Review: Ayesha at Last

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Ayesha at Last Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Non-European/Non-Anglo romances are having a moment and I love this trend. I want to mix my reading of Regency and traditional romance historicals with new material and new characters. We're seeing a surge in popularity of TV shows like Shtisel and You'll Always be My Maybe on Netflix, films and books like Crazy Rich Asians, and now, Ayesha At Last.

Ayesha at Last is a lovely addition to my booklist. The characters had the sort of problems modern readers can relate to--paying the bills, meeting personal and professional goals, dealing with family, and finding a partner. At the same time, they're navigating being Muslim in the Western and largely non-Muslim community of Toronto and dealing with the choices involved as immigrants and first generation Canadians.

I don't believe the book benefited from comparisons to Pride and Prejudice. I would rather have judged it solely on its own merits while I was reading it, not trying to place a template of Darcy over Khalid or Lady de Bourgh over Khalid's mother or view [redacted] as Wickham.

I also wish we'd seen more of the large ladies with their lingerie company, which could have been a real character developing moment for Khalid. His prejudiced boss was drawn with such broad strokes I expected her to twirl a mustache. Ayesha's lies caught her in a web of her own devising and I didn't have much sympathy for her.

But at the end of it all, it was a satisfying and interesting romance. I was tickled by the similarities between certain ethnic and religious communities. You could have tweaked this and plopped it down in Williamsburg or Crown Heights and the issues, characters and concerns would have been pretty much the same. An entertaining summer reading choice!

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