Huda's Minds

  Assalamualaikum & Hi readers, It's been a long time since I last read an English fiction book. Finally, I picked up As Long As the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh. This book has been trending on my feed for the past few years, and I bought it last year during a book festival. I’m glad that I finally managed to finish it this year. Even though it gained a lot of attention online, what truly drew me to this book was its setting, which revolves around the situation in the Middle East. I’ve always had a soft spot for stories like this, ever since I read The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini more than 10 years ago 😁 Without further delay, let's we talk about this book. As Long As the Lemon Trees Grow  tells the story of Salama , a first-year pharmacy student who is forced to take on the role of a doctor at Zaytouna Hospital in Homs, Syria , after a revolutionary protest takes away her Baba and her brother Hamza , while her Mama is killed in a bombing that destroys their ...

Assalamualaikum & Hi readers, Happy to share my first read for this year with a crime and thriller book, Long Gone by Alafair Burke🥀 This book tells the story of Alice Humphrey, who has been jobless for months, and is offered her dream position as manager of an art gallery by Drew. Drew was employed as a go-between by the gallery's upper management, who are notoriously secretive. Even worse, for her first project, she was bombarded with protests and news interviews over the ‘secret artist’ art piece at the gallery, where the artwork was highly controversial. She made an effort to talk to Drew about it and they arranged a meeting time at the gallery. Unfortunately, she discovered that the gallery was vacant on the day of the meeting—all that was left was Drew's lifeless body and she was quickly put as the main suspect . Many storyline twists occur from the investigation to reveal the truth till the conclusion of the book. For someone who like drama and conspiracy theories, ...

  Assalamualaikum & Hi readers, Long time no see ✋  This book is nicely written by E.Lockhart about Frankie, the protagonist of this story, and she is a very intellectual girl who likes to defy social norms.  The story takes place in a recognised boarding high school, where Frankie becomes the shadowy leader of the Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds (a secret society for boys) 🙊 and be the mastermind for the numerous pranks to show their way of liberation to the adult in their school. Her plan was conflicted with her relationship with Mathew who is the president of the society.   What I like about this book: I really love Frankie character 💖She is a brilliant leader who is also independent and amusing. She meticulously and ingeniously plans each prank, which I hope the author can elaborate on. I'd like to see the pranks in person. Mind-blowing and brilliant!🧠 Meanwhile, I'm not a fan of Frankie's relationship with Matthew. Even though Matthew is a...

Assalamualaikum & Hi readers, May All of you having a great days ahead this month! Nearness to You from Nur Fadhilah Wahid is a book that consist of author’s sentimental story and experiences compilation throughout her spiritual hijrah journey to find herself and Allah 😌.  This book shown her experiences and stories that make us to reflect ourselves that journey to seek for Allah’s blessings and rahmah is not only focusing on knowing what halal & haram in Islam is, but also about witnessing His immense and extraordinary love for each one of us . Awww 😍 What I like about this book: The book cover is very beautiful! When I purchased this book, there was some backstory. I bought this book during a period when I was annoyed with my colleague because of his behaviour, and it turned into hatred. To be honest, I dislike this type of negative feeling and find it exhausting. When I saw this book, I thought it was a sign that I needed to calm down a little by looking for h...

Assalamualaikum & Hi readers, Happy new year to everyone!🎉 All The Bright Places from Jennifer Niven had been chosen as my last reading for 2022 and first reading 2023. Gladly I finished read this book before we enter February 😁. This book is about Finch, who always have an ideation to commit suicide and Violet, who tried to jump from the building once because of trauma that she faced by losing her sister, Eleanor. It just like a fate, when Finch meet Violet at their high school bell tower (both tried to jump, but end up become heroin scene). Through school project, Finch partnered with Violet by visiting ‘Wonder Places’ around the Indiana, to help Violet to faced the world again after learning her sister accident. End up, Violet able to accept the reality & fall in love with each other 💕However, Finch still mentally struggling without telling it to anyone. (Sorry for no spoiler. Read the book first 😏) What I learned from this book: How the authors pictures what ac...

Assalamualaikum everyone 🙋, This time, i will review a fiction novel, Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma. Its been a long time for me tak baca buku  english  fiksyen . Ambik masa jugak la nak adapt as i need to reread the first few pages again  Novel ni mengisahkan percintaan terlarang antara dua org adik beradik, iaitu Lochie(abang),17 and adik perempuannya, Maya, 16.  T he y are from a dysfunctional household and must live with their three siblings and a difficult mother. As time passes, the mother becomes increasingly careless and neglects the child, forcing Lochie and Maya to act as the parents of their siblings. They can only rely on one another, and as a result, they begin to feel a forbidden attraction to one another. I know and aware this relationship is prohibited and haram in Islam and other religion. But as a book lover, I can't be biassed toward other books or leave them on my shelves unread, so I read it carefully with hikmah to ensure that I learn something f...

This book is the continuation of the first 'Tales of Mothers' from the same author, but the theme is slightly different as this book focusing more on the motherhood journey with children with special needs, consist of 9 short stories and 1 featured article. I do love all stories in this book, really do. They really touched me on a different way with excellent approach. Ada cerita mengenai baby yang develop complications since birth, ada cerita mengenai ADHD husband that makes the marriage become stumble, ada cerita how miraculous baby yang ada cerebral palsy can be a brilliant kid and so many amazing stories. This book also featured an article, Transform Broken to Beautiful, written by Jamilah Samian, and it holds a special place in my heart. By incorporating the idea of kintsukuroi ("to restore with gold") in our daily lives, this piece significantly altered my understanding of how being damaged isn't always a terrible thing. What is kintsukuroi ? This is the Ja...

 On 1 st October 2022 (Saturday), me and my family went to IMAN warehouse sale, and I picked this book together with another 3 books (will review later). Sejak dah jadi emak ni, anything related to motherhood become a soft spot to me and this book really took my attention. This book consists of eight-real life stories about the struggles of motherhood that had been edited and compiled by Raudah Yunus (a mother who works as a doctor), together with her husband (Mahmudul Hasan). These eight stories are really inspiring and quite relatable to me as I’m currently in Long Distance Relationship (LDR) and need to take care of Z alone with no family around (Most of my family are in Johor, while I am in Cyberjaya) Huhuhu 😢 Among these stories, got one story that really touch my heart. Dr Nor Adlina, an unmarried Housemanship Officer (HO), falls in love with an orphan baby, Adam, during her Pediatric rotation. Adam will be in the hospital for a long time because he has several medi...