This book has a little bit too much telling over showing, but after the first few chapters it was good fun. Even though it's mainly a feel-good story there was a bit of depth and some serious themes that were dealt with tone-appropriately. ( )

Esma is a "28 year old non-drinking virgin who is open to the idea of a blind date organised by family", because she's not looking for a boyfriend, she's looking for a marriage partner who is a Muslim. After another unsuccessful blind date, Esma suggests to her three best friends that they meet regularly to discuss their love-lives, or lack therefore. They're the No Sex in the City club.

Her friends have different cultural and religious backgrounds, but they are all educated women who are "active in the community, passionate about politics and human rights, single, living at home and time poor". And while they are not all equally conservative, none of them are interested in casual romantic relationships. (For three of them, this means they're looking for a husband who shares their faith.)

No Sex in the City is smart and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny and sometimes meandering. Esma is a chatty first-person narrator and her life is mostly conversations: with her family, with her boss, with the men she meets and above all, with her best friends.
I was excited that this was a chick-lit about women who come from conservative backgrounds, and that the book showed that, despite being conservative in some respects, Esma and her friends were intelligent, respectful and supportive. Exactly the people you want at your back if you're dealing with sexual harassment or trying to explain to a guy that women should not have to stay in an abusive relationship just because they have a child.
Furthermore, I loved that even in the midst of a book about finding "The One", there was a strong emphasis on friendship.

I don't think this is as emotionally compelling as the author's YA fiction (perhaps because Esma is quite confident in who she is and what she wants, and so she doesn't grow the way a teenage protagonist might?) but I really enjoyed it. ( )