The premise sounds promising, and when I found out that this is a diverse romance read, I'm beyond excited.

Unfortunately, the only thing that is exciting about this book is the premise and almost everything— like 65-ish% perhaps isn't just it.

The romance between the pairing is something I don't like. It screams toxic and settling for less to me? Especially the whole communication that weren't really in their relationship?

There are some parts that I enjoyed, but the rest was just poorly executed.

This cover teases a cute rom com. And it was. From plane vomiting to luggage mix-ups, Rebecca and Dev had adorable meet-cute moments. But the book was so much more. I think it did a lovely job of making sure we understood the cultural differences between the two, and the struggles from those differences, while also showing us that 'love conquers all.' The best part was the highlighting of compromise. In the end, they both had to give a little if they decided the relationship was worth it and they did.

Rebecca's family (specifically her mom and brother) were a little problematic? I appreciated the end where we learned about the mom sending him a book but I wish we saw more of a conversation between her mom and her about her mom understanding why her comments (and her brother's) were out of line and her choosing to educate herself more.

This was definitely a socially aware novel, while still having all the pieces of a lovely (and at times funny) love story. 3.75 rounded up to 4.

A fun sweet read! Highly recommend.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for my ARC.

Thank you, Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for the gifted e-book! ❤️ #gifted. My review is comprised of my honest thoughts.

Not for me. I could not connect with the characters. Instalove. Lots of telling without showing. You may love this.

The cover needs a little revamp because it didn't do it for me, but the storyline was one I couldn't pass up! I thoroughly enjoyed this read.

“(Not) Your Basic Love Story” is a romance novel by Lindsay Maple. The book tells the story of Becky, a stubbornly independent woman who isn’t looking for love but finds it on a flight to Mexico with a tall, sexy stranger. What begins as a fun vacation fling turns into something more when Becky returns home to Vancouver, Canada, and her relationship with Dev grows

“I had no idea that in losing my luggage, I'd find something so unexpectedly wonderful.”

I'm a huge sucker for insta-love. LOL I know its not super popular but I love it.
It's so easy to read, and I loved the characters' chemistry. This book was funny, sweet and sexy. and I finished this book in a day ! Thats a good sign this book is so good !

I really enjoyed this one. I read it on vacation and absolutely fell in love with the story line. I genuinely loved the characters and wanted them to be my best friends.

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me advance access to this title. I really enjoyed reading this story and look forward to reading more from this author. As a reader, I am really motivated by character driven stories and I found myself quickly becoming immersed in these characters’ lives. Full review to come.

Indian here and it only took me two chapters to say "Nope."

When are white people going to stop fetishizing people of colour? This book does that and somehow also brings in all the stereotypes. I mean, stereotypes are created to mock people you don't like. But you also somehow find them fascinating and can't stop fantasizing about them two minutes into meeting them?

Ugh, messed up. This 'smelly, loud' Indian says no thank you.

3.75⭐ - 2/5 🌶 Spice

I enjoyed this book! I loved the focus on falling in love with someone, feeling like your love just makes sense, but being from different cultures can cause stress and strain to a relationship. Some of the antics were a bit too much for me, but overall, it was a sweet romance that I actually learned from!

Brief Plot: Becky has always been independent, but as she's flying to Mexico for her best friends wedding, she sits next to a big disheveled, but cutie. Through a few run ins, they have a steamy vacation together, and when they both go home to Canada, decide to try at a real relationship. But difference in cultures, ages, future aspirations cause problem after problem for Dev and Becky to get through. Is Becky willing to change her plans on how she viewed her future, for a this new and different type of Happily ever After?

Thank you NetGalley and Rising Action Publishing Co. for an eARC copy of (Not) Your Basic Love Story, written by Lindsay Maple. This is my honest, unpaid review!

I loved this book so much! Her writing is always spot on and this was no different! Such a great story and strong characters

Read this if you like insta-love and cultural differences.
I enjoyed this book and it was an easy read. I didn’t feel super invested in the characters and felt like they needed a little more chemistry.

When I saw that the main guy Dev is an Indian-Canadian, I was so excited to pick this book up. The author was spot on when it came to describing all the little things from the Desi dishes to the clothes, traditions and slangs. While our girl Rebecca here is white so obviously the issues with cultural differences were bound to happen between them and that's what exactly happened here.

I did not have the time to read this book as it got archived. I do believe I would have enjoyed this cute story.

Well, the title isn’t lying. What a terrible “meet-cute” and then to see the MCs have so many struggles - this is finally a love story that is more realistic than many we read and immerse ourselves in today. I love it in that way - it’s unconventional and unique. I love that this feels real and can make the reader have more empathy than many regular love stories. Definitely would recommend to mix things up.

Despite the title, this book is absolutely cookie cutter. There's nothing wrong with that! It's not a first purchase, but a good supplemental purchase in a low spend month.

Sometimes stubborn FMC irritate me, the inability to give the benefit of the doubt or see reason leads to me not enjoying the read, such is the case with this book. In the end, I got past it and appreciated the character growth. The pacing was good, albeit a bit slow in the middle, however, overall I enjoyed the read.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review! I loved the sexual tension; it was very well done so I recommend this! Adorable!

Such a strong debut from Canadian indie author Lindsay Maple!! I thought this book did a great job exploring the complexities and challenges of interracial relationships as white Canadian Becky meets Sikh Canadian Dev while on a Mexican vacation.

These two have immediate chemistry but have to figure out if their strong connection is enough to overcome their cultural differences. I would have liked if this was a dual POV romance but the author still did a good job presenting both perspectives as Becky and Dev figure out how to compromise and reconcile their differences in order to make a life and marriage work.

Great on audio narrated by Ellie Gossage. I'm really excited to read what comes next from a new auto-buy indie romance writer! Much thanks to NetGalley and the author for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!