Reviews with content warning for Vomit - A Holly Jolly Diwali

Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

A Holly Jolly Diwali by Sonya Lalli

10 reviews

zombiezami's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

4.75

I think the author did a really good job of demonstrating all kinds of love, not just romantic love: love of self, love of family, love of friends, love of community.

My one complaint is that there weren’t any detailed scenes of the protagonist meeting her extended family in India. We just hear a summary after she returns to the US. I would have liked that to be more fleshed out.

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amberinpieces's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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kirstym25's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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jazhandz's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

sonya lalli if you’re reading this please drop your writing playlist, i’m 100% sure it’s all bangers

Cute book, the obligatory third-act conflict felt rushed and didn’t feel like it was resolved in a satisfactory way but the first two-thirds were delightful.

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kbairbooks's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I so enjoyed this book 😍 it was fun and funny and light and fresh and real and modern and just… a gorgeous piece of work. I loved the food and the culture and the family and the realness of working through your shit and healing. Of being independent yet open to love of being yourself and open to new experiences. For believing people when they show you their real self. Ugh. I loved this.

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thenextgenlibrarian's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

What happens when a straight-laced female lets loose for a wedding in another country?

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foreverinastory's review

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hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I'm so here for more holiday romcoms that are not Christmas!

Rep: Indian-American female MC, Indian-British male love interest, various Indian and Indian-American side characters.

CWs: Alcohol consumption, racism (more so classism, MC is condescended to for her caste). Moderate: Discussion of possible infertility (never confirmed), vomit.

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kylieqrada's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Yesssssss! This was a good-a$$ time! I loved learning more about Diwali and different South Asian cultural traditions. I am definitely going to read more from Sonya Lalli, especially Jasmine's spin-off book.

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meganpbennett's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I'm not sure what I thought of Holly Jolly Diwali. It was a very cute holiday romance and it played to its tropes exceedingly well, but I didn't love it. It was beautiful, with wonderful descriptions of India, though I would have loved a glossary. After being fired from her data analyst job Niki decides to go to India to celebrate her friend's wedding. There, she meets Sam, and it's the start of a beautiful friendship, followed by a holiday fling. Until... well, read and find out.

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courtneyfalling's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was a sweet, light holiday romance! Lots of tropes: millennial over-committed to her career must reevaluate her life choices (Sonya Lalli's niche?), vacation fling turns into something more, there's only one bed, dorky kid grows up into hot love interest, some family drama to spur the plot. Some of the main character's decisions and the third act conflict would have frustrated me with like, any other set of characters, but I feel like it made sense for them... even though it was a bit drawn out and times I was like, y'all, communicate! But I was super invested in Niki and Sam ending up together and I love them both.

Also liked how this introduced warm, spunky older role models (I would read a whole book of Auntie Aasha's escapades) and took on colorism, casteism, and the isolation of the first-gen immigrant kid experience. It sometimes got overly heavy-handed and cushy with Niki asking folks the meaning of Diwali... like it was pandering to readers without any previous knowledge or celebration of Diwali, or trying really hard to offer some basic end-all, be-all education on Diwali, that honestly came across better in subtler moments and in allowing readers to do their own research. But to be totally fair I'm not sure I've seen any other romance set during Diwali get this level of hype and I get the impulse and publishing incentives to add these notes! And I really hope this ushers in more romances set during non-white and non-Christian holidays. It absolutely met my expectations and was so cute :)

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