Thank you Netgalley for the arc!

This was a surprisingly heavy read for me! I went into it thinking it was just going to be all light and fun, which there was some of that, but there were some heavy emotions throughout too. This secondhand romance deals with infidelity, co-parenting, trust issues, lying (by omission but still), etc. This was a good contemporary romance that had adventure and fun but also had some complexity to it!

JANA GOES WILD is a really emotionally resonant and complex book set against a 2 week distinction wedding in Tanzania!

Jana and Amil had a 2 week fling before she found out he was still married. A few weeks after that, she found out she was pregnant. For five years they have co-parented their daughter, but now mutual friends are getting married and they’re both in the bridal party. What could go wrong?

JANA GOES WILD is a book about a second chance romance, but it’s also a book about letting go of pain and choosing forgiveness, as well as getting out of your shell and learning new ways to be. As part of her journey, Jana has to choose to step out of what’s comfortable and safe if she’s going to have the chance of a happily ever after. Trust is hard, but I think the author paid off this story in a really great way. I really liked this and I’m interested to try other books by this author. 4.5 stars

I think this book is the second in a series but I hadn’t read the first and it was fine. Re: cheating—Amil cannot find his wife to serve the divorce when he and Jana get together. He just neglects to tell her that.

Heat level: 2🌶️ like 1 and a half sex scenes.

I received this ARC from netgalley and this is my honest review. JANA GOES WILD comes out May 2, 2023.

My dream vacation is to go on an African safari, so when I saw the cover to this book I was drawn to it. When I read the blurb about them going on safari through some national parks I was hooked. I’ve only traveled to US National Parks, but ugh I want to go to all of them around the world and now especially in Tanzania. I started following each hotel/park Farah mentioned in the book on Instagram!

Jana and Anil are an intense second chance romance. They had a whirlwind 2 week romance that ended in two broken hearts due to Anil’s lies and with Jana getting pregnant. They have co-parented for 5 years and their daughter Imani is both of their pride and joy. However, Jana and Anil barely talk. They do everything for Imani and nothing for themselves or each other. Until they both wind up at a friends wedding in Tanzania for two weeks and the force proximity is forcing their relationship to change.

They were a great couple and given everything they went through the first go around it was great to seem them work past that and find love again.
Thank you @netgalley and @farahheronauthor for the ARC!
Release Date: May 2, 2023
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Man I loved this book! I loved the characters, I loved the setting I loved the story. This book gave me Crazy Rich Asians vibes with the excessive ness and the large group/family but with a different setting and story. If you liked CRA I think this is the next book for you!

Rounded up from 3.5. This was another well-written book by Farah Heron. I especially enjoyed the setting and her love letter to Tanzania, as she calls it. It was fun to revisit these characters, and she did a good job of humanizing Jana and Anil and making them likeable.

Unfortunately, the point the book makes of constantly discussing how Jana needs to be more vibrant does, in fact, highlight the fact that the book itself is not as vibrant as Kamila Knows Best. In book one, the drama was tempered by a lot of joy and silliness brought by Kamila. It’s absolutely OK that Jana is serious and introverted, but for me, it meant the story left a little to be desired as far as the tone of it went. It’s a very good book, but not necessarily as enjoyable for me as its predecessor, especially with the last bump in the road drama thrown in at the end.

Pub date: 5/2/23
Genre: rom com (second chance romance, co-parenting)
Quick summary: Jana and Anil are co-parenting amicably after an accidental pregnancy - will a destination wedding in the Serengeti bring them back together or drive them apart forever?

This is my first book by Farah Heron, and I enjoyed it a lot! The setting was so fun, and I loved seeing Jana and Anil's dynamic. The safari provided plenty of entertainment and awkward moments as Jana and Anil were thrown together, and their friend group and Jana's family members also livened up the story. There's also a work subplot - Jana's potential future boss is on the trip too, and the last thing she wants is for him to find out about her and Anil's backstory. I was glad to see Jana learn to stand up for herself and what she wanted.

The only downside of this one - there was a bit too much third act breakup/miscommunication for me. But oh well, such is the romance reader's life. If you enjoy second chance romance, this is a fun one to pick up!

Thank you to Forever Publishing for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

First of all, I would like to say, this is the nicest cover I have seen in a while. How adorable! Farah Heron is a master of Slow Burn adult romance. She had me rooting for our main couple, even when I didn’t particularly like Anil. I felt so deeply for Jana, dealing with being a single mother and the cultural ramifications of that. In her heart she loves Anil but how can you love somebody when you don’t trust them? What’s so important and lovely about this book is that family relationships and friendships are what give us the confidence to grow and become better. I would also like to note that this book really taught me something about a culture I knew so little about (South Asian Ismaili Muslim community) and this setting in Tanzania was gorgeous!

Thank you #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so good. I applaud how real it was, how messy and how well the characters are written. They are really complex, they are hurting and they are so conflicted by their feelings. It read like a real life relationship with all of the mess that sometimes comes with it. It got frustrating seeing the lack of communication but to be honest, that made it feel real.
The crazy circumstances that kept them apart were so sad, but I understood Jana and her hesitation to trust again. I also deeply felt her frustration as a woman being blamed for the actions of others.
I really enjoyed this read and I was ecstatic to see them work things out after so long!

A pleasant second chance romance. I liked both the characters and the setting showcased here; this was a very unique wedding experience to read about and I really enjoyed the ethnic infusion, with the recipes at the end providing the perfect book capper. It was easy to feel sympathetic toward Jana given everything that had happened regarding her relationship with Anil and what a difficult position she was put in by multiple others on this excursion. After a while, several of the story beats started to feel a little repetitive and I yearned for Jana and Anil to have an honest, open conversation. However, I ended up becoming invested in this couple and enjoyed reading the resolution to their story, complete with a grand gesture involving ABBA. I'd love to pick up Heron's previous book to learn more about Kamila and Rohan, who were both a lot of fun here.

I loved this book!! It was a great addition to the series and I am recommending that everyone read this book!!. I cannot wait to read another fabulous book by Farah Heron. Loved this book so much!!

When does a scandalous man deserve a second chance?

After uptight non-profit manager Jana unwittingly becomes the other woman in her coworker’s affair, her reputation is in tatters. Things take a turn for the worse when she finds out she’s pregnant with his baby.

Five years later, she’s a single parent clawing her way back up the nonprofit ladder, but emotionally, she hasn’t emotionally moved on from the consequences of their brief affair. She pledges to be no one’s fool ever again.

When Jana and Anil both find themselves in the bridal party of a mutual friend’s safari destination wedding, the one-time lovers and current coparents are forced to re-examine their feelings. Set over the course of two weeks in Tanzania, I appreciated the spark between Jana and Anil was a slow burning ember rather than an inferno suddenly roaring back to life with their forced proximity. He works to earn her trust again.

Amusing but not ‘laugh out loud’ funny, it was charming. Especially Anil’s interactions with their 4 year old daughter. While I didn’t read the first book in this series (Kamila Knows Best), this book works as a stand-alone with a lovable South Asian cast.

There are two very mild love scenes, but a decent amount of chemistry between the characters as their safari vacation progresses and Jana decides to “go wild” to prove she can be a vibrant woman, and see herself as more than a reserved mother.

One criticism: I don’t demand a ton of believability in a romantic comedy, but I didn’t buy group of 30 professional, highly successful adults all taking a fortnight out of their busy schedules to travel to another continent for a wedding. Even accounting for their affluence, it stretched the suspension of disbelief, so that cost it a star for me.

3.5 / 5 stars

Wow this one was complicated! I think it’s one of the messiest plots I’ve ever read, but I enjoyed it so much. It has been my first book by Farah Heron but I don’t think it’ll be the last because I’ve loved her writing and how addictive it is.

This is a second chance romance with a twist since they had a kid after a fling, so even though they haven’t seen each other much, they have always been communicating because of their daughter. Jana and Amil had big bad blood between them after the reasons why their fling ended (which I’m not gonna say, obviously). When I say their relationship is complicated, it’s not an understatement. I could sympathize with Jana, but I also could do it with Amil. This is not an easy situation to pick a side. What I loved the most about this romance is that it takes them a lot of time and trial and error conversations to get to the solution. I loved that they didn’t fall into bed without at least acknowledging their problems first. The bad blood was too thick to get cleaned up soon, but they manage, and it felt very realistic.

Imani was the absolute sweetest kid. She was so funny and adorable. I love that Jana and Amil always put her first and ever since the moment she was born, they never let her suffer the consequences of their problems. Both Jana and Amil were the most amazing parents separately, so together they are a perfect team.

I picked up this book because the cover was irresistible, but the inside was just as good!

Rating: 4/5
Steam level: Open door, 1-2 scenes, low level of detail

ARC provided by Forever and NetGalley. Opinions are my own!

I've read several of Farah Heron's books and I always end up feeling the same about them -- fine. The books are fine. I have nothing to complain about it, I just don't have anything to rave about.

This is a follow up to Kamila Knows Best which I've read but couldn't remember very well. You don't need to have read it to understand this.

2-2.5 stars. It pains me to write this as I adored Kamila Knows Best, but this was hard for me. It had many of the wonderful hallmarks of a Heron treat, like beautiful descriptions of food and scenery and zany friends and family members whose antics add levity and charm. I had two main issues that contributed to this being a no for me--first, it's very slow. Things picked up somewhat once the wedding events got started, but even then the plot didn't feel like it was moving forward at all. I just didn't feel the momentum which is what I want from a romance. Second, Jana was hard for me to root for. She'd dealt with some tough shit, I'll give her that, but it felt like Eeyore was narrating this story. The focus of so much of this was how tired and stressed she is of the challenges of her life. Overall this was a miss for me but I'll still read whatever Heron puts out next.

This is the first Farah Heron novel I’ve read and I was absolutely transported on an African adventure. The descriptions of the landscapes, animals and resorts are vivid. The characters come to life on the page and it’s so clear from the dialogue and internal monologues what the characters’ motives and dynamics are. And the second half of this novel is where the plot really takes off. I read the second half of this novel in one evening.

A few critiques: our main character Jana frequently recalls her romantic encounters with Anil in the first half of the novel, but how she describes remembering it fall flat for me in a way that doesn’t build excitement and anticipation. I had a hard time staying engaged with the first half of the novel. The one intimate scene we get in the second half of the novel is steamy and exciting! I wish this writing was carried more throughout the novel. For instance in the first half of the novel when Jana and Anil occasionally accidentally/platonically touch, I never feel the sparks and tension translate off the page.

Jana and Anil pale in comparison to the rest of the characters who are vibrant and realistic. I absolutely related to Jana’s insecurities and anxieties, but her interactions with other characters comes across as flat. I wish we had a stronger sense of what makes Jana lovable. Instead it felt like we were supposed to love her despite a lot of what has happened in life, rather than love her for what has happened in her life.

Some of the physical landscape descriptions became redundant. In each resort the same landscape was painted for us and baobab trees were mentioned each time. I would have loved more of a description of baobab trees because the word really jumps off the page, but doesn’t explain the uniqueness of this variety.

I wish we had more of an explanation of what Jana and Anil do for work. We know they’re in development and working with non-profits, but I really wish there was more explanation about the work they do. Some examples of projects I think would work in multiple ways: one explain to the reader what Development is and two show the reader a deeper insight into what kind of person Jana is (I assume a very caring and empathetic one).

Overall, absolutely loved the book. Would give it a 8.5/10. The romance scenes we got were phenomenal, the setting was unique and vibrant, the plot and conflicts are uncommon and modern, but commonly loved troupes are featured: enemies to friends, only one bed, etc. And the secondary characters brought so much diversity and personality to the story. Farah Heron writes in a way that creates vivid imagery and characters! I have not read Kamila Knows Best and I don’t think this negatively impacted my reading experience, but I’m looking forward to reading it now that I’ve finished Jana Goes Wild.

i was waiting to hear more about jana and anil’s story and it definitely delivered! i loved the setting of the safari and getting to watch jana grow throughout the book. plus reading about old favorites is always a win! definitely a good follow up book!

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

First, amazing cover. Second, Farah Heron always does the job, she is easily one of the best romance writers out there at the moment.

This book brought me to tears multiple times. It is a mega-slow burn, it is emotional, it is witty and smart, and it is an incredible example of how characters who appear as "villains" in one text can be turned into heroines in another. If I had to sum all of this up, I would simply say that this book is mature - and I mean that in the most positive way-- the conflicts, the resolutions, the love, the relationships, and the humor are never slap-sticky or goofy or forced for the sake of the plot, they are nuanced and difficult and political (I wish more writers weren't afraid of this!) in ways that, as a reader, hit deep. Jana is easily one of my favorite romance heroines of all time.

I know that I will be thinking about this book for a long time.

Buy this book asap!

This story has a lot to love. My initial interest was Farah and then the bright cover. Farah never disappoints and this second chance romance has jumped right up to the top of my favs.

I figured out this was a follow up to Kamila Knows Best after I had completely finished reading it. It works well as a standalone. I did however start Kamila Knows Best immediately after and found a little context I was missing specifically regarding the friendship dynamics of certain characters.

I won’t spoil the plot but coparenting with no relationship nor friendship after only two weeks of falling in love! Not to mention while sharing the same friends and family can be difficult (that’s an understatement)… Add on attending the same wedding on the other side of the world. All the miscommunication was killing me so I was happy for some force proximity. It’s crazy to think resolving small misunderstandings can truly change the whole trajectory of life.

I love how Heron’s writing always makes me hungry specifically for culturally diverse food! There’s quite a few restaurants that her writing has driven me to. I also really want to visit Africa and specifically Tanzania someday. She described it so beautifully to the point I dreamed about it for weeks. My bags are already packed!

I’ll be completely honest and say what drew me into the book was the cover. It was bright and felt fun. Title was the major hook. It made me curious. I’m so glad that I took that chance because Farah Heron hit it out of the park with Jana goes Wild.

I love the location for this one. Tanzania is such a beautiful country, and Farah's eloquently describing the setting. I can picture the game trips, safari rides, and the resort the group is staying in. Like the other novels I've read by her, I'm not as welcoming of the fact that she insists on highlighting the characters' religion when they are not practicing the religion. I feel that their religion has nothing to do with what they are doing in the plot. Overall, it's a second chance romance with an interesting setting.