Thank you netgalley for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

If you're looking for a spicy slow burn romance, this is it! Such a sweet read, highly recommend to any fans of Mariana Zapata for that intense slow burn.

4/5 ⭐
2/5 🌶️

3.5 stars rounded up. I should include the fact that I haven’t read the other book in the series so I might have enjoyed it more had I known more of the backstory. I found the first half of the book really slow and had a hard time getting into it. I understood why Jana would be guarded, but it felt like I was hearing the same things over and over. I did eventually get more into the story though and overall enjoyed the book. The descriptions of Africa added to my enjoyment.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was so happy for the opportunity to read an ARC of Jana Goes Wild through NetGalley. Jana was my favourite character in Kamila Knows Best, where she filled the ‘Jane Fairfax’ role in that Emma retelling. I was dying to get into her head and couldn’t wait until the book releases on May 1st.

This book kept me up way too late reading and had me feeling lots of feelings.
As a reserved introvert, I think this story did a really wonderful job capturing the joy that very introverted and reserved people feel when they meet someone they effortlessly click with. It feels like magic. And then the devastation from realizing that person was hiding very important information about their marital status. Oof. Plus social and career fallout from that lie of omission. Ouch. Well done. The hero, Anil, had his work cut out to fix this.

This is a second chance romance, told only from Jana’s POV. I love the tension and angst that came from that narrative choice. The Tanzanian destination wedding setting and the supporting characters were great. A really fulfilling read all around for me.

You’ll get enough context in the first few chapters to read this as a standalone, but I was so excited to discover that this was the same Jana we first met in Kamila Knows Best! I love spin-off/series books and this was such a fun read - thanks to NetGalley for the ARC! Coming 5/2/2023, it kicks off with some serious chemistry, and uptight-introverted-Jana is so relatable to me. I’m still not sure what the ethical implications of tourism are in Tanzania, but wow did this make me want to go!!! A second-chance romance at its core, this make me tear up in all the right moments and really feel for Jana and Anil. I was really glad that this was a slower-paced relationship as it made it feel more realistic, but still an entertaining and enjoyable read!

5/5!

I was stoked for Farah Heron’s newest novel. I adored Accidentally Engaged. I enjoyed the Chai Factor. However, this is easily my favourite of hers.

Farah’s fresh approach to storylines are what I love most about her novels. The plotlines are new, unlike others in this genre.

Her writing was so descriptive of the safaris, animals, the food, the wedding. It felt as if you had a seat at Jana’s friend’s wedding.

This novel was fun, charming, and so relatable. As an introvert, I felt for Jana. So many thoughts Jana had were similar to my experiences. Having said that, the main characters were so thoughtful, fun, and ultimately, you want to have these folks as your friends.

I hope Farah continues to write these types of stories: original and always a fresh take on relationships. I am thrilled she is a Canadian author writing these stories. Always have to do a shout out to mentioning Tim Hortons anything.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, Farah Heron for providing me an advanced reader’s copy of Jana Goes Wild - in exchange for an honest review.

I am a HUGE fan of romcoms and this one did NOT disappoint. What a cute, fun, and easy read. I wish I could read it again for the first time! Maybe I'll "forget" it until May when it's published and then read it again! Great read, highly recommended!

I’m a marketing and publicity intern at Forever Publishing, so I am reading this for work! Aaaaaaand there's a character limit on reviews here are some more words

Heron's characters are characters are vibrant and layered as is her setting. The secondary cast of characters are well-developed and diverse—they are just as memorable and completely worthy of their page time. And can we just take a moment to appreciate how she writes about food?

Fans of hers will be delighted at the cameos. Congratulations, Farah, on another fabulous book!

I loved this. It was such a good romcom that it had literally put me out of reading slump. I really liked the tropes in this one and the romance was top notch. Also the main characters were interesting and adorable enough too!!

Ok, can we get a big applause for this beautiful cover but also this beautiful story that is inside this book!! I loved the picturesque description of the travels throughout Africa and the characters’ Indian Culture. This book also includes a dream wedding that happens in the middle of the Serengeti!! I can’t even imagine a wedding with giraffes and elephants roaming nearby. I have Tanzania on my travel bucket list now. This is a second chance romance novel. Jana is one of the main characters who finds her self needing to push herself out of her comfort zone. She creates a “let loose” list to try new things and become more vibrant. Over the course of the trip in Africa and upon returning home she realizes that one doesn’t need to change oneself to fit in. They can be themselves and still be loved for who they are. Jana's journey made me feel all the feels. It's full of angst and heartache, but also the search for joy and happiness. Jana and Anil really needed to learn to communicate better to express their feelings. These two have amazing chemistry. I loved the topic of co-parenting and how it was dealt with in the book. This is such a hard topic and experience for so many parents. There was humor in the boom, love, heartache and safari animals. Loved reading Jana and Anil’s story. Many thanks to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and NetGalley for the digital review copy of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

You can dance, you can jive and poor Jana is trying to have the time of her life!

This was my first (but certainly not my last) book from Farah Heron. I definitely will be going back and reading Kamila Knows Best (to be honest, if I had known this was a sequel, I would have read it first!). From my perspective, the representation of South Asian cultures from the food to the wedding traditions/customs was so strong. I’m excited to try some of the recipes included at the end of the book. The amazing backdrop of Tanzania & the Serengeti for most of the tale was so rich and beautiful! Safe to say, East Africa is on my bucket list!

It was quite the emotional roller coaster for both Jana & myself! The novel did a great job giving Jana the opportunity to to actually go on a journey of self-actualization and we got to go along for the ride. On this trip, she has to balance being a parent to a small child in Africa, being a part of the bridal party for wedding celebrations in Africa, her meddling mother, the man who just interviewed her for a job is also in Africa AND the forced proximity to her ex!

A few of the tropes that found their way in:
-Second-Chance
-Slow Burn
-Forced Proximity
-Only One Bed

I absolutely adored the focus on Jana & Anil’s co-parenting and their abilities to put her needs ahead of their own. I do feel like there was a significant lack of therapy, which would have been good for all parties involved! But when Jana & Anil FINALLY get the chance to talk, the conversations felt so real. They were both just so relatable in those moments. I cried for both of them more than once. I’m typically not a fan of miscommunication but with the circumstances and history around them and how it played out, I was definitely okay with it, more so than other romances I’ve read. The book was an interesting setup as we got him groveling for most of the book, but then her executing the grand gesture. Great little twist!

AND ABBA! I can’t forget ABBA! It’s like Farah Heron knew EXACTLY what I needed when she put MULTIPLE ABBA songs in!

I figured from the title there would be quite a bit of self-realization happening, but not a lot else. I adored this book, start to finish. I can’t wait to own my own physical copy on May 2, 2023!

TW/CW: Infidelity (Unknowingly), Loss of Parent (Off-Screen), References to sexism & homophobia.

ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are honest and my own.

After coming off some less than stellar reads, I felt like Farah Heron's sequel to Kamila Knows Best is exactly what I needed.

A second chance romance that involves a wedding in the Serengeti? Ok, not right up my alley, but a little light hearted, so I'm keeping an open mind.

Many of the same characters from KKB were brought back in this one, and it was nice to see them again, but Jana, the main character, drove me bat shit crazy and I wanted to hit her with an elephant.

I did love the talk of food and was intrigued by the pimping a dildo conversation, but other than that, I found this story SO boring and repetitive. I wanted to DNF it and have no good reason for why I didn't.

Thank you Netgalley and Forever for the ARC.

Farah Heron does it again! I’ll post a longer review later but this was such an amazing read and I’ll most likely read it again before the publication’s release.

Thank you NetGalley and Forever Publishing for the advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review!

A walk on the wild side! I was immediately intrigued by the concept of being a bridesmaid in a destination wedding in a safari setting, and I was not disappointed! This was a fun read. I found myself rooting for our MC the entire story.

3.5/5 stars

I'll be honest, this book started out a little slow for me. In the beginning things seemed a bit stiff and forced. But the more Jana checked off her "let loose" list. the more the book picked up momentum. In the end I found myself completely invested in what was going to happen.

At the end-I felt myself cheering for the MC-I felt she grew a lot over the course of the story!

The author depicts the entire trip and wedding with magnificent detail-it felt like I was really in Tanzania! An item on my bucket list is an African safari-so I really love that aspect of the story. I enjoyed learning things about a different culture-in regards to the food, wedding and traditions.

Read if you love:
-second chance romance
-single parenthood stories
-travel
-weddings

Be sure to check this one out!

Thank you to Forever/Grand Central Publishing for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Pub date: May 2, 2023

🐘 Book Review 🐘

Thanks to @readforeverpub and @netgalley for early access to this book in exchange for my honest review. Jana Goes Wild publishes on May 2, 2023.

✔️ Second Chance (while co-parenting)
✔️ Forced Proximity
✔️ One Bed
✔️ Grumpy/Sunshine

I loved the premise of this book. The entire setup made me sympathetic to Jana from the jump - a bridesmaid at a destination wedding and her ex is also there; and she can't glare at him with laser eyes the whole time (even though he deserved it for telling a very big lie) because he's the father of her child; and the child is also there at the wedding.

My favorite parts of this book were the most grounded moments: descriptions of how both of the main characters have changed - and not just emotionally. The toll time takes on their bodies - very different bodies than when they first got together - are mentioned on page and then deftly tied into the attraction they still feel for each other.

The setting was terrific too - made me want to travel with all my closest friends. I loved the added family drama, mostly caused by Jana's mom (though I don't need to experience that 😂).

The parts that worked less well for me are the moments that leaned too hard into comedy - falling down, blurting something out in front of the wrong person, etc. If you love the Com in romcom, then you'll like this one. I'd say 4⭐️

Steam 🔥
Banter 🗣️🗣️🗣️
Swoon 💕💕💕💕

Jana Suleiman is a busy single mother to Imani and is trying to navigate coparenting with her daughter's father, Anil. Jana and her family head to Tanzania for a wedding. Unbeknownst to Jana, Anil is also there. Jana is a proud woman and is not thrilled to have Anil in the same location. We are introduced to some lively characters in the Bridal Brigade and the Groom Platoon, as well as well-meaning family members. We follow Jana on her journey to become a looser version of herself and perhaps finding a second chance at love.

Jana Goes Wild was the first time I have read anything by Farah Heron. I am already adding Kamila Knows Best to my TBR pile!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC.
P.S. I want to go on a safari now...

I received an ARC of this book. This is my honest review.

Jana Goes Wild is the second Farah Heron book I’ve read. I enjoyed them both, partly for their big casts of characters (extended family and friends) and partly for the glimpses they afford into rich cultures I know little about. Heron writes lively, busy, sociable stories of people sharing and enjoying and sometimes meddling in the lives of their loved ones. Nobody’s perfect, but most of her characters are really lovable anyway.

Jana Goes Wild is the second-chance love story of Jana and Anil, who, several years after their brief relationship and breakup, are thrown together again as they help their mutual friends celebrate the friends’ wedding during a two-week trip to Tanzania.

One of my favorite things about this story was Heron’s way of showing that events—in this case, the events surrounding Jana and Anil’s original breakup—often have very different outcomes for women than for men. When these two join the wedding group, Jana is a bitter and unhappy person because of what happened years before. While Anil at first seems both happier and more likeable than Jana, we learn that he was at fault for their first breakup, that he knows that, and that he too is suffering.

The story opens at what seemed to be an odd point and then jumps ahead several years to what seemed like another odd point, and this made the book difficult for me to connect with immediately, especially when told from the perspective of a difficult heroine. What I initially took to be telling-not-showing also prevented me from enjoying the first part of the book as much as I might’ve, but as the story progressed and I began to get a better feel for Jana, I began to find her more sympathetic and to wonder whether the telling was a way to show her difficulty dealing with deep feeling and her social awkwardness and trouble expressing herself to others. I (deep sigh) began to identify with her more than is comfortable.

The pacing and interactions and events of the second half of the book worked a lot better for me and sealed my investment in seeing these characters get their HEA. There were multiple crisis points that were well-written and eventually satisfyingly resolved and it was easy to cheer for Anil and Jana by the end.

Now I will have to go back and read Heron's Kamila Knows Best, in which, as I understand, these two first appear, so that I can further my acquaintance with their extended families!

4.5 stars, rounded up to 5.

NOTE: I posted this review to Goodreads under my author name (Laura Moher).

The “five years earlier” start to the book were interesting, and I wish we’d gotten more of that. Instead, we flew forward, and spent the rest of the book dragged down by Jana’s insecurities and issues communicating. I liked Anil, but came to find Jana really irritating. The story also could’ve been shorter. There were way too many bits about Jana worrying about what others were thinking. It was cute, but I wasn’t invested, and wanted to get to the end.

This book reminds me of one i read not to long ago and i forgot the title but like that book i enjoyed this. And felt it was different from what ive read in awhile and it was a good rom com and needed a good laugh