Electric! Dating Dr. Dil gripped me from the very first chapter. The chemistry between Prem and Kareena was so palpable on every page. I absolutely adored being immersed in the South Asian culture that was represented throughout this story. This story had heart, humor, spice and my favorite enemies to lovers trope! Can’t wait to read more from Nisha Sharma!

DNF @ 30% - I just really wanted to get into this one. I heard absolutely amazing reviews about it, and I adore a BIPOC main character and author!! however, the storyline could not keep my interest going. I just was so bored, and the characters felt almost 2D to me.

Fated Mates teased this book like, a year ago, and I've been dying for it ever since -- a Shakespeare reimagining with a prickly heroine who still wants love and a cardiologist whose stage name means heart? Come on give it to me. And the wait certainly doesn't disappoint. I thoroughly enjoyed this. Kareena and Prem kind of bump up against each other until they realize what they thought were crashes are actually one supporting the other, and it's pretty delightful to watch them both go, "oh no, feelings? For this ding dong?" Added in with some threads about expectations and being the children of immigrants, it pairs the romantic with the thoughtful really well.

It's not a perfect read: Kareena is kind of a Mary Sue and her family fuuuuuuuuucking sucks, I would have loved for them to receive much more comeuppance. Some pieces of Prem's background definitely could have stood to have been introduced much sooner. But it was a fun book from start to finish, and I can't wait for more installments. Mrs. W.S. Gupta has got to be someone great à la Lady Whistledown, right?

**3.5 Stars**

I liked this book, overall, but didn't love it as much as I thought I would. It's well written, and I can absolutely see many people loving this book, I just didn't. I didn't feel as connected to the characters as I would've liked to. I felt like I understood the main facts of the characters (i.e, Kareena is a lawyer who wants love and to keep her Mother's house, Prem is a doctor who doesn't believe in love and wants a community center) but I feel like we didn't really get a glimpse of their true essence until the end of the story, and then it ended suddenly, so it just felt disconnected.

As a white woman, I can't speak to the experience of immigrants and their first-generation children that the book concerns, but I did find it enlightening. I enjoyed the culture that the novel offered, through food, clothing, familial relationships, romantic relationships, events, everything. I think this is a major part that sets this novel apart from others, and I really did enjoy those aspects, and learned a lot that I had not previously known.

The pacing felt a bit off....first Kareena and Prem are for each other, then they're against each other (because she's convinced herself he lied to her about love....which he did not....and then threw a tantrum on television)...then Prem is all for Kareena who is adamantly against him, and then they'll finally come together as a romance novel should....but....this doesn't happen until the very end. It just felt like the book started slow and towards the end, so much happens in practically no time and suddenly the book is over. I enjoyed the short interstitials the novel had to break up the chapters and provide further incite to the importance of marriage within their culture, and I liked the text messages/group chats at the beginning of random chapters (though there does need to be a definitive separation of different conversations- this may just be undefined because it was a digital ARC though, and not the final copy), but the ending felt rushed, and conclusions were made at a pace that felt a bit too fast to be realistic. But then again, it is a romance novel, so maybe realistic isn't what the audience is looking for.

Finally, I will say the book is overall a fine read, some will love it, and some might not, but I do think it is a valid work that the world needs more of.

This is such an incredibly fun story! It's absolutely scorching and laugh out loud funny. I was skeptical about an updated Taming of the Shrew but I was proven so wrong!

It's so good and again, seriously, SO HOT.

This book was a hoot! Gave me Friends "Joey playing Dr. Drake Demoray" vibes as well as Alexis Daria's YOU HAD ME AT HOLA. Fun characters, great banter. A+ read

Overall: 5/5
Spice level: 4/5
Tropes: enemies to lovers

He wanted something more traditional and transactional while she was looking for her love match.

I absolutely loveloveloved Dating Dr. Dil! It was my first read by this author, and I was hooked from beginning to end. It was a perfect enemies to lovers story with lots of tension along the way.

Something else I enjoyed, with it being a diverse read, was learning more about the culture surrounding the characters and their community, including struggles of being a single South Asian woman when traditionally your worth is tied to marriage. Of course there's more nuances to it but Kareena is the older sister and her family is more worried about her finding a partner than they are about the fact that she basically landed her dream job. The aunties get involved to help her find a match because she needs money to buy the family home from her father. Which he won't give her until she's engaged.

I really felt the chemistry between Prem and Kareena. I always love when a hero us oblivious to his feelings and then all of a sudden it hits him that he's so gone for the woman that he can't think straight or stay away. The problem is Prem doesn't believe in love but he does agree they have physical chemistry and other compatibilities.

Without giving too much more away, I loved the flow and the pacing, as well as the grand gesture to made to solve the conflict. I also appreciated how Sharma flashed back to the meet cute conversation in scenes where Prem shows how much he connected with Kareena and really listened to everything she said. It's made obvious his love languages are acts of service and giving gifts.

Another factor I was hooked in was the friendship circles and I'm intrigued to see if the friendships blossom into something more in future books!

And it gave me the most amazing book hangover!

Highly recommended. This arc was available through NetGalley and Avon Books.

Kareena wants a happily ever after someday but is happy with her job, her friends, and working on the family house and her car. But when her younger sister gets engaged her father puts the pressure on Kareena to get engaged before her sister's engagement party and to sweeten the deal he will give her the house. Dr. Prem Verma does not believe in true love but he is also being pressured by his family to get married, funding to his dream clinic is on the line. When Kareena and Prem meet sparks fly, in fact their 2nd encounter goes viral. But will they be willing to figure out what the sparks mean? What are they willing to do to achieve their dreams?

I absolutely loved this! It was the perfect romance, and the pacing was perfect! I'm a big fan of Nisha sharma's work. I think she writes great romance with south-asian representation.

Absolutely love all the Taylor Swift references in this book. More importantly I loved the South Asian and Indian culture with getting to see aspects of cuisine, religion, and tradition. The heroine was quite dramatic and the hero had the whole "I don't believe in love" thing going and neither of those things are my personal favorite, but everything else in this book was working so well that it was easy enough to overlook.

Such an incredible story full of fun, laughter and love. Being an Indian, I am instantly attracted to books with an Indian background, and I'm so glad this one caught my eye. The title may give ideas of a medical background book, but that isn't the case. The story is simply about Prem and Kareena who initiate a fake engagement plan to get things they badly want after a huge fight. I found the book sweet, subtle, well observed, and hilarious. The characters and their backgrounds are likable, and definitely relatable to me. Characters like Bindu, dadi, and the aunties were superb and I could visualize every scene. Although it is a lighthearted rom-com, I find that has a lovely message of.marriage and love. A must read for any rom-com lover.

This book was just mind blowing. It was so well written and omg I just love it so much. I would totally recommend this book to anyone and everyone.

i really adored this book!! it was super swoony and the chemistry was off the rooftop. my biggest complaints that i would love to see fixed before publication is that the playlist is at the very end of the novel?? for what?? like all they describe it as is “she loves taylor swift” or that “she’s listening to taylor swift.” like it would be nice to know which songs they listened to in the moment which i thought was weird that they had it in the back of the book esp cause i’m a SUCKER for a playlist in a book. my other complaint was that parts of her character could’ve been a bit more fleshed out? especially like her job and possibly a little bit better ending with her sister? in some ways i wish it could’ve been a straight-up fake dating story to begin with. i feel like it would’ve made more sense. however, i understand why she did it because she wants a love marriage, but still . also there was definitely some parts that were a bit too millennial for my taste, and i thought that some of the tinder conversations were a little too cringey and there could’ve been a few less.

i really did like parts of this book. like his show, the bar scene being intermingled throughout the book, her love of her mom’s old car and house, his want to make a difference in the world, and the relationships between their families.

i would give it like a 3.5/5, but i will round up to a 4. thank you for the arc in exchange for an honest review!!

Dating Dr Dil was the perfect contemporary romance — if you love confident female characters, swoony love interests and fake dating you will absolutely love this novel. From the outset I fell in love with Kareena and Prem and their love-to hate- to love connection. I was all out laughing at times and really feeling deeply for them at others. I loved a look into the intricacies of Indian and Immigrant families and the aunties were downright hilarious.

Prem and Kareena’s relationship arc was sweet, complex, fulfilling and steamy and left me feeling completely satisfied by the end. The small details really sold it for me— from the descriptions of the food to Prem’s little thoughtful gestures, it was all so heartwarming. I can’t wait to read more of Nisha Sharma’s writing. Dating Dr Dil was a fantastic read which I didn’t want to put down— I’d highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

CW: death of a loved one (past), grief, family tensions

I would recommend if you're looking for (SPOILERS)

-m/f insta attraction
-friends to frenemies to lovers
-one night to get it out of our systems
-just a hookup
-opposites attract

I adored Kareena's sexy librarian vibes. I related so much to her eldest daughter role in her family. The look at family was so honest, the bratty sister, the father in mourning, the grandma doing her best. Do not even get me started on the vibrator the grandma started using as a personal massager.

And Prem. Jaded Prem who was so gone on Kareena pretty much from the get go and in complete denial about it. I really enjoyed his journey from dealing with loss to accepting love in his life, all while trying in completely backwards ways to convince Kareena they belonged together.

The way this book also used their first conversation/meeting as a literary device to keep the plot moving forward. This book was such a fun, steamy read and I need to pick up more from this author immediately.

Steam: 4

I was sent this book by the publisher to read as an advanced copy for work and not for review. Thus I won’t be leaving a public review!

An adorable and sizzling romcom which features leads with immediate chemistry and yet understandable roadblocks on the way to figuring out their relationship and what they want from it.

Dating Dr. Dil is a romcom inspired by Taming of the Shrew and dives into themes of familial expectations, community, love vs arranged matches, and being true to yourself. Overall, this was a fun read, but it wasn’t for me. I haven’t read Taming of the Shrew so I wasn’t really sure if it lived up to the inspiration of it. I really loved Kareena, but I was not a fan of Prem at all which kind of turned me off from the story. I enjoyed the storyline and there were some laughable moments. I also loved the Taylor Swift references and inspired playlist in the back which was a nice touch. I liked how the author was able to capture the cultural expectations and family dynamics in the South Asian community in the storyline. If you like the fake dating trope in romcoms, I’d recommend picking this up.

Ok here we go. First, I LOVED how many Taylor Swift references this had! I opened it up and there on the first page was one! I also adored the Taylor Swift playlist at the end, but I wish it was at the beginning of the book so we could listen to it while reading. Another thing I really liked about this book is that it opened my eyes to some South Asian and Indian culture. I'm East Asian but it was really eye opening into Indian culture and I loved getting to see aspects of cuisine, religion, and tradition, incorporated throughout the story. Kareena and Prem had awesome chemistry, but god I could not stand Kareena's family. I do understand that's kind of the point, with an overbearing family making her feel like she's inadequate, but it made it hard to enjoy the parts of the book. I also wasn't the biggest fan of how much of a pushover and dramatic that Kareena was. Once again I get that that's the part of the point, but it made me feel like so many of there issues were only because Kareena makes her own mess. Prem had me about to fall off the edge of my bed though (THOSE STEAMY SCENES WHEW ) and I really loved Veera and Bobbi, as well as Prem's friends. I did enjoy the book as a whole but a lot of things made it hard along the way.

There is something so compelling about the tension between modern day Indian women and their traditional parents who want to see their daughters married off, and the adolescent-like lifestyle of sneaking around and dressing in modern clothes and showing up for family in cultural garb and extending the conceit that nice girls avoid sex and alcohol. And, these novels are rich with family, food, and other cultural details.

In Dating Dr. Dil, antique automobile aficionado Kareena has been working to buy the home her now-deceased mother built, that her father and grandmother want to sell. The pressure to marry is on because her younger sister is engaged. When she agrees to go with her influencer wanna-be sister to a taping of a local doctor's medical talk show addressing heart health, her outburst at Dr. Dil's anti-romance stance goes viral.

Since her relatives have given her a four-month reprieve to get engaged and keep the family's house, she and Dr. Dil strike a deal to act as lovers and get both of their families off their backs. Will she convince him that soulmates are a real thing, or will his heart stay impervious to love?

This had all the elements I love - humor, food, family dynamics. The only thing I didn't care for were Prem's affectionate terms for Kareena while actively trying to get her to sleep with him. It was just a little too slimy. His nobleness in wanting to provide healthcare for his community almost redeems him. Kareena, though, was a kick-ass character.

I received an advance reader's review copy of #DatingDrDil from #NetGalley.