A review by _basicbookworm
Love, Chai, and Other Four-Letter Words by Annika Sharma

5.0

Wow wow wow, I loved this book. This was the kind of book that goes so quickly because before you know it you've been sitting there for over an hour and are so invested you don't even realize you've read half of the book already (I know I can't be the only one this happened to).

Kiran does everything she can to be the perfect daughter. She went to a good college, got a good job in NYC and sends money home to support her family back in India. But when she meets Nash, a white American boy and develops feelings for him, her relationship with her parents is threatened. She is expected to marry an Indian man that they approve of. Will she leave Nash to continue to be the perfect daughter? Or will she go against her family to be with the man she loves?

First of all, the friendship among the CMC was everything - can I join their group? I want friends like that in my life. I loved how deeply they cared for each other and how much fun they had together. Seriously #friemdshipgoals. The romance between Nash and Kiran was sweet and I loved following all of their adventures around the city, especially those involving amazing food descriptions. I adored Kiran as a main character and appreciated seeing how torn she was between her home culture and American culture in many ways. Her experiences as an immigrant were eye-opening, and while I can't speak for how realistic her experiences were I felt like I learned a lot about the immigrant experience and aspects of Indian culture, which I appreciated. While this is a romance, much of this book focused on identity and family and to me those were the most powerful parts.

I am so looking forward to reading more from this series!

Thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley for the advanced copy.