If I Loved You Less by Aamna Qureshi @aamnaqureshi_ @sophiarose1816

Item: If I Loved You Less
Rating: 4
Author: Sophia

Posted August 4, 2024 by Sophia in Book Review / 16 Comments

Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

If I Loved You Less by Aamna Qureshi @aamnaqureshi_ @sophiarose1816

If I Loved You Less by Aamna Qureshi
on August 2, 2024
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 304
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
Goodreads
Amazon

For Long Island native Humaira Mirza, it’s always been about love – and she has the matchmaking track record to prove it. Having successfully found ‘the one’ for both her aunt and her sister, the twenty-three-year-old is ready to claim a bit of romance for herself.

The perfect candidate? The gorgeous Rizwan Ali. But as Humaira employs her unique skills to obtain the perfect match with Rizwan, she’s forced to endure the disapproval of family friend Fawad Sheikh who she’s known forever. Fawad and Humaira have long traded barbs but as her romantic meddling leads to unintentional misadventures, she realises something shocking – is she starting to care what Fawad thinks?

A woman who prides herself on her match-making success gets a hitch in her plans when she sets out to make her own match. Little does she know that the family friend right under her nose who drives her crazy might be just who she’s seeking. A Muslim American modern retelling of Emma had me sitting up and taking notice. That cute cover and a new to me author to try were additional incentives to draw me in.

If I Loved You Less introduces Humaira, a wealthy, somewhat spoiled woman living on Long Island, New York and very caught up in the heady power and fun of making matches. Not gonna lie, she danced on my nerve a lot when she was heedless of others and missing the signs she was off base. But, fortunately, she wasn’t all annoying, interfering rich girl and there was Fawad, who wasn’t dazzled by her greatness and saw her better than she saw herself. He called her on all her mess ups when no one else would even while he was jealous of the man who did have her smiles and attention. He also had the long-sightedness to love her, flaws and all, and was there for her growing through her mistakes. There is much humor as the pair sass and snarl and the fun of fumbling and bumbling of love and relationships among an engaging circle of characters.

Humaira and Fawad come from an Asian Muslim community and so they and most of the surrounding characters were good representation. I am speaking from ignorance, but the backdrop, character actions and dialogue all felt authentic and respectfully written. I enjoyed reading a Jane Austen story in a culturally diverse American setting. The author captured the humor and the beauty of a slow burn friends (though not always friendly) to lovers sweet romance.

Those who enjoy light Romantic Comedy with a social butterfly, sassy-mouthed heroine looking for her HEA in the wrong place and a serious and quiet attractive hero waiting for her to figure this out definitely want to pick this up.

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Sophia

Reviewer at Books of My Heart

Sophia is a quiet though curious gal who dabbles in cooking, book reviewing, piano-playing, and gardening.Road trips and campouts, museums and monuments, restaurants and theaters are her jam. Encouraged and supported by an incredible man and loving family. A Northern Californian transplant to the Great Lakes Region of the US. Lover of Jane Austen, Baseball, Cats, Scooby Doo, and Chocolate.

As a lifelong reader, it was inevitable that Sophia would discover book blogs and the joy of blog reviewing.Sophia is a prolific reader and audiobook listener which allows her to experience so many wonderful books, authors, and narrators.Few genres are outside her reading tastes, but her true love is fiction particularly history, mystery, sci-fi, and romance.Though, sorry, no horror or she will run like Shaggy and Scooby.

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