Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - A Holly Jolly Diwali

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

A Holly Jolly Diwali by Sonya Lalli

16 reviews

blakeandbooks's review against another edition

emotional funny 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

3.5

This was a cute romance! I loved the flirty banter between Niki and Sam 🫶🏻 they seemed to immediately connect, even if Niki had no intention of getting together with anyone during her trip to India. The texts between them were funny, and I overall enjoyed it. I did think the story and characters fleshed out a bit more, but it was definitely a good read.

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annelihghh's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad 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

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onegalonelife27's review against another edition

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funny hopeful 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

3.5

Niki has always done the right thing, getting a steady job, never getting wild, going out with nice enough guys. Yet Niki is let go from her job makes her ponder her good girl life, leading her to go on a trip to India to attend her best friend Diya’s wedding at the last minute. There she meets Sam, a musician and certainly not the type of guy she’d go out with before, but she ponders if it’s time to change that and other things in her life…

I do relate to Niki quite a bit, trying so hard to do what society, if not her parents, tell her is right by getting a stable job and living modestly. And it does feel like a real slap in the face when you do the right thing but then the universe says ha ha and you end up flat on your face. I know I’ve been there a few times. Of course, I’ve never been impulsive enough to go on a trip by myself…well anywhere let alone on another continent. Maybe that’s what I need in my life.

I did think that some more description should have been given at times, like not describing all the delicious sounding food served at times or giving a description of Nikki’s swimsuit chapters after they were introduced at a beach so thus having to do a mental rewrite on what she’s wearing. There’s also one scene towards the end that adds a new action that supposedly happened in the past, but was not present while Nikki was living it at the time. Like it says a picture was taken and we are shown the picture, but that wasn’t a scene in the book before. I do hope other books by the author have some more description and in appropriate places too.

Overall, the story is very sweet, sometimes spicy about one woman realizing her worth, what she wants and deserves in both career and in love. It also talks about topics such as privilege and how it can affect one's life in different ways, which I enjoyed. I’ll definitely consider picking up another book by the author.

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zombiezami's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

4.75

I think the author did a really good job of demonstrating all kinds of love, not just romantic love: love of self, love of family, love of friends, love of community.

My one complaint is that there weren’t any detailed scenes of the protagonist meeting her extended family in India. We just hear a summary after she returns to the US. I would have liked that to be more fleshed out.

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saara_ilona_muu's review against another edition

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funny informative lighthearted reflective fast-paced

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

3.0

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maecave15's review

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

Honestly, this book left much to be desired. I got bored halfway through and practically skimmed the rest of the book and finished it quickly. I did notice other reviewers point out that they don't often find books with Indian main characters. Such as it is rare to see a Punjabi Sikh main character. I don't know the difference, Punjabi vs Bengali vs others, but it's something to learn about and was brought to my attention because of this book.

The characters weren't very interesting, rather they had little personality and contributed very little to the overall plot. The main character, Niki, acted much like a 19 year old than the 29 year old she was supposed to be. I found her annoying instead of charming or likeable. She was more like an awkward love sick teenager.

One of the Aunties (Sam's mom) was supposed to be "modern" but it was weird even by American standards that she

was pushing for Niki and Sam to sleep in the same bed and have alone time together when they had only known each other for a week at that point. And in her own house at that, with painfully obvious vibes that she wanted them to fall in love and get married.

The romance was weak at best, with little between the two that would support a lasting relationship. There was hot and heavy lust of course, interspersed with weird awkward moments, and it was kind of a secret for some reason. There were strong feelings that are supposed to make it "seem" like love, but no real encounters that made it read as more than a lusty fling. It just didn't have time to develop, which many cutesy romance stories often lack. It was really an insta-love story and I don't usually like those.

I especially disliked it when she had the idea to move to London with her brand new boyfriend and was so upset with him for gently pointing out the rashness of it that she broke up with him and left. Mind you they had been together less than a couple weeks and SHE originally thought this would just be a summer fling.

Niki did try to break her shell and pursue things for fun rather than just being the perfect Indian daughter. The book wasn't just a romance novel but also about her finding happiness in her work and life, and learning more about her family's culture.

There were quite a few moments where the author tried to address more serious issues (classism, casteism, sexual assault in India, etc), but they felt kind of thrown in to story. These topics were there without much thought, helpful information, or relation to the plot. If these serious issues had created tension between the main characters, or had disrupted the plot in a meaningful way then it would have made for a more interesting story. Otherwise they were just there to grab your attention for a second before pushing you back into the "romance."

I enjoyed reading the descriptions of the places in India she visited though. And now I have a few things to research such as foods, locations, and differences between Indian subcultures with which I am not familiar at all.

I wish Diwali was a more prominent feature in the book though. It took up very little space at the beginning of the book, so instead of feeling like a romance set during this big celebration (i.e. kind of supposed to be a holiday romance) it just felt like a regular romance novel. Nothing really made it feel like a holiday romance.

Overall, it felt like there was a lot going on in this book so nothing was fleshed out well. The romance was weak, the characters were superficial, Niki's self discovery wasn't interesting, and everything else was just kind of there. Also, there were a lot of pop culture references and text speak during real conversation (characters actually saying LOL or OMFG).

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kirstym25's review

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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

3.5

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jazhandz's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted 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

4.0

sonya lalli if you’re reading this please drop your writing playlist, i’m 100% sure it’s all bangers

Cute book, the obligatory third-act conflict felt rushed and didn’t feel like it was resolved in a satisfactory way but the first two-thirds were delightful.

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kibbles15's review

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challenging slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

I did not like this book. The characters seemed juvenile for the age they were. The way they acted was more like a horny teenagers than adults in their 30's. I don't particularly care for romances that only focus on the physical aspects of a relationship (i.e. "He is so hot." "I want to have sex with her.") It just made the whole "romance" feel a bit superficial. Not only that, there was very little that made me interested at all in what happened to the main characters, neither one was particularly likable. Also, there is common use of swear words throughout the book and several moderate descriptions of sexual activity, neither of which really contribute to the story. All that said, I did like how they both came to the realization that it was okay to be who they were, no matter the situation. But, honestly that was the only redeeming quality of this story.

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kbairbooks's review

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challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad 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

I so enjoyed this book 😍 it was fun and funny and light and fresh and real and modern and just… a gorgeous piece of work. I loved the food and the culture and the family and the realness of working through your shit and healing. Of being independent yet open to love of being yourself and open to new experiences. For believing people when they show you their real self. Ugh. I loved this.

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