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My Review:Title: The Five-Day Reunion
Author: Mona Shroff
Series: Once Upon a Wedding #1
Published by: Harlequin Special Edition
Release Date: January 25, 2022
Format: ebook
Pages: 282
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Source: Overdrive
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2023 COYER Chapter 1, Lenoreo's 2023 Diversity Reading Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks
My rating:
Blurb:They ended their marriage, but they never fell out of love...
Law student Anita Virani hasn't seen her ex-husband since the ink dried on their divorce papers. Now she's agreed to pretend she's still married to Nikhil until his sister's wedding celebrations are over -- because her former mother-in-law neglected to tell her family of their split! The closeness they share during the marriage act gives Anita new insight into the man she once loved so deeply. And reignites Nikhil's feelings for her...
3.5 stars — Well oops. Apparently I started this review, but barely wrote anything and didn’t realize it. So this is going to be bare bones.
I really enjoyed seeing elements of the Indian wedding festivities that I have participated in with friends. I still don’t know them that well, but I recognized a few different ceremonies.
Anita was a pretty solid heroine. I loved how passionate she was once she figured out what she wanted to do with her life, and how ardently she wanted to help those less fortunate.
Nikhail rubbed me a bit wrong at the beginning, but he settled in okay as the story went on. He had a pretty big chip on his shoulder that he needed to get around, but I feel like he did eventually figure some stuff out.
They were interesting together because we are introduced to them after they have already split, and while it’s obvious they both have feelings for the other, they both believe that they cannot make it work. While we didn’t get flashback flashbacks, we did get glimpses of what their initial courtship was like in their reminiscing (either in their heads or with one another). I appreciated that a big component was just wrong time, and both of them needing to grow on their own.
There was obviously a bit family and cultural component to the story, and specifically to their relationship. As with most cultures, there are good parts and bad parts. It’s funny how in some ways they can be so supportive and there for one another, but there are these undercurrents of expectations that kind of mess things up at times. I was particularly bummed about the shame associated with divorce that was central to at least the community represented in this book. That was definitely something this white girl had a hard time grasping and connecting with.
So yeah. Definitely a solid Harlequin romance, but I wasn’t left clamouring for Anita’s brother’s story or anything.
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