Member Reviews
I thought this was so fun! First, I appreciated that this was not your typical fake dating story, even though Kareena and Prem both benefit from their dating scheme. And this romcom was actually funny. The first scene at the show had me in stitches. I also adored the aunties!
Some of Kareena's family drama and Prem's backstory needed ironing out, but otherwise, this exceeded my expectations. I can't wait to read the rest of the books in the series
This book was hot, steamy, and full of passion.
This was my first Nisha Sharma book, but it wonโt be my last. I absolutely adored this book.
Prem has to be one of my favorite fictional characters written ever.
I absolutely loved how this book showed the struggles of dating, especially online. It was so comical some of the things those men wrote to Kareena.
If you want some fantastic spicy scenes mixed in with just a well-written romance, this is the book you want!
This enemies to lovers novel is such a great, cute, spicy ๐ถ one. I recommend it 100%โฆ at first it took me some time to get hook. But it did not disappoint.
Loved the characters, Kareena was my favorite. I loved how the story developed. The tension, banter, love attraction. Just simply awesome.
Kareena dreams of having a perfect love story like her parents did. Thatโs why on her thirtieth birthday, sheโs decided to suit up and start dating but when her father announces heโs retiring and selling their home after her sisterโs engagement party, Kareena makes a deal with him. She will find a man to marry so her father can giver her the money for the house. Here enters Prem Verma otherwise known as Dr. Dil. He doesnโt have time for romance, which is why itโs no surprise when his first meeting with Kareena goes awry. Their second encounter is worse when their on-air debate about love goes viral. Now Premโs largest community center donor is backing out because Prem's reputation as a heart-health expert is at risk. To get back in his donorโs good graces, he needs to fix his image fast, and dating Kareena is his only option.
Wow! This modern Desi spin on the Shakespearen "Taming of the Shrew" completely charmed me. I loved the fresh and fun updates to the classic tale and couldn't get enough of Kareena and Prem's spicy enemies to lovers, fake dating love story. Can't wait for more in this series! Also, absolutely loved the cover.
Thank you so much to Avon Romance for my copy.
Yes Iโm late to this one oops!
Kareena dreams she will one day find the love of her life and she is feeling immense pressure to do it soon. Her father is selling their houseโ the house her mother loved. Kareena would do anything to keep this house, but she does not have the funds needed to keep it. If she can find her match by the date of her sisterโs engagement party, he will give her the funds he saved for her wedding so she can buy the house. In walks Prem. Prem does not believe love is essential to a marriage. In fact, he does not believe in love. After a chance encounter with Kareena, which slowly evolves into more, Prem may have to change his views.
This book started off slow, but around chapter 5 I was hooked. I loved the chemistry between Kareena and Prem. Kareena was very relatableโ smart, driven woman, hopeless romantic, lover of romance novels, and
I loved seeing Prem slowly start to realize his feelings for Kareena and changing his insights on love. I also loved his passion for the community health center and how caring he was towards Kareena.
One thing I will say was this book was incredibly cheesy, but in a good way
Dating Dr Dil started out very promising - felt very Sixteen Candles as Kareena woke up on her 30th birthday to learn her family had completely forgotten and everyone was distracted by her younger sister's upcoming wedding. However the story quickly began to lose me after that.
When Kareena confronted Prem at the taping of the show I felt like she behaved very immaturely and was an over the top response. From then on, I was finding myself annoyed by the choices they were making. When deciding whether to continue I read some other reviews including details about a confrontation between Prem and Kareena's sister later in the book and decided to dnf.
Thank you to Avon and Netgalley for the advance reading copy.
I loved loved loved this book so much omg. I loved the dual POV, it was a perfect mix of romance, fluff and spice which is my favorite thing in romance books. The character development and relationship build up was done with a good pace, we have the guy who doesn't believe in love and the female main character who needs to get married but wants it out of love. Not only was the romance adorable, but Prem's friendships with his family and friends around him was adorable. I cant wait to read the rest of the trilogy!
I had high hopes for this one. Parts of it were very entertaining, but others just didn't strike the right tone.
What I liked: a look at the South Asian culture and arranged marriages vs love marriages. In the modern world how does a woman, like Kareena who wants to put her career goals first, navigate the pressure from family to be married before she's 30?
Maybe it felt all over the place because it's based on Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, which is a convoluted plot anyway. Overall, I enjoyed the book, but I wanted to love it.
The perfect weekend read! I could not put this one down. The aunties were great, the chemistry was on point. I really hope there is more to come from the friends!
'Dating Dr. Dil' is a loose retelling of The Taming of the Shrew full of miscommunication, fake dating and an instant attraction between our two main characters, Prem and Kareena. Throughout the story they are fundamentally at odds as Kareena believes in love marriages while Prem is sure they ultimately don't work out and are not worth it. Through various shenanigan's and a bit of fake dating turned real dating, we as readers get a very enjoyable, romantic ride.
I will say, I was initially out off by...'Charlie'. It didn't really add anything for me and at most points took me out of the story entirely. I also wasn't really interested in any of the characters except Kareena and the various Aunties. Kareena's immidiate family didn't seem particularly interested in her or her feelings but I suppose that was necessary for the fake dating set up stakes. Overall, very enjoyable and I will definitely read more from this author!
Thank you to NetGalley and Avon/Harper Voyager for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.
This was a delightful romance, with memorable characters and an engaging plot. It's fun to have a female lead with varying interests outside of the norm.
I liked the set up for this book. Prem and Kareena meet and instantly have a connection. They ultimately want similar things, success in their work life and a partnership/relationship. They both have deep ties to family and friends. But their fundamental belief about what makes a strong marriage and partnership is completely different. Kareena believes in L-O-V-E love, romantic love. Prem believes in a practical partnership build on shared background and future goals. Neither sees that both might be necessary.
I think what ultimately didnโt work for me was Prem. He calls Kareena โRina Honeyโ, she introduced herself as Rina when they first met, but she asks him at least twice to call her Kareena and he refuses. He also calls his dick โCharlieโ, I donโt know if Iโve ever read a book where the hero calls his anatomy by a pet name over and over, I personally wasnโt into it. In the pivotal scene he is a big dummy and breaks Kareenaโs heart, which was part of the story, ok. But then he turns on her family. Kareenaโs sister, grandmother and dad have been pretty shitty to her the whole book, and normally I am all for the hero or heroine standing up for their person like they deserve, but he is so vicious and HE WAS JUST SHITTY TO KAREENA TOO. I was left feeling like Prem was a selfish twat.
I was interested enough to finish though, so maybe it was a little bit of a hate-read, or captivated by the characters I didnโt really like.
This was my first Nisha Sharma read... but it definitely won't be my last! Also, I'll be releasing a podcast episode with my full review of Dating Dr. Dil later this month (click the link below to listen).
It doesn't take a lot to entice a theatre kid to read a modern Shakespeare adaptation. I hear "Taming of the Shrew" meets Dial A for Aunties (but without the murder) and I'm there! Kareena is a MOTHEREFFING badass!! I'm so impressed with 2022 heroines thus far, and the way that authors are flipping their narratives...
They don't NEED a partner. A partner is simply the cherry on top of their already abundant lives. Love it! This is what I want from my romance novels and Nisha Sharma delivers with Kareena.
Prem took some warming up to (for me at least), especially because his caring gestures are borderline stalkerish at times. Also, I feel like his REAL reason for avoiding love is really interesting, but sort of came out of the blue - wish we had spent a little more time on that. It's a unique perspective for a male character to have and like the "I don't need a man" heroines, something I hope to see more of in the future.
Lastly, don't let the illustrated cover fool you... It. Definitely. Bangs.
For more romance reviews and to listen to my podcast, please visit www.boobiesandnoobies.com
RATING: 3/5 STARS
I loved the Indian representation in this book, but the storyline didn't grab me as I thought it would. I found Karina and Prem's characters a little immature. I would be open to reading more of Nisha Sharma's work though!
Dating Dr. Dil was so much fun! I loved everything about this book. The characters were written so amazing. Even the background characters brought so much to the story. I highly recommend this one. Nothing about it is disappointing!
3.5
Its not a book that worked for me. The MCs felt too juvenile and I am not a fan of entitled main characters who don't recognize their entitlement. As a South Asian, I liked the cultural representation. The steam was good, it is still a well written book especially for people who are fine with such characters and like a steamy read. I would be interested in picking up another book by this author.
This book is proof that the plot of The Taming of the Shrew is fundamentally flawed. I didn't even realize that this was a modern takeoff of that story until the end, but then I could see it in all the ways I didn't enjoy this book. Kareena is an independent, professional woman, who's also single. Her spoiled younger sister is getting married, and everyone around her is scandalized that Kareena isn't getting married first. So her father's solution is to force her to get engaged, and then hopefully she'll stop being such a problem and burden to everyone. The man she meets, Prem, is a doctor who doesn't believe in love, but has his own reasons for needing a fake engagement. They have hot chemistry, but both realize that this relationship is ultimately doomed.
I was frustrated by all of the characters. Kareena's family so blatantly favors her younger sister, to the point of forgetting Kareena's birthday, and constantly shames her for not giving up her own life to be free wedding-task labor. But Kareena also allows this to happen. Prem is no prize, either. (For example, he has named his...member...Charlie. And refers to it as a separate person in his own mind. Just. Why. There's no explanation for this, and it's weird.) He declares that love is not only fake, but also dangerous to your health.
There were some genuinely funny and warm moments here. But it wasn't enough to save an ultimately flawed premise.
Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the ARC to review. All opinions are my own.
Review goes live on 4/3/22 @8am EST on LairOfBooks
โโ 4ย Starsโโโฎ
THE 411...
*โข.ยธโก ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ตโ๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ. ๐ ๐ด๐ข๐ธ ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ด๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ต๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด. ๐๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ค๐ข๐ณ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ง๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ด๐ข๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ต. ๐๐ตโ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ญ๐ข๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ณ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ช๐ญ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ.โ โกยธ.โข*
ย Kareena Mann dreams of having a love marriage like her parents had but sheโs considered to be a difficult catch for having what some consider to be idealistic views on love. Her interests mainly lie in restoring her moms classic car, remodeling her childhood home, reading romance novels and swiping right on dating apps. When her dad announces heโs selling their home, Kareena makes a last minute ditch effort/deal with him. If she gets engaged within four months he will gift her the house she grew up in.ย Things get complicated when she has a very public argument with beloved Dr. Prem Dil on national TV. Neither believes they can possibly have anything in common because of their opposing views on love but quickly see that there is one thing they can do for one another that is sort of mutually beneficial. While Kareena is trying to buy her childhood home, Prem is trying to open up a medical practice to help the South Asian community. Both need money and are of the age where their families are pushing for marriage. What you can expect: Fake dating/Enemies-to-lovers trope, funny meddlesome families, dating scene highs/lows, great sex scenes, and yea some annoying nicknames ๐คท๐ปโโ๏ธ๐
WRITING & FINAL THOUGHTS...
Too often I pick up a "rom-com" paperback thinking of all the classic movies that made me fall in love with them in the first place like The Proposal and My Big Fat Greek Wedding. This doesn't often lead to the discovery of a new favorite because they rarely ever have that perfect balance of romance + comedy. I requested the eGalley of Dating Dr. Dil on Netgalley when I heard the male love interest was a Cardiologist who doesn't believe in love or rather fallingย in love cause doesn't that make for an interesting set-up? Why Yes! yes it totally does! I don't remember the last time I had so much fun reading a book and it honestly got me out of a slump. The Auntie network made up of Kareena's well meaning aunties alone had me giggling and SMH into the night. We get to know both their families through Whatsapp messages and If like myself you love a big family meddling in love affairs then this is a MUST read!ย
The topic of arranged marriages vs. love marriages was explored in a positive light with instances where both have worked out in a successful pairing. Although the deal Kareena and Prem decide on would get them each what they're looking for, I appreciated the emphasis on how Kareena would be viewed differently just for being a woman than Prem. A fake dating arrangement that can both help and harm Kareena in her dating life post situationship. I LOVED how Kareena did NOT stop dating just because of this arrangement, she stayed true to her character wanting to find true love. We do get to see her go on some of these dates which were frankly VERY close to what is actually out there in the dating pool *nightmares for days*ย but also added plenty of comedic moments. What I wasn't expecting was for the spice to be at peak levels but Nisha Sharma delivered ๐๐ฝ๐๐ฝ I've seen many low reviews given simply because of the nickname Prem gives his manhood but I was not bothered at all by that and it didnโt lessen my enjoyment of the book.ย I do believe there are more stories to be told since we do get introduced to Prem's BFFs who are fellow single Desi boys. Kareena has some single friends as well and I would absolutely read the next book in this seriesโฆas long as we get more from the Aunties network ๐๐ฝ
Oh man! What a great romance! Fake dating always ends in a very real love story, and Nisha Sharma did an excellent job making this one her own. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the Indian culture: delish foods Iโve never heard of, the strength of family bonds, arranged marriages, and so many wonderful traditions.
Following Prem and Kareenaโs story was so much fun. Iโm obsessed with Kareenaโs love for Taylor Swift, and Premโs love for Kareena.
There were a few frustrating points (which would be slight spoilers so Iโm leaving them out of my review) which made it become a 4-star rather than 5-star read, but I loved it nonetheless ๐
Thank you Netgalley and HarperCollins for this ARC. It was published on March 15, 2022 and featured in the March BOTM selections. Go get yourself a copy!!
Overall, I did enjoy this book. It wasn't what I was expecting going in, especially after seeing people talk about it on tiktok but I liked it nonetheless. It kept me engaged just not couldn't put it down engaged.