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brideal's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This is my first Sonali Dev book and I enjoyed it. Now let me put it out there that I am in a bit of a reading slump and reading this took me out of it a little more. It honestly felt like a soap opera in a book. It was extra at times and it felt like a lot was going on. This isn’t really a romance, more like a general fiction (not sure if that is a genre) with romantic elements. The main characters “hated” each other for pretty much the entire book, so it felt rushed when they transitioned and finally started admitting their feelings for each other.
There are a lot of difficult topics brought up in this book and it felt like that took away from the connection between the main characters. Overall, I enjoyed the writing and I will read more from the author.
TW: Cancer, racism, s*xual assault, classism, death of a family member, miscarriages. There are more but I cannot think of all of them
There are a lot of difficult topics brought up in this book and it felt like that took away from the connection between the main characters. Overall, I enjoyed the writing and I will read more from the author.
TW: Cancer, racism, s*xual assault, classism, death of a family member, miscarriages. There are more but I cannot think of all of them
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Racism, and Classism
Moderate: Miscarriage and Death of parent
mels_reading_log's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I’m kind of confused with this book. If we take out the romance storyline it’s a great book about family and doing what is to keep them happy and healthy. I loved this part of the book. Now looking at the romance storyline, it doesn’t make sense. I normally love a good enemies to lovers but there was no indication that there were any feelings on one side of this relationship, and all of a sudden they were together. The way the two of them spoke to each other I don’t know why they acted that way if they liked each other.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Pedophilia and Rape
hazel_georgene's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The repetition of “but she didn’t say that” after dialogue became annoying after the 20th time. This book is built on miscommunication so if that bothers you skip it. The main characters have little chemistry and spend most of their time fighting but not in a way that seems resolvable. It is resolved but given they are fighting about their outlooks on life it doesn’t seem like it should nearly as easy as it is. This book also veers into some really heavy topics somewhat suddenly.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Medical content, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Ableism, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, and Police brutality
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Vomit
spicycronereads's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This was a really cute read. It inverts some of the plot of Austen‘s pride and prejudice. For example, the FMC Trisha is a neurosurgeon from a family with generational wealth and privilege, while the MMC DJ is a talented but struggling chef. Dev takes necessary liberties with Austen’s plot line to update it and make it work for these characters and the 21st century racial and class contexts of Silicon Valley. Even so, the book has all of the personality clashes, the pining, and the villainous characters of the source text. And it all works really well together. I think as long as you go into it expecting a remix rather than a faithful adaptation, you’ll enjoy it just fine.
Be sure to check your trigger warnings though. The scandals have been updated for the 21st century and some may find the material difficult. There are multiple instances of SA (all off page) as well as a scary encounter with the police, among other things.
The secondary characters are well developed and a lot of fun. Not surprising given that this is the first book in a series about Trisha’s family. All of the books are based on Austen’s works.
There isn’t really any spice. And similar to Austen‘s narrative, this is a slow burn that really takes a while to heat up. Once it gets there, there are lots of great quotes and sweet moments. I give it two swoony hearts.💖💖
The novel has lots of racial and class diversity. Trisha is a first generation Indian American. Her mother was a Bollywood movie star and her father was royalty in the province that they come from in India. DJ and his sister Emma are part Indian, part English, and part Rwandan. There are very few white characters in the novel. So far there don’t seem to be any queer characters. But there are characters dealing with long-term illness and disability. Trisha is written in such a way that there are hints that she may be neurodivergent or maybe she just has some of those necessary characteristics of being a neurosurgeon. The ambiguity works.
Overall, I found this to be a fun and engaging read, and I really liked it. I will definitely read others in the series and look forward to how Sonali Dev adapts more of Austen‘s work. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 💖💖
Be sure to check your trigger warnings though. The scandals have been updated for the 21st century and some may find the material difficult. There are multiple instances of SA (all off page) as well as a scary encounter with the police, among other things.
The secondary characters are well developed and a lot of fun. Not surprising given that this is the first book in a series about Trisha’s family. All of the books are based on Austen’s works.
There isn’t really any spice. And similar to Austen‘s narrative, this is a slow burn that really takes a while to heat up. Once it gets there, there are lots of great quotes and sweet moments. I give it two swoony hearts.💖💖
The novel has lots of racial and class diversity. Trisha is a first generation Indian American. Her mother was a Bollywood movie star and her father was royalty in the province that they come from in India. DJ and his sister Emma are part Indian, part English, and part Rwandan. There are very few white characters in the novel. So far there don’t seem to be any queer characters. But there are characters dealing with long-term illness and disability. Trisha is written in such a way that there are hints that she may be neurodivergent or maybe she just has some of those necessary characteristics of being a neurosurgeon. The ambiguity works.
Overall, I found this to be a fun and engaging read, and I really liked it. I will definitely read others in the series and look forward to how Sonali Dev adapts more of Austen‘s work. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 💖💖
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Ableism, Racism, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Classism
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Dementia, and Fire/Fire injury
Cancer,iamsammie27's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Terminal illness, and Medical content
Moderate: Infertility, Racism, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
Minor: Infidelity and Rape
heather667's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Medical content, Grief, and Classism
Moderate: Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Dementia, and Death of parent
Minor: Racial slurs and Police brutality
sakeriver's review against another edition
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
I have to admit, I was surprised by how strongly and quickly I turned to liking this book, after spending the first two-thirds or so really disliking both MCs. But in the end the slow burn paid off, with both characters growing in very satisfying ways. And where it really shined, IMO, was in the MCs’ respective family relationships. In both the relationship and family dynamics, the revelations and subsequent reconciliation were fairly quick, but the story was built well enough that it still came across as authentic.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Death of parent
_bookish_lauren's review against another edition
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Overall: 4/5
Spice level: 1/5
Tropes: enemies to lovers, Pride and Prejudice retelling (gender-swapped)
Representation: FMC is South Asian and MMC is South Asian and African
This story was really cute and seemed to follow the original Pride and Prejudice, while being a gender-swap. The "Elizabeth" styled character, our leading lady Trisha, was portrayed as the royalty of the 2, while DJ was snubbed by her numerous times in the story as his occupation as a chef (though clasically trained in France) seemed beneath her. It definitely had the enemies to lovers feel to it, although there was pretty much no spice, outside of the delicious-sounding dishes that he makes throughout.
As someone who mostly needs some type of spice on the page, I feel like even classic stories that originally had no spice can be adapted to fit sexy times in. That's my fault because I almost never read reviews for a book, otherwise I would've probably known about the lack of spice. It's fine though because I enjoyed the story overall. I didn't love it, but I loved the characters. There was immense character development for both Trisha and DJ, as well as their family members.
I did, however, sometimes feel like there was a lot going on to keep track with. Between the family drama and the budding tension between our main characters, my head spun a few times trying to keep up with things. But in the end, it all made sense and came together well.
I'm intrigued by the author's writing style, though in the future I'll make sure to check if there's any spice before reading.
Spice level: 1/5
Tropes: enemies to lovers, Pride and Prejudice retelling (gender-swapped)
Representation: FMC is South Asian and MMC is South Asian and African
This story was really cute and seemed to follow the original Pride and Prejudice, while being a gender-swap. The "Elizabeth" styled character, our leading lady Trisha, was portrayed as the royalty of the 2, while DJ was snubbed by her numerous times in the story as his occupation as a chef (though clasically trained in France) seemed beneath her. It definitely had the enemies to lovers feel to it, although there was pretty much no spice, outside of the delicious-sounding dishes that he makes throughout.
As someone who mostly needs some type of spice on the page, I feel like even classic stories that originally had no spice can be adapted to fit sexy times in. That's my fault because I almost never read reviews for a book, otherwise I would've probably known about the lack of spice. It's fine though because I enjoyed the story overall. I didn't love it, but I loved the characters. There was immense character development for both Trisha and DJ, as well as their family members.
I did, however, sometimes feel like there was a lot going on to keep track with. Between the family drama and the budding tension between our main characters, my head spun a few times trying to keep up with things. But in the end, it all made sense and came together well.
I'm intrigued by the author's writing style, though in the future I'll make sure to check if there's any spice before reading.
Content Warnings
Minor: Bullying, Child abuse, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Medical content, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, and Classism
alexgo's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I read this entire book in a day, for the first time since I was a kid. I was absolutely enthralled. Ms. Dev took me for a hell of a ride, and every other book she has ever written has been bumped up to the top of my TBR list. Realistic and intense - full of commentary about the world we live in that felt precise and intentional . Putting this book down, I feel braver and more hopeful than I did yesterday.
Content Warnings
Minor: Racism, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship
greatexpectations77's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This really tickled me, and I look forward to reading more from Ms. Dev. This had the caramel-thick tension of will-they-won't-they, and I really liked it. I also thought it did a really good job of portraying some beautiful sister moments, which always tug at my heart. Just a fun time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Medical content, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Classism
Minor: Chronic illness, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Grief, Cultural appropriation, and Alcohol