Name: Love, Chai, and Other Four-Letter Words
ISBN: 9781492665403

Annika Sharma

She's determined to be the perfect daughter, until she meets the perfect guy... Kiran Mathur knows firsthand how dangerous love can be. After all, her sister's marriage in India nearly destroyed Kiran's family. So she's decided to redeem romance herself--by not falling for anyone who might disappoint her parents. That is, until she meets her new neighbor Nash Hawthorne. Nash is a dedicated psychologist and committed to being alone. His family life has taught him the inevitability of abandonment, and he isn't ready to question his beliefs. But in spending time with Kiran, he starts to experience emotion he's never felt before. For both, love feels like a risk. But when the future only starts to make sense with each other, it might be time to follow their hearts...

Love, Chai, and Other Four-Letter Words

Vicky (A City Girl's Thoughts)

Thank you Annika Sharma, Sourcebooks Casablanca, and Netgalley for giving me an ARC in exchange for my honest review! 

This heartwarming Own Voices rom-com features an Indian protagonist who determines whether to listen to her heart or follow her parents wants. I enjoy reading romance novels that feature South Asian women as the main character and delve into serious topics such as toxic cultural traits parents try to pass down to their children

Elaina 

A nice closed-door romance with likeable characters. I drank so much chai after I finished this book. At the risk of acting my age, this book was a whole aesthetic.

Courtney

2.5/5⭐️ Although I enjoyed this romance to some degree. I wasn’t a huge fan of Nash- he seemed very bland- no character development. I liked Akash and would love more of him. I feel like the Indian culture was portrayed somewhat negatively. 
The author has potential and I look forward to other stories especially if she gives us other characters in this story.

Jantien 

A book about two people from different backgrounds/cultures falling in love? Yes please 😍 
This book had all the struggles and all the stigma surrounding similar relationships. But it also had all the wonderful aspects of two people learning from eachother, being there for eachother, finding your person and stepping up because they need you. 
I loved it ❤️🤲🏻

zahra

Jana Jenkinns 

I am a little conflicted on this one. I loved the different representation and learning more about a culture different from my own. I struggled with the connection between Kiran and her parents. The expectations, the vile things they said to her and yet she still felt obligation to them. I appreciated some of the conversations between Kiran and Nash regarding disparaging comments about her name. With Kiran and Nash I really enjoyed their connection and the trips they took to cross off items on her bucket list. There was a push and pull due to Kiran feeling like she needed to have her parents arrange a marriage for him with someone they chose after they have already disowned her older sister for choosing a love connection with someone of a lower class. I liked to see that towards the end they made some strides to bring the family back together and Nash made a grand gesture to show Kiran how much he cared about her. The romance itself was pretty fade to black - closed door romance, but it was sweet. The cultural representation was big, and I really loved the friendships between Kiran and her three friends who played a big part in the story and I would loved to see them get their stories. Having grown up in America it was hard for me to relate to the parental connection and obligations. However, I am sure others will have a stronger connection with the story.

A charming NYC romance by co-host of the Woke Desi, for fans of: multicultural connections strong friendships and families a "will they/won't they" story with powerful stakes the city that never sleeps bucket list adventures characters who fight outside expectations and pressures to build the life they want Kiran needs to fall in line. Instead, she falls in love. Kiran was the good daughter. When her sister disobeyed her family's plan and brought them shame, she was there to pick up the pieces. She vowed she wouldn't make the same mistakes. She'd be twice the daughter her parents needed, to make up for the one they lost. Nash never had a family. The parents who were supposed to raise him were completely absent. Now as a psychologist, he sees the same pattern happening to the kids he works with. So he turns away from love and family. After all, abandonment is in his genes, isn't it? If she follows the rules, Kiran will marry an Indian man. If he follows his fears, Nash will wind up alone. But what if they follow their hearts? Praise for Love, Chai, and Other Four-Letter Words: "LOVE, CHAI, AND OTHER FOUR LETTER WORDS is a delight... As warm and comforting as perfect masala chai."—Farah Heron, author of Accidentally Engaged "A sweet story of finding love where you least expected to. A romp through New York City with fresh immigrant eyes. Kiran and Nash's journey to learning to see themselves and others across boundaries and preconceived notions will warm your heart."—Sonali Dev, author of Recipe for Persuasion

my_bookalicious

Easy romance with an Indian culture inclusion. That was a nice read but it still felt bit to stereotyped and cliched. Even though it is a own-voice

Linda Quintanilla

I got to say that this freaking book definitely blew my mind away. It was unexpected yet so fitting for the fall season.Love, Chai, and Other Four-Letter Words will bring Kiran an unexpected romance than she anticipated. She always lives by her parents' expectations that she never expected to fall in love with an American male, Nash. It totally threw her out of the loop yet it's so fitting for her. Kiran never connected with anyone in the city, except for her close four friends (Chai tea lover). So when she found herself instantly connected with Nash, it made her question everything she lives by her parents' standards. I understand how hard it can be when you are living by your parents' standards, but it can also exhaust you to the point where you don't recognize yourself anymore. That's why I understand why Kiran is willing to chase what makes her happy. It's going to be difficult because it's not what her parents expect from her, but she is able to pull it off. Full warning, this book does contain sensitive topics such as death, estranged family members, family expectations, and racial issues.

Demi

This was a unique love story. I loved the perspective of a culture I've never experienced and it was very modern! It even included the pandemic. It was a very comforting romantic plot!

Jelke Lenaerts

I received a galley of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 

This book has content warnings for racism, alcoholism, drug addiction, death of a loved one, and ableism.

This book is a bit difficult to review because the second half of this book is so different from the first one. I quite liked the first half. I thought it was a cute set up and felt very romcom-y. I honestly could so easily picture the first half as a movie. I also quite liked our main characters and was looking forward to learning more about them and seeing how their experiences would influence their relationship. However, then the big conflict happens and I got annoyed. I just think the whole conflict was based around something that was present from before they started seeing each other and nothing aout it had changed. So, I just hated that it was brought up again. Like, you really couldn't foresee this coming at all? It's so hard to explain this without spoiling anything ... After that something else big happened and I just felt like the focus of this book completely shifted to Kiran's family issues. The romance just felt a bit ignored, as well as Nash's own family issues. I just wish the book would have balanced these elements a bit better. On top of that both characters just made a lot of decisions that really annoyed me in the second half and I honestly kind of stopped rooting for them to get together. The ending felt a bit abrupt for me. So the first half was a four star and the second half a two star, so a total of a three star rating felt fair to me. I am interested in the rest of this series though because Kiran's friend group was honestly consistantly the best part of this entire book and I can't wait to get the individual romances of all the friendship group members.

Aliyah Manji

This book definitely just became one of my all time favourites, it was absolutely spectacular.

It follows Kiran, a first-generation immigrant from India living in New York City. She gets a new neighbour in the apartment next door, and they start to form a friendship that turns into something more. However, she is struggling in this relationship because of her parents, who still live in India. They disowned her sister for not marrying someone of their choosing, so what would happen if they found out Kiran was dating someone else, especially because this someone else was a different race.

Annika Sharma beautifully portrays the (bit-too-relatable) struggles of old culture vs. modern experiences through this story. It's filled with love, laughs, and also some sadness (I shed a few tears). It's an an adorable love story about overcoming obstacles, and I highly recommend everyone to go check it out on October 5th!!

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for this sweet ARC!

Love, Chai, and Other Four-Letter Words

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