Hana Khan Carries On
Ratings18
Average rating3.5
I did not enjoy this as much as I thought I would based on reviews by people I trust. I had highly anticipated it, and it was fine – better than fine, it was good – but I figured out an important secret early on, and never felt invested in the characters. It was nice to read from the perspective of someone from another culture and I appreciated it for the insights into the protagonist's culture.
At least this wasn't pretending it wasn't You've Got Mail/The Shop Around the Corner. I did appreciate the modernization of the story to current events but Hana was not a great character so I had a hard time rooting for her.
DNF. This book is really annoying me. I might just be in a mood but it all seems so formulaic and the characters are very stock, so when the protagonist is made a bad driver, I have to nope out. It's such a horrible cliché that women can't drive and makes the character unlikable, when I wasn't endeared by the narrative voice in the first place.
I devoured this one and it was just a delight from start to finish! Rom-com is overused (and often misused) in describing books, but even though this touches on some heavy topics, it manages to have a fun, lighthearted tone throughout. Rashid in particular cracked me up. Not a lot to say here - for some reason it's much easier to write reviews of things I dislike or things that didn't work for me, which means when I love a book as much as I did this one, the review is short.
(2022 Summer Romance Bingo: work rivals. Would also work for mistaken identity, loosely for property inheritance.)
If I didn't listen to the audiobook version from Libby, I would have stopped midway through. I'm fact, I did have the physical book checked out at one point and couldn't get into it, but it was also at a time where I couldn't focus on any books at all. I should have taken my own hint.
So, the cover is pretty!
Does the reader gave you like the main characters to enjoy the book? Does the reader have to find the plot convincing or interesting to enjoy the book? Can a book that tries to for into many genres hold the reader's interest? Did this book seem like a fun summer read to accompany workdays? Generally, for me, yes, yes, yes, and no.
Yet, this book failed for me on many levels.
Hana Khan is supposed to be our heroine and we are clearly supposed to root for her. Yet, she has few redeeming qualities. For example:
-her mother has a run a local restaurant since her father died 15 years before the action of the novel. Clearly, every member of the family must help out with this restaurant for it to survive. Hana complains about how shabby it is without lifting a paint brush or thinking of ways to bring in customers. She also does not seem to do very much with daily activities and spends most of the last several months of the failing restaurant's life flitting around after podcast internships, sabotaging a competitor, and expecting her mother to keep working endless hours and losing money because Hana grew up with the restaurant.
-Hana decides upon a very vicious attack plan against her competitor including reporting him to the health department. This is hardly a “You've Got Mail” scenario or the basis for a romance.
-any time Hana isn't there first one someone runs to with news, she behaves petulantly about being left out. When her best friends get married secretly and don't tell her (because it's SECRET), she acts brattily even though she knows her friends' families disapprove of the match and one if then us moving several hours s away for a dream job.
The only parts of the book where Hana wasn't super annoying is when the horrible attack on her , Rashid, and Aymin.
This book tries to be a generational story, chick lit/romance, and a call to social justice but fails at all if them. The author should have focused on just one of these areas because the book ended up being quite sloppy.
What did I like? Rashid in particular, as well as some of the supporting community members. I mentioned the cover.
Also: 1 entire star is dedicated to trying to be a book version of very enjoyable predecessors (three movies and a play, respectively): “You've Got Mail,” “In the Good Old Summertime,” “Shop Around the Corner,” and the original basis for them all, “Parfumerie.”
I've rounded down for the review, but tempted to raise rating to a 4. Definitely would recommend.
It was cute. I just wish i didn't know it was a retelling of You've Got Mail. I knew right from the start what would happen. I suppose that is why I don't usually read romance.
2.5/5
Had to drag myself to the end for this one. I've never seen You've Got Mail so I'm not sure if context would help, but I found there to be simultaneously too much going on and nothing happening at all. Sad because I'm always down for a good rivals-to-lovers, but with how busy the plotlines were the relationships here had little chemistry.
But yo the dulhan with the rifle tho.