These links show the original reading lists. Inclusion is not a guarantee of suitability for your child.
Adiba Jaigirdar - Author
This is a dual-perspective queer romance about learning to resist pressure from friends and family. It combines warmth and humour with uncomfortable moments involving identity, belonging, prejudice and competing expectations.
queer identityBengali and Muslim culturefriendship pressureparental pressuresibling choicesambitionfake datinghonestysocial status
Fiction
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Themes in Context
Identity and belonging
Hani is pressured to prove her bisexuality and accommodate friends who disrespect aspects of her culture, religion and sexuality.CriticalCritical: the book challenges or disapproves of this theme.Critical: the book challenges or disapproves of this theme.
How the book presents it: The story treats self-respect and supportive relationships as preferable to assimilation and demands for proof.
Talk about: If friends doubt someone’s identity, what response would be respectful and fair?
Family expectations and autonomy
Ishu feels responsible for meeting her parents’ expectations while responding to her sister’s different life plans and her own ambitions.MixedMixed: the book presents both supportive and critical signals.Mixed: the book presents both supportive and critical signals.
How the book presents it: The book recognises family relationships while showing Ishu questioning whether pleasing her parents should determine her future.
Talk about: How can care for family coexist with choosing a different path?
Performing a relationship
Hani and Ishu pretend to date for different social purposes: answering doubts about Hani’s sexuality and supporting Ishu’s Head Girl campaign.AmbiguousAmbiguous: the book leaves its position open to more than one reasonable reading.Ambiguous: the book leaves its position open to more than one reasonable reading.
How the book presents it: The premise creates romantic and comic energy, but also raises questions about honesty, consent and whether social approval should depend on performance.
Talk about: What boundaries would make a pretend relationship fair to both people and those around them?
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Why It May Be Worth Reading
It may particularly interest readers looking for Bengali and Muslim cultural representation alongside queer characters. The story presents culture and religion as personal, varied experiences rather than a single template.
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What Deserves Attention
Content to discuss beforehand includes strong language, several kisses, a reference to an orgasm, brief mention of genocide and war, peer pressure to drink, and racist or homophobic microaggressions.
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A Conversation Worth Having
How might pretending to date affect Hani and Ishu’s trust, choices and understanding of what they owe other people? Consider whether proving an identity to friends should require explanation or performance.
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Reading Approach
Read alongside the teenager if they welcome discussion, pausing after conflicts about friends, family, culture or faith. Ask what each character wants, whose expectations matter, and whether their choices respect themselves and others.
Confidence & Basis
Theme indicators describe how the book presents a topic; they are not a verdict on the whole book or your family's values. Confidence reflects how much book-specific material was checked. Only part of the book information was available, so some details remain unconfirmed.
What remains unconfirmed
Identity and belonging: Some details of this treatment remain unclear.
Family expectations and autonomy: The ending’s precise treatment of the family relationships is unclear.
Performing a relationship: Some details of this treatment remain unclear.
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