Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev

30 reviews

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. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 💖💖

---

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,

one character refuses life saving treatment rather than go blind. She eventually changes her mind but it takes a while

lyricallit's review against another edition

3.0

I enjoyed the last 30% but the first 70 was very slow. Both MCs kind of seemed Darcy-ish? It was fine but unfortunately slow.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy

iamsammie27's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Medical content, and Cancer

Moderate: Racism, Pregnancy, Death of parent, and Infertility

Minor: Rape and Infidelity

alexgo's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I read this entire book in a day, for the first time since I was a kid. I was absolutely enthralled. Ms. Dev took me for a hell of a ride, and every other book she has ever written has been bumped up to the top of my TBR list. Realistic and intense - full of commentary about the world we live in that felt precise and intentional . Putting this book down, I feel braver and more hopeful than I did yesterday.

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Death of parent, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Racism, and Sexual assault

The main character is faced with her former best friend who manipulated her and drugged and sexually assaulted her brother, when he was 23 and she was 17, videotaped this, and tried to blackmail their family- she tells the other main character that the family spread lies about her and got her thrown out, causing her to be homeless. This creates an intense conflict for the two main characters.

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

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.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Medical content, and Death

Minor: Bullying, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, and Racism

imds's review against another edition

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Classism, Confinement, Death, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Police brutality, Racism, Ableism, Cancer, Chronic illness, and Terminal illness

thaliareads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

4.5

What a fun take on Pride and Prejudice. This book provides a completely new and original feeling story built off the tropes and plot elements of the original Jane Austen work. I did have problems with Trisha's attitude at certain points in the book, however as the "Darcy" character that is too be expected to a point. Overall this was a really great read and I can't wait to make it through the other books. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Terminal illness, and Abandonment

Moderate: Miscarriage, Medical content, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Rape, Gaslighting, Infertility, Death, and Drug use

Minor: Racism, Police brutality, Sexual content, Rape, and Sexual assault

This book does have a lot of heavy content. DJ's sister is dealing with a cancer prognosis that will leave her changed forever, even if she does survive it. Trisha feels abandoned by her family after a toxic friendship led to her brother being put in an awful situation (

Her friend get's close to the brother, eventually drugging him, raping him, and filming it to try and get closer to him via eliminating his girlfriend

. DJ and his sister both encounter the same toxic friend that Trisha had previous experience with, leading to discussions of his rough childhood and raising his sister after both of his parents were out of the picture. Finally, Trisha's sister, after a long standing battle with infantility and miscarriages is finally pregnant, but the high risk leads to a tense situation.