A second chance romance with a lot of travel/adventure!

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
🌶️

Jana & Anil got together 5 years ago, leading to them having a daughter together, after Anil broke her heart (failing to mention being still married, though separated).
Present day, they are co-parenting Imani (their daughter) and cordial with each other - but definitely not friends.

Now they’re both in the bridal party at a destination wedding in Tanzania for their best friends. Being forced to see Anil again, Jana begins to get confused about her feelings. Does she really hate him as she’s tried so hard to do?

So… this book took me almost a month to read (where I generally read books in 2-3 days).
I think the timing just wasn't right for me! The chapters were quite long and there was a lot of describing of Tanzania, which wasn’t what I was expecting in a rom-com.

I could relate a lot with Jana - she’s an introvert who isn’t a fan of social gatherings or crowds, and gets overwhelmed. I could see myself reacting similarly to Jana in the situations she was put in.

Read if you enjoy:
⭐️ Second chance
⭐️ Separated/co-parenting
⭐️ Forced proximity
⭐️ Travel/adventure
⭐️ Mother/daughter relationships
⭐️ Family expectations
⭐️ Only one bed
⭐️ Slow burn
⭐️ Single POV/3rd person

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to Forever, Grand Central Publishing, and Netgalley for this advanced copy!

Jana Goes Wild was such a fun book. I've been loving second-chance romances recently and this one does the trope proud. Jana has a wild affair with Anil, but they break up (for good reasons) and she finds out she's pregnant. Fast forward to a toddler, an international trip, and an opportunity to reconnect with the man who drove her wild for a few weeks.

Sometimes I feel like the author made Jana too obstinant in her inability to overcome the past. I never got the whole "no one thinks I'm fun" plot, but I appreciate that Jana needed to grow in order to make it back to Anil, and not just because they are co-parenting, but because they genuinely should be together as partners.

Either way, Anil and Jana are fantastic, I loved their story, more of this forever please.

This felt a tad bit long but overall a super cute and heartwarming second chance romance.

Despite being *kind of* annoying, I still found myself rooting for Jana as she worked through her traumas. And I loved how much Anil was still gentle and understanding.

My only gripe is it felt like there was one too many disagreements/miscommunications.

I loved this! Farah has put together a lovely little romance here complete with a beautiful self-discovery journey for Jana. I will definitely be picking up more of her books in the future.

Unfortunately this one did not work for me personally. I was not a fan of the lying plot points that took place and I just didn't find the relationship to be believable as a long lasting one.

I did really enjoy the unique setting but I will not be recommending.

This book was a fun read, but unfortunately we didn’t find anything notable or distinctive enough to recommend inclusion for our book club.

I loved this book and the fun setting of Tanzania! Co-parents Jana and Anil are on a safari with their daughter Imani, a ton of aunties and uncles and all of their friends to celebrate their friends Kamila and Rohan’s wedding. Though Jana and Anil have successfully co-parented for 5 years, both struggle with how to behave around one another being in such close quarters on this trip. The premise of this book was so fun! I loved seeing Jana’s relationship with her mom, friends, and Anil changed throughout the book! I think therapy would have helped Jana work through the issues she faced in a better manner. I loved the commentary it offered on international development, ethics and undoing generational trauma! The setting was one of my favorite parts of the book and I love the cover!

This is a 4.5 stars for me!

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I really enjoyed Farah Heron's last book, and this was good as well, but the writing felt a bit stiff to me. I enjoyed the story and especially the setting, but there were parts that just felt awkward in character and story development. I don't think we really got to know any character but Jana, everyone else was just there. It was a fun read, but also could be easily skipped.

Farah Heron takes us on a whirlwind, delicious Tanzanian tour in her latest novel, Jana Goes Wild.

Dr. Jana Suleiman never lets loose. Except that one time which resulted in her greatest joy and greatest pain.

Now it’s five years later. She’s a bridesmaid for the two-week long safari wedding of two of her best, lifelong friends.

Along with her mother and a pile of aunties and uncles, she’s looking forward to showing her only daughter the roots of her family in Tanzania and a little alone time with her book.

She does not, however, expect her ex to be a part of the wedding party. Nor the executive director with whom she just interviewed for her dream job, which means she now has to be the vibrant, outgoing team player she pitched to him. Nor the lies her mother is still telling about her illegitimate daughter’s conception.

How on earth is she supposed to get through this without another broken heart and ruined reputation?!

Jana Goes Wild is an entertaining and introspective story that reminds us of the importance of forgiveness, family, and embracing a strong community. It’s possible to be an introvert in an extroverted family.

It celebrates the firm foundation and rich culture of Asian and African families who raise each other up, especially when one feels they can’t get off the floor.

I couldn’t put this one down. It was easy to get wrapped up in the family of characters, absorbing the themed decor of each different safari resort, feeling as though I were a member of the wedding party.

I could practically taste the delicious menu spread throughout the book. While I don’t cook anything that doesn’t need a microwave, the included family recipes at the end look amazingly delicious!

This contemporary adult romance fiction is a great read for anyone who loves a lovingly invasive family, gathering potential travel ideas, or believes in second chances and clean starts.

As Jana learns through her journey, “when you step out of your element enough, you don’t even notice when your element just changes.”

I have enjoyed many books by this author, but it took me a bit longer to get into this one. I should have read the synopsis a bit better before giving it a try, but my lack of connection to the characters impacted my enjoyment, The setting and adventure was fun to read though!

I wasn’t sure what to expect with this book, but it ended up being a fun ride. At first I wasn’t sure how Heron was going to convince me our MCs should get back together what with Anil being a cheater and all. But it turns out that the backstory isn’t that simple and Heron wove together the pieces so that we could understand and feel Jana’s anger and frustration while still accepting her forgiveness.

The story dealt with a very complicated relationship and the emotions that go with it really well. Anger, hurt, attraction, responsibility to their daughter, love, exhaustion were all wound together in a way that felt realistic. I liked that Jana and Anil’s current selves were sometimes contrasted with their younger selves—it added texture to know that they’ve changed as a result of their relationship and becoming parents.

That said, I do wish we got see some more of their relationship before it went sour, besides just the prologue. Jana reminisces on how easy things used to be with Anil, how well they worked together, but we don’t actually get to see any of it in scene, so we don’t actually know how well-suited they are and have to just take Jana’s word for it. Basically we don’t feel the underlying passion, which in a lot of romances is a big driver of progress. Here, the pacing was fine, but I didn’t always feel like I had a great sense of where we were in the story. The way Jana and Anil are hot and cold, it’s hard to tell how much progress is being made in their relationship, especially without that intense underlying romantic passion convincing me to push on.

All together, I enjoyed the story, I appreciated that Heron went in for a story with very tangled up emotions and conflict instead of one that was cut and dry, that the side characters were prominent and invested and not flat, and that there were diverse characters. I did however want the passion of the relationship to be shown more instead of told.

3.75, rounded up

Jana Goes Wild is Farah Heron's latest book. Jana, her wonderful family and closest friends all travel to Tanzania for a destination wedding.

With all sorts of animals, large and small and with a setting so magnificent, Jana learns to let loose and discover who's opinions matter the most.

This book goes hand in hand with Kamila Knows Best so I would highly recommend reading it too!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this awesome book!!

Jana Goes Wild by Farah Heron is a wildly fun new book which addresses the age old question: can you find happiness with your ex? Having previously read other books from this author I had an idea of the writing style going in. I loved the other books I've read from this author but this one wasn't my favorite. I loved the concept and the scenery of where this book takes place. Some parts were not realistic to me and I had a hard time reading those sections but overall it was a good read for the summer crowds.

This was a sweet second chance romance filled with misunderstandings that were slowly mended along the way.

The destination wedding was filled with Safari tours and animals and sounded like a blast!

What she didn’t expect at her best friends destination was to run into her ex. Her ex who tries everything to get her back and she just isn’t sure how she feels.

I really enjoyed this. Elephants are my favorite.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I liked this one. Didn’t love it. What’s weird is that what I liked the most about it is something that I haven’t seen in any of the marketing at all. This is in the same series as Kamilla Knows Best. The wedding mentioned in the summary is Kamilla and Rohan’s wedding. It baffles me that they didn’t capitalize on this more because I LOVED that book. But anyway… This was fun. I liked getting to see an update on the characters, getting to know Jana better, and everything about Imani. And as always with Farah Heron’s books, I love the Canadiana. I did think that this took a while to get going, though, and personally, I’m not sure I would have given Anil a second chance.

This is my third Farah heron book and while I disagree with the reviewer who complained about a kid being in a romance book I thought it made this book slightly more realistic. I’m personally not a fan of the name Anil and I’m not a fan of second chance romance but I decided to give this one a chance. I personally don’t think I’ll read this author’s books because the writing style isn’t for me. Jana is an incredibly frustrating character because she never mentions exactly what happened with anil to make her hate him so much. It comes off as her being bitter and cold.

I’ve enjoyed previous books by this author, but for some reason this story is not capturing my attention and I’m having a hard time getting into it.
I’m definitely a mood reader and may try it again later, but for now it’s a DNF at 25%.

I really enjoyed this book! I struggled at times with the way that the main characters communicated, but ultimately like seeing their relationship evolve. The setting was beautiful and interesting! I definitely recommend this book!

This was my first book by Farah Heron and I enjoyed it. I didn’t realize when I started this book that it was related to another book, Kamila Knows Best, that I hadn’t read. While it probably would have been helpful, I don’t think it’s completely necessary to have read first. There was still plenty to enjoy in Jana Goes Wild without all of the background information on all of the characters. Plus the book starts out with a flashback to five years ago when our main characters first met.

The story follows single mom, Jana and her daughter, Imani as they travel to Africa to be in a friend’s wedding. What Jana doesn’t realize until they’re already on their way is that her ex fling and Imani’s dad, Anil, will also be there.

There are a ton of characters in this book and I couldn’t always keep their relationship straight, but they were a lot of fun. Jana often felt like she was different and didn’t fit, even with this group that were her friends. I loved how the author made that a large part of the story and how the friend group rallied around her. I thought there were some parts of the book that felt a little juvenile or were made out to be a big deal in the story, that wouldn’t be in real life. Jana’s mother fibbed about Jana’s marital status to friends and family and it was made to be such an ordeal that I don’t think it should have been. Maybe that’s my misunderstanding of some of the cultural aspects though.

I’ve never really thought about going on an African safari before, but reading this book, you will definitely want to! I loved her descriptions of the resorts and the African landscape and animals. I also loved Jana and Anil’s job working in the international development sector. It’s an area that is of interest to me and was a lot of fun to read about!

Jana Goes Wild is a super cute gem of a book! This is a slow burn story of rekindled love, there is romance but is pretty PG. Equally as important as the love story and character development is the setting in which everything takes place. Jana and her family and friends are on a vacation/wedding extravaganza trip in Africa and experience many safaris and other adventures which Heron makes a focal point of the book. I found this highly enjoyable and that it added quite a bit to the story. It makes this book unique in comparison to other romance novels. The characters in this story are also related to her prior book, Kamila Knows Best. You don’t need to read that one first (books can stand alone), but I appreciated that the stories were connected and provided continuity with the characters. Overall, I really liked this book and recommend to romance readers who enjoy some additional adventure as part of the story.