This book is absolutely WILDD!!!!!!!


Thank you soooooo much netgalley, the author and the publisher for the advanced review copy if this book💗
"I voluntarily read and reviewed the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

Hmm, I really don’t know how to review this book. I wanted to love it but I kept getting frustrated over small things again and again and in the end got really frustrated.

I will start with what I enjoyed because there were a lot of things I enjoyed in this book - the Tanzanian/setting setting was magical, very detailed, very fun, the messy families that felt all too real, the co-parenting and whole raising a small small girl aspect was done right for me.

I was sold on the idea of Jana and Anil getting together 5 years after they were together initially. They had a lot of ground to cover and things to discuss openly and honestly before they embarked on a relationship and I felt it didn't really happen.

I liked Jana, she was an interesting character, she was trying to figure her life and how to move forward after everything (having an affair with a married man and having a child that she is raising in an amicable co-parenting relationship). She is grumpy and introverted and socially awkward and felt this should be OK but throughout the story we see her trying to be different, to step outside of comfort zone and it really bothered me.

On the one hand, I didn't like that she felt she had to act out-going and carefree just to impress her future employer. Not sure it’s a North American thing but I feel your personal life should not matter when it comes to your work. And it felt to me that no one opposed actively/strongly to this assumption that Jana had.

On the other hand, she seemed pre-occupied with the idea of stepping out of one's comfort zone and her friends kept pushing her to do. I see the need to take risks and challenge oneself but it felt too much here. I hated to constant push for someone how is quiet and introverted to be outgoing, to socialize and make small talk and be the center of attention.

My main issue was with the romantic relationship itself. There is not enough focus on it. The constant push and pull, going back and forth on what Anil and Jana wanted became repetitive towards the end and at the same time the I-love-yous felt rushed.

I was most annoyed with Jana's to some gossip related to Anil. Her reaction was to discuss it with their friends but not with him? And they all speculated about his behaviour. It was most inappropriate and made me feel both uncomfortable and angry on his behalf. And all this after they decided to try to be together. I don’t understand it. It makes no sense to me. It was even not in line with Jana who so far seemed quite private and reserved even with her friends.

I have to admit I felt more supportive of Anil. To to excuse his mistakes in the past but his behaviour in the present made much more sense to me. He liked Jana for who she was, didn't want to change her, gave her the space and time she needed to figure things out for herself. At the same time we see so little of their (romantic) relationship. There is the strong chemistry and the shared care for their daughter but they didn’t really communicate, the intimacy, the step-by-step building of a relationship was not there on page.

I liked the wide circle of friends and family we see in this story - years-long, messy and turbulent relationships, lots of second chances. At times the friends were too loud and boisterous not just for Jana but for as a reader as well. Their oversharing and meddling in other people's lives (an issue I had in the Kamila Knows Best as well) was not something I enjoyed.

In short, this book didn't quite work for me, could be personal reason, could be some author's choices. Either way, I still plan to read more by this author.

CW: death of a parent (in the past), gossip, cheating (in the past), social stigma over having a child outside marriage

This is another book in Farah Heron's universe that started with Accidentally Engaged. The main characters appeared in the last book Kamila Knows Best, just as we found out Jana was expecting. Fast forward five years and Jana is a single mom and co-parenting (ish) with Anil when it is time for Kamila's grand wedding - on safari. Will the two be able to stand being in the same wedding party over the course of the trip? Add in the complication that she really wants the new job she has applied for and now one of the main people on the selection committee is on the trip. Does she tell the truth about her and Anil's situation or let her mother's conveient tale stand? Or does she just let loose and live a little and see where that gets her?

This was another hit from Farah Heron! I love these characters and can't wait to read more stories from them.

I am thankful to @netgalley for an electronic copy of this book.

Where do I start? First of all, Farah’s books just get better and better, so it should have been no surprise that Jana Goes Wild topped all the rest for me. I may have mentioned before that I love a good second chance romance, and this one does not disappoint. We have Dr. Jana Suleiman, the estranged cousin in Emma Knows Best, and Anil, a former fling and father to Jana’s four-year-old daughter. They have to travel to Tanzania for a destination wedding, so there is lots of forced proximity tension and we also get a glimpse of the culture and food, which I’m always game for in any book. Jana and Anil have been successfully co-parenting, but this trip is the first time Jana really sees Anil being a Dad. It’s a slow burn with a little higher heat level than Farah’s previous books. As always, the dialogue jumps off the page and the characters are taken on a bumpy road with lots of opportunities for personal growth. Everything you want in a romance, with the added benefit of a gorgeous setting you never want to leave. All in all, I give this a solid five stars!!

I thought this was so fun! My first Farah Heron book after hearing good things about her other books. I thought that the second chance romance was well done, which I sometimes struggle with. I felt like this one showed the characters changing enough from their breakup to their reuniting that you felt like the relationship wasn't doomed to the same previous issues they had before. I also loved the setting in Tanzania at a destination wedding, while having some critical points about the impacts of tourism! The friend group was one of my favourite parts! Definitely going to give some of her other books a go!

LOVE LOVE LOVE 💗👏🏻💗👏🏻

The characters, the story, & especially the writing!! I felt I was right alongside them on their trip to Tanzania & would love to travel there one day!

Jana was a fantastic character! She had so many layers to her & seeing her discover herself was heartwarming 💗 Anil was just as great! Did the two of them have their rocky moments? Of course, but the dynamic between them was spot on & I loved watching it unfold. Also! Points to Anil for being able to braid his daughter’s hair 🥰😍

There is so much to love about this book! And I didn’t want it to end ☺️ I loved the side characters especially! #BrideBrigade for the win!!

What else you can expect:
✨second chance romance
✨forced proximity
✨the best friendships
✨ups & downs of family
✨Mamma Mia references
✨beautiful safari
✨the cutest daughter
✨on page text messages
✨AND SO MUCH MORE

Thank you so much @readforeverpub @netgalley for the copy! Jana Goes Wild is OUT NOW! And I definitely recommend it 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

This was my first Farah Heron book and will not be my last. First and foremost, her characters are Entertaining, with a capital E! I was immediately drawn to Jana and her co-parent, Amil. I loved seeing how well they parent together, despite they were no longer together. This was highly entertaining and had me smiling throughout!

I enjoyed the adventurous aspects of this book, but the miscommunication was too much for me too fully enjoy. I didn't find Jana to be a very likeable or relatable character. Thank you for the advanced copy. I look forward to reading Farah's other books.

I loved the mess and the angst of this. I loved how present Anil was in his daughter's life and that there is a strong co-parenting relationship. I loved the African backdrop for this big Indian wedding. It was a fake relationship that was for very realistic reasons, which i liked-- i do not often like the fake dating trope. I love second chance romanes and i loved that this was NOT a secret baby romance. Jana could be very annoying at times (i liked her more than i liked Kamila, though), but I think she had a really tough time trying to live up to the perfect indian daughter standards, especially having had a baby out of wedlock, so i could empathize with her. I loved this and would give it 4.5 stars.

I really enjoyed this book - super cute second-chance romance. The setting in Tanzania was awesome & unique. The cover is gorgeous! I also enjoyed the connection and cameos from Kamila’s story (Kamila Knows Best). The South Asian representation - with big friend groups, intertwined families and cultural references was excellent.

Thank you to NetGalley & Forever Pub for an eARC of this book!

💭Thoughts:
This book just wasn’t for me. I felt myself becoming more and more annoyed with Jana and Anil the longer I read. Neither of these characters are likable. Anil is manipulative and a terrible communicator. Jana is also a poor communicator with a victim complex. They are both too old to be acting like this. A lot of the book felt repetitive and cringy.

I will say the setting was pretty and made me want to visit Africa. The wedding discussions and events were fun. Sadly, bright the setting not the wedding was enough to salvage this for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this book.

I enjoyed this book. However, some of the interactions between the two main characters felt forced. This book could have delivered more.

This book had three my favourite tropes

Second Chance Love
Slow Burn Romance
Forced Proximity

and two of my least favourite

Accidental pregnancy
Miscommunication

I rather liked the book. I loved the Tanzanian setting and the vibrant cast of diverse characters.

I found the plot a little sedate, but the rest of the story's brightness made up for it.

If you liked this author's Accidentally Engaged and/or Abby Jimenez, this might be the read for you.

Thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for this ARC.

Jana and Anil have a whirlwind romance years ago which resulted in their daughter, Although the coparent well, Jana cannot forgive Anil for something he lied about during their relationship. However, they find themselves in close proximity when they meet up to attend their friends' wedding in Tanzania.

Although I understood why Jana was so closed off to Anil, I felt that she took too long to come around to Anil for a romance novel. We spent too much time with Jana punishing Anil and pushing him away that it got tedious and annoying. It progressively became hard to like Jana and root for their relationship. She also focused so much on other's opinions of her that it became really exhausting and silly after some time.

By the time they got together it felt too rushed. She spent so much time punishing and resenting him that we didn't a chance to see their love rebloom. They essentially picked up where they left off despite 5 years of separation.

Although this book had some great points esp. about the grief single moms vs single dads get, this story was just exhausting and not romantic at all.

3 stars.

"Jana Goes Wild" by Farah Heron is an accidental pregnancy second-chance romance that's basically one giant miscommunication trope rolled up into a dozen other minor miscommunication tropes. I really wanted to love this book, but I only just liked it. There's a lot to enjoy here. Author Farah Heron writes her settings in a way that makes the reader feel and see what she's saying right in front of their eyes. I could close my eyes, concentrate, and visualize the vibrant wedding celebrations, safari adventures, and at-home get-togethers in great detail as they played out on the page. I loved that this book is set in Tanzania and comes brimming with culture and respect and authenticity. I also loved the secondary characters! I haven't read Heron's other works, but I'm definitely going to go back and read "Kamila Knows Best," as well as her other works. I liked the co-parenting relationship between the main characters, Jana and Anil. They both seem like terrific, doting, admirable parents who are equally involved in their daughter Imani's life. The sun rises and sets with Imani for both of them. I liked the rekindling of Jana and Anil's romantic relationship, but I have to be honest, I could not stand all of the miscommunication between them! Jana is headstrong, reserved, and a bit prickly. She has been shaped and marked by her past dalliance with Anil, and for good reason, but she never let him explain what happened, which would have rendered this entire book a moot point! Anil always seemed far more invested in Jana than Jana was in Anil. I never really believed that she pined deeply for him the way that he did for her. It seemed to me like she was more concerned about reconnecting with the physical aspects of their relationship whereas he wanted her mind, soul, AND body. If they had learned to listen and communicate more effectively, they wouldn't have had to live a life without each other. The book also seems pretty repetitive and a little long at times. Despite them both being excellent parents, I didn't really feel a strong vibe between them until maybe the last 5-or-so-% of the book. All in all, this book was a little disappointing, but I'm still going to read Farah Heron's past and future books!

Thank you to NetGalley, Farah Heron, and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for my review.

This was a new to me author & I really enjoyed this book! I loved the characters, the dynamic, and how the MC’s worked together as co-parents! Jana is such a wonderful character! She really came into finding herself and love with Anil. This book had the fun aspect of being in Africa and going on a safari for a destination wedding. I would say this is def a slow burn, second chance romance. Though I think Jana’s journey was the top story here! All in all a wonderfully enjoyable read!

Five years ago, Jana stepped outside her comfort zone and went a bit wild. The result of her reckless abandon is a two-week whirlwind romance with Anil, a scandal, and a pregnancy. It turns out Anil is married. Since then, the pair have co-parented Imani, but otherwise, Jana wants nothing to do with Anil. Now, forced to spend significant time together at a friend's destination wedding, Jana must face that maybe she never got over Anil.

I am sad that I struggled with this book. I liked my previous Farah Heron reads, but this didn't work for me.

Of all the romance tropes, Second Chance seems to be the one I struggle with the most. I require a particular set of circumstances for it to work. I need a dual timeline. I need to see the characters initially fall in love. I need to believe there is an actual reason they would get back together. I think this is what didn't work for me here. We only see Anil and Jana as a couple in the prologue. I never had time to fall in love with them. So, I never rooted for them to get back together.

Jana is honestly tiring to read about. Being in her head is exhausting, and so is her conflict with Anil. The destination wedding is a safari, causing a repetitiveness that I did not enjoy (wake up, go on a safari, have dinner, fight a little, Jana thinks maybe she still has feelings for Anil - then do it over again, day after day.)

If Second Chance Romance is your favorite trope, you may love this. Unfortunately, it fell flat for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved everything about this book! The characters,,,the setting....the tension...It was amazing! It was wonderful to get lost in the story and forget about real life. I felt like Jana was one of my friends.

a cute and charming romcom that was delightful.

thank you to netgalley and to the publisher for this review copy.

I liked Jana Goes Wild, though she really doesn't go "wild". It's more stepping outside her comfort zone. Jana and her baby daddy have a complicated past, and end up going on a trip to Tanzania together for a wedding. They spend about two weeks in Tanzania dancing around each other, having conversations about themselves and their adorable daughter. I really appreciated that regardless of how things worked out the first go around they were both solidly in their daughters life.

Things are rocky with them throughout the book as they deal with the past. Jana couldn't let anything go, Anil was trying to court her, but he was going about it in strange ways. There was a lot of miscommunication in this one, but that was balanced by some sexy scenes.

This is a personal thing, but it drove me nuts that it was almost always "Anil Malek" and not just Anil. It kind of annoyed me that from Jana's point of view she kept referring to him that way.