This was such a good read. The fake engagement to win funding and a house plus one who will never believe in love again and the other who only beloved in love roped me in. There are some very steamy scenes that even made me blush. I loved Kareena’s character and how she stood up for herself. I felt so bad for her on her birthday and how she was treated. Prem struggled to say the words she needed to hear, but he found his voice during a major scene, which I loved.
See what Dating Dr. Dil is all about!

Sometimes when a romance book is very heavily culturally driven and focuses on one negative aspect of said culture, I tend to not connect with the story as much as I would hope too. This book was solely driven on the pressure of marriage and how important it is to Kareena and Prem’s society. It was hard to enjoy the story for a while when there was a pressure for Kareena to fit a mold or ideal that society has placed upon her. The pressures of first generation children from immigrant parents can be hard to translate into a successful love story because often it can take away the overall enjoyment of the love story.

Kareena felt too much like a romantic for me to connect with her. I appreciate that she refused to lower her standards to fit anyone's expectations of her, but the constant reminder that “falling in love with your true love” was her motto made it hard to connect with her. I didn’t feel instant chemistry with Kareena and Prem like I was hoping for. They felt too different to have a genuine connection and it felt as if I was forcing myself to find it while reading.

I truly wanted to love this book and based on others reviews, I am in the minority. I definitely would check out this book because it has the potential to be a great romance book, but I don’t think it was made for me. Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for this eARC

Four and a Half Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭒

Dating Dr. Dil is the first book in her ‘If Shakespeare was an Auntie’ series and is a sexy, hilarious, and emotional story about the eldest daughter in an East Asian family who is looking for a love match, and has a lot more help than she wants.

Kareena Mann is busy dealing with her younger sister's wedding planning, fixing up her mother’s old BMW in the garage, and working in her dream job at a women’s legal center. Losing her mother at a young age, she dreams of the love her parents had before her mother’s tragic early death.

Dr. Prem Verma is passionate about the community health center he’s trying to build in order to make health care more assessable to his community. In order to raise funds, and awareness of health issues in his community, he’s the host of the popular Dr. Dil Show. Prem doesn’t believe in love but is open to an arranged marriage in order to help his fundraising for the health care center. After an argument between Kareena and Prem on his show went viral, Kareena’s meddling Aunties get involved.

This delightful and steamy enemies-to-lovers story is full of witty banter and awkward encounters, and enough angst to make a well-rounded story. The author did a wonderful job of representing east Asian culture, giving me a glimpse into that world. I loved both main characters as they were both very relatable. Kareena was awkward enough without being too over the top, and I loved how she spends her free time restoring her late mother’s BMW. And Prem was adorable as he worked to help his community.

I highly recommend Dating Dr. Dil to anyone who enjoys a sexy, delightful romantic comedy. I received a complimentary copy of this book. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Dr. Dil is Prem Verma, a doctor who has his own TV show where he talks about heart health and focuses on the South Asian community (kind of like Dr. Oz but more legit and not a Republican). Kareena’s sister, Bindu, is an ~influencer~ who guest stars on the Dr. Dil Show and drags Kareena along to make her help. Unfortunately for Prem and Kareena, it’s not their first encounter: they (almost) hooked up the previous night before Prem suddenly ditches Kareena for a phone call. On her birthday!

Needless to say, Kareena is understandably pissed off, despite Prem’s attempts at trying to explain what went down. She’s so pissed off that she throws her hangover juice (I literally can’t remember what it’s called, sorry!) right at him during a commercial break. It probably would’ve been fine if Bindu hadn’t been livestreaming but nothing can ever go right when you have a bitchy, selfish younger sister.

Now, Kareena’s search for a romantic connection quickly goes downhill as everyone recognizes her as the girl who beefed with Dr. Dil on livestream. Even worse, she’s running out of time to buy back her mother’s house from her dad.

the romance
GUYS this book was so fucking good. Prem’s disbelief of true love stems from his parents’ love marriage, which he thinks of as a disaster. Kareena believes strongly in a romantic connection because her parents fell in love and had a wonderful marriage (until her mom died). Despite being polar opposites, Kareena’s aunties believe her and Prem would be great together, and they’re right!

Though the two of them disagree on romance, it’s very obvious that Prem is super attracted to Kareena and just doesn’t realize it’s love. And while Kareena continues to go on dates with matches from dating apps, none of them stack up against Prem.

eldest daughter trauma
Of course, the romance (and the smut) were amazing but I’d already expected nothing less from Nisha Sharma. Let’s talk about Kareena’s family. Since her mother died years ago, Kareena lives with her dad, sister, and Dadi (grandmother). Her younger sister Bindu is engaged and is actively planning her wedding and engagement party during the book, and she expects Kareena to drop everything and help her anytime she’s even slightly inconvenienced.

Even worse, her dad encourages this behavior and all three of them actively exclude Kareena from any family discussions – like her dad’s plan to sell the house so he can retire, leaving Kareena with six months to scrounge up the money to buy the house from him. Not that Dadi’s a walk in the park either. Kareena’s thirty and Dadi thinks she’s going to expire and never get married if she keeps looking for love.

At times, Prem pissed me the fuck off but when he stood up to Kareena and yelled at her dad at BINDU’S ENGAGEMENT PARTY?? Iconic. Her dad was embarrassed in front of everyone, and Bindu’s party was ruined. It brought me so much joy to see them suffer. Does this make me a bad person? Maybe. Do I think it was poetic justice? Absolutely. Do I think all eldest daughters of immigrant families should be paid reparations? My Venmo is @thya-leger, start paying.

final thoughts
You should all be taking out your wallets to preorder this book, it comes out March 15th, 2022, and obviously, my rating is 5/5 stars.

Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyage and Netgalley for the arc of this book! I was soo excited for this book with no expectations on how it would be but it sounded amazing! Hence my request click.

It was absolutely amazing! A fake dating book with a woman who centers her life around love: love of her family, her career, helping other women and the house her mother built paired with the man who doesn’t believe love as an emotion exists.

Kareena was such a strong character but also incredibly relatable. She’s funny, sincere, and a good example of the oldest child of an Indian family. She gives up a lucrative career as an attorney to work a start up helping women owned business, just icing on her cake! Learning about her life, her culture and how it all interweaves and is connected was just fabulously done! Dr Prem (Dr Dil) starts out as a jerk but he turns out to be the kindest, most thoughtful guy.

I loved how it shows them both growing as individuals as they grow in a relationship. I did wish that he got over his I don’t believe in love stuff earlier but it all turned out fine. Also much steamier than I thought it was going to be in all the best ways!

Staci highly recommends!

Thank you Netgalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to like this more but it just didn’t come together in a cohesive way in my opinion. I did enjoy the banter and chemistry between our MCs at times, the steam was decent, and I’m usually a big fan of the fake dating trope.

But it was really hard to root for our MCs as most of the eccentric behavior was frankly overly dramatic and dumb. I can handle a drama but this came off mostly super cringy. Also good god, I hate when a man’s member is referred to by a name. Can we just not?

And unfortunately even the side characters were either so awful (with zero redemption arc, like I legit was angry w Kareena’s entire family) or really nothing but a name (all of the “friends” were so wishy washy in both their support and denial of the relationship. I never could figure out where any of them stood on it).

Like I said, there were small pieces that I think were redemptive but together as a whole this didn’t work for me.

Such a cute story! I loved the romance, banter and sauciness between these two! The family and friends added so much to the story along with culture and lifestyle. A must read for 2022!!!

I was really surprised by how much I fell in love with this book. I truly that it was going to be the typical doctor rom-com, but no it was so much more.
Kareena has a high expectation in love that she won’t accept any arranged marriage even though it works in her favor. Her father is selling her childhood home, and she refuses to let it go, so she needs money to buy the house. She can get the money if she is engaged to be married. And she won’t do any arranged marriage even though Prem keeps persisting. Prem is known for not believing in love matches. For him, it’s realistic to have friendship or partnership more say than a love match. Love does not exist in his vocabulary, so he is out of his comfort zone when he starts falling for Kareen.
I love a strong independent female character. Kareen knows what she wants in her life that she won’t settle. And she should not even though Prem is sexy. If Prem wants her, then he needs to step up the plate. I know loving someone is hard because you can get hurt but life is never a guarantee. And Prem is going to realize that loving Kareena is worth the risk. Plus, they are sexually compatible with each other. Their romance scenes were spicy! Expect hotness in those scenes.

Thank you to Netgalley, Avon & Harper Voyager, and Nisha Sharma for the advanced copy of this book. I am leaving this review voluntarily, and all opinions are my own.

Dating Dr. Dil was just a delicious, delightful enemies-to-more romance with strong leads and side characters. Kareena, general counsel for a nonprofit focused on helping women-owned businesses, and Prem, a cardiologist talk show host, were obviously perfect together from the start, but needed to find their way to each other. Their banter was amazing - whether they were fighting or flirting - and the spicy scenes were so darn hot. The side characters were perfection, as well. I adored Kareena’s aunties and both of their sets of close friends. I loved this book!

4.5/5 stars!

AHHH this book was so much fun! I devoured this book in one siting and absolutely adored it. It was just such a fun and fresh read that had me literally laughing out loud. Dating Dr. Dil is the perfect rom-com to pick up next and perfect for getting you out of that reading slump. I really enjoyed the characters as well as the different tropes in this book. If you're looking for a quick cute read, go pick this up!!

4.5 stars, rounded up. Kareena and Prem are certainly some of the best characters in romance I've read lately- on paper, so clearly opposite, but the chemistry between them is undeniable. They are both motivated, driven individuals (perhaps the only thing I would have loved more of is getting to see Kareena in her work environment!), and there is such interesting acknowledgement of their experiences as Indian-Americans and interacting with the cultural expectations around their relationships.
I forgot while reading this that it was supposed to be a take on The Taming of the Shrew, so you really don't have to be super familiar with the source storyline to enjoy this (it's been a lot of years since I've read or seen Shrew). However, once you know the premise of this it's easy to see the nods to the original.

This is the first book I've ever read by Nisha Sharma, and I can safely say I would definitely like to go back and read her other books! This book was at once funny, sad, inspiring, romantic, sexy, and did I mention funny?

Kareena and Prem are well matched and challenge each other in a way that makes them such a perfect compliment. They have such different views on marriage and love, but at the same time need to embark on a "fake dating" to "fake engagement" journey in order to get what they need to fulfill their dreams. You can probably guess what starts to happen, but you'll never expect the twists, turns, and character arcs along the way. But it's not like other romance novels because it really captures the complexities of dating and marriage for children of diaspora.

This book comes out March 15th 2022, please pick it up! It is worth a read.

A fun, lighthearted take on falling in love when the relationship started as fake. Needing funds to buy her home when her father decides to sell, Kareena tries to convince him to give her the funds he's saved for her wedding but he refuses. Local TV host, Dr. Verma known as Dr. Dil, also needs cash for a community center and could use those funds saved for his wedding. And thus the fake relationship forms that turns into love. Not quite a take on Taming the Shrew as the book promised but an enjoyable read that will be easy to promote to readers.

Dating Dr. Dil is a comical enemies to lovers with characters that you will adore and root for. Kareena and Dr. Prem Verma took up residence in my heart. They have opposing views of what love is and how to properly navigate the cultural pressures of arranged marriages. I found myself googling phrases used, what traditional Indian garments looked liked and learning about a culture that I do not have a ton of first hand exposure to. Nisha's writing is smart, funny and emotional.

Please note I would rate this book R for use of language and adult content.

thanks so mucb to netgalley for providing me with this arc in exchange for an honest review!

when i started this book i was not loving it, it made me cringe at times i’m not going to lie, but the more i read the more i loved prem and kareena! their banter was fun and their chemistry was so good.
i also love a good boy obsessed trope, IT NEVER FAILS ME.

i did wish the ending was a bit longer, i felt like it was missing something. it felt kind of rushed.
anyway i give this a 3.5 star rating! would recommend if you want a fun quick read.

BOOK REVIEW 🩺

Y’all…. If you want
* Taylor Swift references
* Women in Law
* South Asian representation
* A Hot Doctor
* Great banter
I have a book for you!

Dating Dr. Dil is out March 14 and you need to press ‘add to cart’ immediately.

I’m not a big romance reader and I. LOVED. THIS!
I loved reading about a culture that isn’t represented much in books. I loved the banter between all the characters. I loved the steam 😳. Oh, and THERE’S AUNTIES!

I can’t think of a single thing I didn’t like about this one

I honestly don't even know where to start here other than to say I LOVED THIS SO MUCH! I know it's early in the year but Dating Dr. Dil by Nisha Sharma is going to go down as one of my favorite romances of 2022.
One thing I really loved was that the *romance* was there from the beginning. I was hooked and laughing from page 1 and that is so important to me! This was sort of a insta-love/one night stand turned enemies to lovers and there was no waiting to the 50% mark to see any chemistry between the characters. The chemistry was there early and it was HOT AF. There was just so much to this story that was amazing. Each character was so multi-demential and had their own struggles and interests. As someone who sometimes also struggles "saying" words of affection and would rather just relay my love through actions, I totally related to Prem's struggle.

ALSO, THE TAYLOR SWIFT REFERENCES?!?! Are you kidding me?!?!? At one point, Prem turns on his "boys night" playlist and Reputation begins playing. There were no comments like "yeah, so what Im a dude who likes T-swift?" which was SO refreshing. There is even a Prem and Kareena's Taylor Swift Playlist at the end!!!

The food references were also amazing. I've never had pani puri before but I will be SOON. Anyways, I loved this so much and it was the perfect rom-com with the perfect balance of banter, heartfelt moments, and steam. I pre-ordered this one on paperback literally the second I finished this ARC because I know I will be re-reading ASAP.

Dating Dr. Dil is out on March 15 and TRUST ME you'll want to read this one!

*review to come on my IG account soon!*

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me this ARC for an exchange of an honest review!
This will definitely be a rom-com to remember for 2022.
Kareena and Prem, WOW. The shift from enemies to lovers was so well done and their constant back and forth had me cracking up. Seeing Kareena face the challenges of her culture and family was by far one of my favorite things about the story. The chemistry between Prem and Kareena was perfect. I was OBSESSED with how protective Prem was over Kareena as well. Prem’s thoughts on true love shifting slowly throughout the story was so heartwarming to read. I adored the supportive aunties and friends. I cannot wait to get my hands on the physical copy so I can reread and tab all of my favorite parts!!!

I’m going to start off by saying that I am not southeast Asian and thus cannot speak on the accuracy of the desi representation in this book. With that in mind, I remain in my opinion that the author missed her intended mark. So much of the characters’ lives were centered around the idea of marriage that it was stifling. The author barely touched upon their culture, instead crafting every character to be obsessive in their attention to both the main characters, Kareena and Prem’s, love lives. I was sad to read a portrayal so negative and off-putting.

Moving on to the characters themselves: I, unfortunately, couldn’t get attached to any of them.
I wish we actually got to know Kareena. It baffles me that I was in her perspective but still barely knew her personality. For example, she has a badass job as a lawyer helping female entrepreneurs, but we never actually get to see her at this job that she apparently values so much. There were moments when I felt like I could end up liking her, but then she would do something cringy or obnoxious and all development would be lost.
Next, we have Prem. How can someone be so smart and yet so stupid? It took the entire book for this man to realize that love can be shown through actions. His obstinate thinking and selfishness in wanting Kareena to compromise her values while he sacrificed nothing was not attractive. I remember having to pause and stare at the wall every time he was a complete idiot.
So what happens when you pair two unlikeable characters together? A pretty messy romance. This relationship was filled with miscommunication as both Kareena and Prem danced around the truth. I hate that they would not be upfront with their feelings and then be surprised when the situation blew up in their face. Their romantic connection and conversations were hardly explored, so it wasn’t shocking when the only good things they could think about the other person revolved around their physical appearance (ex. Instead of saying “I missed her fiery spirit and warm heart” they would say “I missed her body”). Seriously, I wasn’t rooting for them.

Don’t even get me started on the supporting cast of characters. As I write this I’m realizing that I don’t have a high opinion of anyone in this book. Kareena’s father was awful for lording things she cared about over her head and constantly dismissing her. Her grandmother and aunties weren’t much better as they only saw her worth on the basis of her marriage. Kareena's sister, Bindu, was a selfish brat that got zero character development. And both Kareena and Prem’s friends were so frustrating in their ceaseless back and forth of supporting the union or not.

I will admit that a part of my dislike for the book is based on personal preference. I tend to favor more serious slow-burn romances over quirkier reads like this one. However, in this case you can’t fault me for that. Because what was attempting to be quirky actually came off as overdramatic and cringy. The dialogue, intrusiveness from family members, depthless personalities, public displays, and especially Prem’s references to a specific body part as ‘Charlie’ - no, no, no. Absolutely not. (God, that last one nearly had me throwing my phone out the window).

I am rather proud of myself for getting through this book. Hopefully I won’t have to think about it again anytime soon.

I thought this book was fun. I really liked it initially it had a really great start and characters that you get attached to. But I found the middle of the book dragged a bit. It was just too much will they won’t they and I lost interest. If you like a slow-burn romance you will love this.