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4 stars! Spoiler-free review!
Debut novel by Tashie Bhuiyan did not disappoint!
I loved that Karina knew herself, knew who she was on the inside and in relation to her family and friends
She had her boundaries, and she wasn’t afraid to say them out loud and expect people to abide by them
Her friends were amazing, such wonderful sources of support through thick and thin
Her family sucked, but is a very accurate representation of different standards between brother and sister and within ethnic families vs American families
And the arguably most important part, the romance:
Love the forced proximity of her having to “tutor” Ace
Ace himself is actually wonderful, damn near perfect actually, and sometimes that bothered me. Don't hate me, this is a personal preference, but like Ace was almost too perfect??? I don’t know why but because he like never actually messed up or caused problems or had any issues, he just seemed that much more fictional without any true flaws.
But I LOVE how he treated her, obeyed all her boundaries, a truly loyal and supportive man (girlfriends wound approve)
Ace LISTENS too! And that was super nice to see in YA romance. He heard her boundaries and he tried to understand them. *Even if he couldn't fully understand them, he never crossed her boundaries.*
*Arguably my favorite thing about this romance
The plot was very cute and wholesome
The ending was adorable and everything you want out of happy ending in a YA contemporary.
VERY excited to read her next book! I am part of the Tashie fan club now.
Side note: I almost always give 4 stars to all contemporaries even if I fully loved them, it’s really hard for me to give them pure 5/5 stars unless I was bawling my eyes out at some point which I didn’t for this one. Still enjoyed it tons though!
More for Counting Down With You:
Buy it on Amazon!
Check it out on Goodreads!
If you like this, then you may like:
A Pho Love Story by Loan Le
Frankly in Love by David Yoon
The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas