Flirting with Disaster is a beautiful, gut-wrenching second chance romance. I think this will turn out to be one of my favorite romances this year, and I could barely put it down. Meena and Nikhil are such compelling and complex characters, and Naina Kumar does a beautiful job painting a picture of these two people grappling with the history they share. Their interactions and Meena’s inner monologue were realistic and mature - they felt like real, smart, adult people, and I can’t resist that in a romance. I’m sure I’ll reread this, and will be thinking about them for a long time.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. And thanks to Naina Kumar for tearing my heart to shreds and then putting it back together again.

Trapped in a hurricane with her estranged husband, a high-powered lawyer must confront her past and decide between her planned future and a rekindled love. This is a fun and fast-paced second-chance romance.

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

Now, I picked up this book because it sounded really interesting, and of course I was hoping to like it. However, the way I loved it just completely snuck up on me. I got so incredibly sucked into this book so quickly, and ultimately became obsessed. This book was just a masterclass in writing a hard hitting second chance romance. It was just so good!
Meena was just a great main character to follow. I really loved her drive throughout life. I thought she was a very interesting main character to follow. Nikhil was also a fantastic love interest. Despite never getting a POV in this book, I still feel like I knew him, and his thought process throughout the book so well. Their relationship was also everything to me. From the prologue to the characters remenicing on their times together years ago the love they have for each other is palatable. I thought they were really cute together, and I just couldn't help myself from just completely rooting for them from the get go.
Despite this book taking place over a short couple of days, I still thought the way these characters unpacked everything between them was incredibly well done as well. Meena and Nikhil definitely had their reasons for breaking up years ago. They had many, many issues. I loved how throughout this book they had to confront those issues, and the communication between was incredible. It caused for some absolutely heartwrenching moments, as neither of them fully realised the hurt they were causing the other person. The way they just bared their souls to each other was absolutely incredible, and showed just how much they still loved each other. Throughout several hurricane survival scenes we are also shown just how great of team these two still are together. It was all just so masterfully crafted.
So yeah, add to that the several genuinely funny moments throughout this book, as well as the fun side characters and Meena's personal journey, and you just get a really fantastic read. I also loved how this book discussed wanting to do something for your community, and fighting for what you believe in as Meena has to think through the possibility of going into politics throughout the book as well. I thought it was just so well included. Definitely HIGHLY recommend this book!

Such a great book! Think Sweet Home Alabama (which is one of my favorite movies), but it's set in Houston, TX. Lately, I've been really loving second-chance romances, and this one is no exception. Highly recommend!

Thank you, netgalley, for my copy of this book!

I loved the second chance aspect of this book! I felt the way this trope is usually portrayed I disliked, so seeing it done by Kumar was refreshing. Taking place during a hurricane in Texas, with varying flashback scenes to their earlier relationship, I enjoyed seeing Meena and Nikhil work through their communication issues. I enjoyed the writing style, and look forward to reading more work by this author!

Fairly decent read. Lots of waffling back and forth from Meena who doesn’t seem to know what she wants out of any part of life, that was a little frustrating to read. But her memories of Nikhil worked well. Would have been nicer to have the perspective from Nikhil too I think. Meena just fell flat for me.

"We've changed. We're different. We've grown and we'll keep growing. We'll keep doing better. We'll grow together'.

Flirting with Disaster is one of the finest books I have read on second chances and character growth. This book went way beyond superficial attraction between the main characters and dealt with problems that a lot of couples who are not good in communicating their needs and wants struggle through.

Meena & Nikhil both had their own internal struggles, they things they wanted to do and the things they thought they had to do. The consistent pull from all the internal thoughts pushed them apart but years later, Meera is back in the small town she had walked away from to make Nikhil sign the papers so that she can move forward in life with the person she thinks fits her plan. But oh nature had some other plans because now they are stuck in the same house which first saw them all in love and also falling apart because of a hurricane. The forced proximity, memories and conversations brought a lot of words that weren't confessed before and rekindles the not so suppressed feelings.

This book not only beautifully depict the south Asian households and how the kids are forced to keep up the appearance and follow a set path but also how much that unconsciously affects the decisions and the lives in general.

I was in awe with how the angsty confessions came out flying and how pure the love was.

i'm not a big romance reader, so i'm suprised at myself for picking this up. ultimately this was a fine romance novel that wasn't extraordinary in any aspects. apparently this is a retelling of sweet home alabama? i have never watched that movie i am 17.

meena is a lawyer who's gearing up for a state house run with her boyfriend. the only problem is that she's still married and her ex, nikhil, won't sign the papers, so she goes down to texas to get him to sign, but disaster strikes. the setting is pretty pared down; meena and nikhil are confined to his house for the majority of the novel. this is a character-centric book for sure.

i could definitely tell there were some communication issues going on in both timelines, and it was frustrating the hell outta me i can't lie. meena was a bit frustrating to me at times; i feel like she was pushy and avoidant at the same time if you get my drift. i was annoyed by the amount of times she started going on internally about how she tried in their relationship and he never did like we know girl. i liked nikhil as a love interest; he was charming and i was rooting for him. i do wish we got some pov's of nikhil, because i would've loved to see his perspective. also sleeping with your man and then leaving him like 2 days later...we need to bring self-shame and self-realization back lowkey

i don't think this is an epic romance or anything, it's just a decent love story between two people who found each other, grew apart, then came back together and were able to fully work out what caused them to grow apart. i'm not the biggest fan of romance though so i would definitely recommend this to romance readers and people who enjoy reading love stories because this was perfectly adequate.

thanks to netgalley

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC.!

Meena, a lawyer and politician living in DC flies back to her hometown of Houston, TX for only one reason, to get her estranged husband Nikhil to sign divorce papers. She sees this as the only obstacle on her path toward political success and stability, little does she realize that a hurricane is on it’s way to Houston. She ends up stranded in the house she used to won with Nikhil, and their 6 year estrangement slowly unravels.

Let me preface this by stating that I LOVE second chance romances in general, so this one was already going to be my cup of tea. I really enjoyed this. It read so quick and I finished it in one evening. I started this being very annoyed with Meena and the way she was treating Nikhil, but as the story progressed we learned a bit more background information on their relationship as well as the personal motivations of each character and Suddenly I understood their motivations much better.

I cannot speak to the immigrant experience, as I am not one, but I did really like this perspective on pressure from parents and how that can color the rest of the decisions you make, consciously or unconsciously. I can't imagine, but it added a fresh layer to this romance that few stories can really achieve.

Solid 4 Stars!

Wow - I devoured Flirting with Disaster in a weekend! What a lovely Desi take on a classic like Sweet Home Alabama. Naina hit the angst out of the park on this second chance romance and I absolutely loved the concept of these two growing closer during the stress of a Texas storm because it created the perfect backdrop for the push-and-pull, tension and pining between Meena and Nikhil.

Meena, who impulsively marries Nikhil after one Vegas night, reconnects with her estranged husband in TX after moving to DC six years prior to focus on her career. Naina did a great job portraying Meena's unrelenting perseverance in passing the bar and becoming a lawyer as well as defining her genuine motivation to help those within her community. It was nice to see this come full circle and witness both Meena and Nikhil's growth throughout the six years apart.

I also truly appreciated the South Asian representation as it is an accurate portrayal of the expectation that is often projected onto children of immigrants. I saw a lot of myself in Meena and I love seeing books that have that representation and can speak to my experience. Always looking forward to seeing more from South Asian authors, like Naina Kumar!

Thank you to Random House, Dell Romance and Naina Kumar for the ARC!

First thank you to random house and NetGalley for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis: Meena does everything right and what is expected of her. However she has been hiding a secret, she got married in Las Vegas one night and never completed the divorce. Now that marriage is impacting her future plans so she needs to solve it. Unfortunately the weekend she decides to fly to Houston to resolve it is the same weekend as a hurricane coming to town.

What I liked: this book has major sweet home Alabama vibes which I loved but it also has a lot of emotional depth to it. Meena and Nikhil can be frustrating but that just makes it worth it when they finally get through to each other. I watch HGTV For those of you who know understand. I really felt like I knew these two and did root for them. Both of them had their moments where you were frustrated with them but Meena made some big assumptions. I’m normally not a fan of miscommunication but this book changed my mind. It was done well and didn’t go on too long. I also liked how they talked it out and worked it out.

This was an absolutely delightful reimagining of one of my favorite romcoms, Sweet Home Alabama. This was my first book by Naina Kumar, but it will not be my last. She has the kind of writing that I love in a romance, the kind that is smart but not pretentious. It was such a smooth read!

The two main characters had palpable chemistry throughout the entire book with just the right amount of angst to match the sexual tension. Most second-chance romances are bound to have a bit of animosity in them masking the real hurt and love, and Kumar nailed it. I adored both characters and sympathized with both of them.

The pacing of the book was perfect! I was nervous at first that the entire book would be contained within the hurricane that traps the MCs, but Kumar led us through the story at just the right speed in every way.

I wouldn't change a thing about this book! A must-read for romance fans!

This was a really disappointing one for me. I really enjoyed Naina Kumar's last novel, Say You'll Be Mine. It was so sweet and well-written. This was clunky and did not read well. The MC's inner dialogue was extremely hard to follow, and read very immature. I also lost track of how many one or two-word sentences there were when the MC was describing things and it was very distracting. The over-description of Nikhil's body was a lot to take in too. I didn't mind the flashbacks to Meena and Nikhil's relationship, but they were so haphazard it was hard to piece their relationship together and by the end I just didn't care.

Nothing like being stuck in a closet during a hurricane with the man you are actively trying to divorce only to realize you might still be in love with him! Nikhil and Meena’s romance was a sweet journey and the book nailed the Sweet Home Alabama vibes.

Meena is a high-powered lawyer on Capitol Hill, ready to move on (or at least, she thinks so) with another successful lawyer, Shake. She has returned home to finally obtain a divorce from her husband Nikhil who she hasn’t seen in 6 years.

But there's one thing Meena couldn't have accounted for: a hurricane. Giving Nikhil and Meena no choice but to hunker down together. Meena begins to remember everything that drew her to Nikhil but she’s determined to stick to her plan, come hell or high water. But will her windswept heart make the right choice, when the storm settles and the eye passes over?

I really enjoyed Meena and Nikhil’s characters I thought their relationship journey was realistic and how the hurricane really allowed them the time to discuss the hard parts of their relationship. I liked how they both admitted to their part in the crumbling of the relationship and how they’ve kept up with one another in the years they were separated. The only thing that held me back from making this 5 stars is I wanted MORE romance. I enjoyed the small acts of love they showed each other but i wanted to see some bigger gestures of love or more pining! Maybe if we had some POVs from Nikhil that would’ve helped. Overall this was a fun read and I can’t wait to see what Naina Kumar writes next!

4.5 stars rounded up!

This book is like if The Notebook and Sweet Home Alabama had a baby in a hurricane--and I had SUCH a fun time reading it!

First thing you need to know: This book is 85% character-driven. There is the plot of surviving in a storm, but the storm is more of a means to trap them together for a long period of time--not necessarily a danger I was worried about. We have a few flashbacks, but mostly the reader is trying to piece together why these two didn't work based on the FMC's internal dialogue. I truly felt the emotions of these two characters and wanted them to get out of their own way and work it out!

Second thing you need to know: This is a second chance romance and it is ANGSTY. I appreciated how much they loved one another and I could feel their doubts and pain. Like if these two couldn't make it work when they obviously loved one another SO MUCH, then no one in the world could make it work. They so obviously needed to be together! And I love romances like that.

This was great. I'll be going back and reading Naina Kumar's first book and will wait with baited breath for her third.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

I don't always enjoy the miscommunication trope but Naina uses it beautifully with Meena and Nikhil!

Weirdly, I liked the balance of this book the most. I was afraid one element would dominate the whole thing, whether it was the hurricane or the miscommunication or the writing style, but it's paired well. There's a lot of Meena essentially narrating past events (telling, not showing) but it works since we only experience this story through her PoV. The hurricane seems a little deus ex machina but the little realities of something like that ground the plot nicely.

And the miscommunication. Usually that trope is overdone or obvious or convenient but it felt real here. A little too real for my ND brain: I started getting frustrated because Meena and Nikhil were making assumptions based on their own fears and insecurities, not what was being said. I wanted to shake them both and yell "Just LISTEN!" But it's that reality that made the ending so much sweeter.

It's a lovely second chance romance and deserves to be on TBR lists everywhere.

<i>Many thanks to NetGalley, Dell, and the author for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.</i>

This book felt like a piece of my soul. I saw so much of myself in Meena and so much of my fiancé in Nikhil - desires and thoughts and faults and all. These characters will be together forever no doubt 🥰 BRING BACK MALE YEARNING 2025

FAV QUOTE:
""I figured nothing's ever too far gone," he says softly. "That some things are worth rebuilding. Even if it means rebuilding them from the ground up.""

I'm so surprised by how good this was, I'll be thinking about Meena and Nikhil for a while for sure 🩷

Rating: 2.5 / DNF

I want to first thank Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read the arc of this book. I was immediately hooked by the premise of this one, I mean who doesn't love Sweet Home Alabama! I unfortunately decided to DNF this one around 35%. For me it was a very difficult decision because I was enjoying the romance and the storyline. However, the biggest issue I had was the past and present timelines are not separated. I was having a very hard time going from both timelines, I almost felt like I blinked and I was in the past for a few sentences and then became lost once we made our way back to the present.

Absolutely LOVED this story! Any reader who claims Sweet Home Alabama as their comfort watch — THIS IS A MUST READ.

Naina’s first book was one of my favorite reads of 2024 and I’m not at all surprised that her sophomore novel is just as incredibly entertaining and lovely.

No notes. This was a such a sweet, emotional, and truly perfect read.

Five stars!

This book is a lot about Meena’s personal journey and what she wants moving forward in her life. When she sets out to Houston with the singular goal of getting a divorce, she doesn’t foresee a hurricane, the disasters that come with it, or even the feelings she still has for her soon to be ex. While the romance definitely takes a backseat in this book, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I absolutely love Meena’s story and the way Kumar brought it all to life.

The writing is phenomenal and the way this is marketed as a romance reminiscent of Sweet Home Alabama, definitely hits its mark!