I enjoyed the storyline and it was very evident the author did a lot of research to represent Sikh culture. Her author's note includes thanks to specific sensitivity readers and beta readers which I loved! It shows how much she wanted to present an honest narrative.

The storyline was well thought out, I enjoyed getting to know Becky and Dev as we moved throughout their story. Becky recognizing the differences in her life and Dev's, the way she and Dev both had to learn to communicate as a couple and move forward together. It was all very real-life and made them easy to root for. There was a lot of "telling" in the book where I would've liked to 'feel' more, but other than that it was a very enjoyable story!

Not your usual love story indeed! I love that this is a Canadian love story, we don’t see those very often and as a Canadian living in the states it always warms my heart to see it! I will definitely read more from this author.

For me, this rom com focuses too much on snark and embarrassing incidents. The writing was good but I'm not the target audience. DNF ~10%.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Not Your Basic Love Story by Lindsay Maple was everything the title said. It's not your traditional love story which is nice for a change of pace. Our Canadian Rebecca is fresh off a breakup and attending a friend's wedding in Mexico where she meets Dev who is from Indian decent. This is a should we or should we not relationship to see if things would work. At the same time, they are trying to see if their 2 cultures would work together. A great non-traditional romance but still a good read!

Well the title definitely lived up to the story. This was not your basic love story at all. I think I knew that was going to be the case after the horrible/gross meet cute between the two main characters.
The beginning of the story is lovely, all the good feelings, everything is going great and the boom. The MMC is Indian and comes from a very traditional family. The FMC is white and doesn’t know much about the Indian culture. There are a few times when the two main characters seem about to break up because they are so different in so many ways and I’m going to be honest up until the end I thought that was for the best. I was willing to sacrifice my HEA for these two to find happiness on their own.
Needless, to say I think the ending was well done and I’m glad the author showed the real compromises and struggles this couple went through. While this wasn’t a basic love story it felt like a very real one.

This book was not only a miss but one of the few i have DNFed this year. i tried giving it an honest shot and read about 23% of the way in. unfortunately this book just missed the mark. I couldn't get invested in it and the characters were extremely forgettable.

Thank you to NetGalley and Rising Action Publishing Company for the ARC.

Not gonna lie, this book was pretty lackluster for me. I don't much care for insta-love stories and I want see people care and grow with each other, and I feel like that didn't happen with this book. I felt like Dev and Becky rushed headlong into this relationship and didn't spend enough time considering what the both wanted from it.

I did think the cultural aspect of it was handled well, and the author managed the racial points of the book admirably. But over the book and the characters just felt flat.

Not my favorite.

This book was okay! It was sweet in the ways all rom-coms should be, but had a health amount of steamy tension that gave me the good kinda belly ache :) I liked it, but didn't love it!

I have to admit that I ugly cried at the end of this book. It was over whelming in such a good way!

I think that Rebecca and Dev could've worked a lot better on their communication. Rebecca did a lot of not voicing her concerns with Dev with the quick wedding to Dev. I think that was a bit frustrating because we only saw her view point, which was valid, but not showing his thoughts caused me to think it was only a Rebecca and not so much a Dev issue.

I also was incredibly annoyed with Rebecca’s friend Miranda for being so dismissive of Rebecca’s wedding experience. I got that she was pregnant, but she was still rude and she felt very white point of view dismissive of other cultures wedding customs.

I am very happy with the overall resolution and both Dev and Rebecca’s families coming together for the wedding and being so supportive of their marriage.

3.5-4 ⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

A wonderful, sweet rom-com, with just the right amount of tension and steam. Thoroughly enjoyed! The difference between their cultures was handled beautifully and tactfully.

Apologies as I have overlooked this review, having recorded my review on goodreads and not noting it here on Netgalley.

At a far from auspicious meeting between the main characters (think hung over MC Dev vomiting on the MC Becky) you would think that would be enough to cruel any desire. But no, they meet up again at the hotel where they are each on holidays, and have a holiday fling. (Sorry I still can't get the vomiting image out of my head, I don't know how Becky did).

It's an insta-love romance, that when then couple returns to real life, it all gets ,,, well ... real. They are from two different cultures and there is a push and pull in their relationship between families, ideals, views, status, ideas about marriage, feminism and a whole raft of other issues. There's alot. I found Becky did alot of compromising and Dev not so much, despite the fact I didn't feel she was into him as much as he was into her. It was just a feeling and it was subtle for me, but I didn't have the feeling this was a relationship to ride out long-term tough times. It was as if there was a HFN (Happy for now) rather than a HEA (happily ever after).

3.5 stars rounded up

What I Liked: This book does a wonderful job of showing the difficulties a couple can face when they are from two very different cultures. Dev and Rebecca find themselves having to worry more about situations that most people wouldn’t have think twice about, like meeting each other’s friends and family, while learning about their own differences at the same time. Every scene of culture shock, social miscues, or inadvertent hurt feelings felt authentic and something I’m sure happens in real life with couples from different backgrounds. This is where the book is best, showing how families, even those that have the best intentions, can influence us and our decisions. I also enjoyed the beginning of Dev and Rebecca's relationship and the banter between them. I found it charming and fun.

What I Didn’t Like: I know this is an insta-love story but I struggled believing that Rebecca truly loved Dev. It felt like every time she and Dev would have any kind of disagreement, she would think about getting back together with her cheating ex-boyfriend. I could understand her having doubts once (again, this is an insta-love story and the entire relationship takes place over the span of a few months) but Rebecca’s actions didn’t always align with her thoughts in a way that made me believe she was invested in her relationship with Dev. One of the messages of this book is how compromise, for the right reasons, can be good and that we shouldn’t hold onto rigid expectations. So I was disappointed in the end when it was Rebecca who seemed to be making all the compromises and big life changes while Dev got away with SAYING he would compromise but then never followed through. Which leads me to another issue I had, Dev’s complete disregard for anything Rebecca wanted for their wedding, assuming she would just accept everything his family had already decided for them, and then seeming to be surprised when she was upset by this. This felt out of character for him and seemed to be a way to add more tension to the story when there were plenty of other things that could have caused Rebecca and Dev problems. We didn’t need Dev changing into an idiot to add angst.

Who Should Read It: Romance fans who like opposites attract stories will like this one as will anyone who has ever been in a mixed cultural relationship.

Review Wrap Up: I know it sounds like I didn’t like this book but there were things I enjoyed. I loved learning about Sikh traditions and felt that the scenes with Dev’s family were where this book shines. In the end, I wish that the romance felt more believable to me and that Rebecca was a stronger character.

Favorite Quote: “But what I looked forward to most? It was the regular days. Him crunching through his morning cereal before racing off for the day. Me, trying to remember to pick my clothes up off the floor, drinking chai on the couch, watching the evening news. Everyday life, for the rest of my life, with him by my side.”

This book was relatable AF! And not just because I belong to the same culture as the hero. Rebecca and Dev are just beautiful. You know when sometimes, a book just envelopes you? I felt that with "Not Your Basic Love Story". As mentioned in the Author's Note, the author has done a lot of research. I'm a Punjabi too, but I still learned much about my culture from this book.

With the book's pace, I was not rooting for Dev. I mean, I was for quite a while until, well, until his parents. I know how meddlesome Punjabi parents are, and my parents expect me to continue their legacy too, but with Dev, I felt Rebecca would cry more than she laughed and suffer more than she'd enjoy.

I won't carry on with too many points or nitpicks, but I think this is one book that beautifully represents more than one culture. And the ending is worth it, especially the one alteration (no spoilers, but kind of a spoiler?)

If you're reading this review, read the book. Don't ask questions. You're not going to regret it.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Loved the plot and the tensions was great. Laughed a lot and really enjoyed it!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley and Rising Action Publishing Co.!

When a vacation fling develops into something more, Becky and Dev have to figure out how to make their opposites attract relationship work. They soon find themselves overwhelmed by cultural differences and fighting to show the strength of their love.

Not Your Basic Love Story covers the complicated issues that can arise when two very different people from two very different cultures get together. The author relates the good along with the bad in a respectful and thoughtful way. The MCs struggled with communication throughout the storyline which was somewhat frustrating. I do feel like Becky was made to compromise a lot more than Dev was. In spite of their poor communication and family conflicts, I feel like all of their issues were solved almost too easily.

This is author Lindsay Maples debut novel.

(Not) Your Basic Love Story is about Rebecca, who is fresh from a break-up when she meets Dev on a trip to her friends wedding in Mexico. After a series of mishaps, they meet up a few times and work toward deciding if they should be a couple. Their differences are extreme, and it takes some time to figure out if they can put those aside and get a happily ever after.

This is an interesting love story that focusses on meshing two different cultures. Or at least one culture (Indian-Canadian) and one "non-culture". The idea of meshing two cultures and set of beliefs spoke to me, as that is something that I have experienced in my life. Reading the struggle with an interracial relationship seemed so real and raw. I however didn't like how Dev and Rebecca avoided talking about their differences (especially for the wedding and what ultimately married life would look like). I feel that a lot of the conflict that happened with Dev and Rebecca could have easily been dealt with if they just spoke it out with each other.

I thought the writing of microaggressions and racism that Dev experienced were well written and were things that people experience in every day life. I however struggled with Rebecca's, what appeared to be, extreme anxiety that has prevented her from finishing her engineering program and panic around Dev's family. Mental health struggles are normal, however, receiving some help for those struggles should also be normalized.

This book was an interesting debut novel that explored how a relationship could work out, even when it doesn't look like it would work out on paper. Thank you to NetGalley and Rise Action Publishing for a copy of this book. All opinions are 100% mine.

Not your basic love story follows Rebecca who is a 29-year-old working woman fresh out of a breakup and almost certain that her life is going backwards, her best friend getting married isn’t making things easier for her. But it's not her friend’s life that is going wrong, she is convinced she is lagging until she meets Dev, a 25-year-old business student and a man of Indian origin.

Since I am from India I was so excited about another book with the representation. And while I found the family accurately brought to life, I can’t say the same about Dev. There was so much about his character that didn’t sit right with me and I wasn’t the biggest fan of the romance. The love story felt so rushed that by the end I was neutral about it.

However, there were a few things about this book that I did enjoy. One of them is the side characters, especially Angelina and Priya. I am rather more interested in their story. Secondly, I loved how Rebecca embraces the Sikh traditions, I think it was beautifully written.

One of the things that slightly annoyed me was the idea that was continuously sold that Rebecca not being married and having kids at 29 was wrong and what was weirder was the fact that she and Miranda her best friend thought the same. Her conflicting thoughts weren’t helping. At some point in the story, the couple broke up (Rebecca broke up) and got engaged (Dev proposed) in the same conversation while Rebecca was also considering getting back with her cheater ex..

The writing is very easy to go through which in my opinion makes this a decent one-time read if you could connect to the love story because their romance forms the most significant part of the story.

I know this is a romance novel but i don’t want to talk about that. As a brown personal myself, i related to this so much. Seeing Rebecca and Dev in an interracial relation and watching them struggle through their differences was one of the realest things i’ve seen. The portrayal of the subtle racism Dev has gone through was also very realistic. I think that the author has done a really good job portraying an interracial relationship
with a brown and a white person. going through the struggles the doubts the feeling of being an outsider. it was all nicely done.

overall this was a good story 3.5 stars.

I really enjoyed the character development in the story. I love the playful dynamic that Dev and Rebecca had with each other. It was really great learning about Dev’s culture throughout the book and better understanding how multicultural relationships exist. Having simple but real life issues come up in the book really helped make the story feel more genuine. I really liked Dev’s character in the beginning but as soon as his culture took over their relationship and more importantly their entire wedding, I really couldn’t get past the fact that everything was about him and his culture and there were almost no compromises to the relationship for the wedding. I really enjoyed how this book wrapped up- it was a great HEA!

Huge thanks to Rising Action Publishing and Lindsay Maple for my E-ARC in exchange for the honest review.

(Not) Your Basic Love Story was an adorable rom-com. The story was set in Vancouver, British Columbia. It tells the story of Becky, who met a charming guy named Dev on a plane on her way to Mexico for her best friend's wedding. Dev pukes on her, and they feel their adventure is over until their baggage gets mixed up and they find themselves at a wedding together, having an excellent time. What begins as a fling between the two develops into something more, and when they return home, they negotiate what it takes to fall in love with someone whose family, culture, and history are very different from theirs.

I liked the personality difference between Dev and Becky and how they stayed true to themselves throughout the story. The discrepancies between the two were unavoidable. And maybe I desired to read a novel with a perfect pair that hindered me from fully connecting with the romance, but it was still a solid narrative with likable people and a delightful setting. It was amusing and romantic, and the characters were relatable. I loved how the plot developed. I couldn't put this book down. The complexities of cross-cultural relationships, particularly when families are involved, are brilliantly depicted here. It has humor, romance, steamy love moments, a wide cast of various individuals, and two characters you cheer for from the start. Becky and Dev grew, but so did their families, which was appropriate for a lasting relationship. I liked seeing the characters deal with their cultural differences. It's a quick and easy read.

Overall, it was an excellent and emotional book. I suggest it to everyone who enjoys reading about love from other cultures.