📖 BOOK REVIEW⠀📚 Queen of the Tiles
AUTHOR: Hanna Alkaf @hanna.alkaf
Publisher: Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers @simonandschuster
Stars: ⭐⭐⭐1/2 + 🐰
Published: April 19, 2022
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The Review 📚 Queen of the Tiles
✨ The Title/Cover Draw:
- Everything about this book screams fun! Murder at a Scrabble competition is a unique and clever plot. Thank you to Simon and Schuster for sending me this to read ahead of publication.
💜 What I liked:
- I loved so much about this book! It was fast paced, full of words and definitions, with the intricacies of a murder investigation sprinkled throughout. This is not a book filled with twists (although there are one or two really good ones). It’s all about Najwa’s journey to find out what happened to her friend, the lies and secrets people tell, and the competitive world of Scrabble.
😱 What I didn’t like:
- This book doesn’t try to shock you, but it does kind of go in circles. My biggest complaint is that sometimes it just didn’t take the time to breathe into the characters so we could know more about them.
🚦 My face at the end: 😳
💭 Reasons to Read:
- 1. Scrabble
- 2. Kuala Lumpor
- 3. Murder?
- 4. The clues in the words
🕧 Mini-Summary:
- Najwa is still recovering from her friend’s death the last time she was at this Scrabble competition. But will the clues lead her to find the real catalyst?
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
💯 For more details on the books we read, be sure to follow me on TikTok (@zaineylaney) or check out our Podcast – Elated Geek!
📘 Summary 📚 Queen of the Tiles
They Wish They Were Us meets The Queen’s Gambit in the world of competitive Scrabble when a teen girl is forced to investigate the mysterious death of her best friend a year after the fact when her Instagram comes back to life with cryptic posts and messages.
CATALYST
13 points
noun: a person or thing that precipitates an event or change
When Najwa Bakri walks into her first Scrabble competition since her best friend’s death, it’s with the intention to heal and move on with her life. Perhaps it wasn’t the best idea to choose the very same competition where said best friend, Trina Low, died. It might be even though Najwa’s trying to change, she’s not ready to give up Trina just yet.
But the same can’t be said for all the other competitors. With Trina, the Scrabble Queen herself, gone, the throne is empty, and her friends are eager to be the next reigning champion. All’s fair in love and Scrabble, but all bets are off when Trina’s formerly inactive Instagram starts posting again, with cryptic messages suggesting that maybe Trina’s death wasn’t as straightforward as everyone thought. And maybe someone at the competition had something to do with it.
As secrets are revealed and the true colors of her friends are shown, it’s up to Najwa to find out who’s behind these mysterious posts—not just to save Trina’s memory, but to save herself.