Persuasion, Palestinians, second chance, angst, yearning, and Strick/Raya cameos. Yes please!

I can’t tell you how hard it is lately to finish a book in less than a week and Diana Quincy manages to cure this every time. This didn’t quite hit my The Duke Gets Desperate gush level but I still enjoyed it enough to finish it in 2 sittings. It’s that yearning baby.

I was here for the dual timeline in the first half of the book. I loved how the flashbacks built the emotional part of Naila and Hawk love and set up all the angst of their reunion. After a while though, I did feel like the past dragged on a bit, and I wanted the second half to focus more on their present.

Miscommunication is my least favorite trope, and here was no different. And after all the drama behind the miscommunication, it was resolved in like 5 pages. Frankly, I already can’t remember how they suddenly realized everything was okay bc it happened so fast. It felt so uneven.

The cultural representation was the highlight. I loved how central Palestinian and Arab-American traditions were, and how open Hawk was to them from the beginning. It felt fresh in a genre that we read about the same historical customs over and over again.

Hawk frustrated me at times. He condemned Naila throughout the book both past and present without ever stopping to ask her why she made her choices or really putting himself in her shoes. Loving someone fiercely requires empathy and I did feel like this was lacking a bit. Naila’s growth into her confidence was so amazing and I wanted to see more of that! Maybe even her and Raya being confident business babes together or something. Idk I was yearning for something more here.

The last 20% or so of the book felt rushed compared to the angsty build-up, almost like the book was written in two different sittings. But I think honestly that had to do with spending a little too much time in the dual timeline flashbacks.

Another highlight? Scenes showing Strick being unapologetically stupid in love with Raya. I giggled like a fool every time they were on the page!

Overall, I just adore Quincy and even her above average books are still amazing in context to the genre as a whole. Already can’t wait for the next one!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.