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baearles's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer
Moderate: Toxic friendship
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Medical content, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Grief, and Infertility
spicycronereads's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This was a really cute read. It inverts some of the plot of Austen‘s pride and prejudice. For example, the FMC Trisha is a neurosurgeon from a family with generational wealth and privilege, while the MMC DJ is a talented but struggling chef. Dev takes necessary liberties with Austen’s plot line to update it and make it work for these characters and the 21st century racial and class contexts of Silicon Valley. Even so, the book has all of the personality clashes, the pining, and the villainous characters of the source text. And it all works really well together. I think as long as you go into it expecting a remix rather than a faithful adaptation, you’ll enjoy it just fine.
Be sure to check your trigger warnings though. The scandals have been updated for the 21st century and some may find the material difficult. There are multiple instances of SA (all off page) as well as a scary encounter with the police, among other things.
The secondary characters are well developed and a lot of fun. Not surprising given that this is the first book in a series about Trisha’s family. All of the books are based on Austen’s works.
There isn’t really any spice. And similar to Austen‘s narrative, this is a slow burn that really takes a while to heat up. Once it gets there, there are lots of great quotes and sweet moments. I give it two swoony hearts.💖💖
The novel has lots of racial and class diversity. Trisha is a first generation Indian American. Her mother was a Bollywood movie star and her father was royalty in the province that they come from in India. DJ and his sister Emma are part Indian, part English, and part Rwandan. There are very few white characters in the novel. So far there don’t seem to be any queer characters. But there are characters dealing with long-term illness and disability. Trisha is written in such a way that there are hints that she may be neurodivergent or maybe she just has some of those necessary characteristics of being a neurosurgeon. The ambiguity works.
Overall, I found this to be a fun and engaging read, and I really liked it. I will definitely read others in the series and look forward to how Sonali Dev adapts more of Austen‘s work. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 💖💖
Be sure to check your trigger warnings though. The scandals have been updated for the 21st century and some may find the material difficult. There are multiple instances of SA (all off page) as well as a scary encounter with the police, among other things.
The secondary characters are well developed and a lot of fun. Not surprising given that this is the first book in a series about Trisha’s family. All of the books are based on Austen’s works.
There isn’t really any spice. And similar to Austen‘s narrative, this is a slow burn that really takes a while to heat up. Once it gets there, there are lots of great quotes and sweet moments. I give it two swoony hearts.💖💖
The novel has lots of racial and class diversity. Trisha is a first generation Indian American. Her mother was a Bollywood movie star and her father was royalty in the province that they come from in India. DJ and his sister Emma are part Indian, part English, and part Rwandan. There are very few white characters in the novel. So far there don’t seem to be any queer characters. But there are characters dealing with long-term illness and disability. Trisha is written in such a way that there are hints that she may be neurodivergent or maybe she just has some of those necessary characteristics of being a neurosurgeon. The ambiguity works.
Overall, I found this to be a fun and engaging read, and I really liked it. I will definitely read others in the series and look forward to how Sonali Dev adapts more of Austen‘s work. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 💖💖
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Classism, Racism, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Ableism
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Fire/Fire injury, Dementia, Pedophilia, and Miscarriage
Cancer,heather667's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Chronic illness, Sexism, Misogyny, Racism, Cancer, Ableism, Grief, and Medical content
Moderate: Death of parent, Dementia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Miscarriage
Minor: Racial slurs and Police brutality
_bookish_lauren's review against another edition
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Overall: 4/5
Spice level: 1/5
Tropes: enemies to lovers, Pride and Prejudice retelling (gender-swapped)
Representation: FMC is South Asian and MMC is South Asian and African
This story was really cute and seemed to follow the original Pride and Prejudice, while being a gender-swap. The "Elizabeth" styled character, our leading lady Trisha, was portrayed as the royalty of the 2, while DJ was snubbed by her numerous times in the story as his occupation as a chef (though clasically trained in France) seemed beneath her. It definitely had the enemies to lovers feel to it, although there was pretty much no spice, outside of the delicious-sounding dishes that he makes throughout.
As someone who mostly needs some type of spice on the page, I feel like even classic stories that originally had no spice can be adapted to fit sexy times in. That's my fault because I almost never read reviews for a book, otherwise I would've probably known about the lack of spice. It's fine though because I enjoyed the story overall. I didn't love it, but I loved the characters. There was immense character development for both Trisha and DJ, as well as their family members.
I did, however, sometimes feel like there was a lot going on to keep track with. Between the family drama and the budding tension between our main characters, my head spun a few times trying to keep up with things. But in the end, it all made sense and came together well.
I'm intrigued by the author's writing style, though in the future I'll make sure to check if there's any spice before reading.
Spice level: 1/5
Tropes: enemies to lovers, Pride and Prejudice retelling (gender-swapped)
Representation: FMC is South Asian and MMC is South Asian and African
This story was really cute and seemed to follow the original Pride and Prejudice, while being a gender-swap. The "Elizabeth" styled character, our leading lady Trisha, was portrayed as the royalty of the 2, while DJ was snubbed by her numerous times in the story as his occupation as a chef (though clasically trained in France) seemed beneath her. It definitely had the enemies to lovers feel to it, although there was pretty much no spice, outside of the delicious-sounding dishes that he makes throughout.
As someone who mostly needs some type of spice on the page, I feel like even classic stories that originally had no spice can be adapted to fit sexy times in. That's my fault because I almost never read reviews for a book, otherwise I would've probably known about the lack of spice. It's fine though because I enjoyed the story overall. I didn't love it, but I loved the characters. There was immense character development for both Trisha and DJ, as well as their family members.
I did, however, sometimes feel like there was a lot going on to keep track with. Between the family drama and the budding tension between our main characters, my head spun a few times trying to keep up with things. But in the end, it all made sense and came together well.
I'm intrigued by the author's writing style, though in the future I'll make sure to check if there's any spice before reading.
Content Warnings
Minor: Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Medical content, Racial slurs, Rape, Classism, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Racism, and Bullying
jillaay_h's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Miscarriage, Cancer, Toxic friendship, Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexual assault
greatexpectations77's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This really tickled me, and I look forward to reading more from Ms. Dev. This had the caramel-thick tension of will-they-won't-they, and I really liked it. I also thought it did a really good job of portraying some beautiful sister moments, which always tug at my heart. Just a fun time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic friendship and Bullying
Moderate: Death of parent, Medical content, Pregnancy, Classism, and Abandonment
Minor: Miscarriage, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Alcohol, Grief, Racism, Chronic illness, Cultural appropriation, Infidelity, and Police brutality
takarakei's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I know this is meant as a Pride and Prejudice reimagining with a gender reversed couple (Trisha = Darcy and DJ = Elizabeth) but I really struggled with liking Trisha as a character. Yes she has character growth, but I found her to be so stuck up and had a hard time kind of forgiving her actions at the beginning of the book. I wasn't particularly attached to this story. It's definitely a slow-burn romance like P&P (nothing happens until the very end). I'd argue it's very loosely even a romance as most of the book deals with Trisha's family drama. It's also a very long book for what it is.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Cancer, and Racism
Moderate: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Medical content
Minor: Sexual content
meleigh's review against another edition
2.0
This book was a struggle to get through. I get that she was supposed to be some level of insufferable but honestly it was a bit much. There was no depth to the supporting characters (other than Emma). Just wasn't for me I guess.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Medical content, Eating disorder, Racism, Terminal illness, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Miscarriage and Infertility
puffy_'s review against another edition
2.5
It’s cute and fun enough I suppose, but comparatively not really. I did like Trisha’s and her families relationship with one anther. Trisha’s and DJ’s relationship? Not so much. It was okay I guess. Maybe it was because I was not particularly interested in DJ’s story, though there were some moments here and there. His logic, in my opinion, was a little harder to follow than Trisha, which makes it harder to empathize with him.
Also the way politics is used here is a little eh??? It gives me “we are progressive but not too progressive” kind of vibe. Not as bad as it was in books like RWRB, but still kind of there. This is more of a minor complaint, since it isn’t necessarily very significant to the overall story.
Th beginning was strong enough, but it does slowly become more and more of a drag to get though until you reach the middle. It does pick itself back up a bit and get more interesting after the middle. Either way, I’ll probably still consider picking up other books by the author when I need something lighthearted to read.
Also the way politics is used here is a little eh??? It gives me “we are progressive but not too progressive” kind of vibe. Not as bad as it was in books like RWRB, but still kind of there. This is more of a minor complaint, since it isn’t necessarily very significant to the overall story.
Th beginning was strong enough, but it does slowly become more and more of a drag to get though until you reach the middle. It does pick itself back up a bit and get more interesting after the middle. Either way, I’ll probably still consider picking up other books by the author when I need something lighthearted to read.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Medical content, and Death
Minor: Bullying, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, and Racism