Finding Mr Perfectly Fine: 'I loved it. Utterly charming' Jenny Colgan, the freshest and funniest romcom of 2022

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Taylor Swift Dropped The First Previously Unreleased Track From "Fearless" And It's A Cozy Trip Down Memory Lane". Just personally, if someone matches all my criteria then I would for sure feel somewhat attracted to them but maybe it isn't for everyone. There are possibilities from each one for Zara, but they all have their advantages and disadvantages for her. This was a funny rom com full of banter that also tackled some tough issues including culture, religion, cultural/religious identities and pressures and previous sexual assault.

I get Zara is supposed to be desperate to find a husband, but her desperation in this book came off in a bad way. I think I can see what the author was intending to do, leaning into the self love and self discovery elements but it didn’t work for me.casually cruel", resembling the lyric "So casually cruel in the name of being honest" in Swift's song " All Too Well" from Red (2012). Finding Mr Perfectly Fine is a laugh-out-loud funny rom-com of a book where a 29-year-old British Bengali girl from North London has a deadline to find “the one” or face her mummy’s wrath, in the shape of a ‘fresh from the desh’ prospective from ‘back-home’. putting yourself out there, into the dating world, always comes with risks of being hurt, heartbroken and rejected as Zara and other characters in the novel experience. I was highlightinf sections and sending it to my sister's, laughing at the inside jokes, picking up all the funny things that our families do, it was just brilliant in that sense. Tasneem Abdur-Rashid’s debut novel is fun, fast paced, filled with plot twists, complex and complicated characters, making the story feel alive, vibrant and authentic.

I enjoyed Adam in the book and found his relationship with Zara to be cute but it felt more like crush/lust rather than I want to be and marry this man. Tasneem struck the right balance in developing this character to show that non-hijabis are not all ‘loose’ or without strong morals. Zara is a stylish, modern NON-HIJABI girl (feel like I need to emphasise this as I kept imagining it was Tas and was gasping in shock at some of Zara’s antics only to be vehemently reminded, Zara is NOT Tasneem).

I am generally not a fan of open endings, so the last scene was just not enough closure for me, but that’s only my opinion. I picked this book up because the title is a reference to a Taylor Swift song and was a little disappointed that there was not even a slight mention of TayTay, but I guess that was just the Swiftie in me, lol). This is nearly a 500 page book of a reeeeeally slow burn romance and I read all of it for that final page! Haylock dubbed the song "a 2008 time capsule" and praising the "magic and curiosity" reminiscent of the original Fearless. I have so much to say about Zara’s love interests and other twists and turns in the book but I really don’t want to give anything more away at this early stage where people are still reading it.

I don't know that anyone in the intended target audience range will take the actions of the characters as Islamic doctrine brought to life, or better understand their Muslim friends after reading the book, but to its credit it does normalize Muslims being unique and not a monolith, taking the concept of marriage seriously when dating or exchanging biodatas, picking what aspects of culture to keep and which ones to abandon, and it frames Muslim characters in an accessible and fun loving way, which really shows how far literary representation has come. There are some big warning flags in one of Zara’s relationships, and it is outright explained to her what the concerns are and then it’s not mentioned again.When I finished the book though, my final words to her were: “This had better not be the final ending! My sister knew the author and decided to check out her book, she gave it to me to read as she thought I could relate to it since it was about the Bengali culture and struggling to find the right one. She isn't even together with Adam, and while the relationship is well drawn and we can totally believe they could be great together, none of the family/cultural issues of being with him have been resolved or even addressed, and they both have a lot of communication/being an idiot issues to deal with if they're to make it work.