I really enjoyed this book and I look forward to reading more by Heron in the future! I really love all the animals added in and all the hilarious banter.

DNF @ 45%

I really wanted to like this one but I just could not get into it. Jana felt insufferable and while I grew to like her in Kamilla Knows Best, she went right back to being annoying in this one. I did like the cast of characters I just did not have a desire to pick this one up so it went back on the shelf.

Second chance romance, with a destination wedding in Tanzania? That's pretty cool!

I think there were some things I would have enjoyed more had I read Kamila's book first.

All around this book was enjoyable but not one I'd go out of my way to recommend.

Content warning: sexism, death of parent (mentioned), panic attacks/anxiety

I hated all of the characters. I could totally understand why Jana didn't want anything to do with Anil but I just didn't like her. She would do things that wouldn't pan ok and then acted all surprised and annoyed when that happened. Anil was great to their daughter but he was not a good love interest - he created a lot of bad for her.

I just couldn't get over how invested everyone was in Jana's life including her employer. Why would any employer care about her personal life as long as she wasn't doing anything illegal? The author tried to justify it but I didn't buy it; it didn't make any sense.

Thank you Netgalley, author, and publisher for the ARC.

Jana Suleiman is headed to her best friend’s destination wedding in Serengeti National Park with just about everyone she knows–her mom, five-year-old daughter, and apparently, her potential boss. To make matters more dramatic, her co-parent and ex will be on the two-week trip as well.

Anil Malek’s always been a great dad, but Jana’s never forgiven him for lying to her early on in their relationship. But she’s tired of not fitting in, and she plans to shed that energy this trip and branch out more than she’s used to.

Anil has an agenda of his own this trip–to win Jana back. And this new Jana? Well, she just might be willing to give Anil another shot.

The setting was so fun for this story, and the side characters always add so much fun to Farah’s books. It’s pretty angsty, but sometimes I’m just in the mood for a bit of drama, and this definitely delivers.

Second chance romance with lots of cultural references. Single mom and second chance. Also has recipes for samosas which I love!

I felt Jana Goes Wild offered a refreshing take on second chance romance. I did enjoy Farrah’s writing style.
While the title may have set certain expectations that I didn’t feel were fully met in the story, the quality of writing and the depth of the characters made it a worthwhile read.
I would recommend it overall as a good read for fans of this genre.
I would also read other books by this author.

Thankyou to author Farah Heron, Forever Publishing and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.
Charlene 📚🌸🤗 @lastnownext

I’m not sure how I feel about this one still. I liked it while I was reading it but I found it very forgettable. I did really like the characters and the story line.

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Five years ago, Jana accidentally got pregnant. When she finds out the father, Anil, hasn't been honest with her, she breaks up with him. To make matters worse, his dishonesty has caused Jana's pregnancy to become a bit of a scandal and she even loses her job over it. For four years, Jana and Anil have co-parented despite Jana's very deep resentment of him. When their mutual friends get married, Jana and Anil, as well as their daughter, Imani, end up taking a vacation to Tanzania to attend the wedding. <i>Jana Goes Wild</i> is their second chance romance.

I'm DNF'ing at just past the 60% mark.

To start with the positives, I really liked the travel/safari aspect of this book. I thought that was really unique and fun. I've also never read a book set in Tanzania so that was exciting. I also love when romances involve weddings.

However, at the point that I reached, nearly <b>two-thirds</b> into the book, Jana and Anil have made very little progress in their relationship, which is honestly frustrating. I unfortunately felt zero chemistry between Jana and Anil, and worse, I didn't particularly like either of them as individuals either. I understood why Jana was mad at Anil but her angry thoughts and actions about/towards him became incredibly repetitive and tiresome. She resented him so deeply that I didn't really see the point of them being together and it was hard to root for their second chance. Furthermore, if it wasn't for Imani, these two never would've even attempted to repair their relationship and that didn't sit right with me. They could've cleared the air and been cordial co-parents without having what felt like a very forced relationship.

I do think there's an audience for this book. Readers who love second chance romance and don't mind a lot of angst might enjoy this.

I thought Jana Goes Wild had such a fresh, unique premise for a rom-com. Having been to Tanzania for my honeymoon, I especially loved the setting and the premise! Overall, I enjoyed the second chance romance and the characters. The Bridal Brigade was amazing! However, by the end I was feeling frustrated by the lack of communication, especially from Anil. I was invested in their relationship but it kind of felt like they kept making the same mistakes over and over.
Thank you Forever for the copy through NetGalley in exchange for a review!

UGH. A second chance romance in the Serengeti? Sign me the F up. I enjoyed this. I thought it was funny and sweet and felt fresh. It would have to to take place in the Serengeti. Jana went wild and I was here for it. I didn't always love the choices Amir made, but nonetheless, I enjoyed the book overall.

I have a lot of conflicted feelings about this book. While I liked the writing and was hooked wanting to know how they would make it work, I was also frustrated with the characters the entire book. Both needed therapy, but specially Jana, and they for sure needed couple’s therapy. I have a hard time believing they would make it work without help. I’m glad they figured out they have communication issues, but I find it unrealistic and unsatisfying that they didn’t mention being in therapy to work on their relationship at the end. While I was annoyed at Amil a lot of the time. He gave a hot and cold, and barely communicated what he wanted, Jana was extremely frustrating to me. I actually yelled at the phone multiple times. She always thought the worse, and as someone who also likes to catastrophize, she always expected the worse and assumed the worse of everyone and every situation. I don’t believe she could suddenly change and not continue to act like that in her relationship with Amil without help.

This book was also all about Jana. I think it got close to women’s fiction because it truly was about Jana challenging herself and moving forward in her life.

What a sweet second chance romance! I loved that Anil and Jana had a child together because it added a 'forced proximity' aspect that I was obsessed with. They had to maintain a cordial front because of their daughter and Jana's mother—who had no idea Jana and Anil weren't together!

I adored the character growth in this book, it was full of self discovery and acceptance on Jana's side and it made the read that much more beautiful.

This book was sweet, funny, swoony, with the perfect amount of spice. Can't wait for more from Farah Heron!

Thank you to Farah Heron and NetGalley for the ARC!

I loved the humor!! My second Farrah Heron book and it delivered. The romance was great, I loved the writing, it really set the scene and the characters.

i was peasantly surprised by jana goes wild! i was a huge fan of kamilah knows best, and jana is mentioned in that book, as well as her baby's father, anil. i read that book before it came out so all i really remember is that anil was an asshole, as far as i remember? so i wasn't *super* shocked when this book opened with him still being a raging idiot, but five years later. to me, it seemed like he couldn't grasp the fact that his ~affair~ with jana led to her losing everything, including her career, so no amount of groveling or being a good father can make up for that. and i agree! his transgressions should not have affected jana to this degree and she has every right to be resentful as hell.

i love that this is playing out at kamilah's destination wedding, i love that i get to see characters from the previous book that i loved growing and evolving and vice versa for jana and anil's cameos in the last book! i love that these aren't cookie-cutter characters, which is a trap or trend that i think a lot of desi writers fall into, and the lack of it here not only makes jana goes wild an original story, but an incredibly interesting one to read as a result! i think a book that's entirely built on beef between two people can end up going south easily, especially when not written well, but farah executed this to perfection and i cannot wait to read what she writes next.

Absolutely loved this book! I found Jana endearing and the slow burning love story between she and Anil was perfection!

This is a great second chance romance between Jana and Anil. They haven't really spent any time together since they parented a child, but they do coparent well. A destination wedding brings them together, and they can't seem to stay away from each other despite the activity list (who doesn't love an activity list) Jana's friends created. While this is a slow burn, it really pays off.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This will be on my reread list! I loved how diverse this read was & that it included a second-chance trope.

I haven’t been in the mood for contemporary romance at all this year and it was hard to get myself into this as the result. I did really appreciate the way south Asian culture is represented in this book and the complicated tension between families around expectations for their children. This also had a super fun Crazy Rich Asians x The Lucky Escape expensive vacation energy that made me really want to go on an elaborate safari and multi day wedding (or honestly any vacation where someone else has done 100% of the planning), although at times it got a little "and here we are at yet another setting/event". Ultimately, what worked for me was that I found Jana and Anil getting back together very believable, although I struggled to fully get behind their breakup (especially because they had clearly stayed in touch!!). I think it would have helped me to have a dual POV for that reason as well as just a break from Jana's anxious brain. While I very much appreciated the anxiety rep here, I found her constant overthinking almost childish at times and really wanted time away. Overall this was a solid but not particularly memorable one for me.

A norm defying portrayal of a woman who has defied the toxic traditionalism in South Asian culture as she raises her daughter as a single parent, reconnects with the father of her child, and learns to be freer in her own self. I loved this story so much!