A review by saumyareads
The House that BJ Built by Anuja Chauhan

adventurous funny lighthearted
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

‘See, I’ve done a full analysis on this,’ he tells her. ‘And currently, there seem to be five kinds of item songs. A, based on names—like Sheila, Munni, Chameli, Jalebi, Billo-rani etc. B, based on items of clothing—like chunari, choli, ghoonghat, ghagra, ghughroo, etc. C, based on geographical locations—like UP-Bihar, Agra-Viagra or Dilli-ki-sardi. D, based on slyly horny metaphors. And finally, E, based on pretentious pseudo-Sufi, Urdu porn.’



We have a lot to unpack here.
I will begin by repeating what I said in my review of Those Pricey Thakur Girls: Anuja Chauhan doesn't write many likable male characters, does she? 
I didn't really like Samar or even Satish. 
Samar, as usual, was low-key misogynistic and even a bit creepy. 
As for Satish, his whole romance arc with Eshwari didn't make sense to me. They had like three scenes and now wanna get married? With no discussion whatsoever??

This book is also vastly different from the first one when it comes to it's characters, which makes sense I guess because we're catching up with them years later. 
But I really liked Eshu in the first one whereas here I was just side-eying her the whole time.
On the other hand, Anjini was annoying in the first one whereas in this one she is basically the best of the bunch.
Also to bring back an old complaint: it's not very consistent. Some parts are gripping and entertaining and then suddenly there is nothing happening at all for three chapters straight.
Also, this was kinda cheesy and try-hard at points.
I know it seems like I hated this book, but I really didn't. This was also brilliantly funny but I will say, if you aren't Indian, you will probably not get a lot of the jokes and this book in general.
This book doesn't take itself seriously at all and neither should you in order to enjoy it. It jokes about some pretty serious topics which might offend some people, so beware.
But it managed to keep me interested in the story and was just the kind of book I needed.