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annahamburger's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
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? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Mental illness, Abandonment, Child abuse, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Grief, Addiction, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Classism, Alcohol, Racism, and Colonisation
Minor: Cancer, Sexual content, Cursing, Drug abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Religious bigotry
amberinpieces's review
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Medical content, Toxic relationship, Classism, and Grief
Minor: Death, Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Alcohol, Drug abuse, and Misogyny
kshertz's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This book was so cute. I really love the complicated family dynamics and how realistic it is. I enjoyed the idea and thought that both sides of a couple had. They really tried to make it work and it really was some thing where it was next to impossible to make it happen. I was hooked on their story and rooting for them the whole time. It was a great romance book that I highly recommend.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Medical content, and Racism
janaya's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Racism
Minor: Drug abuse, Medical trauma, and Toxic relationship
imds's review against another edition
- 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: Racism, Grief, Abandonment, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, and Classism
xeniba's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
Halfway through I found myself reading it just to finish it rather than because I was invested. I liked the main characters and the CMC, but the writing felt quite stilted at times. I’ll still probably read the next in the series, but I wasn’t wowed by this.
Content Warnings
Minor: Racism
izzyf16's review against another edition
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, and Drug use
Minor: Alcoholism, Cultural appropriation, Racism, Addiction, Rape, and Medical trauma
professional_grandma's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
This book handles racial differences in relationships in such a prominent way. This was so unlike many books that I’ve read, but I loved it! The only gripe I have is that the title really doesn’t have anything to do with the content of the book other than an offhand remark by one of the characters near the end. Other than that, I loved the writing and the characters and I fell in love with this story!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Racism, and Addiction
Moderate: Sexual content and Medical content
Minor: Classism
bookwormbullet's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Thank you so much to Sourcebooks Casablanca for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Ugh. I’m so conflicted about my thoughts about Love, Chai, and Other Four-Letter Words, especially after seeing that it featured a South Asian MC. Don’t get me wrong, this series (which I presume is going to be four books long) has an interesting premise. The series follows four South Asian friends living in NYC in their 30’s, who have coined themselves as the ‘Chai Masala Club,’ on their individual journeys to find love. There were parts that I really liked in this novel, but ultimately there were a ton of elements of the story that were huge turn-offs.
Starting off with what I liked about this novel, I really love how this book features Indian rep. And by Indian rep, I mean rep for those born and raised in India. Most books with ‘Indian rep’ that are released in the U.S. publishing industry feature Indian-American rep, so I’m glad that Indian readers have proper representation for themselves! I also liked the discussions about Indian immigrants in the U.S. struggling to keep up with the lifestyle and culture of the U.S. and how they don’t feel as connected to their Indian-American peers. Additionally, I liked that Kiran, our MC, came from a low-income family back in India and how her journey to the U.S. was a huge deal and form of success for her family, which helped break the model minority myth. I also loved how even though all members of the Chai Masala Club come from different Indian backgrounds (Kiran is Indian, Payal is British-Indian, and Akash and Sonam are Indian-American), they all confirm that they still consider themselves united as Indian.
Now moving onto some elements I didn’t particularly like, since this is a romance book, let’s start with the romance between Nash, our love interest, and Kiran. Let me start off by saying that I’m genuinely so tired of seeing women of color (especially South Asian women) being paired with mediocre white men in romance novels and have to bend over backwards to explain their culture and deal with their insensitive remarks. First, I found it shocking that as someone who lives in NYC, Nash was as oblivious to Indian culture as he was in this book. It was honestly exhausting seeing Kiran have to explain every little thing about her culture to him and to hear him spew incredibly offensive and insensitive remarks when it came to how Kiran’s parents treated her. His comments about how because she was in America she had freedom to leave her parents and freedom to choose decisions for herself as opposed to the ‘oppressive’ nature of India? NOT IT. I have absolutely no idea why Kiran didn’t just leave Nash then and there. It all felt very white savior-y for me. It honestly just seemed like she liked him solely because he helped her complete the items of her NYC bucket list and that he was there to listen to her rant about her day. That was genuinely the entire basis of their relationship, and it felt quite repetitive and bland as the chapters progressed.
Next, moving onto the relationship between Kiran and her family. I was pretty disappointed to see that this book followed the “strict South Asian parents” trope. I wish Annika Sharma had moved on from this stereotype and instead featured South Asian parents who are loving and supportive, instead of painting them in a “backwards or oppressive” light. I’m glad that Kiran’s parents came around about her relationship with Nash at the end of the novel, but a lot of the stuff that they were saying over the phone to her when she first told them about Nash were truly appalling and I honestly felt like it did more harm than good. Similarly, when Kiran goes to India, I really didn’t like how Annika Sharma painted India to be this run-down place filled with poverty. I think she could have utilized this scene to talk about how the economic disparity is caused by the Indian government rather than appealing to Eurocentric views of Asian countries.
Some other elements that really raised a red-flag for me were the horrifying number of times Harry Potter was mentioned in this book. I know that there’s a running joke about how millennials are obsessed with Harry Potter, and apparently that joke proves to be true in this novel? I would hope that Annika Sharma would realize that this series and its author have caused immense pain and trauma for marginalized communities, especially the trans community, and that there was absolutely no need to mention the series as many times as Kiran did in this novel. Additionally, there was also a comment about Gandhi and his practice of non-violent protests that painted Gandhi in a positive light. I would also hope that Annika Sharma would realize that Gandhi is definitely not a good person and should not be considered a role-model for South Asians, or anyone anywhere. It just seemed strange that considering Annika Sharma is, according to her author bio, the co-founder and co-owner of The Woke Desi Podcast, there were so many elements in her novel that were not, in fact, woke.
Also this is a minor issue but I’m pretty sure that the exchange of dialogue between Kiran and Nash about mac ‘n’ cheese being food for children vs. being food of the Gods is a rip-off of the same line about mac ‘n’ cheese between Nathan and Haley in the TV show One Tree Hill? Idk if that was on purpose or a complete coincidence, but it seemed a little strange to be a coincidence.
Anyways, that’s where I fell with this novel. I’m intrigued to read the following books in this series, especially since Sonam and Akash are both Indian-American like me. Overall, however, I’d have to give this first novel in the Chai Masala Club series 2.5 stars because of the reasons mentioned above.
Ugh. I’m so conflicted about my thoughts about Love, Chai, and Other Four-Letter Words, especially after seeing that it featured a South Asian MC. Don’t get me wrong, this series (which I presume is going to be four books long) has an interesting premise. The series follows four South Asian friends living in NYC in their 30’s, who have coined themselves as the ‘Chai Masala Club,’ on their individual journeys to find love. There were parts that I really liked in this novel, but ultimately there were a ton of elements of the story that were huge turn-offs.
Starting off with what I liked about this novel, I really love how this book features Indian rep. And by Indian rep, I mean rep for those born and raised in India. Most books with ‘Indian rep’ that are released in the U.S. publishing industry feature Indian-American rep, so I’m glad that Indian readers have proper representation for themselves! I also liked the discussions about Indian immigrants in the U.S. struggling to keep up with the lifestyle and culture of the U.S. and how they don’t feel as connected to their Indian-American peers. Additionally, I liked that Kiran, our MC, came from a low-income family back in India and how her journey to the U.S. was a huge deal and form of success for her family, which helped break the model minority myth. I also loved how even though all members of the Chai Masala Club come from different Indian backgrounds (Kiran is Indian, Payal is British-Indian, and Akash and Sonam are Indian-American), they all confirm that they still consider themselves united as Indian.
Now moving onto some elements I didn’t particularly like, since this is a romance book, let’s start with the romance between Nash, our love interest, and Kiran. Let me start off by saying that I’m genuinely so tired of seeing women of color (especially South Asian women) being paired with mediocre white men in romance novels and have to bend over backwards to explain their culture and deal with their insensitive remarks. First, I found it shocking that as someone who lives in NYC, Nash was as oblivious to Indian culture as he was in this book. It was honestly exhausting seeing Kiran have to explain every little thing about her culture to him and to hear him spew incredibly offensive and insensitive remarks when it came to how Kiran’s parents treated her. His comments about how because she was in America she had freedom to leave her parents and freedom to choose decisions for herself as opposed to the ‘oppressive’ nature of India? NOT IT. I have absolutely no idea why Kiran didn’t just leave Nash then and there. It all felt very white savior-y for me. It honestly just seemed like she liked him solely because he helped her complete the items of her NYC bucket list and that he was there to listen to her rant about her day. That was genuinely the entire basis of their relationship, and it felt quite repetitive and bland as the chapters progressed.
Next, moving onto the relationship between Kiran and her family. I was pretty disappointed to see that this book followed the “strict South Asian parents” trope. I wish Annika Sharma had moved on from this stereotype and instead featured South Asian parents who are loving and supportive, instead of painting them in a “backwards or oppressive” light. I’m glad that Kiran’s parents came around about her relationship with Nash at the end of the novel, but a lot of the stuff that they were saying over the phone to her when she first told them about Nash were truly appalling and I honestly felt like it did more harm than good. Similarly, when Kiran goes to India, I really didn’t like how Annika Sharma painted India to be this run-down place filled with poverty. I think she could have utilized this scene to talk about how the economic disparity is caused by the Indian government rather than appealing to Eurocentric views of Asian countries.
Some other elements that really raised a red-flag for me were the horrifying number of times Harry Potter was mentioned in this book. I know that there’s a running joke about how millennials are obsessed with Harry Potter, and apparently that joke proves to be true in this novel? I would hope that Annika Sharma would realize that this series and its author have caused immense pain and trauma for marginalized communities, especially the trans community, and that there was absolutely no need to mention the series as many times as Kiran did in this novel. Additionally, there was also a comment about Gandhi and his practice of non-violent protests that painted Gandhi in a positive light. I would also hope that Annika Sharma would realize that Gandhi is definitely not a good person and should not be considered a role-model for South Asians, or anyone anywhere. It just seemed strange that considering Annika Sharma is, according to her author bio, the co-founder and co-owner of The Woke Desi Podcast, there were so many elements in her novel that were not, in fact, woke.
Also this is a minor issue but I’m pretty sure that the exchange of dialogue between Kiran and Nash about mac ‘n’ cheese being food for children vs. being food of the Gods is a rip-off of the same line about mac ‘n’ cheese between Nathan and Haley in the TV show One Tree Hill? Idk if that was on purpose or a complete coincidence, but it seemed a little strange to be a coincidence.
Anyways, that’s where I fell with this novel. I’m intrigued to read the following books in this series, especially since Sonam and Akash are both Indian-American like me. Overall, however, I’d have to give this first novel in the Chai Masala Club series 2.5 stars because of the reasons mentioned above.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse
Moderate: Racism
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