Sabriya has her whole summer planned out in color-coded glory, but those plans go out the window after a terrorist attack near her home. When the terrorist is assumed to be Muslim and Islamophobia grows, Sabriya turns to her online journal for comfort. You Truly Assumed was never meant to be anything more than an outlet, but the blog goes viral as fellow Muslim teens around the country flock to it and find solace and a sense of community.
Soon two more teens, Zakat and Farah, join Bri to run You Truly Assumed and the three quickly form a strong friendship. But as the blog’s popularity grows, so do the pushback and hateful comments. When one of them is threatened, the search to find out who is behind it all begins, and their friendship is put to the test when all three must decide whether to shut down the blog and lose what they’ve worked for…or take a stand and risk everything to make their voices heard.
I'm not Muslim, and I don't know enough about the everyday experiences of Muslims to comment on that facet of the story. I'll only be talking about the story and writing.
My overall impression of this story is that it was rushed. Everything happens within a month; the blog is started, it gets huge, it starts getting targeted, the girls become ride or die friends, there are (offscreen) riots - it's really a lot to happen in a very short space of time. I know that one of the themes was supposed to be how much life can change in a short time, but it still felt like too much too fast to me.
I loved the girls. They were so different in almost every way and it was really fun to watch them make friends with each other. Their families were mostly nice as well (I'm still suspicious of Nuri, surely she knew about the privacy settings on not-really-blogspot?)
This is an enjoyable and very important read, and I will definitely be recommending it, but I do feel it was rather rushed. Setting it over a longer time period would have let it breathe more. But I think it'll still do really well, and it deserves to.
You Truly Assumed publishes on the 8th of February. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.
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