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A review by caitlin829
The Trouble with Hating You by Sajni Patel
4.0
I’m probably somewhere between 3 and 4 stars on this book, rounding up.
Always good to read a desi romance, something I’ve been doing more of recently.
But this is not a straight-up fluffy romance. This book deals with some serious issues, and the content warning in the beginning is well earned — there’s abuse and subsequent gaslighting, some serious family issues, the ever-present societal pressure and religious entanglements to the abuse. There are moments everything feels so real that it hurts, and I had to set the book down and process. But this heaviness is sometimes juxtaposed with the lighter rom-com clichés and cheesy moments, both to the story’s benefit and detriment.
Judging things on the more typical romance front, I like Liya's boldness, and there are some cute moments. But there are also times when both of the protagonists are just unlikable, the narrative frame is a double first-person style from each protagonist (HATE; so confusing), and sometimes Jay talks more like a cardboard cutout with a list of talking points than an actual human.
Overall, I’m glad I read it, but it’s one of those that I just really had to wrestle with how it made me feel because there were so many different feelings.
Always good to read a desi romance, something I’ve been doing more of recently.
But this is not a straight-up fluffy romance. This book deals with some serious issues, and the content warning in the beginning is well earned — there’s abuse and subsequent gaslighting, some serious family issues, the ever-present societal pressure and religious entanglements to the abuse. There are moments everything feels so real that it hurts, and I had to set the book down and process. But this heaviness is sometimes juxtaposed with the lighter rom-com clichés and cheesy moments, both to the story’s benefit and detriment.
Judging things on the more typical romance front, I like Liya's boldness, and there are some cute moments. But there are also times when both of the protagonists are just unlikable, the narrative frame is a double first-person style from each protagonist (HATE; so confusing), and sometimes Jay talks more like a cardboard cutout with a list of talking points than an actual human.
Overall, I’m glad I read it, but it’s one of those that I just really had to wrestle with how it made me feel because there were so many different feelings.