Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Singles Table by Sara Desai

6 reviews

dinipandareads's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-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

4.5

TL;DR: I ended up loving The Singles Table! From the moment Zara's beautiful vibrant personality is introduced and they get their meet cute (she shoots him in the ass with a paintball gun as he's being an insufferable prick!), I was fully sold on their romance. We get more meddling aunties, badass mums with sweet biker boyfriends, an eccentric artist father who... paints intimate portraits and so much great banter. This is by far my favourite in this series and I would recommend it if you love the grumpy/sunshine trope because Zara and Jay were the perfect pairing.

I went from the first to the third book in this series (only cos I didn't have a copy of the second) and I'm so glad I did. I didn't remember if Zara was mentioned in the first book. Still, it didn't matter because I remembered the aunties very well, especially Taara Auntie who makes the most offensive fusion concoctions that she continues to poison everyone with, lol. I loved all the Indian cultural references in here—from the food, dancing, music and of course, all the wedding festivities. But I also loved the other side characters we're introduced to like Jay's business partner, Zara's very horny bestie Parvati, and her awesome colleagues at the law firm. I mean, I would go with the tiger firm for sure!

From the moment we met Zara and Jay, I knew I would love them both individually and together! Well, I was hoping that Jay wouldn't be a total prick the whole time and I'm glad that he wasn't. Theirs was a hilarious meet-cute as Zara and her wild ways come crashing through the bachelor/bachelorette party and take Jay by surprise by not only shooting him in the ass with a paintball gun but also winning the game for their team. I adored Zara's sunshine attitude and although she is a bit of a hot mess and is always full steam ahead and getting into trouble that's easily avoidable, she had such great energy! Her relationship with her father was sweet and I loved how much she supported him—that exhibition was hilarious though and her panic had me cackling because same. 😂 Of the both of them though, I'm surprised by how much I loved Jay! The more we get to know him and see his walls crumble around Zara, we see he's a total sweetheart. I'm a sucker for grumpy MMCs who are scared to be vulnerable and are hurting deep down but have big hearts and would lay down their lives for their loved ones. Jay was all that and more. Holy swoontastic, if you love a man who falls first and falls hard, you'll love Jay. Some of the things that came out of this man's mouth had my legs jelly with the swooning and their sexual chemistry and banter was off the charts! I loved their sexual journey together as much as their emotional one—it was so playful, fun and very sexy. 🥵 There were some OTT moments but it didn't feel cringe or too much and I found myself laughing out loud often!

They both have abandonment issues that they need to work through and as much as the third act kind of irritated me (I mean, when am I not irritated by a third act, lol) I also saw that it was good for them as they worked out their issues. Jay in particular needed that push to get the help he needed and Zara to realise that she was just being a silly goose. 🤭

Overall, this was a great pick-me-up laugh-out-loud read and I now need to go and find the second book in this series so I can read it ASAP!

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jenn_reads's review

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emotional funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0


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kdailyreads's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.5


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blackveilbeccy's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

4.0

This wasn’t as strong as the first two. Ex-military alpha male falls in love with manic pixie dream girl in an opposites attract romance. At the beginning, neither main character really appealed to me but by the end I really loved the male love interest. The female lead straddled the line between quirky and annoying. As usual, the diverse ensemble cast was great. The depiction of mental illness was sensitive and well-handled. The “spicy” scenes were cringe - aside from the fact I generally don’t like them,
there’s only so many times you can talk about “lush” curves or the “crescents” of the female lead’s cleavage
and I just couldn’t even after 3 books of that kind of phrasing. 

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jadatrack's review

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funny lighthearted fast-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

4.25


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valeria_gzz's review

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emotional funny lighthearted 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? No

4.5

4,5 I’m taking away .25 because I thought Jay was too possessive in the beginning but it went away so once again just .25. I’m taking another .25 away though because I feel like Sara Desai reused some of the problems in the previous books for this one. 

There were lots of moments that made me blush and made me want to close the book/hide my face with the book (in a “AH THATS SO CUTE” and “SWOON” kind of way). I liked Jay, and honestly Zara was not annoying at all, my pick is still Liam though I’m kinda bummed they weren’t in this besides being mentioned.
I was SO GLAD when part of the storyline didn’t involve Jay and his dad meeting and his dad apologizing and Jay forgiving him because that would’ve been dumb.


Also I don’t want to be THAT person but I’m starting to think Sara Desai has mommy issues. 

I thought the celebrity loving bits were funny and relatable to me. I loved how Jay and Zara complement each other and that Zara makes Jay feel comfortable enough to not have to be the one ‘in charge’, thought that was very sweet. Oh, and Jay basically doing damage control before Zara runs into anyone/anything was funny and adorable too.

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