I really wanted to love this one! Unfortunately, it fell a little flat for me. Weaving the love story of a gay man while tackling social and political issues is modern day India, it could have just been "more" if that makes sense. It was enjoyable, but in a I had to work my way through it enjoyable.

I received an advanced copy for free and am leaving this review voluntarily. Thank you to NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing, and Farhad Dadyburjor. 💕

I really liked this! I adored the fact that it was a south Asian romcom specifically crafted for a south Asian audience. We certainly need more novels that discuss the LGBTQ population in South Asia, but we also need works that address their anxieties and concerns beyond just include them in happy-ever-after endings. This novel, in my opinion, attempted to achieve that by addressing section 377 of the Indian Penal Code and all the efforts made to remove it while still having a lovely, pleasant narrative that was quite engaging.
Overall, this was a really great book.

The characters are well-developed, and the author does an excellent job of conveying their emotions and motivations. However, the pacing of the book can be slow at times.

A sweet romance that instantly transports to the time when homosexuality was criminalised, leading a closeted gay man to live a life of what's expected of him rather than what his heart wants. It shows a predictable heterosexual relationship in the making as Ved has to marry a straight woman to walk down the dutiful path of marriage —especially when constantly poked by the society for settling down in late thirties. And the hope and happiness of actually finding a partner you love can be felt when Ved meets Carlos, an American vacationing in Mumbai. A delight to read a rom-com that doesn't shy away from the heavy emotions and one that shows a queer journey in India: a conservative country that has had homosexuality criminalised for years but has also recently repealed the law. Sadly, the writing wasn't impressive and a lot of faith was placed in the narration without much substance for the plot.

A charming look at life as a gay man in contemporary India. Dadyburjor writes very well, and the characters are deep and interesting. If you're looking for gay fiction with an intriguing setting, this book is a good choice.

Enjoyed the Mumbai setting but the rest hit a flat note for me; I didn't really buy the strength of the two central relationships, and imo there needed to be more consequences at the end on the family side - there's so much hurt there to be mined! Also didn't love the writing style, and no 300 page book needs to be 81 chapters. It simply did not have to happen that way

Thanks NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing and Farhad J. Dedyburjor for advanced reader copy to review.
A heartwarming romantic comedy
I liked it

This book does a great job at weaving a fiction story with current political and social norms and expectations. I loved Ved's character growth, more so than the romance, but I also like that he realized things about the not-so-awesome person he was throughout the story.

I received an advance copy. All thoughts are my own.

Engaging, Heartwarming…
Ved Mehra is the envy of many. He has looks, status and money and heir to a business in Mumbai. He is also a gay man under pressure. After agreeing to an arranged marriage, Ved meets the enigmatic Carlos and life gets more complicated by the minute. Engaging and heartwarming romance with a deftly drawn and enigmatic cast.

This one is an earnest look into being LGBTQ+ in India. Love and familial expectations are always complicated! I would certainly recommend to anyone who enjoys a protagonist's journey of living authentically.

Real Rating: 4.25* of five, rounded down because I feel charitable despite getting NINE W-BOMBS splattered on my hems like chamberpots tossed out a medieval window

FINALIST FOR THE 34th LAMMY AWARD—BEST GAY ROMANCE! Winners announced 11 June 2022.

There is nothing quite so satisfying to me as to read something where, since the conventions of the genre are well-established and I'm deeply familiar with them, the Rules get a good, solid workout. It really looked like something was just going to happen in the established and expected (in the book's world) way, and I'd've been reading a different book than the one I thought I was getting.

This did not occur. That is a Good Thing.

There's always a HEA (Happily Ever After) in a romance novel, or in a rom-com. They aren't always clearly signaled from the beginning. Usually, after a long time reading them, one gets a feeling for what's coming up. The thing that makes this a better version of the genres (they're not identical, romances and rom-coms) is that I got the real and genuine interiority of the main man.
He was well aware how people viewed homosexuality in this country—as if it were a disease that could be cured like any other. He would become the object of ridicule at work, and he could imagine all too easily the way Mum’s friends would sneer about his “abnormality” behind his back, offering their sympathies to Dolly while secretly relishing the downfall of the once-mighty Mehra name.
–and–
Carlos clearly believed Ved was different, but Ved wasn’t so sure. Ved had once been the one to smile at Akshay like that, with his whole face open, with such trust. Ved had done that from this very seat at this very table. Now, the roles were reversed. In this scenario, Ved was Akshay. And that terrified him.

The point-of-view character is, in the best versions of the genres, developed beyond the absolute minimum. In Dadyburjor's book, the repeal of Section 377, a British Colonial law against consensual gay sex between men, provides the backdrop for the gradual awakening of the main man to his responsibilities as a societal actor. His long-brewing confrontation with himself, his internalized need to Please and to fit in, tracks with the Indian Supreme Court's decision to overturn this legacy of obtuse and cruel Britishness. This places the book's action as taking place around 6 September 2018, when the decision to strike down the law was formally issued.

As framing devices for coming-out narratives go, it's awfully hard to beat that one! It isn't exactly harped on, American audiences without much interest in the fate of their fellow men in other countries aren't going to get smacked with it everywhere, but there is enough to make the turning points clear to someone who has paid attention.

Ved, our main man, is really the opposite of a cinnamon roll...maybe a kale salad, like the one he eats *convulsive retch* during the dark, pre-coming-out days?...he not only deserves his suffering but is let off lightly by the author for his unconscionable acts of lying by omission and commission. He's eaten alive by self-loathing and guilt? Good! He merits these feelings! His actions towards both his gal-pal/fiancée and his belovèd Carlos are reprehensible indeed. Yes yes yes he's trying to please everyone else and not being in the least bit honest in it. That's part of the character's journey...and part of the framing device's demands. The point of Ved coming out at all was to be, legally and finally, a gay man in a country that stopped making it possible for sleazy, evil people to victimize him. (Go watch the 1961 film Victim if you want to see what specifically could happen to a man like Ved without the repeal of Section 377. It is not all that pleasant, he said with his best clipped English tones.)

But this is all in service of A Redemption. The redemption comes after the main man is out, after he takes his lumps and makes his obeisances to the ones his dishonesty hurt. It does indeed work, for this particular reader, as a romance novel for that reason. I wouldn't call it a rom-com, as I've seen others do. I don't find lying and hiding amusing anymore...once I might've, since I used to laugh my socks off at Absolutely Fabulous (am now unable to watch even a full episode).

Ved makes as good as anyone can for the harm he's caused. That merits some sort of reward. But we don't see it...the engagement party that he's just caused to crash and burn was a few days, like two or three!, away when he said "NO" and we see NONE of the carnage? Why do I feel so cheated of some good, meaty melodrama? And Disha, the woman he was engaged to, wasn't any monadnock of probity, either, yet she gets nothing, absolutely nothing! of a reckoning for her lying? Hm. I get the constraints of romance-novel length but a balance could've been struck, couldn't it?

So no, no fives from me. But I must say that I completely understand the inclusion of the book on the Lammy Awards list of bests of 2021. It deserves, in my never-remotely-humble opinion, the win. The originality of the framing device, its careful use so as not to be intrusive to audiences who *sigh* just don't care but still present enough to make the timeline clear, gets big kudos. The main man's journey from child-man to man is satisfyingly real. The ending is indeed happy, and that was exactly what the entire exercise promised.

Promise: kept. Pleasure: had.

I love romantic comedy's, in any form, and I especially love them when they feature minority groups and locations other than "sunny California." Give this a read!

I had a fun time reading the book, mostly because I loved learning about what life in India was like. The focus around gay marriage and relationships being illegal was incredibly educational, and I liked that it made the stakes higher for the romance.
Unfortunately, the romance fell flat for me. I thought the love interest was incredibly unempathetic toward Ved despite numerous explanations that Ved could be jailed for being gay. I felt bad every time Ved was made to be the bad guy for not being out or not wanting to go to gay clubs. He was worried for his safety and the love interest didn't seem to care about that much.
The cheating wasn't my favorite and I felt like it was entirely unnecessary. It felt "justified" only because Ved needed a beard, but it wasn't well explained and I wish it hadn't been such a big part of the story.

This was a charming story about finding yourself and admitting who you are. Well written.
Many thanks to Lake Union Publishing and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was an awesome read. Fast-paced but still well developed. I loved the exploration of different types of romantic relationships. I have already recommended to friends!

I really enjoyed this story. Exactly what was needed.

Just warms you up from the inside watching Ved grow and grow into himself. I enjoyed the story and I enjoyed the writing style.

This was seriously so cute! It had a lot of depth to it & I loved all of the characters. I also loved how the story tied up nicely at the end for a happy ending. This is a great light-hearted romance, yet it touches on some deep topics. If you’re looking for a cute romance with LGBTQ+ characters, this is it.

This was a very surprising read for me. I learned more about the Indian culture and sometimes I was a little bit shocked. But I love how Ved evolved in this story.

Ved is a single man living in Mumbai at his father's company. He gets hounded my his mother daily about getting married. Ved has a huge secret he hasn't told him mother. I thought this story was cute. I felt Ved's frustration with his mother and his joy he had with his ex. This story had me hooked from the beginning. I really hope that this author writes another outstanding book or makes this book into a series. I'd listen to the story of Disha. I really recommend reading or listening to this book.

DNF @ 24%
It was interesting blurb, to show us how homosexuality is looked down on and arranged marriage still is in India.
But i did not enjoy the main character, sadly. How he acted and was, espesially when it was talked about "fuck me- attire" it just rubbed me the wrong way and it did not improve further in the story.