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brittanymariereads's review
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
4.25
This book is absolutely adorable. It deserves all of the hype.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Minor: Death of parent
arayapapaya's review
3.5
This was an anticipated release for me that I really wanted to like. Engagement of convenience, yes please! But, I wasn't feeling the romance, & Prem is to blame. I just...he was too pushy and uncompromising. It was always his way or the highway. I do like the opposite views on love trope, but I wasn’t feeling Prem’s philosophy on love here. Kareena spent so much of the book debating whether she wanted to fake date him. Her reasons for NOT were completely valid, but her hesitancy & his pushiness throughout was a frustrating dynamic. Also, I would have loved to know more about her. Yes, I know this is a romance which is the focus of the story, but, I just wanted more of Kareena that wasn't all about Prem. And all the mentions of Charlie were just not it for me. Still, looking forward to more from this If Shakespeare was an Auntie series
[CW: death of a parent, grief]
[CW: death of a parent, grief]
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Grief
beccaand's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
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
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Terminal illness, Death, Death of parent, Misogyny, Grief, and Medical content
megwilli's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
tanvi45's review
emotional
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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Grief, and Death of parent
amandalorianxo's review
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
My actual rating is around the 2.5 range but I wanted to round this up for Goodreads sake. I was so enamored with the idea of reading another book centered around Indian characters (both first gen Americans and their families that immigrated to the U.S) I did enjoy the friendship between Kareena and her friends & some of the aunts also made me laugh. The representation was of course something I also enjoyed but I felt like Sharma was writing for a half Desi / half white audience & it made me wonder why she didn’t just fully commit to writing to a Desi audience instead. She threw the obligated terms for the Indian outfits in Punjabi (or Hindi?) but that didn’t help immerse me in this world. Throwing words for the sake of throwing words is not something I enjoy with authors.
I found it difficult to believe Kareena was a lawyer, we hardly see her in court or in her office. Also, this woman is 30 (my age) and acts as if she’s in high school. Has she ever been in a relationship before? If not, that should have been stated somewhere because I was getting tired of her … child ish naive behavior & acting as if the BARE MINIMUM that Prem did should be bowed on. It shouldn’t. Prem also irritated me. How are you going to call someone Rina honey when she specifically said (aloud) several times not to call her that? Don’t even get me started on calling his penis Charlie. Sharma explains that white people call them meat sticks so why can’t Prem use his own euphemism ? Yeah, no …. not a pass. Some editing that didn’t get notified (mis spelling and plot inconsistencies) also irked me. I really hope Sharma’s second book (the one with Bobbi & Benjamin in the center) is better in terms of plot consistency, adult like characters and less white catering & more Desi forward.
I found it difficult to believe Kareena was a lawyer, we hardly see her in court or in her office. Also, this woman is 30 (my age) and acts as if she’s in high school. Has she ever been in a relationship before? If not, that should have been stated somewhere because I was getting tired of her … child ish naive behavior & acting as if the BARE MINIMUM that Prem did should be bowed on. It shouldn’t. Prem also irritated me. How are you going to call someone Rina honey when she specifically said (aloud) several times not to call her that? Don’t even get me started on calling his penis Charlie. Sharma explains that white people call them meat sticks so why can’t Prem use his own euphemism ? Yeah, no …. not a pass. Some editing that didn’t get notified (mis spelling and plot inconsistencies) also irked me. I really hope Sharma’s second book (the one with Bobbi & Benjamin in the center) is better in terms of plot consistency, adult like characters and less white catering & more Desi forward.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Minor: Death of parent
jackiepreston's review
emotional
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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Sexual content, Cursing, Death of parent, Misogyny, and Death
readwithde'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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Sexual content, Cursing, and Grief
Moderate: Alcohol, Emotional abuse, and Medical content
Minor: Misogyny, Sexism, Colonisation, and Panic attacks/disorders
rachaelm13's review
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Well, Charlie is a new one 😬
I don’t know how I feel about this book.
I found there to be quite a bit of toxic, red flag behaviours between the two main characters and some general immaturity maybe? But that is a product of how they grew up and was probably intentional.
Loved the diversity and how old ideas and misogyny were called out.
But I found some of the writing to be a bit like a poor translation almost? Like someone put a whole book into google translate and didn’t proof read it. I don’t know maybe it was my ebook copy? But I got it from the library so I don’t think so. There were sometimes words missing, or simple proof read type things that were just missed. (And I’m not talking about character dialogue here, criticizing characters who are multilingual, I mean the rest of the book)
There were some parts that seemed a bit choppy and some references to what a character was doing that just weren’t correct, like back to the google translate thing where a character would be lying down and then in the next sentence it would say something like “she leaned against the wall” kind of abrupt like wait, when did she sit up she was just working on her car? Thats maybe a poor example but its the one thats coming to mind right now.
Loved the story premise, the writing had something to work on but wasn’t horrible, I found the main male character annoying at times and there were a couple iffy consent places for me personally but consent is BIG for me so I don’t know. I wish we would have seen Kareenas job! It sounded so cool but it was mentioned like twice and we never got a scene of her actually at work. Overall not too many triggering topics in this book which was nice and a solid little romance!
I don’t know how I feel about this book.
I found there to be quite a bit of toxic, red flag behaviours between the two main characters and some general immaturity maybe? But that is a product of how they grew up and was probably intentional.
Loved the diversity and how old ideas and misogyny were called out.
But I found some of the writing to be a bit like a poor translation almost? Like someone put a whole book into google translate and didn’t proof read it. I don’t know maybe it was my ebook copy? But I got it from the library so I don’t think so. There were sometimes words missing, or simple proof read type things that were just missed. (And I’m not talking about character dialogue here, criticizing characters who are multilingual, I mean the rest of the book)
There were some parts that seemed a bit choppy and some references to what a character was doing that just weren’t correct, like back to the google translate thing where a character would be lying down and then in the next sentence it would say something like “she leaned against the wall” kind of abrupt like wait, when did she sit up she was just working on her car? Thats maybe a poor example but its the one thats coming to mind right now.
Loved the story premise, the writing had something to work on but wasn’t horrible, I found the main male character annoying at times and there were a couple iffy consent places for me personally but consent is BIG for me so I don’t know. I wish we would have seen Kareenas job! It sounded so cool but it was mentioned like twice and we never got a scene of her actually at work. Overall not too many triggering topics in this book which was nice and a solid little romance!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Death, and Toxic relationship
bookfreak95's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
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? No
5.0
I absolutely loved reading this book from start to finish. I highly recommend everyone read it you won’t be disappointed. Fair warning though her father, sister and grandmother are going to get on your last nerve. Other than that you’ll get to witness our two main characters fall in love with each other and be along on their amazing ride.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent