'You Truly Assumed' by Laila Sabreen: A Blog Tour Review // Sisterhood, Racism and Social Media!

I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the You Truly Assumed by Laila Sabreen Blog Tour hosted by Qamar Blog Tours! Check out the other stops by clicking on the banner below!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Qamar Blog Tours, Inkyard Press & the author for this free copy.

Title: You Truly Assumed
Author: Laila Sabreen
Publisher: Inkyard Press
Pub. date: 8 February 2022
Series: standalone
Page count: 352
Source: Rockstar Book Tours
Genres: young adult, contemporary
Cover illustration: Alex Cabal
Cover design: Gigi Lau

Dear White People meets Love, Hate, and Other Filters in this powerful, thought-provoking own-voices debut novel about three Black Muslim girls who create a space where they can shatter assumptions and share truths the country doesn’t see.
In this compelling and thought-provoking debut novel, after a terrorist attack rocks the country and anti-Islamic sentiment stirs, three Black Muslim girls create a space where they can shatter assumptions and share truths.
Sabriya has her whole summer planned out in color-coded glory, but those plans go out the window after a terrorist attack near her home. When the terrorist is assumed to be Muslim and Islamophobia grows, Sabriya turns to her online journal for comfort. You Truly Assumed was never meant to be anything more than an outlet, but the blog goes viral as fellow Muslim teens around the country flock to it and find solace and a sense of community.
Soon two more teens, Zakat and Farah, join Bri to run You Truly Assumed and the three quickly form a strong friendship. But as the blog’s popularity grows, so do the pushback and hateful comments. When one of them is threatened, the search to find out who is behind it all begins, and their friendship is put to the test when all three must decide whether to shut down the blog and lose what they’ve worked for…or take a stand and risk everything to make their voices heard.

Content warnings: Islamophobia, microaggressions, racial slurs, racism

I jumped at the chance to read You Truly Assumed because of the hype it received pre-publication. I had quite a few friends read ARCs of this book and rave about how much they liked it, so I was pretty excited about the chance I got myself! I was also curious about how this book would explore blogging as a means of making a change since I myself obviously blog on here. Though I got busy and overshot my blog tour stop by several days, I am still glad I made it!

You Truly Assumed follows the story of Sabriya, Zakat and Farah as they maneuver their lives around the after-effects of a terrorist attack in DC. Sabriya expresses herself through her dancing but uses an online journal to work out her feelings after the attack, which mistakenly gets published online and becomes the blog named You Truly Assumed.

Zakat is trying her best to feel safe in her community at Lullwood, but is horrified when Islamophobic attacks take place in her safe neighbourhood. Farah is figuring out her place in her absentee dad’s new family while trying to engage with the community to help fight prejudice. These two girls stumble across You Truly Assumed and end up part of the admin group as they attempt to help Black Muslim girls across the country find their place.

But things get heated when the girls face challenges within their community as well as on their online safe space.

Sabriya, Farah and Zakat were an amazing trio of friends who come together from four different corners of the country to put together their blog. These three working together, Zoom-calling each other really made me wanna get some amazing co-bloggers to help me out here too! LOL!

My favourite thing about these three is that they had their own individual lives and experiences with racism and the aftermath of the terrorist attack. I really liked the individual character arcs and that their friendship was mostly based on them catching up on each other’s lives.

“It doesn’t matter what’s been written in your story so far, it’s how you fill the remainder of the pages that count.”

I really liked that the author used three different POVs for its main characters. Each character had their own distinct voice and their personalities were very different.

The only thing that threw me off was that I felt the writing could get a little too detailed at times. Rather than showing what happened or what some was feeling, I found that there were many instances where the author was telling it to the reader. This didn’t really put me off the story but it’s a personal pet peeve that annoys me sometimes.

For a while I thought that being “Muslim enough” meant that I had to prove myself to people when they couldn’t tell.

I really liked how one event sets off three different experiences for the three girls. This was an excellent way to highlight how traumatic events can affect everyone in different ways. My favourite thing about this was that while one person has a particularly confrontative experience, someone else would be having a passive-aggressive experience involving friends or family.

Though I don’t identify as Muslim or as a Black person, there were so many instances that had me cheering on these girls or getting frustrated at the racism and Islamophobia they experienced throughout the span of their story. I think almost everyone will find an experience here that they themselves or someone they know could relate to!

“You truly assumed that the world would heal and stay healed while spinning constantly. A spinning driven in part by accepted half-truths and rumors that get taken as facts.”

Once again, because I am not Muslim or Black, I cannot comment on the reliability of the representation. But the three main characters are teenage Black Muslim girls with a host of supporting characters. There are many instances of racism and Islamophobia that readers would find relatable or have heard of from their friends and family.

“Your breaths, your life, are too precious to spend it hiding, Bri. Spend it laughing, and healing, and making mistakes. You don’t have to prove anyone right, and you don’t have to prove anyone wrong. You only have to be you for you.”

You Truly Assumed by Laila Sabreen is an eye-opening and beautiful look at the impact of a terrorist attack on three different Black Muslim girls. With three different voices living three different lives, this young-adult book takes the reader through an emotional journey of both healing and growth. Inspiring and raw, You Truly Assumed is a read that is important in this day and age.