Books like 'The Writing on My Forehead'
Readers who enjoyed The Writing on My Forehead by Nafisa Haji also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary south asian muslim
-
Take What You Can Carry by Gian Sardar
Rated: 4.37 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsAn aspiring photographer follows her dreams and faces her fears in a poignant novel about finding beauty, promise, and love amid the chaos of war-torn Kurdistan. It’s 1979. Olivia Murray, a secretary at a Los Angeles newspaper, is determined to become a photojournalist and make a difference with her work... -
![The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak]()
The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 62 ratingsListen to Elif Shafak's The Forty Rules of Love reviewed on NPR... -
![]()
![]()
Sponsored links / Remove ads -
![Ritu Weds Chandni by Ameya Narvankar]()
Ritu Weds Chandni by Ameya Narvankar
Rated: 4.51 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsA Kirkus Reviews' Best Picture Book of 2020 I A 2021 Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People I A 2021 ALA A Feminist Book Project's Top Ten Book I A 2021 South Asia Book Award Honor Book. Ayesha is excited to attend her cousin Ritu's wedding. She can't wait to dance at the baraat ceremony! But not everyone is happy that Ritu is marrying her girlfriend Chandni... -
![Laskar Pelangi by Andrea Hirata]()
Laskar Pelangi by Andrea Hirata
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsBegitu banyak hal menakjubkan yang terjadi dalam masa kecil para anggota Laskar Pelangi. Sebelas orang anak Melayu Belitong yang luar biasa ini tak menyerah walau keadaan tak bersimpati pada mereka... -
-
![Never Meant to Stay by Trisha Das]()
Never Meant to Stay by Trisha Das
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsA bighearted romantic comedy about family and finding the perfect match set against the exuberant backdrop of contemporary Delhi. Home has always been a temporary arrangement for Samara Mansingh, a wayfaring wedding photographer and the daughter of a diplomat. When her father is uprooted once again, Samara needs a place to stay in Delhi. Next the Khanna family... -
![A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth]()
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsVikram Seth's novel is, at its core, a love story: Lata and her mother, Mrs. Rupa Mehra, are both trying to find -- through love or through exacting maternal appraisal -- a suitable boy for Lata to marry... -
![Tell Me How to Be by Neel Patel]()
Tell Me How to Be by Neel Patel
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 17 ratings'A love letter to R&B, youth, and the unforgettable agonies of one's first love. .. I will read everything Patel writes from here on. ' Susie Yang, New York Times bestselling author of White Ivy. Lost in the jungle of Los Angeles, Akash Amin is filled with shame. Shame for liking men. Shame for wanting to be a songwriter. Shame for not being like his perfect brother. Shame for his alcoholism... -
![No Honour by Awais Khan]()
No Honour by Awais Khan
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsA young woman defies convention in a small Pakistani village, with devastating results for her and her family. A stunning, immense beautiful novel about courage, family and the meaning of love, when everything seems lost…. In sixteen-year-old Abida’s small Pakistani village, there are age-old rules to live by, and her family’s honour to protect... -
![Twisted Alliance: An Arranged Marriage Romance by P.G. Van, P.G. Van]()
Twisted Alliance: An Arranged Marriage Romance by P.G. Van, P.G. Van
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 9 ratings"It's time for you to pay. .. wife," he said with a cold smile on his darkly handsome face. #1 ROMANCE BESTSELLER ON AMAZON INDIA. Ishani Gujjar led a sheltered life as the heiress of a desert clan. Her world is suddenly shaken when her marriage is arranged to a stranger who came from a faraway place, claiming to be the secret heir of the powerful Thakvar clan... -
![The Perfect Bow by Samirah Zaman]()
The Perfect Bow by Samirah Zaman
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsYou are cordially invited into the marriage ofSumayyah Rahman & Yousef HasanSumayyah was handed the perfect checklist of what life should education, career, marriage, and children. Having made her father proud by becoming a doctor, she honoured her mother’s wishes by agreeing to an arranged marriage. Yousef was a simple man who had but one to have a family...Categorized as:
south asian contemporary multicultural length-medium first-in-series standalone-first -
![My Beautiful Chaos by Swati M.H.]()
My Beautiful Chaos by Swati M.H.
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsLove wanes. That’s what my missing groom told me over the phone . . . on our wedding day, no less. I wasn’t about to go down that road again—love, marriage, forever. I had enough on my plate serving as deputy general counsel of our family business and keeping my matchmaking parents off my back. Then Wayland Ramirez comes roaring back into my life... -
![The Book of Everlasting Things by Aanchal Malhotra]()
The Book of Everlasting Things by Aanchal Malhotra
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 22 ratingsOn a January morning in 1938, Samir Vij first locks eyes with Firdaus Khan through the rows of perfume bottles in his family’s ittar shop in Lahore. Over the years that follow, the perfumer’s apprentice and calligrapher’s apprentice fall in love with their ancient crafts and with each other, dreaming of the life they will one day share... -
![The Heart Asks Pleasure First by Karuna Ezara Parikh]()
The Heart Asks Pleasure First by Karuna Ezara Parikh
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAn extraordinary tale of love in a world being torn asunder. It is 2001 and Daya and Aaftab have just met in a park in Cardiff. She is studying ballet and he is practising in a law firm. She falls madly in love. He does, but he also cannot, because he is Muslim and there are certain rules... -
![Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda]()
Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda
Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars · 57 ratingsSomer's life is everything she imagined it would be — she's newly married and has started her career as a physician in San Francisco — until she makes the devastating discovery she never will be able to have children. The same year in India, a poor mother makes the heartbreaking choice to save her newborn daughter's life by giving her away... -
-
![Kamila Knows Best by Farah Heron]()
Kamila Knows Best by Farah Heron
Kamila Hussain’s life might not be perfect, but, whew, it’s close. She lives a life of comfort, filled with her elaborate Bollywood movie parties, a dog with more Instagram followers than most reality stars, a job she loves, and an endless array of friends who clearly need her help finding love. In fact, Kamila is so busy with her friends’ love lives, she’s hardly given any thought to her own .Categorized as:
south asian muslim historical humor multicultural contemporary friends to lovers length-medium -
![Marriage Jitters by Madhuri Tamse]()
Marriage Jitters by Madhuri Tamse
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsBillionaire Viren Dewan’s sister was getting married in one month and Event Manager Tarini Kaur bagged that project to plan her wedding. She struggled organizing the wedding as Viren Dewan’s classy extravagant attitude kept hurdling her work. Least did she know they had a history together, a knot which his family easily forgot and hers denied to accept...Categorized as:
south asian grumpy sunshine contemporary length-short first-in-series standalone-first -
![Unsuitable Husband by Anika Rao]()
Unsuitable Husband by Anika Rao
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsShe was about to be forced into a marriage. To escape it, she married another man temporarily until she receives her inheritance. The man she married is her best friend's brother whom she had a crush on during her childhood. But her problems didn't stop with signatures on a marriage certificate. Her uncle didn't think her marriage to a struggling mechanic would last... -
![The Orphan's Gift by Renita D'Silva]()
The Orphan's Gift by Renita D'Silva
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsShe allows herself to kiss her perfect child just once. She wraps the baby in her last gift: a hand-knitted cardigan, embroidered with a water lily pattern. ‘You’re better off without me,’ she whispers and although every step breaks her heart, she walks away. 1910, India... -
![Mr & Mrs Thakur by Madhuri Tamse]()
Mr & Mrs Thakur by Madhuri Tamse
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsStandalone Romance Book 2 from Mr and Mrs. Series. Neil Thakur is a Jerk Entrepreneur who gets what he eyes on. When he and his pricey girlfriend Nyra are en route to India, his life collides with 21-year-old Esha Singhal, the daughter of his rival. Whilst his mind tries to keep that baby girl out of his way, his body and heart doesn’t approve. A romantic tale of love, betrayal and possession... -
![Scent of a Garden by Namrata Patel]()
Scent of a Garden by Namrata Patel
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsA perfumer in Paris is forced to return to her California roots in an exhilarating novel about family, self-discovery, and taking risks by the author of The Candid Life of Meena Dave. The daughter of proud Napa Valley hoteliers, Asha “Poppy” Patel chose a different line as a Paris perfumer, gifted with a nose for fragrances and business. Until her heightened sense of smell disappears... -
![Fake Locked: by Era Mable]()
Fake Locked: by Era Mable
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 5 ratingsExperience a whirlwind of love, passion, drama, and thrill in the Oberoi Brothers universe. BLURB. Ruhi Walia. Vibrant, sexy, and ambitious, she is on a mission to build her own food empire before taking over the family business. As the daughter of a wealthy hotelier, her life seems idyllic until a psycho kidnaps and almost kills her... -
![Guapa by Saleem Haddad]()
Guapa by Saleem Haddad
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA debut novel that tells the story of Rasa, a young gay man coming of age in the Middle East. Set over the course of twenty-four hours, Guapa follows Rasa, a gay man living in an unnamed Arab country, as he tries to carve out a life for himself in the midst of political and social upheaval... -
![Beneath a Marble Sky by John Shors]()
Beneath a Marble Sky by John Shors
Rated: 3.99 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsJourney to dazzling seventeenth-century Hindustan, where the reigning emperor, consumed with grief over the tragic death of his beloved wife, commissioned the building of a grand mausoleum as a testament to the marvel of their love. This monument would soon become known as the Taj Mahal—a sight famous around the world for its beauty and the emotions it symbolizes... -
![Saree by Su Dharmapala]()
Saree by Su Dharmapala
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsNila wasn’t born beautiful and is destined to go through life unnoticed… until she becomes a saree maker. As she works, Nila weaves into the silk a pattern of love, hope and devotion, which will prove to be invaluable to more lives than her own... -
-
![Man of Her Match by Sakshama Puri Dhariwal]()
Man of Her Match by Sakshama Puri Dhariwal
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsKicked off the team for a series of misdemeanours, Indian cricket's playboy Vikram Walia finally has a chance at redemption. The only it involves collaborating with his childhood best friend turned sworn enemy, Nidhi Marwah... -
![Love, Marriage, and Other Disasters by Shilpa Suraj]()
Love, Marriage, and Other Disasters by Shilpa Suraj
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsShe believes in love, family and…squiggles! Alisha Rana is not your typical single desi girl. For one, she is on the wrong side of 30. For another, she is divorced. And last but definitely not least, she is still, gasp, a virgin! Alisha doesn’t want much... -
![The Sweetness of Tears by Nafisa Haji]()
The Sweetness of Tears by Nafisa Haji
Rated: 4.01 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsFrom Nafisa Haji, author of the critically acclaimed novel, The Writing on My Forehead, comes The Sweetness of Tears, an emotional, deeply layered story that explores the far reaching effects of cultural prejudice, forbidden love, and hidden histories on a young woman and her family... -
![Married in Deceit by Shilpa Suraj]()
Married in Deceit by Shilpa Suraj
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 5 ratingsVeda Gadde, Bharatnatyam dancer and media heiress believes in love, marriage, and happy-ever-afters. When her heart stumbles for her best friend's brother, she wishes on every star in the Universe to have a shot at a life with him. And the Universe delivers. .. Agastya Kodela, IT Minister and future Prime Minister potential, rarely forgives and never forgets... -
![People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks]()
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
Rated: 3.95 of 5 stars · 77 ratingsFrom the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of March, the journey of a rare illuminated manuscript through centuries of exile and war. In 1996, Hanna Heath, an Australian rare-book expert, is offered the job of a lifetime: analysis and conservation of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, which has been rescued from Serb shelling during the Bosnian war... -
![Water by Bapsi Sidhwa, Deepa Mehta]()
Water by Bapsi Sidhwa, Deepa Mehta
Rated: 3.97 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe renowned author Bapsi Sidhwa and the equally renowned filmmaker Deepa Mehta share a unique artistic relationship: Mehta adapted Sidhwa’s novel Cracking India for her brilliant film Earth, and here, Sidhwa adapts Mehta’s controversial film Water to the printed page... -
![Only Wheat Not White by Varsha Dixit]()
Only Wheat Not White by Varsha Dixit
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsWhat if the one you completely love is the one you simply can't! Twenty-six-year-old Eila Sood moves to America to mend fences with her estranged older sister, Sheela. Eila and the rest of the family in India had cut off ties with Sheela after she married Steve Jacobs, 'out of caste, and out of color'. Elia soon realizes that Sheela's marriage is on the rocks... -
![Married in Hate by Shilpa Suraj]()
Married in Hate by Shilpa Suraj
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsWhen friends turn enemies turn spouses…. Four years ago, Priyanka had planned to elope with the love of her life. Only to be left stranded at the bus stop waiting for a man who never came…. Daughter to the sitting Chief Minister, Dr. Priyanka Kodela’s life is a gilded cage. A cage she accepts as atonement for her sins, the ones her family can never find out about...Categorized as:
south asian contemporary from hate to love length-short first-in-series standalone-first -
![The Wedding Photographer by Sakshama Puri Dhariwal]()
The Wedding Photographer by Sakshama Puri Dhariwal
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsOn a seventeen-hour-long flight, a chance upgrade to business class lands journalist Risha Kohli next to handsome real estate hotshot Arjun Khanna... -
![She Loves Me, He Loves Me Not by Zeenat Mahal]()
She Loves Me, He Loves Me Not by Zeenat Mahal
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsZoella didn’t know whether she was devastatingly happy or happily devastated. Zoella has been in love with Fardeen Malik, her best friend’s gorgeous older brother, since she was ten, but he’s always seen her as a ‘good girl’—not his type—and he can barely remember her name... -
-
![Priyamvada & Co. by Sudha Nair]()
Priyamvada & Co. by Sudha Nair
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA heart-warming tale about love, friendship, and following one’s heart. The destinies of an unlikely trio converge at the making of a movie. The eldest Menon daughter and school drama teacher, Neha Menon, must find a way to face the hard times and deal with the loss that threatens to destroy her family... -
![Trouble Has A New Name by Adite Banerjie]()
Trouble Has A New Name by Adite Banerjie
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratings“Will you pretend to be my fiancé for the next few days? ”. Recently-single model Rayna Dutt does not feel like flying to her friend’s big fat Indian wedding. But she does - and when a mix up with room allocations forces her to share a luxury villa on Emerald Isle with the gorgeous owner of the hotel - Neel Arora - and best man at the wedding, things begin to look up... -
![If I Loved You Less by Aamna Qureshi]()
If I Loved You Less by Aamna Qureshi
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA joyful romantic comedy retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma! I know what you’re thinking: poor little rich girl, she has everything, what else could she possibly need? Well, I’m looking for the great love of my life, thank you very much. For Long Island native Humaira Mirza, it’s always been about love – and she has the matchmaking track record to prove it... -
![If You Let Me Go by Sonia Rao]()
If You Let Me Go by Sonia Rao
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhat happens in Paris…. Shivalika is a brilliant interior designer who attracts suitors like bees to honey. But she will have none of that. Shivalika has her life mapped out. She does not believe in love at all and is only focused on her career the reason for which is a secret she has nursed since she was a teenager... -
![The Butterfly Mosque by G. Willow Wilson]()
The Butterfly Mosque by G. Willow Wilson
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsThe extraordinary story of an all-American girl’s conversion to Islam and her ensuing romance with a young Egyptian man, The Butterfly Mosque is a stunning articulation of a Westerner embracing the Muslim world. When G... -
![Kartography by Kamila Shamsie]()
Kartography by Kamila Shamsie
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsRaheen and her best friend, Karim, share an idyllic childhood in upper-class Karachi. Their parents were even once engaged to each others' partners until they rematched in what they call "the fiancée swap. " But as adolescence distances the friends, Karim takes refuge in maps while Raheen searches for the secret behind her parents' exchange... -
![My Other Half by Neya B]()
My Other Half by Neya B
It's crazy how fate can change the perspective of our future. Hayat didn’t plan to meet the man who will love her in this life and the afterlife. As a twenty-six-year-old web designer, Hayat was focused on her career, love was not on her agenda. Not even marriage. Anas, on the other hand, secretly hoped to find someone who could love Souhila as much as he did... -
![These Letters End in Tears by Musih Tedji Xaviere]()
These Letters End in Tears by Musih Tedji Xaviere
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsSet in a country where being gay is punishable by law, These Letters End in Tears is the heart-wrenching forbidden love story of a Christian girl with a deviant heart and a Muslim girl leading a double lifeBessem notices Fatima for the first time on the soccer field—muscular and focused, she’s the only woman playing and seems completely at ease... -
![Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson]()
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
You are about to travel to Edgecombe St. Mary, a small village in the English countryside filled with rolling hills, thatched cottages, and a cast of characters both hilariously original and as familiar as the members of your own family. Among them is Major Ernest Pettigrew (retired), the unlikely hero of Helen Simonson's wondrous debut...Categorized as:
south asian muslim humor multicultural mystery contemporary mature couple working class heroine -
![Love Marriage by Monica Ali]()
Love Marriage by Monica Ali
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsIn present-day London, Yasmin Ghorami is twenty-six, in training to be a doctor (like her Indian-born father), and engaged to the charismatic, upper-class Joe Sangster, whose formidable mother, Harriet, is a famous feminist. The gulf between families is vast. So, too, is the gulf in sexual experience between Yasmin and Joe... -
-
![The Legal Affair by Nisha Sharma]()
The Legal Affair by Nisha Sharma
Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsRajneet Hothi built her empire with sweat, blood, and information. She knows everything there is to know about Ajay Singh, the future CEO of Bharat, Inc. , as well as how crucial he is in securing her future. But she didn’t expect the passion that burst between them the first time they went head-to-head... -
![A Beggar at the Gate by Thalassa Ali]()
A Beggar at the Gate by Thalassa Ali
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsSet in nineteenth-century British India, Thalassa Aliâ��s dazzling debut, A Singular Hostage, introduced us to Mariana Givens, the Englishwoman who risked everything to save a young Indian orphan from certain death. Now Ali returns to that exotic kingdom beyond the northwestern frontier, where Mariana will come face-to-face with a different destiny... -
![Rightfully Wrong Wrongfully Right by Varsha Dixit]()
Rightfully Wrong Wrongfully Right by Varsha Dixit
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsLove is in the air again…and this time it’s steamy, bold and manipulative! Gayatri, a rich, spoiled diva, is fighting to establish herself even as her tyrant father pushes her into a life not of her choice. Viraj is a genius and a con who shuns society and its hypocrisies. Gayatri sees Viraj only as a means to an end. For Viraj, Gayatri is the epitome of all that he despises... -
![Painted Hands by Jennifer Zobair]()
Painted Hands by Jennifer Zobair
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsMuslim bad girl Zainab Mir has just landed a job working for a post-feminist, Republican Senate candidate. Her best friend Amra Abbas is about to make partner at a top Boston law firm. Together they’ve thwarted proposal-slinging aunties, cultural expectations, and the occasional bigot to succeed in their careers. What they didn’t count on? Unlikely men and geopolitical firestorms... -
![The Mis-Arrangement of Sana Saeed by Noreen Mughees]()
The Mis-Arrangement of Sana Saeed by Noreen Mughees
Perfect for fans of Sonali Dev and Uzma Jalaluddin, Noreen Mughees’s sparkling debut novel reunites star-crossed childhood sweethearts against all odds, only for their second chance to clash with their parents’ strict beliefs. Thirty-three-year-old hijabi Sana Saeed has put away her childhood dream of ishq—an all-consuming, sweeping love...Categorized as:
south asian muslim contemporary historical dual-pov multicultural office friends to lovers -
![Bodies in Motion by Mary Anne Mohanraj]()
Bodies in Motion by Mary Anne Mohanraj
Rated: 3.86 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsLike the sweet heat of a palate-pleasing curry or the brilliant radiance of bougainvillea, the short stories in Mary Anne Mohanraj's Bodies in Motion will delight the senses and sensibilities...
Fantastic book recommendations by romance book lovers for romance book lovers.
Find out more about romance.io.
Find out more about romance.io.
Get recommendations by genres & tropes
Use the romance book finder to mix and match over 100 content keywords to find the books that match your preferences
Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.
