This book was……ok. I quite enjoyed Serena Singh Flips the Script and was excited to read another book by Sonya Lolli, especially a Diwali-based romance which seemed dope. And yet this rather missed the mark for me, I almost didn’t finish it.

In the first half, we learn a bit about how the protagonist, Niki, doesn’t feel “Indian enough” or connected to her roots, but when we finally get to her meeting her family in her first trip to India, it’s entirely skipped and only told through a few stories that she tells her sister afterwards and then a general feeling of acceptance of her identity. Suddenly, problem solved! As someone who struggled with her racial identity/background as well, I am quite aware this is not how this works, it’s rather ongoing.

When Sam, the love interest, says he doesn’t think Niki should move to London solely for him (for several valid reasons, one of which is that he probably won’t be living there too much longer), her instant response to say “then I’m done,” run out of the house and never speak to him again? Why would that be the only possible option?

This and many other situations are examples of how things are handled/described rather superficially throughout the book. It got slightly better about 75% through and I didn’t have to make myself read it anymore.

As this is her second book published in 2021, it almost feels like the publisher requested a “diverse holiday romance” and the author rushed to complete this, and thus didn’t have time to fully flesh things out and make sure the writing wasn’t clunky.

I was expecting (and hoping for) more.