Review – Dating Dr. Dil by Nisha Sharma

Title: Dating Dr. Dil

Author: Nisha Sharma

Publisher: Avon

Publication Date: March 15, 2022

Genre: Romance

Number of Pages: 364

About

From Goodreads: Kareena Mann dreams of having a love story like her parents, but she prefers restoring her classic car to swiping right on dating apps. When her father announces he’s selling her mother’s home, Kareena makes a deal with him: he’ll gift her the house if she can get engaged in four months. Her search for her soulmate becomes impossible when her argument with Dr. Prem Verma, host of The Dr. Dil Show, goes viral. Now the only man in her life is the one she doesn’t want.

Dr. Prem Verma is dedicated to building a local community health center, but he needs to get donors with deep pockets. The Dr. Dil Show was doing just that, until his argument with Kareena went viral, and he’s left short changed. That’s when Kareena’s meddling aunties presented him with a solution: convince Kareena he’s her soulmate and they’ll fund his clinic.

Even though they have conflicting views on love-matches and arranged-matches, the more time Prem spends with Kareena, the more he begins to believe she’s the woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with. But for Prem and Kareena to find their happily ever after, they must admit that hate has turned into fate.

Review

I picked up this book because my friend Hannah told me to read it ASAP when I told her I had bought it. I am so glad I listened to her because this The Taming of the Shrew retelling was a lot of fun.

I want to start by talking about the characters. I loved Kareena. I thought she was a badass, and I loved how determined she was to get everything she wanted. I loved that she had goals and that she didn’t want to settle for anything less than she deserved. I loved how hard she was willing to fight for her mother’s house and reading about her vision for what to do with the place. I wasn’t a huge fan of Prem. He had moments where I liked him, but overall, I thought he was a bit of a jerk. It was clear that he was smitten with Kareena, but I’m not sure I can forgive him for being a jerk. I also didn’t like that he kept saying Rina honey, I don’t know why this bothered me, but it did. Also, don’t get me started on Charlie.

I liked that both Kareena and Prem had things they were passionate about. Kareena was passionate about her mother’s house and repairing her car. Prem was passionate about raising awareness about medical issues that affect the south Asian community and starting a medical centre for that community. I liked that they were both willing to work hard for what they loved. I also liked that these passions were tied to grief and the discussions about grief in this book.

I did like the chemistry between Kareena and Prem. Their chemistry brought a decent amount of spice to book (especially the shower scene), which made the book fun. I also thought their chemistry lead to some quality banter between them, which is always appreciated. I also like the hate-to-love trope, which was featured in this book. I also enjoyed that this book had dual points of view, and I enjoyed seeing what both characters were thinking while they tried to navigate their feelings for each other.

I loved the group of Aunties in this book. I loved their meddling and the group chat they had with Kareena. I also loved how gossipy they were and how they ultimately just wanted Kareena to be happy. I can’t comment on the accuracy of the rep in this book, but I did enjoy learning about Desi culture and parts of the South Asian community.

I liked Kareena’s friends and Prem’s friends. I liked how supportive they were, and I hope they get happily ever afters with the other books in the series. I was not a fan of Kareena’s sister. I thought she was far too self-centred, and her expectations for her wedding were a bit much.

Overall, this book was a lot of fun. The main characters had chemistry, it had spicy moments, and who doesn’t love a bunch of well-meaning meddling aunties?

Rating: 3.5 Stars!