Mero’s Year in Books

What did you read this year?

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2023

14,898

pages read

books read

Mero

Shortest Book

135

pages

Longest Book

925

pages

Average book length in 2023

346

pages

Most Shelved

11,427,823

people also shelved

Least Shelved

811

people also shelved

Mero’s average rating for 2023

2.9

Highest Rated on Goodreads

4.65 average

Mero’s first review of the year

it was ok

I thought that this book was ok but I did not like some aspects.

its a debut novel so im gonna go easy on it because writing is hard but a lot of the events were just not my flavor.

I loved the diversity, I loved the cast!! the romance had some great scenes, but sadly the writing around it fell flat and was a bit rushed.

I hated how much Sarvenaz was so wishy washy and unable to take accountability until the literal last chapter.
I had no clue why ...more

MERO’S 2023 BOOKS

liked it

really liked it

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

Shelter for a Shifter by Lauren Connolly

really liked it

The Brightest Light of Sunshine by Lisina Coney

liked it

really liked it

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Mero’s last review of the year

liked it

I finished this the day it came out lol.
let me start with what I loved!!
The Muslim representation was AMAZINGGGG very accurate and so fun to read about. there were some micro things that annoyed me but over all the rep was great and I ATE IT UPPPPP
I have read books where the couple would kiss or what ever and be so meh about it but WHEN THESE MFS HELD H A N D S I WAS SCREAMMIINGGG. like I almost fell off my bed when they had their first hug, I I finished this the day it came out lol.
let me start with what I loved!!
The Muslim representation was AMAZINGGGG very accurate and so fun to read about. there were some micro things that annoyed me but over all the rep was great and I ATE IT UPPPPP
I have read books where the couple would kiss or what ever and be so meh about it but WHEN THESE MFS HELD H A N D S I WAS SCREAMMIINGGG. like I almost fell off my bed when they had their first hug, I was so close to passing out.
I loved loved Hayat, even though she was a little out of pocket some times
Anas was so (astagfirullah) hot but he was such a genuine hmar at the end. The groveling was good tho, so I will let it go.
Hayats family was so cute I loved them.

the overall story was cute and sweet and I liked that it didn't make it a plot point to defend muslims or make it one of those "muslims aren't bad !!!" narratives where the author has to defend Islam. Like homegirl author said "im not gonna make my characters go through a hate crime just to show that muslims are peaceful, y'all are gonna get a silly little romance between two grown ahh adults are youre gonna like it" and let me tell y'all, I absolutly did.

Now for me to be a judgy rat (sorry)
Overall I think the book was ok. its definitely a debut novel.
The writing and pacing was not the best. it definitely needed to go through another round of heavy editing because there were a ton of spelling and grammatical mistakes.
No clue if it was self published, but that's the vibes it gave. It was honestly hard to follow along with some of the speaking paragraphs because the dialogue format was really off most of the time and the flow was seriously wonky. Also some of the rhetoric was so strange?? like it was really purple prose when it could have been simpler. The quality towards the end seemed like it had to meet a deadline.
There were also no consistent character descriptions. I straight up had to imagine what Anas looked like with all my brain power after finding out he was Moroccan. He was not fully described until wayyyy later in the book.
The villain was super lame and so annoying. I was so done with her and the second hand embarrassment she gave me.
Also, I really hated the unresolved last minute other woman drama. I feel like there were some loose ends that needed to be tied up, but what ever I was there for the rep and the vibes.

Overall a fun read, Im forcing my entire friend group to read it. I would recommend if you want some head empty halal romance. ...more

2023 READING
CHALLENGE

Mero read 43 out of 35 books.

123%

What did you read this year?