The Other Half of Hapiness (Sofia Khan #2) by Ayisha Malik

Goodreads rating: 3.51/5

My rating: 3.5/5

'The Other Half of Hapiness' is the story of Sofia's complicated married life. Having to deal with disappointed family members due to the fact that she got married to someone of a different race without any family around as witnesses, Sofia is hit with yet another tragedy. She is betrayed by her husband in the most unexpected way, leaving her marriage on the rocks. Will their love conquer all?

Oh Ayisha Malik, you'll never know it, but you've broken my heart. When Malik wrote this book, she specifically wanted to deviate from the norm of a 'happily ever after'. After everything that Sofia had been through, I had hoped that she would at least have a happy marriage. She did, initially, but things went awry after she finds out Conall's, her husband's, biggest secret. I wish I could tell you more but if you're curious enough, go ahead and read the book. Before you do though, there are some things you might want to know about it.

This book was definitely not as good as the first, as most sequels turn out to be. It's not bad, it still had me laughing every now and then. It's just that I'm not sure it was necessary. During the first half of the book, I wondered why Malik decided to write a second book. She could have ended book one with Sofia's marriage and that would have been enough. Maybe the attachment to Sofia was difficult to let go? I can't say.

I noticed that Sofia cursed a lot more in this book too. As a hijabi myself, I try my best not to use foul language so I wasn't particularly pleased with the change.

As for the characters, her friends were present but not as involved as they were in the first book, except for maybe Foz. We also get to meet Conall's family in this book and I have no idea why, but I was fond of his mom. Sofia's mom insists she has a wedding party and during the party, there was a part in which people dangled money above Sofia's head to prevent evil eye and Conall's mom, Mary, inquires about it. When she's told what it is for, she takes a bill out of her purse and starts doing the same. I found it so cute and innocent how she so willingly participated in a tradition that she didn't even believe in. The character I actually despised was Hamida, Conall's colleague. I listened to an audio book and the reader had different voices and accents for each character and I really disliked how Hamida sounded, her personality didn't make up for it either. Mehnaz, Sofia's mom, sounded exactly how I imagined she would, like a typical Pakistani mom. Speaking of Mehnaz, her relationship with Sofia deepens and the love for her daughter is depicted best when she sacrifices her happiness for Sofia's sake.

One thing I don't like about Sofia is her susceptibility to develop feelings for almost any man she meets! There's a new character in this book, an Indian editor that helps Sofia with writing a second book. Although they're both married, Sofia finds herself being attracted to him every now and then. I kept hoping she wouldn't end up with him later on! She didn't, thankfully, but I couldn't help but wonder if there were any men in her life, other than the ones in her family, that she didn't end up feeling something for.

After Conall reveals his secret to Sofia, she says, "Secrecy breeds mistrust". I reflected on this and about how you never really know what secrets a person holds, no matter how well you know them. A secret is a secret in itself; whether one exists or not, is unknown. I had such high hopes for Conall and Sofia's relationship, it was sad to hear about how it turned out because of a stupid secret. I felt really disheartened when this book ended. I was in the middle of a Scrabble game with my family when I heard the last few words of the book and I literally shouted, "Noooooo!". My mom didn't like this but I couldn't care, I felt like Sofia was making the biggest mistake in her decision, especially since her feelings showed that there was hope. I can't say anything further without spoiling the book so please do read it.

Despite not liking it as much as book one, I still feel it was worth the read, at least to find out what happened to Sofia and to wean off the attachment. Oddly enough, even if I initially felt like book two was unnecessary, I found myself hoping there would be a book three considering the way it ended, especially after a line Conall had said.