Holy crap! This book ripped my heart out and put it back together. Why did I wait so long to read another Sonali Dev book?
Where do I even start?
Ms. Dev’s writing is beautiful. I can easily picture her characters and their world. Ria is a really icy character, but I completely understand her because of the writing. I have a love-hate relationship with her inclusion of food. She weaves in food and cooking into scenes in a way that feels real and showcases Indian (and Indian-American) culture. Why do I hate it? Because it makes me super hungry.
Next, let’s talk characters. Ria is a Bollywood actress and she’s viewed as an ice princess. I want to avoid spoilers so talking about her is a little hard. She deals with some difficult situations from when she was a young girl. Her struggles really hit me. She’s cold and pushes people away to protect them. That is not my favorite thing to read, but it worked here. Vik was harder for me to like initially, but I ended up falling in love with him. He is such a good person, friend, and nephew. The side characters were great, too. Ria’s aunt was amazing and I want her in my life.
The romance is a second chance romance which is one of my favorite tropes. There’s also some friends-to-lovers because Ria and Vik grew up spending their summers together. It may have been a tad slow. When there is so much angst I do start to get frustrated. I just want people to have conversations. But I was 100% committed to their romance and story.
I loved spending time with these characters and culture different than my own. There is a wedding during a huge portion of this story. It was great to read about all the activities surrounding an Indian wedding. And Ms. Dev makes me want to really immerse myself in all things Indian.
Thanks for reading!
Holly