I found this book quite enjoyable. The voice of the author is written as e-mails to tell the story so the flow of book and the way it's written could be argued to be stylistic rather than the authentic voice and work of the author themselves. I'd have to read more of her work before determining if I'd rate this lower for the writing itself.

The characters, however, were very diverse yet fun. I found Gamrah's self-pity and unfounded pride to be annoying, but her situation was understandable and realistic. Lamees was such a cutie and a nice bubbly personality that I found refreshing against all the blue moods of the other girls. I loved her ending and was so happy for her! Michelle was an interesting character to bring in the Western perspective against the Saudi culture directly as she was originally living in the U.S.A. before moving to Saudi Arabia. Sadeem I felt so bad for as she kept getting screwed over but she never let it stop her - just slow her down for a while.

The themes of this book are love, relationship, marriage and divorce, and the value of female friendships and support networks. The e-mail format that a lot of readers found pointless actually helped to add additional commentary to these themes outside the story told by the characters to paint a target on one of the topics to provide an opposing argument that exists in the Saudi culture which is either held by a majority of people, men, or people from a particular sect.

Overall, I thought that Al-Sanea did well in how she decided to paint this story with constant entertainment that made me want to grab a bowl of popcorn while also engaging in some serious topics that are important to the women of Saudi Arabia.

Moderate: Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Classism

This book is extremely character-driven. If you like books like that, then you will probably like this book. I can tell that this book is really well-written, but I personally need a little more of a plot. As it is, Girls of Riyadh is an interesting portrait of Saudi women's lives in the early 2000s.