I enjoyed Shani’s character development. In the beginning, she’s fresh from a breakup with her first-ever girlfriend and takes it out on her mother who is not perfect but doesn’t deserve it. In the end, she recognises this and makes efforts to rectify this. I liked that Shani is from a monoparental family; her mother conceived her with a sperm donor. Shani’s passion for paleoichthyology is cute, and it was interesting to read about her internship and her admiration for the professor. I liked her mentor, Mandira, who is Queer and becomes her confidant because she is not out to her mother and doesn’t want to talk to her best friend about her crush on May.

I did not like the love interest, and my dislike overshadowed their few cute moments. May is not kind to Shani and often speaks to her a little harshly, which even Shani recognises. The switch from that to romance was very abrupt. We got a good old miscommunication trope that I did not enjoy, but I understood it as Shani worked through her trauma. Overall, it was an okay romance. TW for sexual assault.