Queen of the Tiles Book Review
Queen of the Tiles by Hanna Alkaf book review and recommendation with NO SPOILERS
Date: 9-27-24 Post Written By: MK Overall Rating: 5.4/10
Title: Queen of the Tiles
Author: Hanna Alkaf
Pages: 320
Genre: Young Adult, Realistic Fiction, Mystery
Publisher: Salaam Reads / Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
First Published: 2022
Number of Editions: 8
Goodreads Rating: 3.69/5
Number of Goodreads Ratings: 3,706
Amazon Rating: 4.0/5
Number of Amazon Ratings: 108
Book Type: Standard
Hook: Najwa Bakri loves Scrabble. Until, Trina Low, her long-time friend didn’t make it at the last competition. She died. Najwa hasn’t been back since. But this year, she does go back. Trina was always the Scrabble Queen. And now, the title is empty. On top of everything else, Trina’s old social media account begins to post mysterious messages saying that Trina might not have died quite as simple of a death as was assumed. Najwa begins to wonder: could someone at this year’s competition have killed Trina at the previous one? Can Najwa figure out who is posting these awful messages. And more importantly, what really happened to Trina Low?
Rating: 5.4/10
I would not particularly recommend this book
Review: You know, this book wasn’t great in my opinion. It wasn’t awful, and the general plot idea was actually very interesting to me. I liked the original idea of a scrabble competition mixed with a mystery, but I didn’t love the way it was executed. I was really hopeful for a unique mystery with an exciting ending, but to be honest, I found the ending to be underwhelming. However, I did enjoy learning more about scrabble and the wordplay included in this book. I think Najwa was an in-depth character, but I didn’t feel particularly close to her personally, but maybe that’s my own problem and not the book’s? There were a lot of themes and topics that just didn’t resonate with me, but again, that probably means I’m just not the ideal reader. Anyways, this was not my personal favorite, but I really see how people who relate more could enjoy it.
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She lives in Malaysia, near Kuala Lumpur
She is married, and has two kids.
She has a very busy lifestyle
For more information, view Hanna Alkaf’s website: hannaalkaf.com
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