Four Eids and a Funeral by Faridah Abike-Iyimide and Adiba Jaigirdar
Ex-best friends, Tiwa and Said, must work together to save their Islamic Center from demolition, in this romantic story of rekindling and rebuilding by award-winning authors Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé & Adiba Jaigirdar!
Let’s get one thing straight: this is a love story.
These days, Said Hossain spends most of his time away at boarding school. But when his favorite hometown librarian Ms. Barnes dies, he must return home to New Crosshaven for her funeral and for the summer. Too bad being home makes it a lot harder to avoid facing his ex-best friend, Tiwa Olatunji, or facing the daunting task of telling his Bangladeshi parents that he would rather be an artist than a doctor.
Tiwa doesn’t understand what made Said start ignoring her, but it’s probably that fancy boarding school of his. Though he’s unexpectedly staying through the summer, she’s determined to take a page from him and pretend he doesn’t exist. Besides, she has more than enough going on, between grieving her broken family and helping her mother throw the upcoming Eid celebration at the Islamic Center—a place that means so much to Tiwa.
But when the Islamic Center accidentally catches fire, it turns out the mayor plans to demolish the center entirely. Things are still tense between the ex-friends but Tiwa needs Said’s help if there’s any hope of changing the mayor’s mind, and Said needs a project to submit to art school (unbeknownst to anyone). Will all their efforts be enough to save the Islamic Center, save Eid, and maybe save their relationship?
Expected publication June 4, 2024
This book was a little sadder than I hoped, but I really liked it.
Tiwa cares so much about the local Islamic Center. She’s devastated when it partially burns down and the mayor decides that they’ll demolish it and build apartments instead. Tiwa does everything she can to save it and that includes talking to her ex best friend again. Said went away to a private school and he and Tiwa stopped communicating. He’s a great artist and since their town is all about murals, she asks him to paint on for the Islamic Center. Something to get attention to it while they also petition to save it. Said is struggling being home. His parents keep talking about him being a doctor, but he wants to go to art school. He’s not sure how to tell them. Said’s sister is Tiwa’s best friend so it makes things weird for all of them. And their librarian left her cat to both Said and Tiwa to care for together. They are pulled together often and both think back on how their friendship ended.
I gave this book 4 stars.
Thank you to Edelweiss for my earc.
Have you read this? Is it on your TBR?
