DISCLAIMER: THIS BOOK IS NOT SUITABLE FOR ANYONE UNDER THE AGE OF 18. This is the glorious haram version of Soul Tracing Taboo! Yasmin Khan is everything an imam’s daughter should be: faithful, respectful, and veiled. Behind the cloth lies nothing but darkness and loneliness. She longs for the freedom to speak her own mind and escape her mundane life, but above anything else, she wants to be just … to be just like her friend, Noor.
Dean Thynne-Edwards Walker is battling his own demons from the past. Abandoned on the doorstep of a Catholic orphanage at birth, he endured years of unspeakable abuse and cruelty. He now blames God for the nightmares of his stolen childhood and will stop at nothing to seek his revenge against religion.
He doesn’t see her face on that fateful day, but he does see her beautiful eyes. An instant desire sparks within him, a desire to corrupt this woman and sever her ties with God.
Can he do it? Can he seduce a devout Muslim and add her to his list?
As for Yasmin, could this silver-eyed, beautiful stranger be her salvation? Might he be a savior that will release her from the shackles of her cultural obligations? Or will he be the cause of her damnation?
more
Gosh I love this book! That ending!!!
It’s an account of a young woman living in a strict Muslim Pakistani family that’s relocated to London. Yasmin is a star student in law school, but other than for school, she basically doesn’t get out – and never, never appears without her niqab or the like.
Then, through a fortuitous accident, she begins a relationship with the richest, most attractive man in her class. The relationship leads both of them, from opposite directions, to love and to a relationship that is forbidden in her world and could be almost as difficult in his.
There are really two endings in this book. One is the ending that, as it draws near, is never hinted at but is seen as probable to most readers. The subsequent surprise … is a real surprise. I can honestly say I never saw it coming.
Taboo is a book that pulls the reader in and makes the reader genuinely care about the characters, no matter how distasteful they appear when you first meet them. I really, really enjoyed reading it and was sorry it had to end.
The story pulls you in from the first pages. I was hooked immediately. The writing is excellent, the narration on point, I love that it’s both from Dean and Yasmin’s points of view, it enriches the story so much.
Dean and Yasmin are an unlikely couple. The old cliché of “night and day” totally applies to them. Dean is a formerly abused orphan who’s been adopted by an affluent family and is a vengeful, entitled little brat. Yasmin is a devout Muslim brought up in a restrictive and oppressive household with no freedom whatsoever. They don’t seem like a love match at all.
They become friends of a sort and feelings quickly develop. Yasmin helps to tame the beast in Dean that seeks vengeance for his childhood abuse inside a Catholic orphanage, while Dean’s influence seems to embolden Yasmin to speak up for herself and find confidence.
We find that Yasmin’s parents are hell-bent on marrying her off after she graduates from University. The novel shows the helplessness of Yasmin’s situation and the lack of control over her life, destiny, and choice of life partner. It shows the restrictiveness of her culture and her religion, and it also makes her question everything she’s been taught.
There’s a significant twist in the narrative, and it is pure brilliance by the authors! Unexpected, surprising and emotional. This book is so worth the read.
Love has no religion
This book was intriguing, different and with an unexpected ending. It wasn’t just the romance between Dean, the rich boy who suffered physical abuse for the first six years of his life in a Catholic orphanage, and Yasmin, the devoted Muslim girl who was longing for freedom. This wasn’t just a forbidden love story between two young people from different cultures, different religions, and different worlds; it was much more than that. The Authors have done a magnificent job in describing the main characters, their motives, demons, and hopes. Although Dean and Yasmin suffered a different kind of abuse from religious figures, the authors managed to distinguish between religion and evil persons who use religion for their own sick purposes. I am not very well acquainted with the Pakistani culture but I’ve been in few Islamic countries and I’ve seen men like Yasmin’s father and brother, who think because they are men, they can do anything. They aren’t the majority but this stupid mentality does exist. This is a really great read that has much more to offer than entertainment which I would highly recommend.
A well written story with a heart-rendering ending. Mankind always twists the creator’s love into something else. To be fair any other ending would have been a fairy tale.
A Sweet, Steamy Romance Where Cultures Clash
This story of the romance between an economically challenged young female law student of Pakistani heritage who is a devout Muslim and an economically privileged fellow law student who shares neither her culture nor her faith flows like a sensuous river. Yasmin, the main character, is very appealing and easy to relate to, and her feelings of vulnerability, confusion and conflict ring true, as do the details of her family life and Pakistani culture. Dean, the man who steals her heart, starts out as a typical a**hole to women, but morphs into a more complex character as dark secrets from his past are revealed.
This beautifully written novel explores some important social, cultural and religious issues, while always moving at a fast pace and being vastly entertaining. I found it hard to put down and gobbled up big chunks at a time, constantly wanting to see what Yasmin would do next, what scary taboos she would overcome, and rooting for her happiness. When I got to the end, I wished there was more to read… but what a killer ending!
I must say, this book started with a bang! However, it quickly develops into a well-crafted hunt-and-chase between two very different people, a rich playboy intent on conquests, and a sheltered Muslim woman, intent upon her law degree but feeling exposed despite the full cover of her niqab. Yasmin is an extremely relatable character. She wants to succeed in her passion while working within the constraints of her faith and family. I truly enjoyed the details of her faith, and appreciated the window into this world where I’ve previously had little exposure. The details of Dean’s shift from lust to true affection are well-paced and nicely described. I did love the shock when Yasmin thought Abbas wasn’t as traditional as she’d thought, and then the destruction of that idea. Noor was a fantastic character, a true warrior against injustice.