A Holly Jolly Diwali

I have trouble with 1st person pov and it feeling super cringe a lot of times. This also felt super slow paced to me. I made it 44% and basically nothing had happened

Could've been a 4 - so much of the dialogue seemed unnatural and at times like childish writing, and ofc you know I hate a third act breakup. I feel like there was so much more opportunity to develop things and play with the setting in India too which was disappointing. Would love to read more along this line though as it was fun!

This was not for me unfortunately! I couldn't jive with the characters even though I loved the beginning!! Also loved her parents and her relationship with them but we didn't get enough of that.

Other than the Diwali episode of The Office in which Michael Scott is cringe-y and tells people, incorrectly, that Diwali is Indian Halloween, I did not really know much about the holiday. Turns out Diwali was at the beginning of November, so what better time to read a Diwali romance!?

You can read the description, but the short version is, girl gets laid off, goes to India for a friend's wedding, decides to have a fling with a hot musician, which fails spectacularly. Because lurve.

This one is verrrry chaste, not even any fade-to-black hanky-panky between our two MCs. The banter and flirting between Niki and Sam is cute, the way she jumps to conclusions about their entire romance and its viability (as well as her career and living situation) without having a conversation with him is really not. At times the writing felt a tad preachy, but overall it was fun to read about a holiday and a range of cultural events and identities that I am not the most familiar with.

I just loved this book. I think I'm in a rom-com phase right now and I feel like reading these books, cause they make me feel good. I'm thankful that I got to read this one in advance, thanks to PRH International.
This book is beautiful in so many ways and one thing I loved the most about it is all the Indian culture that is present in this book. There are so many things I didn't know, that I had to google and therefore I got a little bit more educated on a lot of subjects. I love books that can make me feel good, but also teach me things at the same time!

I loved Niki, the main character. She's a woman in tech like me and I loved that about her! We need more books about women who are this cool. She's 29, she's still living with her parents, she lost her job and she decides to go to Mumbai and take part in her best friend's wedding. A rush decision that changed her life in so many ways. Niki's journey to Mumbai made me want to try all the delicious food she was talking about, visit all those beautiful places and have fun like her!

Niki is a strong character, even though she doesn't see it at first. But her journey in this book is so inspirational and it made me think of how many times I should've said “yes” instead of “no”.

If you want a quick, really nice rom-com, I highly recommend this one!