def 30%
I really, really, really wanted to like this book. I went to Tanzania a few years ago and slept on the Serengeti so I was so looking forward to this book being set on the savannah. This book was not what I wanted. I don't enjoy romances that are dominated by the main character's children. I found Imani to be very annoying, and while It was likely an accurate depiction of a five year old on vacation in Tanzania, it was not what I wanted as part of my romance novel. On top of that Jana's family and everyone at the wedding just stressed me out. I know that being an only child and not in contact with most of my extended family very much colors my perceptions of family dynamics, but the idea of this many people being up in Jana and Anil's business was just too much. Overall, this book was a case of the book not being the right fit for me.

Another DNF for me. This started off really promising. Starting off with spice is always a nice move. However, I just couldn't get on board with Jana. She just rubbed me the wrong way. I loved the idea of this being set on a safari in Africa but the rest of the story fell flat. I wasn't invested in any character and allowed myself to get distracted frequently while reading this because I wasn't feeling it. Sorry :(

Jana Goes Wild is a wildly fun new book from Farah Heron that addresses the age old question: can you find happiness with your ex?

Jana knows she's different that her family. She's reserved, introverted, and not good at having the spotlight on herself, so when she first meets Anil she knows there's something special happening because she's never been so connected to someone in her life. Two unforgettable weeks leads to a surprise pregnancy and a surprise not-so-ex-wife that Jana didn't know about and now she has to pick up the pieces and restart her life.

Five years of healthy yet detached co-parenting later, Jana finds herself stuck with Anil for two weeks while they celebrate their mutual friends' wedding in the heart of the Serengeti with their daughter and all of Jana's extended family...and potential new boss. Jana is determined to keep things status quo with Anil, but he's ready to finally crack through Jana's walls for a second time and prove that she's the only one for him. Can Jana let go of the past and find her happiness that she felt for those two weeks with Anil?

I first read Farah's Accidentally Engaged and knew she was an author I wanted to read again. This was a much different premise, but the family bonds and camaraderie still finds itself coming out of the pages at you here. Jana Goes Wild was a perfect plane read that had me laughing out loud at times and covering my face in shared embarrassment for her at others. I appreciated the complexities of Jana coming to the discovery that she does want to be with Anil because lying is my biggest "no-go" area. If I found myself in Jana's shoes, I'm not sure that I could find my way back to Anil either, but I would like to think with the support of friends like they have and really looking at the overall picture that I too could forgive him. This is a definite must-read author for me!

Jana is a single mother, who has been unlucky in love and her past relationship which resulted in her daughter left heartbroken and her reputation tarnished. She is a bridesmaid in a wedding for 2 of her best friends in the Serengeti National Park. When she arrives for the long festivities she realizes she is going to be in close proximity with her mom, an employer she just interviewed for and worse, her ex.
She takes this as an opportunity to get out of her comfort zone, try new things, appear to be the best version of herself and maybe finally have a relationship with her ex that leaves behind the anger, hurt, and guilt.

The strongest part of this book was by far the setting. The picture the author painted of all the animals, the hotels, the game tours was magical. It had me itching to travel to Africa to experience it all myself. My problem came with not connecting to the main character Jana, I did not find her likeable and was not rooting for her. It made it very difficult to enjoy my reading experience even though this novel had so much going for it.

While not my favourite book by Farah Heron, this was still a good read. I really love finally getting better insight into Jana, and more importantly, I love getting all that info on Kamila and Rohan's wedding. It was nice to see Jana finally realise that people like her and that she gets her happy ending.

Jana is a bridesmaid in a destination wedding in Serengeti National Park and everyone she knows will be there - her daughter, her mom, her friends, the man who might be her new boss, and her ex. Jana and Anil have managed to co–parent pretty effectively, even if Jana still doesn’t trust him after he lied to her during their two week relationship. But she still finds him attractive and they’ve never spent this much time together since Imani was born. Will she be able to keep her distance, or will she fall for him again?

The setting for this story was incredible and made me want to add Tanzania to my travel bucket list. The way Farah described not only the scenery but the animals sounded incredible and magical. I loved Jana as a main character - she was an incredible example of a strong independent woman who owned who she was, imperfections and all. Her relationship with her daughter Imani was so sweet and special. The character development in both Jana and Anil was fantastic, and their backstory made them and their relationship make a lot of sense. I was captivated by this book from the beginning and loved the full range of emotions I experienced while reading it. Any book that makes me laugh out loud is a win in my mind, and Farah manages to get me giggling with every book she writes.

Thank you to Forever Publishing for the advance copy.

This was a bit meh mixed with a bit of disappointment and I'm sitting here wondering if 3 stars is too high.

I don't remember Jana or Anil from Kamila's book, but I did enjoy Kamila and Rohan, so I was thrilled to see the plot was taking place at their destination wedding. This cast of characters is pretty big, but most of them are fun.

I struggled with Jana's inner monologue. Her thoughts were a spiraling repetition and it got old pretty fast. I wanted to empathize, but she was never happy, even when she got the outcome she wanted. I feel like Anil (and everyone else), got a bad rap since they're tempered through Jana's POV, however there was minimal growth towards the end.

Plot wise, I don't even know. They go to a resort, they ride in cars to see animals, they spend the night, they go to the next resort and repeat. There's a wedding. At no point does Jana "go wild".

Overall, I debated DNFing, I debated skipping ahead, I ended up skimming a good portion. I'm here for anything Farah writes, but this one will likely be forgotten.

**Huge thanks to the publisher for providing the arc free of charge**

Jana Suleiman grew up trying (and usually succeeding) to do the Right Thing all the time. She was a good girl. And in her mind, the one time she really just followed her heart and fell hard and fast into bed with a man, she got pregnant and found out that she was actually "the other woman" in this situation. Unfortunately, the repercussions of this cost her a job. So even though Jana adores Imani (her daughter), she cannot help but be extremely bitter that her society has not punished Anil (baby daddy) in the same way at all. So when she winds up shoved together with Anil and Imani at the wedding of two of her best friends, some of that resentment starts to be aired out.

I probably shouldn't focus so much on the bitterness, but honestly, for me, that is one of the most pertinent parts of this story. Jana is mad. Rightfully so, but it's also fascinating because Anil really is so likable, it was hard to be mad at him. This book is a follow up to Kamila Knows Best and I feel like I should have read that one first in order to be more sympathetic to Jana (not that I wasn't, but I was also like, everything was complicated! Not really his fault! and that just doesn't feel fair...). All this to say though, this book felt really unique and fresh to me. I loved the setting so much. I loved the conflict here because even if I didn't always understand Jana, I felt like she was so real and honest in her emotions. And Imani is a precious bean whom I adored.

Also, now I want to go on a safari. I would also like to have people protect me like they did Imani and never mention the fact that some people go and hunt REALLY FREAKING AWESOME animals for sport. I just do not understand and I also do not like it. But anyways, setting that aside, I really enjoyed this book so very much and I look forward to picking up more from Heron, hopefully soon!

dnf @ 30%

I really wanted to like this book, but I just couldn’t get past the fact that Anil lied to Jana about being MARRIED when they were first together. I’m all for a redemption arc in a second chance romance but this one just felt icky.

Jana Goes Wild by Farah Heron is a very fun and delightful second chance romance full of family, friends, food, and the occasional lion and elephant!

I loved this book! It was such a great read, funny and lighthearted but also serious at times. I can totally relate to the main character Jana, she is introverted, and reserved but she wants to let loose (see her list 😂) and have fun. I totally felt for her as she navigates a safari trip with her ex and father of her child, while also coming to terms with her feelings. I really enjoyed reading the relationship between Jana and her mother and watching them grow

This is definitely a must read for all rom-com lovers. Thank you @readforeverpub for the eARC!

Farah Heron has become an auto-read author for me. Her adult rom coms are so freaking wonderful (I have yet to read her YA books!) so I was so very excited to read Jana Goes Wild. It was fun and real and I enjoyed reading it but it won’t crack the favourites list.

Here’s the book’s description:
Jana Suleiman has never really fit in—everyone always sees her as too aloof, too cool, too perfect. The one time she stepped out of her comfort zone she ended up with a broken heart and a baby on the way. Aaaand lesson learned . Now she’s a bridesmaid for a destination wedding in Serengeti National Park, and almost everyone she knows will be there. Her five-year-old daughter. Her mom. Her friends. Even her potential new boss. And of course (because who doesn’t love surprises!) her gorgeous-but-not-to-be-trusted ex.
Fortunately, Anil Malek is a great dad, even if Jana hasn’t quite forgiven him for lying to her all those years ago. Determined to show he has no effect on her whatsoever, she and the bridesmaids concoct a go-wild list to get Jana through the week. Sing karaoke? Sure. Perform their high school dance routine in front of strangers? Okay. But the more she lets down her guard, the less protection she has against her attraction to Anil. And Jana soon realizes it’s one thing to walk on the wild side . . . and quite another to fall for her ex all over again.
Because I love Heron’s books so much, I didn’t even read the description before requesting the egalley. I also didn’t read it before starting it. The latter was a bit of a mistake. I hadn’t realized this was going to be a romance featuring parents and that’s a storyline that just does not work for me. It’s totally and completely a personal thing so if I do end up reading a book by an author I love, I try to prepare myself before diving in. And because I didn’t, I think it was even harder to get into the story. That said, I recognize how fantastic it is to get rom coms that feature parents. They deserve love too. I just don’t want to be a parent and my bias gets in the way sometimes.

I also don’t know if it was my silly brain or the fact that I wasn’t able to really tuck into the book for long chunks of time but it took me awhile to get into this one. I found it pretty long and even though I remembered Jana from Kamila Knows Best, I wasn’t really getting the Main Character Energy from her. I cared about her, don’t get me wrong, and I was totally rooting for a Happily Ever After for her and Anil. But it was a struggle to get really invested. Her issues seemed to be so very much in her head. They weren’t totally unwarranted, of course. Anil hurt her immensely and those around her were total assholes when she was pregnant with their daughter. I also think she had some anxiety that wasn’t ever addressed in the story - it was just sort of dealt with by saying she was an introvert and couldn’t “people” too much. I think it was more than just simply being an introvert. She refused to let go of the (again, justified) hurt even though Anil had gone above and beyond to prove that he regretted his mistake. I also think she thought people talked about her far more than they actually did. It seemed like she was self-centred but it was her past trauma and her anxiety that was making her come across that way. It all just didn’t really work (for me) for the tension and the issues that needed to be created for a rom com.

Getting to “travel” to Tanzania was super cool. I don’t think I’ll ever do a safari so I appreciated getting to experience it through reading this book. I also appreciated that Jana and Anil both worked in development and cared about making a difference and were conscious of their (and the wedding party’s) tourism and both the positive and negative impacts of it. That all said…holy man, the escapades in Tanzania really seemed to drag. I lost track of time and it felt like they were there for a month or more.

The best parts of the story were when the whole “hashtag Bridal Brigade” were together. I felt a bit bad because I am also an introvert and preferring some of the more vivacious characters to Jana felt incredibly disloyal (but omg when she was talking to someone and said, quite derisively, “you people” meaning extroverts, let me tell you, I cackled!). Heron writes relationships - both romantic and friendship - so extremely well and it was the friendship relationships in this one that shone. (Again, as much as I wanted an HEA for Jana and Anil.)

I know it likely seems like I really, really didn’t like this book. But honestly, I didn’t dislike it. I did have fun reading Jana Goes Wild but I think my expectations for Farah Heron are so high that I just expected more from it. I’ll absolutely keep reading Heron’s books and am already looking forward to what she writes next.

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Forever, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Cute travel romance! I don't normally go for these but this book made me think maybe I need to consider them more often. It was cute and lighthearted and something that made me just get out of my own head.

Although I'm not usually into second-chance romance, I decided to try reading Jana Goes Wild because I was drawn to the cover. Unfortunately, I didn't find it enjoyable for a different reason than I had expected. I had trouble relating to the main character, Jana, who came across as very bitter. I also felt that there was hardly any romance or meaningful interactions in the first half of the book. However, I did appreciate the descriptions of the safaris and scenery, which were enjoyable to read about.

I loved Kamila Knows Best, and I was dubious about whether a book about Jana -- a character introduced in KKB -- would be as good, but Farah Heron delivered another good one. I will say, though, I still like Kamila as an FMC more than Jana, but I loved getting to know Jana better in this book. The premise is that Jana had an intense but short relationship with her child's father that ended when she found out he was separated, but not divorced from, his wife and she had to endure some public shaming from the wife's family, as well. As a result of all that, she maintains a co-parent-only relationship with the father, Anil, and has kept him at arms-length for 5 years.

If Jana was a real person who I knew, I'd probably refer to her as a "tough nut to crack." So, I feel like all the life decisions she's made between KKB and this book totally track with what I'd expect from Jana. I loved that Heron didn't write her to be a "poof- I'm different now!" kind of character. She gradually started to want to step outside her comfort zone, and once she decided she wanted to, she still had to ease herself into doing all of those "vibrant" things. Very real.

Anil was a good character, but I think the narrative tried to veer us into "Anil = Prince Charming; Jana = closed-off" territory, but I didn't buy that. It didn't sound like Anil had been actively trying to make amends or build a better relationship with her for years. It sounded like Anil had been going along with the co-parenting status quo and never actually expressed that he wanted to have any other kind of relationship with Jana (well, not since their original falling out). So, it's not like Jana had just been spending all this time shooing him away or rejecting him. She had nothing to go on aside from a bad past experience, so why would she have tried to make things different before now? He wants a good relationship with her and doesn't feel like they have it...that sounds like an Anil-problem, not a Jana-problem. When they did eventually hook up again, she said she wanted some time to think, but Anil's immediate reaction was to tell people that there was nothing in Toronto for him but his kid, to leave without saying bye, and to ignore most of her attempts to reach out. I never really saw any evidence of him "trying" with her. But, you know, Jana went wild and made it happen anyway so good for them I guess.

In the end, there wasn't much I didn't love about the book as a whole. This should go on your "to-read" list if you like books where the characters travel and the author makes you feel like you're traveling with them, because that was this book's main vibe for me. I feel kinda like I've been to Tanzania now? You should read Kamila Knows Best first, though, because Kamila is the Emma Woodhouse that all other Emma Woodhouses need to be.

Taking place mostly in Tanzania, I absolutely loved this book! Parents Jana and Anil are on safari with their daughter Imani, about a zillion aunties and uncles, and all their friends to celebrate Kamila and Rohan’s wedding (Kamila from Kamila Knows Best, another book I loved!!). Despite successfully co-parenting for the five years since their two-week fling resulted in a child, Kamila and Anil don’t know how to behave around each other and the Serengeti provides an unmatched scenic backdrop so watching their relationship roller coaster. I also appreciated how much commentary it offered on safe sex practices, international development, ethics, undoing generational trauma, and more. This book was so fun, I loved all the characters, and would definitely recommend!

*Special thank you to NetGalley, Farah Heron & Forever pub for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.75 rounded up. I really enjoyed this book. The safari setting was SO cool. Overall, some parts were a little slow but I loved the characters. I especially loved Imani - her personality was great. I really liked Jana's growth throughout the book. There was also a little too much miscommunication for me but I understand it was essential to Jana and Anil's relationship. I think the lessons in coparenting & the importance of strong friendships were great. While I cannot relate to coparenting since I don't have children, I know so many people out there can. I definitely recommend this one!

I was not completely sold on the first book in this series, but this cover is adorable and the premise sounded fun, so I was excited to dig in. Unfortunately, it was an immediate no from me. I am not okay with the hero's deception, and it's not something I would've been able to get over. So this started off on the wrong foot for me, and things did not improve from there. The tone was different than expected, and - while I clearly understood the heroine's frustration - the tension was not fun to read. We kept revisiting my biggest issue with the relationship over and over. I never got into it, and ended up doing some skimming before ultimately leaving it unfinished.

This book was cute. I am not much of a second-chance romance fan. But I did like the overall story. However, this is not one that I think I will reread.

I loved Accidentally Engaged, and Kamila Knows Best. Unfortunately, I can't say I felt the same about Jana Goes Wild. It wasn't bad, but I wanted to like Jana Goes Wild far more than I did.

Here's what I liked:
— The safari setting
— Description of culture and traditions
— Strong presence of Kamila Knows Best characters
— Supportive female friendships (Bridal Brigade to the rescue!)
— Jana and Anil put the needs of their daughter first; they are great parents
— Anil and Jana’s focus on making the world a better place
— Jana’s grand gesture! ❤️


What I didn’t like:
— I completely understood Jana’s perspective on what Anil did and hated the impact of the fallout on her. However, she came across as bitter, angry, and slightly mean. Her inability to move on dragged the story down.
— Jana’s mom, all I can say is just wow! ☹️

Thank you to Forever for a copy of this book.