The Henna Wars Review: competition, romance, and sisterhood

So sisterhood has been a running theme in the book I’ve been reading recently and I am not upset about it one bit. I think that the sisters in this book are the true stars of the plot. Nishat and her sister’s relationship is so authentic and relatable. They’re also so loving toward each other while they are each facing their own teenage angsty problems.

Flavia was totally mysterious and intriguing as a character and I wish I could have seen more of her because of that. But the give and take from Nishat and Flavia was very on point for a teen romance so I felt it was pretty accurate.

I also felt that the “mean girl” aspect of this book was believable. Sometimes I have a hard time buying into mean girls when they appear to just be mean for the sake of the story. The mean girl in this story has motive for cruelty and I could buy into why she mistreated Nishat and others.

The fact that this story follows a henna war was so cool and a great opportunity for me as a white reader to learn more. Henna was huge in high school and I gained a greater appreciation for the craft of it (I already knew it was super hard to do) but also the meaning of the culture.

Overall, this was an interesting read and a good coming of age novel. I can totally see it being a Netflix movie in the near future.