The order I review books in is purely random. It's based on the order in which they arrive by ILL 🚚. I haven't requested them by any unifying theme since my third internship when I had to learn all that I could about restorative justice in general and in higher education. I basically send for books that have interesting reviews in journals and newsletters, are recommended by friends, are other volumes by a newly discovered favorite author or look interesting but unaffordable in bookstores. Even then I sometimes find an intriguing unifying element in two consecutive reads. Although Farah Naz Rishi's If You're Not The One and Not So Pure And Simple may seem worlds apart (Islam/fundamentalist Christianity) in both the influence of religious communities on relationships is major.
Ani (Anisa) is the perfect desi daughter. She follows all the rules and customs that will protect her family's reputation in the their religious community. She's chosen an acceptable vocation: lawyer. In high school she had virtually no social life, being too busy with AP classes, work, volunteering, and being editor of the school paper and student body VP. Now in her first year of college she's got a similar lifestyle going on to prepare for law school.
Although Ani isn't officially engaged, there is an understanding between her family and Isaac's that they will marry.
"I should feel lucky she's (future mother-in-law) deemed me good enough for her only son, which means that I've managed to meet her three basic requirements: 1) Good looks (self-explanatory), 2) Good education (solidified by my acceptance to Marion and eventually law school) and 3) Good family (that my family has solid standing, which is just a fancy way of saying no one has dug up any dirt on us)."
Ani is fine with that. She considers Isaac perfect and gets security from the arrangement. In her mind they are on a guaranteed path to a perfect marriage, home, children...
...in other words a perfect life...
...She'd been looking forward to college when they'll have more time together away from parental eyes. But it's not working out that way. He rarely has time for her. If they make a date he usually cancels. He gets ugly when she tries to make plans...
...he may even be seeing someone else on the side and keeping her in the dark...
Ani has disliked Marlow on first sight. (He was wearing crocs). She's irate when a professor pairs them up for a project that will count for a big percentage of their grades.
But when he offers to be her love coach and help fix her relationship with Isaac...
...she's too desperate to say no.
If you like your romances with some depth and nuance to them If You're Not The One will make a perfect addition to your summer reading list. The ending makes it Hallmark movie worthy.
On a purrrsonal note, I have a major announcement to make. Early in the summer ☀️ I'd set an intention of climbing a small mountain by the end of summer. I later changed it to autumn because I do better in cooler weather. I just was having trouble working out a way to train. I can't drive to official trails. And I can't yet keep up with my adult friends. But when I got Eugene to buy me my perfect hiking boots my brain kicked into gear to come up with a plan. The first phase involves swapping out hiking for stationary biking twice a week. I know the layout of Veazie from my years of door to door campaigning for myself in school committee elections. I planned out a morning route and evening route. In phase two I'll do some hiking/climbing with families with kids. Phase three will be the real thing. Today after breakfast I slipped on my sneakers 👟 and grabbed my keys 🔑 and took off. It was almost an hour going steady and I did much better than I'd expected. About halfway I had an inspiration. Instead of doing a small mountain climb with a few friends I can turn it into an EVENT to raise money for Black Bear Mutual Aid Fund which helps UMaine students with stuff like textbooks and unexpected medical expenses. Wouldn't this be AWESOME?
A great big shout out goes out to me for coming up with this creative idea and totally committing to it.
Jules Hathaway
Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone
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