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Title details for Much Ado About Nada by Uzma Jalaluddin - Wait list

Much Ado About Nada

by Uzma Jalaluddin
Farah Kidwai
Audiobook
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A sparkling second-chance romance inspired by Jane Austen’s Persuasion...
 
Nada Syed is stuck. On the cusp of thirty, she’s still living at home with her brothers and parents in the Golden Crescent neighbourhood of Toronto, resolutely ignoring her mother’s unsubtle pleas to get married already. While Nada has a good job as an engineer, it’s a far cry from realizing her start-up dreams for her tech baby, Ask Apa, the app that launched with a whimper instead of a bang because of a double-crossing business partner. Nothing in her life has turned out the way it was supposed to, and Nada feels like a failure. Something needs to change, but the past is holding on too tightly to let her move forward.
Nada’s best friend Haleema is determined to pry her from her shell…and what better place than at the giant annual Muslim conference held downtown, where Nada can finally meet Haleema’s fiancé, Zayn. And did Haleema mention Zayn’s brother Baz will be there?
 
What Haleema doesn’t know is that Nada and Baz have a past—some of it good, some of it bad and all of it secret.  At the conference, that past all comes hurtling at Nada, bringing new complications and a moment of reckoning. Can Nada truly say goodbye to once was or should she hold tight to her dreams and find their new beginnings?

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    June 13, 2023

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780593739266
      • File size: 279403 KB
      • Duration: 09:42:05

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from March 20, 2023
      Jalaluddin’s delightful latest (after Hana Khan Carries On) puts a rom-com spin on Jane Austen’s Persuasion. Nada Syed works hard to launch the “Ask Apa” app, designed to offer sisterly advice to Toronto’s Muslim community, but a dishonest business partner undermines her efforts, forcing her to return to an engineering job she hates. As she approaches her 30th birthday, Nada is grappling both with this professional disappointment and with mounting parental pressure to find a spouse. To lift her spirits, Nada’s best friend, Haleema, takes her to Deen&Dunya, an annual Muslim convention (“like Comic-Con, except with hijabs”), for the weekend. There, Nada will finally meet Haleema’s fiancé, Zayn, and grudgingly participate in a speed-dating event. Upon arriving, however, Nada’s shocked to learn that Zayn’s brother is Baz Haq, whom she’s known since grade school and with whom she had an intense on-and-off relationship in college. As Nada navigates the convention, she and Baz try to conceal their romantic history from their loved ones while grappling with their unresolved emotions and simmering sexual tension. Jalaluddin makes their rekindling romance positively swoonworthy, and interfering family members and rich cultural detail add to this romance’s power. Austenite or not, readers will be swept away. Agent: Ann Collette, Rees Literary.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      With warmth and enthusiasm, Farah Kidwai narrates this contemporary romance inspired by Jane Austen's PERSUASION. The story concerns members of a South Asian Muslim community in present-day Canada. Thirty-something Nada, an engineer and app developer, is invited by her best friend, Haleema, to a Muslim dating convention, where she encounters Baz, her former love. Kidwai's pleasing voice and lively cadence draw listeners into this story, which explores the tension between the modern and the traditional in Muslim culture. Kidwai's accents and Arabic pronunciations are excellent. However, many characters sound similar. Nonetheless, listeners will enjoy being taken into Nada's circle of family and friends and cheer for her to find her happily-ever-after. M.J. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      September 1, 2023

      Jalaluddin's (Hana Khan Carries On) Persuasion-inspired retelling follows Nada Syed, who is quickly approaching 30 and is increasingly under pressure to get married from friends and family in her Muslim Toronto neighborhood. Despite making good money, Nada is heartbroken over a double-crossing partner who stole her dreams of launching her app, Ask Apa. Plus, she's constantly dodging her mother's attempts to marry her off. When Nada's best friend Haleema invites her to a Muslim convention, she discovers that Haleema's fianc�'s brother, Baz, will also be there. Nada and Baz share a turbulent secret backstory. Can Nada move on from her complicated past? Jalaluddin has written another modern Muslim take on a Jane Austen novel that delves deeply into culture, romance, and classic literature. Narrator Farah Kidwai enhances the story's ambiance, giving voice to conflicted, seeking Nada, brooding Baz, and Nada's charming friends and family. Though the time jumps can be difficult to follow in audio, Kidwai's spirited narration keeps listeners engaged. VERDICT Jalaluddin has mastered the art of retelling classics, offering a tale that will appeal to listeners searching for cultural sensitivity, romance, and the comfort of hearing a cherished story updated for modern times.--Elyssa Everling

      Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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