I found the writing simple enough to read and understand, but not too basic. There were some nice descriptions, but not really anything too fancy… there isn’t really anything more to it.

Fast, son,’ was Dad’s advice. ‘Work out, play basketball or something. It will give you an outlet.’Ali and Aminah met by chance at the basketball court on a day she wore red trainers,and had to struggle between Aminah’s brother ,Zayd due to his overprotectiveness, keeping it halal and dealing with their feelings. I loved how practising both Ali and Amirah are, and how that comes across in every detail of their lives and behaviour. Their friendship groups were also great: although none of the friend characters themselves are developed very much, and some of the slang felt a little overdone, like the author was trying too hard to sound like a teenager, I still enjoyed what the groups represented in terms of having a support network to encourage you in your faith. The portrayal of how different people come to religion at their own pace was also really valuable. I had given him my most superior look. ‘Anyway, who said I’ll be sitting at home? Uni is only a couple of months away, remember? And then there’s the fat job afterwards, inshallah. You do know that I’ll be working after I graduate, don’t you? No signing on or benefits for me. And no waiting for some useless man to take care of me.’ these kids have regular, normal lives and struggle with regular, normal things and just act like normal freaking human beings and IM SO HAPPY I FOUND SOME DAMN GOOD REPRESENTATION (even if it was cheesy and overdone at times, but we’ll get to that in a second)

Sit down, Ali.’ He gestured towards the stool by the counter. ‘I’ve got to talk to you about something.’The book is divided into chapters; every other chapter is told from the perspective of Ali or Amirah, so, for example, we start with Ali talking about his life and what is going on with him, and then in the next chapter, Amirah talks about her life from her own perspective. I like that approach, because some incidents in the book are told twice but from different perspectives, and that is exactly how some aspects of our lives get interpreted in different ways, as people look at things from their own perspectives.

Well hello there, book about two Muslim teens having a crush on each other and trying to cope with it in a halal way! Do you know how rare you are?

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The writing is simple enough to follow and easy to read which helped a lot with the pacing on the book, one thing that bugged me about it is how much the words “teeth kissing” (??) and “bro” were used, there was too much of them. She Wore Red Trainers is written in dual POV alternating between Ali and Amirah which was good, because even though the two of them don’t interact much, we still got to see what each of them thought of the other, of the few times they met, etc… Not to be cynical or anything, but it feels to me like this is story about teenagers rather than for them. Like a guide for what Muslim teenagers should do when faced with Issues(tm). Except it falls short, because Ali and Amirah never do anything haram in this entire book. Their “bad” phases are mentioned offscreen, in the past. They're Good Muslims now. Their friends are good Muslims. Moral dilemmas? Ambiguity? Nope. Ali shuts down his ex-girlfriend, Amy, right away, and there's no tension here because we know he's not going to go for anything haram. There's no way for character to develop if they don't, y'know, have flaws in the first place... London? Brilliant!’ My face lit up as I imagined spending the summer in London, as we had done before, shopping on Oxford Street and visiting Tower Bridge, riding on the London Eye. But my face fell when Dad shook his head. And that was when he told me: his business was in trouble, serious trouble, and we needed to do something drastic to keep the house. So that was why we were moving to London for the summer, to rent out our place to another family visiting from abroad. There was something about the way he moved - strong, graceful, rippling, like a cat - that made something flutter in my stomach." I was so excited when I heard that a Muslim YA romance was coming out and I looked forward to reading it once I got it. But having read it all I can come up with is, 'it was okay'. Which makes me sad.

Umar kissed his teeth and scrunched down further in his seat, his eyes fixed on the phone he held in front of him. So the books is a Love story by a Muslim author and I love it! A great book to catch glimpse of lifestyle taught by Islam.

Zayd's characterization feels off to me. He is portrayed as a caring brother, someone who is willing to do anything for his family. His return from KSA when Amirah runs away as a teenager, putting his studies on hold is evidence enough of that. And he's not portrayed as a fanatic, harsh and unloving or unforgiving. He trusts Amirah in some deeply important ways. But then when he catches sight of her heading for the front door without abaya and hijab already in place, his eyes bug out. This would fit better if it wasn't made clear that the family didn't make a habit of wearing hijab around the house in other parts of the book, and this one scene seems to undermine the trust that he shows Amirah elsewhere.