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

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A Holly Jolly Diwali by Sonya Lalli

10 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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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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thereadinghammock's review against another edition

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adventurous funny medium-paced

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

3.75

As someone relatively unfamiliar with south Asian cultural and religious celebrations, I was looking forward to maybe learning a few things about Diwali and its celebrations through the story. And while it gave a bit of insight into a celebration, I still feel about as lost as Nicki did as she asked several people early in the book as to what the Diwali holiday and celebrations meant. I suppose much like many other western holidays, the meaning can change from person to person, but I was expecting a bit more cultural context on that front. I also thought the holiday might have been a bigger part of the story, given the title, but really Diya's wedding was the star of the show on that plot front too.

I enjoyed Nicki and Sam--I loved Diya and kind of wished we'd gotten a bit more of her, btu totally understand why she was off page a bit more. Weddings are hard enough--let along a wedding with 1,500 guests!!! Nicki's struggle to be the "perfect Indian daughter" was relatable enough (again, not speaking as a south Asian person, but as a woman who was raised with high expectations even when your parents didn't actually enforce those kinds of expectations). It's like holding the weight of the world on your shoulders and when you finally start dismantling the yoke you've given yourself, the weightlessness is freeing, but the freedom is overwhelming too.

Nicki still has a lot of growing up to do, and by the end she was starting to come down from her head in the clouds a bit, but she still felt a bit immature for being almost 30. I'm glad she and Sam were able to work it out and were seeing where things led.

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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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lashette's review

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hopeful informative 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

Is this a romance. Is it more women's lit? I'm not upset about it. I liked this.

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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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kylieqrada's review

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adventurous 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

4.0

Yesssssss! This was a good-a$$ time! I loved learning more about Diwali and different South Asian cultural traditions. I am definitely going to read more from Sonya Lalli, especially Jasmine's spin-off book.

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meganpbennett's review

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adventurous funny lighthearted 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? Yes

2.5

I'm not sure what I thought of Holly Jolly Diwali. It was a very cute holiday romance and it played to its tropes exceedingly well, but I didn't love it. It was beautiful, with wonderful descriptions of India, though I would have loved a glossary. After being fired from her data analyst job Niki decides to go to India to celebrate her friend's wedding. There, she meets Sam, and it's the start of a beautiful friendship, followed by a holiday fling. Until... well, read and find out.

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courtneyfalling's review

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emotional 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

4.0

This was a sweet, light holiday romance! Lots of tropes: millennial over-committed to her career must reevaluate her life choices (Sonya Lalli's niche?), vacation fling turns into something more, there's only one bed, dorky kid grows up into hot love interest, some family drama to spur the plot. Some of the main character's decisions and the third act conflict would have frustrated me with like, any other set of characters, but I feel like it made sense for them... even though it was a bit drawn out and times I was like, y'all, communicate! But I was super invested in Niki and Sam ending up together and I love them both.

Also liked how this introduced warm, spunky older role models (I would read a whole book of Auntie Aasha's escapades) and took on colorism, casteism, and the isolation of the first-gen immigrant kid experience. It sometimes got overly heavy-handed and cushy with Niki asking folks the meaning of Diwali... like it was pandering to readers without any previous knowledge or celebration of Diwali, or trying really hard to offer some basic end-all, be-all education on Diwali, that honestly came across better in subtler moments and in allowing readers to do their own research. But to be totally fair I'm not sure I've seen any other romance set during Diwali get this level of hype and I get the impulse and publishing incentives to add these notes! And I really hope this ushers in more romances set during non-white and non-Christian holidays. It absolutely met my expectations and was so cute :)

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