e-ALC, 10:17:17
Narrated by: Reena Dutt
Release Date: January 27, 2026
Published by: HarperCollins
Read from: January 15-23, 2026
Stand-alone
Source: Netgalley (I received this ALC free from the publisher and Netgalley. This did nothing to influence my review!)
Content Warning: Bullying, Vomit, Alcohol
For Readers Interested In: 2sLGBTQ (Both bi), Audio, Contemporary romance, Sparkly Covers, Own Voices, Racial/Ethnic Diversity, Realistic Fiction, Romance, Set Outside the USA, Stand-alone, YA“Come for the road trip of a lifetime. Stay for the kissing!”— Meg Cabot, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Princess Diaries series
Buckle up for a wild ride with this cheeky and charming rom-com where one girl’s quest across India to seal her first kiss turns into finding first love in the most unexpected places. Perfect for fans of Axie Oh, Ann Liang, and Jenny Han!
Eighteen-year-old Krishna Kumar may have gotten into her dream college, but that doesn’t mean she’s stopped being a bi disaster. Even after spending her whole summer in India flirting with her gorgeous neighbor Amrit, she has nothing to show for it. And now, her fate is sealed: she’s destined to be the only freshman who’s never been kissed.
Then her flight home is delayed right as a distinctly flirty text from Amrit lights up her phone. Krishna is determined to seize her last chance at a perfect first kiss with her summer crush, even if it means asking her cousin-turned-nemesis, Priti, for help. Because Amrit is miles away at a family wedding—and Priti’s best friend, Rudra Desai, is the only one with a car.
The unlikely trio set off on a road trip to crash a wedding and save Krishna’s summer. But as she starts to fall for the quiet but irresistibly hot and charming Rudra, who everyone knows is unrequitedly in love with Priti, Krishna’s heart better catch up to her head before she skips right past her first kiss and falls directly into her first heartbreak.
*MY THOUGHTS*
I was all over the place with this book. I liked some of it but there were other things that made me roll my eyes and almost put this book down. And the funny thing is, none of it was because of the main characters. I’m a very character driven reader, so when the characters are ok I should be fine. But yeah no, it was the other ones that made this book and it was annoying lol
Ok so with that being said, let’s talk about it. Look away if you don’t want to know a small spoiler. But her damn cousin was so annoying. She literally just got mad at every little thing and she didn’t listen to anyone explain and it was all just a hot mess. I couldn’t stand her lol And it made me feel bad because you know of course there was a reason at the end, but Lordt. She was doing too much and I don’t think what she did warranted that type of reaction to her. The main character was ok, but she was literally wrong about everything. Idk why she kept making guesses because it was all wrong lol And I mean from the beginning to the end.
The road trip was pretty cute tho. I liked all the random places they stayed. And the I need to use your bathroom thing left me scandalized. But I will say this, it felt like it took forever to get to the real romance. This is like the second book this year where I read a romance that featured so much time with the wrong person. I don’t care for those because we don’t get the way the real person in love will react and do things for some people. It was weird. I wanted to see more of them together.
The plot was ok. I thought them traveling all that way for a kiss was out of control lol Cuz ain’t no way! I kept saying, these gotta be teens because none of us would have been awake long enough to do this lol Other than that, I enjoyed the little detail that they got wrong even more. That was hilarious lol But I do wish they had come up on that information before the end of the book. It just took too long to get there. And like I know it was because we wanted to keep up with the like suspense on who she would pick, but it was annoying because we never got to see any of them together. Maybe it’s just the romance reader in me, but I got so mad at that lol
I do wish we had seen more of India tho. Y’all know how I am with settings. I want to know about and see all the places. But she didn’t visit any monuments or anything and there wasn’t really anything that stood out, so I didn’t write down anything to remember. I wanted to SEE India if that makes sense. And all we got was some hotels and a gas station and part of a wedding.
This was cute, but I think there was a lilttle too much going on. I think I would have liked it better if there were some small tweaks. I didn’t dislike it, but still some things could have been better. But I know this is all my opinion, so y’all give it a try and let me know what you think instead!
Overall, I give this
