ARC Review: You Truly Assumed by Laila Sabreen

Posted February 6, 2022 by Lisa Mandina in Review / 8 Comments

I received this book for free from Books for trade in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

ARC Review:  You Truly Assumed by Laila SabreenYou Truly Assumed by Laila Sabreen
Published by Inkyard Press on February 8, 2022
Genres: YA Contemporary
Pages: 352
Source: Books for trade
Format: ARC
My Rating: five-stars
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Blurb:

In this compelling and thought-provoking debut novel, after a terrorist attack rocks the country and anti-Islamic sentiment stirs, three Black Muslim girls create a space where they can shatter assumptions and share truths. 

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.

My Review:

I really liked this one a lot and will be ordering it for my school library with my next budget order. One thing I thought was great was how we got the viewpoint of three girls from completely different backgrounds, but who all had their Black Muslim connections. I feel like the book also gave a lot of good looks into people who say they are one thing, but in reality are not as good as they want to project. Not only kids in this case, but also adults. But it also showed how you can hold on to someone’s past mistakes, when maybe they have matured or are sorry and no longer behaving in the way that you are holding against them.

There was also a great look at how living in a community that seems safe can affect how a teen might feel about leaving and going out into a different type of world from what they are used to. How that can seem stifling at first, but with the way the internet it, views of things can change quickly. Another great thing was how the book showed that the internet can be a great way to connect and make really good friends, as the three main characters did with each other through the You Truly Assumed blog. Along with that there was the other side though, the trolls and the hatred that is so often seen these days online, and how unfortunately that seems to be how people are going to view all internet and social media, as bad.

In the end the way the girls were able to figure out to handle these online issues was a great way, and one that I firmly believe in not letting the bad things ruin such great things. And it wasn’t even just their day to day life and issues that were great in this book. The family dynamics all three had to deal with were realistic and meaningful to the story as well as to teens in real life in my opinion. A great story, will be highly recommending for my students!

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8 responses to “ARC Review: You Truly Assumed by Laila Sabreen

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