Barbara Rachel's Reviews

  As another desi romance, this was a good segue from the Sara Desai series. I enjoyed the characters, particularly the aunties, in this east coast tale of struggling Indian singles. It was hard not to compare the story, however, and while I did enjoy it almost as much, there were not as many laugh out loud moments. I also found the way Kareena is treated by her family even more harsh and unfair than maybe it was meant to be when compared to the more supportive relationships in the last 3 books I read. In any case it was good fun and overall I enjoyed this book.  There was one thing, and I will not beat this to death, as it has been mentioned so many times in other reviews, but the choice of name by Prem’s character for his genitalia was annoying and a stupid distraction. There, I said it. At least he did not go around saying it aloud. (Eye roll). I think it is also worth mentioning that whatever I have said was spicy before had nothing on this book. I mean, on a scale of 1 to...

  This was to be the first installment of the three books that I have now read completely out of order.  # ADHDlife.  Despite this,  Sara Desai again does not disappoint.  Returning to the characters from the San Francisco Bay area that I have come to know in the previous two books,  this book really has everything: a big, loving, noisy family with all the aunties, romance, adventure, baseball, bar fights.. . The romance between Layla and Sam is exciting and fresh.  Once again, for three out of three books, I did not want to put this down. As in the other two books, there were multiple laugh out loud moments and who doesn’t need that in their lives right now? Without giving too much away, in addition to the ending, which was fantastic, my absolute favorite scene involves a bathroom at one of the auntie’s shops and shapewear. Totally spicy and absolutely hilarious at the same time.  Hands-down, I recommend this book, and I certainly recommend ...

So this is book 2/3 in the Witches of Thistle Grove Series and I do recommend this book. Yet another book I devoured quickly and did not want to put down. What I did not love about the book:  everyone, including Isidora herself, was so hard on her and so non-forgiving that it was a bit much to take. Rowan Thorn was just too judgmental for my taste. It was that much harder to digest because of the insight into Isidora's inner dialogue of self-flagellation. However, it is noted that as much as these two conflicted, the sparks between them burned all the brighter. There are (multiple) moments when they cannot keep their hands off of each other and they were as aggressive as with their incessant bickering. So, if you are into that, it is there for you. Also, it did not bother me, but I thought the mystery aspect of the story was pretty transparent. I mean, it was obvious to me anyway, even though these things usually go by me. Do not worry - no spoilers here. I would be interested to h...

  This is number 2 in the Marriage Game series - and in true #ADHDinattentivetype fashion, I have completely managed to read these 3 books out of order. No matter, as this is the type of series where the characters are more associated with each other than the story of 2 people on one journey. That housekeeping aside, I both read this and listened to the audible. If you have been following my posts you will know that even when I am fully engaged and #hyperfocusing with a book I miss so much if I only take it in on one modality so therefore I read and I listen for the full effect. It helps to know oneself. Now down to it. I LOVED this book. Sara Desai is now 2/2 for me in reading a book in under 48 hours. I could not put this down. So this clicked many of my buttons. The large, they-are-everywhere family that is in your business in contrast to the emotionally distant and everyone is misunderstood family was an intriguing storyline. And I also really appreciated that there was no mora...

So, of the two books in this series, the first,  Not Your Average Hot Guy , was my favorite.  I will not say that I disliked The Date From Hell so much as... well, I am afraid I was a bit bored.  You know how life is about the journey and not the desination? Well the storyline in this book was about a  rather convoluted journey and I kept wanting to skip forward to find out what was actually going to happen. It may totally be me (#inattentiveADHD) and not the story, but it just seemed overly complicated with layer after layer of obstacles. I was an over it about half-way through. What I did enjoy about this was, like the first book, there were plenty of laugh out loud moments. Also, if your preference is a RomCam that is less steamy and a bit more PG-13, this series is a good choice over all. Of course, I loved the audible. The voice actors are stellar (see my admited bias from the Not Your Average Hot Guy post). I also, personally, really appreciate when there are...

 Read. This. Book. Okay, I am, admittedly, a die hard T.J. Klune fan. So there is my bias out in the open. But this book was so beautiful. A tremendous love story and fantasy. The main character is a total mess, and has such a transformation.  It speaks to living life to our fullest. It speaks to taking a chance with love. And it was hilarious too. This was such a different book - meaning - so original in the story and the directions it went in.  I loved it.  I hope you do too.

“Very gently I kissed him. Not a hello-you kiss or a do-me-now kiss. But the sort of kiss that speaks for you. A kiss to draw us together. To show I was there. To promise I always would be, if he’d let me.” Husband Material satisfies an itch I do not always get to scratch in adult Rom Com’s which is what about what happens after?  I must confess as much as I enjoy romance novels (cis-normative heterosexual or LGBTQ+ or anything in between, makes no difference to me, speaking for myself) I am often dissatisfied with the person meets person, and they come together in one shape, form or another and then there are 2-3 pages left to let me know how it works out. The end. I mean to say I LOVE it, devour it, up until the end and then, sigh…. It generally makes me wonder, what happens next? In most books the closest I come to satisfaction is the happy couple are some background characters in someone else’s story and I see they are still together. But this time, we are back with Oliver and ...