In the third month of our Romance Throughout the Year Challenge, our prompt was to discover a new culture through a romance novel!
March Prompt: Discover A New Culture
Discussion of the Prompt:
This was a very hard prompt for me. I have been enjoying reading books about my culture and really didn’t feel like discovering a new culture. This is where challenges get real challenging: you are finally in the groove and gravitating towards certain books and then you have to step out of your comfort zone to complete the challenge. Thankfully, there are many cultures that are similar yet very different from mine and I was able to dive into love, romance and sufism with my pick for this month.
For March, I read Counting Down With You, a YA contemporary romance about a Bangladeshi teenager who maneuvers her culture, her family, high school, and her anxiety. I had seen some favorable reviews about it, and it looked like a great pick to read as an audiobook!
Some other books we considered for this prompt (see all potentials on Storygraph March Prompt page):
| Kriti | Ariel |
| A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow by Laura Taylor Namey | I only found one option for me this month, it was an easy choice! |
Ariel’s March Romance Pick
Counting Down with You by Tashie Bhuiyan
(Find it on Storygraph and Goodreads)
Synopsis:
Karina Ahmed has a plan. Keep her head down, get through high school without a fuss, and follow her parents’ rules–even if it means sacrificing her dreams. When her parents go abroad to Bangladesh for four weeks, Karina expects some peace and quiet. Instead, one simple lie unravels everything.
Karina is my girlfriend.
Tutoring the school’s resident bad boy was already crossing a line. Pretending to date him? Out of the question. But Ace Clyde does everything right–he brings her coffee in the mornings, impresses her friends without trying, and even promises to buy her a dozen books (a week) if she goes along with his fake-dating facade. Though Karina agrees, she can’t help but start counting down the days until her parents come back.
T-minus twenty-eight days until everything returns to normal–but what if Karina no longer wants it to?
General Thoughts of Book
Counting Down with You is a really fun Young Adult contemporary romance. It’s not very often that I see a heroine struggle with her anxiety, and I really appreciated that element. There are a lot of fun tropes like Fake Dating that keep this story light and fun overall. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book by a Bangledeshi author, so I found this book to be really cool in how the author wove in elements of Bangladeshi culture in with the main character’s experience of manuvering high school, crushes, grades, and her anxiety. I am really glad I picked up this book and I’d be happy to read other books by this author!
Kriti’s March Romance Read
The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak
(Find it on Storygraph and Goodreads)
Synopsis:
In this lyrical, exuberant follow-up to her 2007 novel, The Bastard of Istanbul, acclaimed Turkish author Elif Shafak unfolds two tantalizing parallel narratives—one contemporary and the other set in the thirteenth century, when Rumi encountered his spiritual mentor, the whirling dervish known as Shams of Tabriz—that together incarnate the poet’s timeless message of love.
Ella Rubenstein is forty years old and unhappily married when she takes a job as a reader for a literary agent. Her first assignment is to read and report on Sweet Blasphemy, a novel written by a man named Aziz Zahara. Ella is mesmerized by his tale of Shams’s search for Rumi and the dervish’s role in transforming the successful but unhappy cleric into a committed mystic, passionate poet, and advocate of love. She is also taken with Shams’s lessons, or rules, that offer insight into an ancient philosophy based on the unity of all people and religions, and the presence of love in each and every one of us. As she reads on, she realizes that Rumi’s story mirrors her own and that Zahara—like Shams—has come to set her free.
Content notes include Sexual violence, Murder, Violence, Death, Terminal illness, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship
General Thoughts of Book
The Forty Rules of Love is a beautiful story set in present time 2008 and also the 1200s. The modern timeline follows a married woman who supposedly has everything. She has 3 kids, one of them is in university, and she is working with a literary agency while her husband pursues his career. They have a house of their own and have been together many years. The manuscript that she has been assigned is a story called Sweet Blasphemy by an author named Aziz. While reading the book, based on the poet Rumi, she realises that she feels stuck and isn’t happy in her life. This book seems to be written to give her courage and take a leap. She starts corresponding with the author and one part of the book focuses on her growth and their connection, first through emails and then in person.
Aziz’s book, Sweet Blasphemy, takes most of the centre stage though. It is told from multiple perspectives – the main character, Sham, a dervish who leads a nomadic life in service to God, his eventual teacher and student (yes, both) and destiny, Rumi, and many others who cross Shams’ path. Shamsm in his travels and observations of the world, has come up with forty rules that help live a better life and can get one closer to God. He has received a divine instruction to pass on that knowledge to someone who will be revealed to him in due time.
I am doing a very bad job of explaining the depth of this book. It is about love, compassion, romance, human connection, while being deeply rooted in Sufism. A lot of the pearls of wisdom that Shams shares can be applied to life without yearning for God. This book was recommended to me by Lauren and I have so much to talk to her about. It’s a story within a story, touching on the status of women in the 13th century and the present day, what love is, how it changes and also how life is constantly evolving, not just by our decisions but also those made by others.
I adored this book and will go back to it again. If you like philosophical books with immersive writing, do check this one out!
What’s a romance that educated you about another culture?
April prompt is Historical Romance. Will you be joining us for that? Check out the challenge page here or follow along on Storygraph!
Cover image: Photo by Osman Rana on Unsplash
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