Rebel Hard
Hard Play, Book 2

I Picked Up This Book Because: Continue the series.

Media Type: Audiobook
Source: BC Public Library
Dates Read: 8/21/23 - 8/25/23
Stars: 4 Stars
Narrator(s): Justine O. Keef

The Characters:

Nayna Sharma:
Raj Sen:


The Story:

Why do I wait so long between books from author's I enjoy? I was feeling a slump coming on but not after I picked this up. I wish I remembered more about Issa and Sailor, but I loved getting to know Nayna and Raj. He is so supportive and loving, even if he gripes about it. Nayna’s grandmother is hilarious.

The Random Thoughts:

Oh, and this was hawt!

OMG the teasing the emotions of the character had my hard pounding and swooning all day! I love what Nalini did with the details and the cast of characters who made the story interesting. It was a growing up journey for the main heroine and I really enjoyed getting two POV. There were so many romantic quotes that I love! I do wish that the love scenes were more intense not just after the one moment. But overall I am in love with this book and am happy how it ended! A Must Read!

I absolutely loved the heroes, their story, their Relationship. And I definitely watched again my favorite Bollywood movie while reading the book. Because Rebel Hard is about Indian people, their tradition, their rules and the rebellion of a strong heroine.

I finally had the chance to read Rebel Hard by Nalini Singh, another one of her contemporary romances, and absolutely adored it! Though no surprise there – I'm such a huge fan of Nalini's. Even though I'm more familiar with her PNRs and UFs, I still enjoy her contemporaries and I'm happy she's writing more of the Hard Play series. This second installment is about Nayna and Raj, two people who meet by chance and end up being being arranged together by their parents. Unfortunately, they both have very different wants and outlooks on life. I loved the push and pull between the main characters, and steamy and sensual their romance was. And bonus, both are virgins! This is a fantastic South Asian romance I can't recommend enough. If you love sweetheart, cinnamon roll characters, you will adore this book!

Nalini Singh will always be one of my favourite authors, I will literally buy anything she writer, her Pay-Changeling series hit my favourites shelf straight away. I was so excited to hear she was writing a new series and wow did she deliver.

All Nalini Singh's books are five stars from me but Rebel Hard is especially so! Nayna is an excellent heroine who struggles with family pressure and questions about what she wants out of life. Raj is my favorite new hero! I mean, who doesn't love a hero who reads Pride and Prejudice as a way to get to know the heroine better? This is a beautiful and complex love story and I adored every second!

Thanks for this ARC !

Rebel Hard was a joy to read : there was all I wanted in a contemporary romance, it was hilarious and sexy, touching, and I loved the characters. There's friendship, family, tradition, respect... it was just a great read for me. It was the first time I read a book about Indian culture, and it was refreshing !

Rebel Hard is my second book by Nalini Singh and I really liked it a lot. It was just as good as the first book I read. I loved the writing and the characters.

I enjoyed this novel-- a sweet romance that focused on a girl finding herself in the confines of a traditional Indian family and their expectations for her future. What made it stand out was its insights and explanations about various aspects of Indian culture that I'd never experienced before. I enjoyed getting to know these characters and their adoration, challenges, and love for their families. I loved learning more about traditions and viewpoints--I felt like I gained so much from seeing the world through Nayna and Raj's eyes and I cannot wait to find more novels like this one. I love the romance community for inviting me to read and learn about the lives of others that are living lives so interesting and it's novels like this that are much needed -- #ownvoices writers showing us nuances and perspectives about their lives and communities; showing us a full spectrum of what it's like living in the world and being part of a community that we know very little or nothing about.

Accepting an arranged marriage was the last straw but Nayna wanted to find a way to honor her family. Having one last fling was exactly what she needed and meeting Raj was everything she could have possibly asked for. Of course, nothing goes right and she still needs to find an acceptable suitor. Will Raj be the one? Great story on how an arrangement turns into so much more.

Nalini Singh continues to shine in her contemporary series. She writes so many genres but her stories all have similar themes of love and family that makes every read a great one.

I forget sometimes how much I like all things Nalini Singh! This current series follows along friends and family of Indian decent as their discover themselves and their wants and needs.

Rebel Hard follows Nayna and Raj. Nayna is the good little Indian daughter that has spent her entire life making decisions that atone for or don't follow the path her older sister traveled. She has spent years attempting to bridge the divide in her family and now that her goals is complete, can she continue to follow the path her parents want instead of figuring out what she wants for herself? Raj knows that he wants a partner that is family oriented and devoted to their future family. Either someone that works in their family business from home, like his adopted mother did, or stays at home with the family is preferable. Can they overcome their surprisingly strong attraction and conflicting wants? Follow this interesting and wonderful read that gives a look into another culture and explores their two young people and they discover and explore their life dreams.

Nayna Sharma agreed to an arranged marriage in the hope it would heal the fractures in her beloved family... only to realize too late that a traditional marriage is her personal nightmare. Panicked, she throws caution to the winds, puts on the tiniest dress she can find, and ends up in the arms of a tall, rough-edged hunk of a man who has abs of steel—and who she manages to mortally insult between one kiss and the next. Abandoned as a child, then adopted into a loving family, Raj Sen believes in tradition, in continuity. Some might call him stiff and old-fashioned, but he knows what he wants—and it's a life defined by rules... yet he can't stop thinking about the infuriating and sexy woman who kissed him in the moonlight then disappeared. When his parents spring an introduction on him, the last woman he expects is her. Beautiful. Maddening. A rule breaker in the making.
This was a pretty good story. Being American and growing up in the generation I did, I’ve only heard of arranged marriages and a young woman’s sacrifice for the family name. This is also the first contemporary book I’ve read where it’s a plot point. I did read the first book in this series a while back, so I’d already been introduced to Nayna. Her feelings are written so well, you can’t help but be drawn into her story and root for her to find a happy ending with Raj. I highly recommend.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed this book

3 1/2 STARS!


✦ She's an accountant

✦ Good girl who wants to be bad, have adventure, etc.

✦ He runs his family’s big construction company

✦ A bit traditional, all about taking care of family and responsibilities

✦ They kiss at a party . . . Surprise, their parents suggest an arranged marriage! [They had each asked their parents to start looking for the perfect spouse. Fate!]

✦ Set in New Zealand, both are Indian

✦ The ab selfies tho! That was fun and sexy.

✦ Low heat. The build-up to the sex was great! But all the sex -- not that there's much on page -- was . . . . super underwhelming, rushed, and vague. There's nothing *wrong* with that in a romance, btw, but it disappointed me after the sexy build-up in the early parts of the book.

✦ Pacing and time jumps felt a bit off at times

✦ The story and romance itself was perfectly fine, I don't have any complaints, really.

✦ Overall, a solid read from Nalini (and I loved seeing so much of their Indian culture in the book!) but I was left wanting a bit more, especially from the smexy-times. But you all know I'm greedy soooo. Take that as you will. :)

Ok I have to confess… I put this story off as long as I humanly could because I did not want to think about leaving these characters behind, even though I knew in my mind I was missing out on an amazing experience by not reading the story! And I was right. This story runs parallel to the first book in the series, Cherish Hard, which is the story of Nayna’s best friend Ísa falling in love with Raj’s best friend Sailor, so we have gotten a few glimpses of this story already if you read that story, which I must say if you didn’t, stop right now and go do that. I must preface this review with the comment that if you haven’t experienced a lot of different cultures either personally or through your reading, you might not understand a lot of the angst and drama in this story, as the two characters come to terms with their emotions and their family obligations, but it made perfect sense to me. Nayna has finally decided to give into the family pressure to be the "good daughter" and let her parents set up an arranged marriage, but she wants one chance to be the "bad girl" before she is forced into the role she has always feared and sets out for a night of wild fun with her friend at a party. There she experiences the first real passion of her life at the hands of a man that should be all wrong for her and has no way to gauge her feelings for him or what he draws from her and soon finds that she has gravely insulted him. When midnight strikes on her Cinderella night, Nayna decides to forget the man that brought out such passion in her, until she finds herself face to face with him in the most unexpected of places. Raj is determined to find the woman made to complete him, but the siren that inspired more reckless passion than he has ever felt in his life is beyond unforgettable. While he has promised his parents he will marry and is willing to let them set him up, he has changed his mind until he can find the woman that has haunted his nights, but when he discovers that she is in fact the next woman his parents have matched him with, his entire world tilts on its axis. The gauntlet is thrown down between them, but as they spark off one another the challenge of what they both want versus what they think they owe their families becomes an entangled mess. Raj has to decide if he loves Nayna enough to allow her to spread her wings, even if it takes her away from the love and life he wanted them to build together, or if he will try to cage the spirit that so draws him to her.
The complex nature of heart versus mind is explored in great detail as both Nayna and Raj come to terms with the fact that you cannot always mold yourself into what the world wants, sometimes you have to mold the world into what works for you. Nayna was a woman that never really had a chance to embrace life, always hidden in the shadow of the mistakes made by her older sister and the scandal that she caused. Being the good girl, mainly to make sure that her family was never again ripped apart, showed us that her heart might have been in the right place, but someone should have been looking out for her much more than they were. When she finally has her chance, with Raj’s help surprisingly, we get to see the fully-evolved and amazing woman she was always destined to become and I have to see I could see her being one of my besties. She is fun, sweet, loving, and sensual without trying to be, and her sass and verve for life would keep me on my toes as her friend as much as it did Raj as her lover. While I hurt a lot seeing her go through her growing pains, it was time, and once she got past them she was a much happier and loving person for the drama. Raj is a great guy, even if he is a bit rigid, but with Nayna’s help he finds a lot of ways to unbend. Once he decides that Nayna is it for him, he refuses to let anything stop him in his pursuit, even her own fears, and is willing to sacrifice anything for her happiness, making him truly a hero in my eyes. And let’s not forget that he stood up to her family, his own, and the community as a whole to allow her to be happy, even at his own expense—can you say HOTT?! I would love to find myself a Raj type guy that I could have the chance to ruffle up while he helps me blossom. These two spread heat like a wildfire as they challenge one another at every turn, whether they are arguing, loving, or fighting together against the world, and I can see that lasting into their old age as the explore the world together.
This story is one that many might see as too hung up on the customs and cultural issues that Raj and Nayna dealt with in the story, but I can only say that they obviously don’t understand just how much family obligation can truly shape a person and their love life. I loved seeing Nayna break out of her shell and drag Raj right along with her to bring him to understand that just because a person spreads their wings to fly doesn’t mean they don’t need a solid home to return to. Nayna was a woman that just needed the right reason to give herself the permission to put herself first and that reason was love and a man that was willing to work for her heart. Raj too needed to find his balance between love and obligation and when he found Nayna, he knew he’d found the woman to complete his life. I loved every second of seeing these two struggle to find their footing together and individually and find their places in one another’s lives and almost wish the story had been even longer so I could enjoy more. I am hoping the series might continue someday so I get to revisit these characters, but if not I know I can always return for a reread to enjoy the magic all over again. Thanks for the fun experience of these two magical stories of people that need one another more than they ever imagined to become the people they were meant to be, Ms. Singh.

***ARC received in exchange of an honest opinion***

Rebel Hard was quite the surprise. This book was different than what I'm used to read. I loved that so much of it had to do with the Indian culture and the author's heritage.

The story was written in a way where that makes sense without it being boring or overdone.

I really enjoyed the banter between Nayna and Raj and I could definitely feel the chemistry throughout the pages. I love Nalini's heroines, they're kickass in their own way, even the ones from contemporary books.

I find Nalini to be a very eclectic author. I've enjoyed her fantasy and paranormal books just as much as her contemporary ones. I think her writing is in that level that you just know you'll get a good read out of her books. Her book are definitely worth the read for me and Rebel Hard wasn't different. You'll fall in love with Nayna and Raj (and their families) just like I did.

Full disclosure: I should have reviewed this book forever ago but I'm so behind on my advance copies that I'm just getting to this almost three full months after it was released. But oh it was so worth it. I've been overwhelmed for about a week or so because sick again, work, class, life, you know the drill. I've been reading and things have been okay but this book was EVERYTHING I DIDN'T KNOW I NEEDED.

First, takes place in New Zealand. Second, Indian main characters. Third, and this is a bit of a spoiler, TWO VIRGIN CHARACTERS. TWO! That NEVER happens. You can tell from the caps that I enjoyed this book. Fourth, the family relationships in this story were spot on amazing.

One of the things I liked most was reading about the struggle the characters felt between old and new. Arranged marriages are a huge part of their normal and to have that struggle between doing what is expected and doing what you need to do to be yourself, you could feel it right along with Raj and Nayna.

Honestly, I can find zero flaws with this book. I enjoyed every minute and was genuinely sad to see it end. May very well be one of my top books of 2018.

5 out of 5 stars

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for a review.

Thanks to the publisher for an ARC to read and give my honest opinion.


Honestly..... this was not my favorite series for this author. I felt like I was stuck in a traditionalist style age with two arranged to be married characters. Sure there was heat between the two but I felt awkward. Since I do not understand a lot of the traditional expectations for this type of arrangement and I find it horrible that people still do this. I felt like I was ready for this book due to her other series but when I was actually handed the script I felt like I was Dorothy in OZ. Just completely unexpected

This book. I mean, just read it. Yes, Nalini is my ultimate favorite author, but this is my favorite contemporary that she's written. Raj and Nayna were just so great on page. I loved seeing their relationship unfold, and even more, I loved seeing Nayna develop her own sense of self. 5 Stars.

I cannot begin to say enough good things about Ms Singh's stories and books. She knocks it out of the park for me every time and I've become a lifelong fan of her work. This one is no different and I've been eagerly anticipating this story. What a great emotional pull.