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3.3 AVERAGE
3.3 AVERAGE
I love that this ended way I thought it would. The journey as a single person happens before she can ever be in a relationship again.
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Read it for the Desi rep but the main character was honestly childish and made the book difficult to get through… there was basically no character development and the writing was a bit middle schooler trying to be trendy.
emotional
funny
hopeful
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
Anusha knows her marriage to Neil is over. Things have been rocky for several years, but several months ago she finally had the courage to ask for a formal separation. She thinks she has a handle on things between shuttling their daughter back and forth between houses, working part time as a nurse, and seeing her new boyfriend, but bit by bit parts of Anu’s life seem to be unraveling before her eyes. She stumbles into a yoga studio one evening though, and reawakens her passion for yoga practice. On a seeming whim, she takes over the lease for the struggling studio, and yet something else still drives her to take some time away from life to figure everything out.
On the surface this is marriage-in-crisis/second chance romance trope, but in reality like all of Lalli’s books, it’s truly a novel of self-discovery. Grown Up Pose exposes a lot of the gritty parts of adulthood - including the increasing pressure on Millennials to *understand* what being an adult is. Anu and her two best friends all have slightly different ideas, and they’re all right and yet all wrong. Honestly, that’s a bit about what being an adult is all about. Did this elder Millennial find the hand-wringing at 30 a tiny bit comical….yeah, I did. But it’s still completely relatable.
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I received this book for free from Berkley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.Morning lovelies! Today, I'm reviewing Grown-Up Pose by Sonya Lalli. It follows Anusha as she separates from her husband and navigates their Indian community, dating, and finding herself again. It's a fun but emotional journey as we flip between past and present to figure out how it crumbled as Anusha rebuilds.
Anusha is a typical mom who's thrown everything into raising her daughter and realized she's not happy in supposedly perfect life. Now, she's trying to branch out on her own for the first time as she separates from her husband and disappointed parental figures on both sides of the aisle.
Grown-up Pose is for modern romance fans looking for a woman growing through crisis, proving it might be too late for some paths, but it's never too late to be happy. I don't read many adult romances so I'm actually looking to get some recommendations instead of giving them this time.
This review was originally posted on The Layaway Dragon
About Grown-Up Pose:
IMHO: Grown-Up Pose
Anusha is a typical mom who's thrown everything into raising her daughter and realized she's not happy in supposedly perfect life. Now, she's trying to branch out on her own for the first time as she separates from her husband and disappointed parental figures on both sides of the aisle.
- Enjoyable
- Emotional
- Anusha is flawed and I was rooting for her to grow up and get what she wanted
- Jenny is the stand out BFF, smart, funny, and part of the plot unlike the bland married one
- Imogen is like a manic pixie dream girl until things crash in the climax & she gets better
- Neil irritated the crap out of me at first. Giant man baby. But like the rest of the adults, he grows too
- Kanika is adorable, but not the main focus, thank gods.
- Love Anusha's journey, grappling with losing herself in motherhood.
- And grieving for the path not chosen, what might've been
- Happy Ending
Grown-up Pose is for modern romance fans looking for a woman growing through crisis, proving it might be too late for some paths, but it's never too late to be happy. I don't read many adult romances so I'm actually looking to get some recommendations instead of giving them this time.
Favorite Quotes:
She was used to the guilt; it was the pain she was still coming to grips with.
It fell to the floor, and nobody else heard it shatter.
"The weird thing is," Jenny said, glancing at her phone,"if he'd just kissed me on my mouth, I probably would have slept with him."
Kanika signed sarcastically, imitating the way Jenny often did. "I don't understand grown-ups."
"You weren't boring me, Anu. You were boring yourself."
"My date etiquette is old enough to have her period."
About the Author:
This review was originally posted on The Layaway Dragon
emotional
medium-paced
An emotional and heart-warming journey about learning to be brave enough to chase your dreams and being true to yourself along the way. With a charming and unforgettable cast of characters, and a plot that will make you feel all the feels, GROWN-UP POSE is a can't-miss spring read that you need on your TBR.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Overall reaction: Promising presence, less than stellar execution.
While this book isn't necessarily bad, the story does have a lack of focus. There are so many side characters that don't get enough development and end up coming off one dimensional; the reader is told how many of these characters are supposed to be, but there's a lack of on page support of this characterization (the best example being Anu's parents, who never come off as pressuring as they're made out to be). The plot also has a lack of direction with a number of semi-related side plots, making the ending unsatisfactory as the story lines were never really fleshed out. The book should've either been 100 pages longer to give everything the development it deserved, or cut some of the extraneous story lines and characters (specifically Imogen and the yoga studio plot line).
I think my biggest issue, however, is that the marketing of this book is very misleading. I went into this thinking it'd be about a woman purchasing and running a yoga studio when in actuality you could've removed that plot line and it hardly would've affected the main plot of the book. It's much more accurate to say it follows a woman trying to find herself and navigating being single for the first time as an adult.
While this book isn't necessarily bad, the story does have a lack of focus. There are so many side characters that don't get enough development and end up coming off one dimensional; the reader is told how many of these characters are supposed to be, but there's a lack of on page support of this characterization (the best example being Anu's parents, who never come off as pressuring as they're made out to be). The plot also has a lack of direction with a number of semi-related side plots, making the ending unsatisfactory as the story lines were never really fleshed out. The book should've either been 100 pages longer to give everything the development it deserved, or cut some of the extraneous story lines and characters (specifically Imogen and the yoga studio plot line).
I think my biggest issue, however, is that the marketing of this book is very misleading. I went into this thinking it'd be about a woman purchasing and running a yoga studio when in actuality you could've removed that plot line and it hardly would've affected the main plot of the book. It's much more accurate to say it follows a woman trying to find herself and navigating being single for the first time as an adult.
This book wasn’t the worst read and definitely isn’t a bad choice if you want something a little bit on the fluffier side, but it’s definitely got some issues with the amount of content in the book. I’ll keep it spoiler free since I got an ARC but there was too many side characters that felt underdeveloped/didn’t get enough time. The author should have added a few more chapters, or merged/cut a few characters so they didn’t feel so rushed and neglected.
I also think this book was marketed a bit oddly as her founding her yoga studio is honestly more secondary to Anu’s interpersonal relationships with her friends and family. It’s more of a backdrop for her to have interactions that could have happened truly anyplace else with roughly the same emotional impact.
Overall this wasn’t bad, and it’s probably worth a read if you like fluffy romance with just a bit of substance, but it does have some fairly obvious pacing/character issues. Grab it for some light escapism and a mostly feel-good plot but don’t set any crazy high expectations for its overall quality.
I also think this book was marketed a bit oddly as her founding her yoga studio is honestly more secondary to Anu’s interpersonal relationships with her friends and family. It’s more of a backdrop for her to have interactions that could have happened truly anyplace else with roughly the same emotional impact.
Overall this wasn’t bad, and it’s probably worth a read if you like fluffy romance with just a bit of substance, but it does have some fairly obvious pacing/character issues. Grab it for some light escapism and a mostly feel-good plot but don’t set any crazy high expectations for its overall quality.