I liked the premise but would have liked to see more discussion about the cultural appropriation that was going on with the main character. I found it hard to cheer for her because it was so uncomfortable watching her be obsessed with East Indian culture; it seemed clear she was in love with the culture more than her ex.

This is a novella - something not mentioned in the description.. Once you get over that, it is fast paced and spans over the course of the wedding weekend. I have a number of issues while reading this - all related to how unrealistic some of the core elements were..

Without giving spoilers away, I will just ask, why would anyone esp. someone they were deeply in love with, allow a falling out (no matter how bad it was) to extend into years so much so, they only find out through a 3rd degree connection via Facebook?

Then there are other ridiculous things such as her affinity to everything Indian. No, don't get me wrong i'm from the region too, but, still, Its very hard to digest that even after the falling out, she's getting a PHD in the culture!

I also wish, the author had spent a little time on Krystal the main character because that would have been truly interesting. In fact, the only strength in the novel was a little bit about Krystal's feelings and background. I wish that had been explored further.

I hope the author takes this feedback in stride and improves because like I said, the story and characters have a lot of promise :).
This is a decent first publication effort but I've read other firsts too (yes, even a novella) and this should have been written better because the story was already there.

Krystal is the only adopted child in her family. She feels out of place until Gita and her family move next door. Indian immigrants with colourful lives, Gita and Krystal become best friends, sharing their lives until Krystal does something to fracture their trust.

Several years later, Krystal finds out that Gita is entering into an arranged marriage. Dashing to see Gita before she ties the know, Krystal must make her case for love. Krystal persuades her roommate to come with her, and together they go on a grand romantic adventure.

Francis has written a number of lesbian romances previously and her experience shows with this novella. I thought the story worked quite well, and I really liked the addition of cultural flavours of immigrant Indians in the UK. The colours and tone of the book changed as a result, and this really worked for me.

Krystal, the main character was adopted, and the shift of perspective from the adopted Krystal to the roommate Brianna, and a more adult understanding of adoption and her adoptive family was interesting. This could have been amplified in the story, as it was a potentially fascinating change for the main character to go through.

Brianna, the roommate, was underwritten as a character. It’s hard when the real main character is buried as the roommate rather than the potential love interest. The novella length meant that it would be hard to tease out the attraction before it came to fruition.

I liked the story and thought it had some interesting elements to it. And Francis is clearly a capable writer. I would have liked to have seen more about the connection between Krystal and Brianna, and any potential attraction between them, prior to them embarking on their trip. It felt like the sudden change of heart was not just unexpected, but unwarranted from the relationship between the two characters throughout the rest of the novella. This was what I found frustrating in the book.

I enjoyed the book, but I really wanted more build up between the two main characters.

Advanced reading copy provided by NetGalley for an honest review.

*I received this book from NetGalley, and Less Than Three in return for a fair review.*

Strangely I had a large number of thoughts while reading this book. Things like ‘unreliable narrator’, and ‘what makes someone a villain’ in a story, people’s ‘obsession for other cultures’, and the like. There’s a certain amount of unreliable narration going on here, along with borderline ‘obsessive stalker like symptoms’.

Well, as the reader finds out early on – Krystal and Brianna are roommates and both are graduate students. I believe both of them are somewhere around 27 years of age. Brianna is obsessed with Star Wars, while Krystal is obsessed with Indian culture – specifically Hindi culture. Krystal is so obsessed with it that she’s getting a degree in it (well, ‘Hindi Translation’ and . . . something else).

Where’d this obsession come from? Well, Brianna’s obsession was never explained, while Krystal’s is based on falling in love with the next door neighbor, Gita, who was from India (family was, I think the parents immigrated to Canada before the kids were born, but unsure; actually, now that I think about it, I think that story I’m basing that idea off of is about the uncle and his wife, not Gita’s parents).

The description seemed to imply that the story would be told in at least two waves, when Gita moved in, and then ten years later. Except, the story begins when Krystal is around 27, and learns that Gita is getting married . . . to a man. And, so, Krystal freaks out (not in the way that a flashback to that time occurs, no, everything is mostly in ‘the present’, with stories told of what had occurred in the past – told to others like to Brianna). Apparently Gita 1) hated the mere idea of arranged marriages (and apparently this will be an arranged marriage); 2) had given the impression, based on a promise, that they, Gita and Krystal, will love each other forever.

1 & 2 are part of where that unreliable narrator comes in. <spoiler>Probably just skip this spoiler, if you haven’t read the story; and if you have read the story, then you already know what could go here <spoiler>As evidence that Gita hated arranged marriages, Krystal points to a blog that Gita had put up – one with stories about how much she hates the idea. And stuff. Plus stories. Lots of stories. Including one about love and stuff, about how she might have fallen off a roof and injured herself but she also found love – and Krystal spends a lot of time rereading the lines that note that love. That had been found. On a particular occasion. <spoiler> the blog put up under the name of Gita . . . . was actually written by Krystal. This and other things lead me to that ‘obsessive stalker’ comment </spoiler></spoiler></spoiler>.

Strangely, despite certain things that get revealed, I did end up rather enjoying the short story. I knew, mostly, how everything would unfold based on the story description, despite being somewhat misleading in certain ways, it still lead me to ‘know’ how things would unfold.

Enjoyable story. And I am not left hanging, wanting more. For ‘reasons’, I’m sure others would want a little more here or there (like graphic stuff), but it worked for me.

<b>Rating</b>: 3.88