In this charming, delightfully original rom-com, a struggling writer’s muse suddenly comes to life, but can they create their own happily-ever-after?
Book Synopsis:
The Dead Romantics meets Book Lovers in this charming rom-com about struggling writer Ziya, who’s about to give up on her dream of publishing until she wakes up one morning to find a physical manifestation of her writing muse in her apartment.Ziya Khan is a legal secretary by day, but she spends her nights working hard to be a published author. She’s spent the last few years trying to get her novel published about a young brown woman falling in love with a small-town brown man—but with no luck.
After one particularly painful rejection on the night before her thirtieth birthday, Ziya decides to give up her pen for good and instead just wishes to be happy. Then, the next morning, Ziya wakes up to find Aashiq, a physical manifestation of her writing muse, sitting on her couch.
Aashiq has materialized to help Ziya find her love for writing again, despite Ziya’s determination to keep her dreams in the past. But bit by bit, Aashiq starts to remind Ziya of why she loved writing and that her words matter more than she thinks. And impossibly, something more starts to blossom between them.
But as Ziya falls for Aashiq, he begins to disappear, which prompts her to choose: her art or her heart?
Where and When to Buy:
On Sale Date: June 10, 2025
ISBN: 9780778368663
Format: Trade Paperback
Price: $18.99 USD
Length: 304 pages
My Review
This was an adorable romance story. I liked that in a way Mr. Right was just her creativity but at times I did wonder how that worked, was this something of an extension of herself then? I certainly had questions with that but our FMC and MMC were both adorable and I liked that it was some wholesome. Definitely a read for those who don’t need/want spice and especially any who like something sweet.
I think the insecurities and imposter syndrome that Ziya has were super relatable for me and possibly social anxiety. I definitely connect to her. Reading some other reviews I could see where people sate it reads like a self-help book but in a very large way that is what this book is.. It is Ziya’s self-help as *her* muse from her mind comes to life to *help* her. So essentially this is the rom-com version of that ‘self-help’ book and it’s a big part of the reason why I enjoyed it. Sometimes it could be a little too on the nose but I wouldn’t say that deterred my enjoyment of it.
Khawaja does a great job putting you in Ziya’s mind and wrote such a sweet MMC but more than that I loved her little callouts to actual books and authors; and above all I loved how she wrote in Ziya’s frustration that joy for characters that looked like here weren’t ‘thrilling’ enough for the publishing world. It felt so relevant right now and I appreciated that. It added another level of depth to the book that again made me enjoy it so much.
Thanks so much to the publisher for an eARC in exchange for my honest review. I would love to read more from this Author and I’m excited to be part of the blog tour. 3/5 Huge cups of coffee from me!
About the Author:
Alina Khawaja is a Canadian Pakistani author. Seeing that she’s a graduate from the University of Toronto with a BA in English, history and creative writing, and from Toronto Metropolitan University with an MA in Literatures of Modernity, it’s been clear from day one that the only thing Alina could be is a storyteller. Alina lives in Ontario, Canada, where she spends the summer at theme parks and the winter cozying up inside with a ridiculously expensive coffee. When she’s not writing, she’s either reading or trying to keep up with her endless list of K-dramas. Her debut novel was Maya’s Laws of Love.
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