How do I explain how I felt about this?
I don’t even know where to start.
I wanted to talk about this as its own story and a retelling.
First, I’m not sure this is a romance novel. There’s definitely a romance storyline with a HEA, but so much of the story is about Trisha and DJ dealing with their own issues and growing. Definitely not steamy. There’s chemistry and passion, but not as obvious as you see in a lot of modern romance.
Trisha and DJ were great characters. I actually enjoy all the characters. Enjoy may not be the best word, because I don’t like all of them as people. But I am interested and intrigued by all of them. Trisha’s family really got to me. They don’t have a perfect relationship at all, but they are very real and you can tell there is love.
Ms. Dev always makes me hungry. I need to find out if there’s an Indian restaurant near me. DJ’s passion for food jumped off the page. Trisha is a spectacular surgeon. She’s pretty arrogant, but isn’t that synonymous with “surgeon”? And it felt very natural. I love a competent character or two.
This does address some social issues and it was done fairly well. There was one scene that felt a little forced. To me, it was less forced to make a political statement and more to force character change in Trisha. This strays into the Austen roots, but Ms. Dev addressed class differences very well. She also talked about privilege, but in such a well-rounded and thoughtful way. I loved how she incorporated things like race, immigration, and assimilation to this larger discussion.
Now, let’s talk about this as an adaptation/retelling. Ms. Dev said this is inspired by Pride and Prejudice-not a strict retelling. It’s been a few years since I read Pride and Prejudice, but I generally agree. Some have said this is gender swapped-I kind of agree. Trisha is more of a Darcy and Wickham is a female, but I think this story is more complex than one-to-one compassions.
Beyond the characters, I think this does a good job of working with themes from the source material. There are some of the same plot points, but not all of them. Her version of the proposal scene was so good. It had so much passion. It was pure perfection.
I hope there are 6 books in this series. I want to learn more about the Raje family. Plus, there’s some Austen I don’t particularly like and Sonali Dev could probably make me like them. There’s more I could talk about, but this has gone on long enough.
Thanks for reading!
Holly