Tala, a London-based Palestinian, is preparing for her elaborate Middle Eastern wedding when she meets Leyla, a young British Indian woman who is dating her best friend. Spirited Christian Tala and shy Muslim Leyla could not be more different from each other, but the attraction is immediate and goes deeper than friendship. But Tala is not ready to accept the implications of the choice her heart has made for her and escapes back to Jordan, while Leyla tries to move on with her new-found life, to the shock of her tradition-loving parents. As Tala's wedding day approaches, simmering tensions come to boiling point and the pressure mounts for Tala to be true to herself. Moving between the vast enclaves of Middle Eastern high society and the stunning backdrop of London's West End, I Can't Think Straight explores the clashes between East and West, love and marriage, conventions and individuality, creating a humorous and tender story of unexpected love and unusual freedoms.

Adding to Soffitta1's Asian BookBox

Taken from soffita1's Asia bookbox - thanks!

A charming, if rather paint-by-numbers, lesbian romance story between a Palestinian Christian and a British Muslim. The plot was terribly predictable, so there was very little suspense to it, and the characters were rather puppet-like - one felt they'd been pushed into the appropriate positions and instructed, 'now, advance the plot'. The author is a screenwriter by trade, and it shows: in the formulaic plot, the cardboard characters, the frequent point-of-view changes - and the absolutely luscious scene-setting. Seriously, I would like to see the film of this, because it sounds gorgeous: Jordan, London, Oxford, all evoked with a masterly touch; and I shouldn't be surprised if the film works a lot better than the book in putting the three dimensions across. Frustrating in parts - I would have loved it to have gone a little deeper into the clash of culture - but a nice enough read on the whole.

This will be Team Ruritania's entry in the Rowing event in the BookCrossing Olympics (http://bookcrossingolympics.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/rowing.html). I will be releasing it in Oxford on Pride day - so given the subject matter it's a themed release. And where better to complete the Rowing competition than Oxford? After all, they won the Boat Race this year...

Just found it in Oxford University Parks today, love the idea of travelling books, will definitely take it back to Romania to release it!

Oxford-London Luton-Bucharest-Slanic-Brasov-Cluj-Napoca.

Kept me company on the Brasov-Cluj-Napoca train.

Love the idea of a travelling book ! Can't wait to see how far this book will go.