Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Yours Eventually by Nura Maznavi on February 18, 2025
Genres: Romance
Pages: 400
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
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The Ibrahim family is facing a crucial Their patriarch just lost his fortune as the result of a Ponzi scheme, and the family is picking up the pieces. At the family’s core is Asma—successful doctor and the long-suffering middle daughter who stepped into the family center after the death of her beloved mother years ago. Despite what the prying aunties think, Asma is living the life she has always wanted, fulfilling her childhood dream of becoming a doctor . . . or so she thinks.
In walks Farooq Waheed, Asma’s college sweetheart whose proposal was cruelly rejected by Asma’s aunt and father. Now, eight years later, Farooq has made his fortune by selling his Silicon Valley startup and is widely considered one of the most eligible bachelors in California. As he enters Asma’s social orbit, she finds herself navigating a tricky landscape—her pushy sisters, gossiping aunties, and her father’s expectations—on her path to reconciling the past and winning Farooq back in the present. If there is still time.
A quiet, smart emergency room surgeon finds her life in turmoil when her family’s fortune is gone and they have to leave the family Bay Area home for Sacramento, her first and only love makes good and comes back into the area, and she’s suddenly has the chance to change past decisions. Nuri Maznavi wrote an engaging heart-felt Pakistani- American contemporary retelling of Jane Austen’s Persuasion.
Asma Ibrahim is the daughter of a once prosperous, social-climbing rug merchant. Her older sister is glamorous and as spendthrift-y as her father and her younger sister is a married hypochondriac. She has quietly fulfilled her career dreams by becoming a doctor and working a big hospital emergency room, but to her community’s Aunties and Uncles, she’s a disappointment because she’s unmarried. She has regrets and never stopped loving the man she gave up because she obeyed family duty rather than the heart, so of course she can’t accept another man.
But, then Farooq is back in the good following the sale of his grandly, successful company. She has to watch him from a distance, sadly knowing she let her chance at happiness go without a fight. He’s back though, so maybe there is a chance if she’s confident enough to make a different decision from the past.
Yours Eventually did a fabulous job moving Persuasion not only into contemporary times, but also into a Pakistani Muslim community. I enjoyed how Nuri Maznavi’s writing stood out as her own as she gave tribute to Austen’s story with a fresh new face. Asma was a well-written character who had a deal of growth throughout the story, but particularly in the end. In ways, this felt more like a women’s fiction than contemporary romance with the focus on Asma’s change and discoveries about herself and the family and cultural element being stronger than the romance for the majority of the time.
Speaking of the family, I thought this portrayal of widowed father, three disparate adult daughters, and his widowed sister kept things lively and the surrounding group of Pakistani Muslim American community so vibrant and fun giving balance to the more serious tones of Asma’s personal journey.
I appreciate the surprises of where the author took the story in the end.
Yours Eventually was a solid, satisfying retelling that gave a new take for all readers including Persuasion fans. Loved the cultural diversity and the classic themes blended in this contemporary sweet romance.
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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Sounds like her family are too meddling into everyone’s life.
They sure were, Mary. She did need some stirring up, though. 🙂
Persuasion is one of my favorite Jane Austen novels and Yours Eventually sounds amazing in its own right. I will have to check it out. Thank you for your insightful review, Sophia!
Glad to put you onto it.
This sounds like a good one with how the author wrote a Pakistani- American contemporary retelling of Persuasion. The women’s fiction elements sounds good too with the growth the main character went through.
Yes, it was neat getting to read a familiar story set in a different culture and all the family closeness emphasized.
“Nuri Maznavi wrote an engaging heart-felt Pakistani- American contemporary retelling of Jane Austen’s Persuasion.” Oooooo! Adding to my TBR
Glad to add one to your list, Carole. 🙂
Neat to have a Persuasion re-telling in the Pakistani Muslim culture. Plus, the setting is where you once lived, right, Sophia? It’s always fun to recognize the locations mentioned in a story!
Yes, after enjoying Sonali Dev tackling each Jane Austen novel and setting them in modern Indian American community this was a welcome one, too. And, yes! The Sacto settings were fun to see and she got specific a couple times so I could recognize places familiar to me in the city.