REVIEW The Dos and Donuts of Love by Adiba Jaigirdar

The Dos and Donuts of Love by Adiba Jaigirdar
Rating: 4 Stars
Release Date: June 6,  2023
Format: eBook (Personal Library) + Audiobook (Borrowed from Library)
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends

Adiba Jaigirdar’s The Dos and Donuts of Love is a very sweet young adult contemporary sapphic romance, that captures both the unpredictable fun nature of reality TV shows and the realities of being a teenager growing up in a world of social media.  Shireen, the main character, is a Bengali teen living in Ireland and working at her parent’s donut shop. When the chance comes up to enter a baking competition and win some money to support her future, she jumps at the opportunity. However, things become very complicated when you throw in her ex also competing in the competition (cue love triangle). 

Shireen is a very relatable teenage character. She’s very flawed, and makes mistakes (which she later owns up to). I really appreciated how she had such a strong support system around her, and how they were very supportive of her identity. As someone who’s guilty of not always being aware of smaller regions/cultures in the world, I also want to acknowledge how Shireen very respectfully corrected people who assumed she was from India and took the opportunity to educate on the Bangladeshi culture.  

“You’re supposed to be the ‘bigger person’, and for some reason that means bearing it in silence.”

Social media can be a cruel place, and keyboard warriors are just jerks. The author did not shy away from difficult but relevant topics in this book (see the content warnings below for more specific details). After the first episode of the baking show airs, Shireen takes a lot of heat online (especially from racists and those who are fatphobicr). And when one of the judges of the show (Padma, who is also a woman of color and Shireen’s hero) tries to be a resource for her in dealing with that, it also makes things get worse. In her own words, “The thing is I don’t know what felt worse. The abusive tweets coming from strangers or the fact that nobody seemed to care about them. That even Niamh didn’t seem to care about them.”

Last but certainly not least, all of the food references in this show made me hungry. I loved how descriptive the author got with all of the flavors in each dish. I also appreciated the acknowledgement that different cultures can have their own way of making something. Shireen using her Ammu’s recipe was another way of acknowledging her culture and heritage, and I was so excited as a reader to see that. It was reminiscent of my own grandmother passing down her recipes to the family, or how my own family came together to gift my older sister various family recipes ahead of her wedding.  

Overall, this was a great read. I highly recommend this book to those who enjoy The Great British Bake Off, young adult contemporary stories, and sapphic romances. While this is my first book by Adiba, I’m definitely hoping to read more in the future. 

Thank you to @guccinary97, @Tearexanne, and @24hryabookblog for making this such a fun buddy read for me. Looking forward to reading The Scarlet Alchemist by Kylie Lee Baker with you next!

Content Warnings:  Fatphobia, colorism, anti-Asian social media post directly discussed on page, racism

REVIEW That Self-Same Metal (The Forge and Fracture Saga #1) by Brittany N. Williams

That Self-Same Metal (The Forge and Fracture Saga #1) by Brittany N. Williams
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Release Date: April 25, 2023
Format: Paperback (Giveaway Win from Abrams Books, YALLWest 2025) + Audiobook (Borrowed from Library)
Publisher: Amulet Books

Brittany N. Williams’ young adult debut novel That Self Same Metal, first book in The Forge and Fracture Saga, was an excellent blend of historical fiction based on fact and fantasy. The premise is really cool; an Orisha blessed Black girl taking on the fae in Shakespearean London is epic and very enticing to readers such as myself. I want to applaud audiobook narrator Patricia Allison who did a good job bringing the story to life with her performance. 

The author has obviously done their homework with Shakespeare’s plays, as the scenes where the King's Men were performing were incredibly immersive. She also highlighted the sexism and racism that a young black female would have experienced in that time period in a way that made sense with the story. While the story is based on historical fact, it's a fictitious representation of ‘the Bard’ and I wasn’t used to seeing him as an actual character on the page. I also didn’t realize that Shakespeare’s plays had so much offensive language (from euphemisms to slurs), as the last time I read them they were a version adjusted to be more appropriate for high schoolers. 

The action takes a bit to pick up, but once the main players (major fae) are introduced it’s full steam ahead. I’m intrigued to see where the author goes with the (possibly) polyamorous love triangle in future books of the series. 

I recommend this book to young adult fantasy readers who enjoy West African mythology, Shakespeare, and anything related to the fae. Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a paperback copy of the book as part of a giveaway win from YALLWest 2025. I appreciate the opportunity to read and review the book immensely.