book review – this is all your fault by aminah mae safi

i received a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. all opinions below are my own.

this post is part of the this is all your fault blog tour, organized by the incredible turn the page tours!

This Is All Your Fault by Aminah Mae Safi

Set over the course of one day, Aminah Mae Safi’s This Is All Your Fault is a smart and voice-driven YA novel that follows three young women determined to save their indie bookstore.
Rinn Olivera is finally going to tell her longtime crush AJ that she’s in love with him.
Daniella Korres writes poetry for her own account, but nobody knows it’s her.
Imogen Azar is just trying to make it through the day.
When Rinn, Daniella, and Imogen clock into work at Wild Nights Bookstore on the first day of summer, they’re expecting the hours to drift by the way they always do. Instead, they have to deal with the news that the bookstore is closing. Before the day is out, there’ll be shaved heads, a diva author, and a very large shipment of Air Jordans to contend with.
And it will take all three of them working together if they have any chance to save Wild Nights Bookstore.

trigger warnings: sexual harassment, depression, anxiety

aminah mae safi’s this is all your fault is an ode to indie bookstores, strong women, and poetry. this story, told over the course of one day from the perspectives of three girls, will surely warm the hearts of book lovers of all ages!

there was such a vibe to the mornings at wild nights. it was a quiet kind of bustle. the people in the store really wanted to be there – either for the quiet as they browsed or to pick up a specific book – and there was something so calm and industrious about the store and its customers right around nine o’clock.
this is all your fault by aminah mae safi

a large part of this book is about the magic of bookstores, and the author perfectly captures the things that make them special – the sense of community, the unique decorations, and the familiar faces! wild nights bookstore brings people together – the bookstore matters a lot to the staff, regulars, and newcomers alike, and seeing everyone come together to save their beloved bookstore put a huge smile on my face. i haven’t been to a physical bookstore in a long while, and this is now making me want to go visit one once the pandemic is over.

where would charlene get her regular feminist fix from? where would myrna go with her morning pastry? there were other regulars, too. the young mother – imogen didn’t know her name, but she had to be just out of college – who was sitting reading business books while her child read picture books out loud. or the woman who came in every week looking for a selection for her book club.
this is all your fault by aminah mae safi

i also loved the diverse characters in the book:

our main character trio consists of rinn, a sweet girly girl who seems to radiate positivity 24/7 but is secretly dealing with anxiety, imogen, a feisty and honest badass who loves poetry and is learning to cope with her depression, and daniela, a bossy tough cookie who keeps her feelings to herself all the time and pours her heart into her writing. in short, they appear to be as different as can be, but are actually more alike than they think. the story begins with the girls disliking each other, but as it progresses, they get to know each other better and eventually form a sisterhood of sorts. this process was so well written and natural, and i loved seeing the three girls slowly warm up to each other and pool their talents together for the sake of the bookstore!

the side characters are also equally lovable. we have eli, whose heart is in the right place despite being a little clumsy, and aj, a quiet and thoughtful artist. there’s also jo, the manager and “adult” of the bookstore, who is a bit careless with her passwords but fiercely protective of her employees. they are such lovely characters and i would have loved seeing more of them!

among all the characters, i especially liked and related to rinn. while she has her own mental struggles to deal with, which she learns to handle with the help of professionals, she is always willing to lend a helping hand to the people around her when they seem unhappy. moreover, she is an online bookish creator, and the way she uses her platform to promote wild nights and her favorite books reminded me of my own blogging experience.

there are many things i liked about the book, and among them, my favorite has got to be the ending. i’m sure that the author has put a lot of thought into it, because while it’s not the one i was expecting, it was very realistic and perfectly done.

if you like bookstores and the found family trope, this is all your fault is the perfect book for you!

Aminah Mae Safi is a Muslim-American writer. Safi was the winner of the We Need Diverse Books short story contest, and that story appeared in the anthology Fresh Ink. She lives in Los Angeles, California, with her partner and cat. This Is All Your Fault is her third novel, following Not the Girls You’re Looking For and Tell Me How You Really Feel.

GIVEAWAY

win one finished copy of this is all your fault by aminah mae safi (US ONLY). the giveaway starts on 12th october 2020 and ends on 19th october 2020. enter here.