Review of Salt and Pepper

[BlessingAde]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Salt and Pepper" by Maria Akhanji.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Salt and Pepper: Bridemaids by Maria Akhanji is a novel that focuses on family, marriage, religion and traditions. It is divided into fifty-eight chapters.

This book tells the story of Ranya, a young British Bangladeshi Muslim. After starting a new life in London by moving in with her brother's family and starting college, she found out that she was to get married to another Asian Muslim family. She was really positive about the new family that she was moving into because they seem kind and she finds herself lucky to be getting married to someone like Fahim because he is handsome and kind. But, soon after getting married, she discovered that all is not well and the new family is full of pretence, they turned her into a housemaid and she finds herself doing the exhausting housework which seems to never end because she has to do them every day. She also received cold treatments from her in-laws from time to time and it seems that her husband turned a blind eye to her sufferings. Will she leave her marriage or try to find a way to balance school, the exhausting housework and her marriage? Read this book to find out.

This novel is the second book in a trilogy but I was able to understand it without reading the first book. Reading the synopsis of this book got me excited and I am happy that I was not disappointed. This book shows an in-depth explanation of the Asian Muslim traditions and it made it easy for me to read because I have no knowledge about the Muslim community. I was engrossed from the first page.

The book also has a lot of positive lessons, I learnt that people can also be abused emotionally. I also learnt that as a girl, I should strive to always stand up for myself in the face of abuse, and I should not depend on anyone to defend me.

My favourite character is definitely Ranya, she is feisty, funny and hardworking. I love the way her mind works. She is ready to love despite her circumstances.

This book was well written and I must commend the author. I also noticed little grammatical errors which did not slow down my reading process. I found nothing to dislike about this book and I can't wait to read the next book from this series, therefore, I am rating this book four out of four stars.

I recommend this book for women, especially those preparing to get married.

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Salt and Pepper
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