Happy Monday ya’ll and happy almost release day to First Love, Take Two (this book comes out tomorrow, so make sure y’all go and grab it then)! Thank you so much to Forever and Netgalley for letting me read an eARC of this book! I loved the first book about this friend group so I was the most excited to have the opportunity to read Preeti and Daniel’s second chance at love!

First Love, Take Two 5/5 Stars

Summary from Goodreads:

On the verge of realizing her dream of being a doctor, Preeti Patel should be ecstatic. But between the stress of her residency, trying to find a job, and managing her traditional, no-boundaries family, Preeti’s anxiety is through the roof. Relationships and love aren’t even an option. Fortunately, Preeti’s finally found a new place to stay . . . only to discover that her new roommate is her ex.

Preeti never quite got over Daniel Thompson. Super-hot, plenty of swagger, amazing cook—the guy is practically perfect. And if it weren’t for their families, there might have been a happily ever after. But it’s hard to keep her sanity and libido in check when the man of her dreams is sleeping mere feet away. Can Preeti and Daniel find a way to stand up and fight for each other one last time . . . before they lose their second chance?

Oh man y’all. This book was so incredibly amazing. I was already pulling for Preeti and Daniel while reading Liya and Jay’s book, so getting to read more about why they ended in the first place and seeing their incredible chemistry first hand was amazing. And of course, we saw the mandir and the fallout from book one and the revelation that Liya had dropped about one of the Uncles- and how people were either rallying around Liya or calling her a lying slut and saying that she was tarnishing a good man’s name. I’m sure it’s the same in a lot of cultures, but based on what I’ve seen, Indian people love making young women out to be the bad guy. And ugh everything with Yuvan and his parents- they didn’t want Preeti to marry their son, they just wanted a nice, Indian doctor of a certain age who was able to do all of these things around the house while also working- it didn’t matter who she was, as long as she looked good on paper. I know a lot of cousins who have had arranged marriages because they’ve looked good on paper and I mean they weren’t their choices, but it was what it was. And pushing for a communal engagement and marriage at the mandir when you could physically see that Preeti was uncomfortable? It made me so sad! I know there are probably people who would read this book and be like man she just needs to stand up for herself more, but she wanted to make sure that her parents were happy and she thought that this was making them happy. There’s so much tied in to being a good child and doing what needs to be done to make your parents proud/happy- I’m so happy with how this book ended though. Sajni Patel is such a masterful storyteller and I love how she’s able to show a small glimpse into what being Desi American is like. I highly recommend First Love, Take Two!

Such a talent in romance!

The Trouble with Hating You was one of my favorite books of 2020 and Patel's second novel, First Love, Take Two delivered the same feelings.

There's history between Preeti and Daniel, who broke up suddenly six years ago. When the two of them are forced to live in the same apartment for a short time, their feelings are explored.

I love a good second chance romance. All of the characters are beautiful and flawed, which makes this story just jump from the page. The themes of handling stress and mental health as well as racism and family demands are well-done and incredibly deep for this genre. I love how Patel forms stories around issues that matter while including many sweet moments. The cultural representation is amazing as well and makes this book easily recommendable.

This was an amazing book focused not only on a sweet second chance romance but on Preeti's journey to accepting standing up for herself and accepting her anxiety.

I absolutely loved the relationship between Preeti and Daniel, even though there was a lot of pain between them there was also a lot of hope. This was an angsty read but wasn't as intense as some other romances I've read; this is to say that I really appreciated that the angst was there but it wasn't full of miscommunication and cruel actions/words. Overall I really loved what Sajni Patel did with this book and hope she continues the series.

Definitely glad I already pre-ordered my copy because there were so many moments I want to tab!

The Trouble with Hating You was one of my favorites from 2020, so I was super excited to see the girls back in First Love, Take Two.

This time though, we learn the backstory of Preeti and her ex-First Love, Daniel. Sajni Patel’s development of these characters goes above and beyond your typical Contemporary Romance novel. The depth of these two makes you instantly fall in love with Daniel, and feel the torment Preeti must have felt six years ago when she walked away from him. Sanji’s writing is full of wit, humor, slow burn, and compassion.

I loved that the author touched upon subjects that weren’t easy - mental health, family relations, racism. Sajni takes you into the Indian community - which quite honestly, isn’t all that different from my own.

I’m hoping this series continues so we can learn more about the rest of the girl pack. Everyone needs friends like these in their lives.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

First Love, Take Two is a contemporary romance that is a stand alone but loosely connected to The Trouble With Hating You (a different book that I recently read and enjoyed)! First Love, Take Two is a second chance romance about a female doctor and her high school ex-- truly the one that got away. When these two are both facing a gap in housing they are forced to share a friend’s small apartment. With unresolved issues, lots of sexual tension, and a whole lot of forced proximity you can imagine how hard it is for these two to stay away. Similar to The Trouble With Hating You, this book is full of beautiful descriptions of India culture and mouth-watering foods. I also enjoyed Patel’s descriptions of how difficult interracial relationships can be while pointing out the flaws in antiquated traditions. I really enjoyed this book and I hope you will too!

𝗙𝗜𝗥𝗦𝗧 𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘, 𝗧𝗔𝗞𝗘 𝗧𝗪𝗢 is (you guessed it!) a second-chance romance and the second in 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘏𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘠𝘰𝘶 series. I wish I had read the first book prior but it works as a stand alone.

Six years ago, Preeti dumped Daniel without a word because (unbeknownst to him) his race was an issue for her community and hers was for his family as well. When he moves back to Texas, they end up living together. Daniel is determined to find out why Preeti left and she's adamant that he never learn the truth. I loved these characters and the chemistry is off the charts but what really drew me in is the beautiful job Sajni Patel does of portraying Preeti's anxiety and depression - reading the descriptions of her dark moments were vivid and really made you feel her pain. This book tackles heavy topics in a wonderful way and the final scene put a huge smile on my face.

Thanks to Forever Publishing and NetGalley for a copy to review.

A really enjoyable read as Preeti and Daniel find their way to real adulthood and real love for themselves and one another. While I wasn't in doubt about the outcome, the characters and their stories were compelling enough to keep me reading. Great read when you want a romance with a bit more depth.

I adored the first book in this series and immediately knew I needed to start this one when I finished. As in, I started less than an hour after putting The Trouble with Hating You down.

First Love, Take Two follows Preeti who is so close to achieving her dream of becoming a doctor. When her friend Liya offers Preeti her apartment, it seems like her life is coming together perfectly. Until she realizes her new roommate is her ex, Daniel, who she never completely got over.

Sajni Patel is amazing at creating characters who seem so relatable. She doesn’t shy away from challenging topics, but writes about them in a way that feels so real. In this book, I appreciated the way she handled Preeti’s anxiety and some of the challenges of being in an inter-racial relationship. Aside from that, I adored this romance. Despite all of the things going against them, I was rooting from Preeti and Daniel from the start. I loved them together. I adored how Daniel was so caring and patient with Preeti’s anxiety. But most of all, I loved Preeti as a main character. Her growth throughout the story is so beautiful. I could keep raving about this book, but I’ll let y’all read it for yourselves.

Thank you to Forever Publishing, Hachette Audio, and NetGalley for the advanced copies.

First Love, Take Two is the second novel in the Trouble with Love series. As the novels feature different main characters within the same larger group, each novel can be read as a standalone. This novel focuses on Preeti Patel, who is a resident at a hospital in Houston. She works extremely hard and is heavily involved at her hospital as she tries to prove to them that she deserves a permanent position. This in itself is an extremely stressful point in her life and right at the start of the novel, it was a great introduction to the character. Outside of her professional life, she faces a lot more pressure from her family to get married to someone they approve of and begin a family of her own. When Preeti needs to move, her best friend Liya, who now lives in Dallas, offers her place temporarily until the lease finishes. The only catch is that Preeti’s ex-boyfriend Daniel will also be there as he needs temporary housing while his place is renovated. With no other better option available, Pretti agrees and now she must face the ex she walked away from without an explanation.

Daniel Thompson comes from a wealthy family that comes with its own obligations. He was left extremely broken-hearted when Preeti broke up with him unexpectedly years ago and he is desperate for an explanation. The reader is given the main point of the two families not approving of their relationship very early on in the novel, while Daniel mostly is left in the dark. Everything is revealed over time and eventually, everything comes out into the open. There is a little bit of family drama mixed with the miscommunication trope as Preeti keeps the information from Daniel, even though he is constantly asking for it. While I absolutely loved Daniel, there were moments where I felt that he was inconsistent. It made him relatable to not be linear in his thinking as real people think a variety of thoughts and not everything makes sense all the time; however, there were moments where I just wanted a little more exploration into these moments. One time he flirts with Preeti as if nothing has changed between them and the next he is upset. Again, these are real changes in emotion given their situation and I just wanted a little more in-depth look into this roller coaster.

The two characters each have their own emotional and mental health concerns that they deal with throughout their story. I especially loved the exploration into Preeti’s touch aversion, as it is more common if you read many textbooks and articles than most people think. I also greatly loved how the stigma surrounding mental health, especially in some communities, was addressed within the story. There are the cultural aspects of the novel as Daniel is Black and Preeti is India, so, as the author noted in the novel, there is a discussion of racism in the story. Additionally, there are the family dynamics that each character deals with on a daily basis. Then, there are the pressures from each family to have their children married to people that they choose. Daniel’s family wants him to marry someone who can fit into their high-end society while Pretti wants her to marry someone within the community. All of these multiple elements tie together within this second-chance romance. I greatly enjoyed that there was a lot of depth into these two characters as there are reasons on each side of the argument if they should pursue a relationship again.

Overall, the story has many heartwarming moments and multiple journeys of self-discovery and growth. As the two characters have an established history, the reader first meets them in their broken stage after years apart before looking into the possibility of a future as a couple and into their past. Even if they decide to try the relationship again, it is not a simple re-build as there are many obstacles to face before it could be possible. The ending of the story is satisfying and there is a lot of potentials to revisit the couple if the series continues. It was enjoyable to see a little into the current stage for Liya and Jay and I hope there is more to come since I greatly enjoyed this novel!

**I give a special thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, Forever, for the opportunity to read this entertaining novel. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.**

Thank you NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the opportunity to read an advanced readers copy of First Love, Take Two!

Over all, this was a very sweet second-chance love story! However, what makes it special and memorable is that yet again Sajni Patel takes the opportunity to address important topics in modern day dating/romance: interracial relationship/ cultural racism & mental health.

Preeti & Daniel are an Indian/black multiracial relationship, with family on both sides that don’t support the relationship. This is why Preeti ended their relationship abruptly six years ago. Now they are sharing an apartment (YAY FORCED PROXIMITY) and have to address their old problems - Daniels unsupportive father, Preeti’s judgemental aunties, and Preeti’s concern for her mother’s health and her own mental health/ touch aversion.

I rated this book 4 ⭐️- It didn’t have any spice unfortunately (one fade to black scene), but the sexual innuendo had me laughing. Also, I was loving the support from Preeti’s dad you don’t typically see! Daniel was such a swoony character! Im excited to see if there will be any more character storylines to this series!

While I didn't love the start of this book, I devoured the last 75% and ended up really enjoying it!

It's been 6 years since Preeti and Daniel broke up, and they just found out they will be sharing an apartment for three weeks. Preeti is has a million things going on in her life, including a boyfriend she isn't sure she actually likes, and the last thing she needs is to confront the ex she's been avoiding. However, they never really got over each other and sparks fly quickly when they realize there is only one bed...

I struggled a bit at the beginning of this book as it is the second in a series, I haven't read the first, and it felt like I wasn't given the full background, there were a lot of references to the last book. This is kinda my own fault, but I feel like generally in romances you are able to read the second without the first, so just a heads up.

However, I really enjoyed the rest of the book. Preeti is struggling with anxiety and I've never seen anxiety attacks and depression handled with such grace in a book. She stands up to her loser boyfriend, she handles her family with grace, and she does it all with grace. And Daniel seemed like the best kind of guy ever, he was the most patient and caring and also silently a millionaire? Sign me up.

This is a great read for fans of second chance romances, POC main characters, anxiety and mental health representation, and the only one bed trope!

If you’re not reading this book, what are you doing?

If you like reading books with forced proximity,
interracial couples, second chances, one bed, desi rep, awareness about racism in the Indian community and/or anxiety this book is for you.

I loved The Trouble With Hating You so much so when it came to reading this book I was like I can’t love anyone more than Jay and Liya, but Sajni Patel was like that’s cause you haven’t read First Love, Take Two.

I read this book in one sitting too, Sajni Patel is literally my favourite and go-to author for South Asian contemporary books at this point. This book stresses you out as it progresses but in a good way because it keeps you hooked thinking please let things go right. Again with this book, you feel like you’re dragged into a Bollywood movie. You feel so connected to the characters and their emotions, which is hard for me, so because Sajni’s books can do this to me, I love them with all my heart.

The way that Preeti described how it felt to love him made me feel so single like that’s how true love is and how it needs to be when it’s my turn. This book caused me so much damage at certain points but it made me so happy as well it was a roller coaster of emotions. Daniel will raise your expectations and set the standards for men so high. I loved Preeti’s dad so much too. Every Indian/South Asian daughter needs a father like him.

Now we need Reema or Sana’s story please!! If you liked The Trouble With Hating You, you HAVE to read this book you will not regret it, I promise!


Thank you NetGalley and ReadForeverPub for the ARC!

Sajini Patel's First Love, Take Two is perfect for those of us who love the second chance romance trope (as well as the forced proximity trope)! Our main character, Preeti, is battling several battles all at once: cultural and personal expectations, crippling anxiety, and being in the same space as Daniel, the ex-boyfriend she left without an explanation. I felt as though the anxiety and depression representation was very accurate and I'm very appreciative of that. There's also great representation in that both Preeti and Daniel are people of color and there is not only discourse on the pressures within their respective communities but there is also discourse surrounding racism within Preeti's community. Personally, I'm not a fan of first-person love stories, it's usually a hit or miss. I think it would've been amazing if it was written in dual pov so we could've seen the story through Daniel's eyes as well.

Thank you Forever for the ARC of this book!!

The Trouble with Hating You was one of my favorite books last year. I had high expectations coming into this one and it did not disappoint. 👏 Preeti Patel is about to have her professional dreams come true but can't seem to stop walking thru life in an anxiety ridden daze. She has to find a temporary place to live as she finishes up her residency, when her friend offers her apartment. One catch, her first love whom she broke up with six years ago is her temporary roommate. I devoured this one. Stayed up late, locked myself in my room type of devour. It was so good. I love second chance, first love trope and this one was so well done. I need a physical copy for my shelves!

Here I go again reading a series out of order, but First Love, Take Two by @sajnipatelbooks is simply fantastic. The endearing story of Preeti and Daniel, and a second-chance for love. Preeti's heart was shattered six-years ago when she felt her only option was to walk away from the love of her life.

Armed with more questions than answers, Daniel is finally prepared to discuss what actually happened to finally get his "why." Daniel is the most charming and patient of all the book boyfriends I've read, which makes the reader say damn can this man be real?

These two have meddling families, friends and cultures that clash as they fight for happiness. First Love, Take Two doesn't shy away from cultural interpretations of interracial relationships, mental health and how we find our voice. And, lets just Preeti’s friends - these women were FIERCE.

Preeti and Daniel truly have unbridled chemistry. I look forward to reading more books in The Trouble with Hating You series.

Thank you ReadForeverPub and for the complimentary paperback and NetGalley for the ebook. Publishes September 21. #firstlovetaketwo #netgalley

This was a super cute second chance romance! Daniel is an incredibly swoon-worthy love interest, and the way he cares for Preeti and was there for her through her anxiety and depression was so great to see. I was rooting for them to work things out from the beginning, and I loved watching their love story unfold.

I really felt for Preeti and everything she was going through. She's a character I felt like I could relate to in terms of how her mental health affects her. I was so glad to see her family accept what she wanted at the end, and even join her and Daniel as they got engaged and celebrate with them.

I also love the way Sajni Patel addresses the toxicity within her community without putting down the community itself. It was done wonderfully in The Trouble With Hating You, and this is no exception. I can't wait to see what stories she comes up with next!

ARC provided by NetGalley.
4.5✨

Second chance romance? One bed trope?
I'm in!
this was the first second chance romance i've ever read I think because it's not really my thing ; I get easily bored but this novel was so so'so sweet I really enjoyed it!
It was such an easy reading and even though the end was predictable (not in a bad way) it was so beautiful to follow Preeti and Daniel journey!
The thing I love the most behind the romance, were the subjects tackled by Sajni Patel, racism, being in the family business, being pressured by their family into mariage/in their love life. It was deeply moving!!!
I wish I had more time with these two but it was a funny and lovely ride into their life!

I read The Trouble with Hating You earlier this year and was so excited to receive an eARC for First Love, Take Two. This was such a fun read and I found myself rooting for Preeti the whole time. I found myself super emotionally invested in the characters and felt the emotions they were feeling. If you haven't read either book, I definitely recommend picking them up!

First Love, Take Two is the second book in The Trouble with Hating You series by Sajni Patel.

CW: racism, anxiety, anxiety attacks, heart attack (recounted), stillbirth

After meeting Preeti in The Trouble With Hating You, I was excited to see her and Daniel's story. For me, second chances often fall flat but First Love, Take Two (among others) have had me rethinking that stance. I think the main thing is that I need to really believe that the reason they initially broke up was one that a couple could get past or over. While I do wish that I had Daniel's POV in this second chance, I did appreciate getting to know who Preeti was and what she was thinking. Getting inside of the head of the one that did the heartbreaking made it easier to like her and understand what ended their relationship. I did love seeing that their love ran deep and that even after all these years they still understood and supported each other.

As someone that has anxiety and anxiety attacks, I thought that Patel did a great job in depicting what it feels like in those moments. I also appreciated how Patel didn't shy away from heavy topics like racism, toxic family members, and the negative stigma associated with mental illness. I wanted to cheer for Preeti as she stood up for herself and her family members because it isn't easy to break traditions and to question a culture that tells you to respect your elders, even if they aren't respecting you. Including these topics made this love story feel more real to me, because as Patel says "racism is reality".

My favorite side characters were Preeti's parents and Daniel's grandparents. I loved the support and understanding they showed Preeti and Daniel.

Trust me when I say that you won't want to miss out on this steamy romance that dives into real-world issues.

Thank you to Netgalley and Forever Publishing for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I'm always a fan of a romance with a big Indian family. Even more so when we get to see that mix of traditional and modern beliefs. This book definitely delivers in that. I also really loved Daniel. He was a great book boyfriend and can sing to me any day!

I did take off some stars because all of this heartache could have been solved by one honest conversation. Preeti desperately needed to open up and be honest with everyone, but most of all herself. ⭐⭐⭐💫 if you liked The Trouble with Hating You then definitely keep going with this series.