e-ARC, 368 pages
Release Date: March 15, 2022
Published by: Avon Books
Read from: March 3-11, 2022
If Shakespeare was an Auntie, #1
Source: Edelweiss (I received a copy of this book from Edelweiss and the Publisher in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)
TW: Past Death of a Parent
For Readers Interested In: Contemporary Romance, Retelling, Spice Level III, Adult, Racial/Ethnic Diversity, Dual POVNisha Sharma’s hilarious new romantic comedy inspired by The Taming of the Shrew features a love-phobic TV doctor who must convince a love-obsessed homebody they are destined to be together.
Kareena Mann dreams of having a love story like her parents, but she prefers restoring her classic car to swiping right on dating apps. When her father announces he’s selling her mother’s home, Kareena makes a deal with him: he’ll gift her the house if she can get engaged in four months. Her search for her soulmate becomes impossible when her argument with Dr. Prem Verma, host of The Dr. Dil Show, goes viral. Now the only man in her life is the one she doesn’t want.
Dr. Prem Verma is dedicated to building a local community health center, but he needs to get donors with deep pockets. The Dr. Dil Show was doing just that, until his argument with Kareena went viral, and he’s left short changed. That’s when Kareena’s meddling aunties presented him with a solution: convince Kareena he’s her soulmate and they’ll fund his clinic.
Even though they have conflicting views on love-matches and arranged-matches, the more time Prem spends with Kareena, the more he begins to believe she’s the woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with. But for Prem and Kareena to find their happily ever after, they must admit that hate has turned into fate.
*MY THOUGHTS*
Y’all, I almost missed this one. It definitely made me learn a hard lesson… Don’t judge a book by it’s cover lol I didn’t care for the sweater vest she wore and even though I like illustrated covers, I didn’t like this one. Idk how to explain it. And so because of that, I almost didn’t read it. But then I said wth and downloaded it….. And y’all, this might be one of my fave contemps I’ve read so far this year!
“To second chances,” he said. “And convincing you that I’m always right.” She flashed him a saucy grin, then tapped her shell against his. “To renewed friendships. And proving you wrong.”35%
Kareena Mann wants a love story like her parents had, but she’s having the hardest time finding it. She’d much rather restore her car or renovate her late mom’s home. When her father announces he’s selling the house, Kareena panics. She makes a deal to buy it. Butttt she doesn’t have the money. So she then has to make another deal, to get engaged. This brings along Dr. Dil, the guy who is the complete opposite of Kareena. The one who says love is only an illusion. Can they both come together to both get what they want?
“KAREENAl Why are you an asshole? PREM: Could be because the last time we were together, you ran away like someone lit your stilettos on fire. KAREENA: Hey, you can’t hold that against me. You’ve run away before, too. PREM: Fine, we’re even. But just remember that your Mr. Right will never kiss you like that. KAREENA: My true love will be BETTER at it.”43%
I want to start with the things I didn’t care for….. The pop culture references. I am NOT a Swiftie. I like a couple of her songs here and there, but this one was chock full of them. It got to be a little annoying sometimes. I can only imagine how someone who doesn’t like her at all would feel reading this. And let’s think, because of this, this book is going to get dated really fast. Which is a shame because I loved it! I just hope the dating of this happens far down the road lol
“His eyes locked with hers, and her pulse pounded in her throat. “Holy shit,” Bobbi said with a whisper. “That man came to slay you, Kareena. With that fitted black kurta? He’s playing dirty.”44%
And that’s really the end of what I didn’t like lol I LOVED Kareena. I was cheering for her and her standards the entire book. I think it’s really important to see a woman have high standards and keep them there in novels. Too many times we’re told to lower them or think we should, and Kareena didn’t stand for that. She was headstrong and knew what she wanted. (I still don’t like her sweater vests tho lol) Then there’s Prem, or Dr. Dil. He didn’t believe in love and kept calling it an illusion, and I was so mad at him lmao I wanted to scream at him, “GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS!” But I let him make it because literally everything else about him I LOVED. His stubbornness just made me want to shake him.
“I don’t know, but ever since I saw you standing at the bar, I knew hat you were going to change me.”49%
Now the two of them together? *chef’s kiss* And this is coming from someone who doesn’t usually like enemies to lovers. I enjoyed reading the arguing and banter between these two so much! I want to say it was because it was never really like mean stuff they did? It was more like a difference of opinion and then one huge blow up scene. And that was it. It made the trope more palatable for me. The spice was at a 3. There’s sex on the page, a few explicit words here and there, but there’s not too many steamy scenes. But man, those steamy scenes, they were lit. There’s a couple scenes there where I was calling him, Daddy Dil (a name I got from TikTok lolol)
“It’ll fit,” he said. “How did you know-” “You looked intimidated.”59%
The writing style was PHENOMENAL. I don’t know the last time I was crying laughing from a rom com. Like this was for real and true a rom com. LIKE THE BOOK WAS ACTUALLY FUNNY. Maybe it’s just me because I laugh at anything, but I read some of the things to my husband and he laughed, so I thought it was fine. Definitely different and refreshing from other books that advertised as rom coms that just might make me chuckle or make me smile and that’s it.
“Maybe you have to have both. That’s what will sustain forever.”76%
The retelling was spot on. I was a little iffy when I first saw that was the story she was re-telling, but man, Sharma handled tf out of this ok?! It was such a clever way to incorporate the new play into modern society. Now, I’m not South Asian, so I can’t talk about the representation, but since Sharma is, I assumed she was talking some about the things she saw when she was younger? Since I’m not for certain, I do want to go and read some more own voices reviews, so I will wait for my final verdict. But, from the outside looking in, it was good.
“The biggest mistake you can make is trying to interepret someone’s actions in a way that fits your definition for love! If he doesn’t tell you, then he doesn’t love you. That simple!”78%
I really loved this and I can’t wait for the next installment. There’s multiple couples it could be, but we don’t know who yet. She said who it was and the retelling on her TikTok, but I don’t want to spoil it for y’all. I’ll tell you if you read this one. So, what are you waiting for? Run to go pre-order this now. You still have time to get it on release day if you do it through Amazon!
Overall, I give this
