, the Scrabble Queen herself, gone, the throne is empty, and her friends are eager to be the next reigning champion. All’s fair in love and Scrabble, but all bets are off when Trina’s formerly inactive Instagram starts posting again, with cryptic messages suggesting that maybe Trina’s death wasn’t as straightforward as everyone thought. And maybe someone at the competition had something to do with it.

As secrets are revealed and the true colors of her friends are shown, it’s up to Najwa to find out who’s behind these mysterious posts—not just to save Trina’s memory, but to save herself.

Expected Publication: April 19, 2022

A Muslim girl.

Solving a potential murder mystery.

Not just any potential murder mystery, but one surrounding her best friend’s death.

*incomprehensible screaming*

Y’all, I am a mystery geek. I love whodunits, I love thrillers, and one thing that I’ve always wanted ever since I started reading the genre almost 7 years ago was a Muslim girl solving the mystery.

Adult mystery books are honestly not that diverse; I’ve only seen them starting to have non-white main characters in recent years, so I never got much representation with that in any way (besides the MC being a woman). And I’m not a huge fan of the YA mystery scene because it tends to be highschool related, which was too much drama for my liking. But I have read a couple of those and enjoyed them.

But this! This is the first time ever that I’m finding a female Muslim MC solving a mystery, AND I AM SO HERE FOR IT.

Also, can we please talk about how beautiful that cover is? It’s absolutely gorgeous I love it so much 🥺

April has never seemed so far away. At least I can use this to get through the next semester, because I’ll hopefully get to have this amazing book and enjoy it as the semester comes to an end.

And hopefully, hopefully it won’t disappoint.

Some questions for you:

• Have you heard of Queen of the Tiles? Are you looking forward to reading it?
• Have you ever come across a mystery book with a Muslim main character?
• What’s a book you can’t wait to read this year?

Talk to me in the comments below!

26 Books I Plan to Read This Summer (ft. lots and lots of diverse reads)

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I know that this is an incredibly ambitious list and I might not read all of these books. But I do have them all on hold/currently borrowed so I’ll have to make an effort to read them.

I think this is the first time I’ve ever made a summer TBR post, but these books sound too good to not mention, so I figured this would be the best way to get these onto your radar. Be sure to check some of them out! There’s so much diverse representation here, and books from multiple genres, so there should be a little something for everyone.

Without further ado, let’s get started!

The Guinevere Deception // had potential, but didn’t live up to my expectations

Hello friends, I hope you’re doing well! Today, I’m going to be doing my very first review of the year!!

*cue confetti and trumpets*

Seriously, the last proper review I did was in November of last year. I keep making goals to do more reviews, I keep telling myself to do more reviews, and all my books keep judging me silently waiting for me to do reviews, but I just. don’t. do. the. reviews.

I’m fantastic like that.

But don’t worry, today I’m finally going to make good on my self-promise to actually do reviews and give you one today. The book that gets this wonderful honor is The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White.

I had such high expectations for this novel since I remember it being popular on GoodReads for a while. Now, the curious thing is that I can’t remember if it was popular because everyone was one-starring it or five-starring it. I honestly don’t know, but I know I’ve seen that cover a lot, so I kind of expected it to be really good.

Lesson learned. Next time, I’ll pay attention to whether its popularity stems from good or bad reviews.

This is going to be a longer review than usual, but I know you’re positively dying to hear what I have to say. And don’t worry, all spoilers are in dropdowns, so you can skip them if you’d like.

Now, without further ado, let’s get started!

Let’s Talk Bookish – What Makes a Book YA?

Buenos tardes amigos! Hope you’ve had a good week. Welcome back to another Let’s Talk Bookish discussion. Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme, hosted by me @ Eternity Books & Dani @ Literary Lion, where we discuss certain topics, share our opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts

Today’s topic is: What Makes a Book YA?

This is Dani’s topic and I’m pretty excited to read all the discussion regarding this.