This book is a gorgeous example of what second-chance romances are all about: being loved not despite change but with all the additions change brings. The way the characters grow, and their love reworks itself to make space for everything that has happened to them during their time apart, to me, feels like the way trees develop rings as they grow, and each ring holds different events, but they all contribute to the continued and overall growth.

If you like the premise of Sweet Home Alabama, a woman so sure of herself and what she wants but is adamant that her past is restricting her from an ideal future, then you’ll like this book.

If you like stories about women trying to understand how internalized perceptions of who they should be have hurt them in the past and try to stop those internalizations from skewing their future. If you like romances where the main characters rewind and learn from each other’s perspective of the ups and downs of their love. If you like care taking, forced proximity, missed interpretations of what helping one another looks like, and giving both love and your home state another shot.

Then you will love this book.

I really loved this book. I think Kumar has just launched herself to the status of an auto buy author for me. Both of her books have been emotional in a way that I've adored, complete with character development for days, plus they're sexy and full of chemistry. Flirting with Disaster is a Sweet Home Alabama inspired novel, but it is also very much its own thing. It takes the premise of SHA in that it's about Meena returning to Houston to get a divorce from her husband, whom she hasn't seen for seven years. But then the two of them wind up having to survive a hurricane together and the way that this man has pined after her for SEVEN years... Y'all, my heart. And the angst!!! So good.

Nikhil and Meena found love young. Fast forward seven years and they live in different states, lead different lives. But when a hurricane hits Houston when Meena planned a quick visit, they’re pushed back together and the forced proximity make them work through many of their issues.

I didn’t love the way their backstory was threaded in each chapter, it felt distracting - and at times like a drag.

A cute Sweet Home Alabama reimagining! Love that the FMC is career driven and successful but still realizes her desire for love/affection in a partner. I found her to be very relatable! 2nd chance romance is one of my favorite tropes, but it has to be done well for it to make sense and feel genuine and this book definitely did that! Very sweet and easy read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Naina Kumar for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was such a well done second chance romance!

I thought Nikhil and Meena had great chemistry, and I rooted for them from the start!

While it definitely had a miscommunication trope, I felt like it wasn’t the entire point of the couple’s problems - sometimes a quickie marriage in Vegas is hard to make last when you don’t know each other well enough! I loved seeing them fall back in love with each other. Sweet Home Alabama vibes but Indian is so accurate for this one.

Marriage in Distress is a trope that always stresses me out while reading but I still end up loving the story in the end, and Flirting with Disaster by Naina Kumar definitely falls in line with that!

7 years ago Nikhil and Meena wake up and find themselves married in Vegas. They lived together as husband or wife for a year but haven't seen each other in 6 after Meena leaving Houston to go after the DC career she's always dreamed about. But in order to fully reach her goals, she needs to finally get divorced and finds herself locked in with Nikhil when she doesn't realize her trip to get him to sign the papers coincides with a hurricane coming. And as the storm goes on and the pair have to finally talk about their past, Meena isn't sure if she wants to leave with the signed papers or with there still being a hope for her marriage...

The present storyline is a comedy of errors with every crazy thing that happens to them during the course of the storm, and we see the past play out as a tragedy of errors with every misstep and miscommunication during their marriage. Nikhil made my heart hurt in the best way and died of swooning when we see how much of his life he's tried to keep the same in the years without Meena. I found myself going "GAHHHH" while reading just wanting them to communicate. But this was a super sweet story and I loved the Indian American representation (especially seeing Nikhil talk about his experiences being half Indian half white), the caretaking, and the humor in the story.

Thank you NetGalley and Dell for an arc of Flirting with Disaster!

naina kumar never disappoints! a sweet home alabama-esque romance set in houston during a hurricane? sign me tf up!

after a drunken night in vegas, meena and nikhil wake up married. though they were far off from a sober decision to get married, they decide to stay married and live together. cut to 7 years later.

meena and nikhil haven't seen each other in years, and have been separate for longer, but their divorce hasn't been finalized. when meena decides to run for congress with her boyfriend shake/abhishek, she has to finalize the divorce. when nikhil ignores all the divorce papers she sends him, she decides to fly down to houston to force his hand, in person. unfortunately for meena, luck is not on her side and the day she flies in is also when the airports shut down in anticipation for a hurricane.

so the two are forced to stay in nikhil's house together. just the two of them. together. for the entirety of a hurricane. which are at least a week in case you didn't know.

while this book only reveals meena's inner thoughts, we learn a lot about nikhil through his dialogue. when meena and nikhil separated 7 years prior, they're at two different points in their life -- meena wants to advance her career, and nikhil, who has a steady job as a contractor, feels he's holding her back. they go their separate ways and the feelings *seem* to be mutual, according to meena. as the book progresses; however, we learn that nikhil is a bit more reluctant than meena to sign the divorce papers. paired with the fact that they're rained in together, might as well attempt to resolve all of their unresolved relationship issues, right?

while meena's character has moved on from houston, now residing in dc, this book is absolutely a love letter to houston. meena falls back in love with houston the same way she does with nikhil. hurricanes in houston are no joke, and though the hurricane is simply a tool to get meena and nikhil together, we also get the full hurricane experience: from rowing boats in flood water to help out a neighbor, to stepping in a pile of ants that have created an ant raft, boarding up the house or getting sick, this book covers it all, highlighting how the community looks out for each other throughout. it's especially interesting reading this part through meena's eyes, as someone who works as a public servant and wants to run for a public office.

the family dynamics at play were so interesting! meena's older sister gets pregnant at 18 and raises that kid as a single mom, which makes meena feel like she needs to be hyper-independent and never fail at anything so that her parents aren't stressed about two kids. and meena's dynamic with shake, her boyfriend in dc, is nice because he's not just written off as a jackass and bad partner.

i hope it's clear that i absolutely *love* this book the same way i love houston, excellent read that will not disappoint.

This book needed to be edited down significantly. I really love the basic idea of the story, and Kumar did deliver some parts of this story with depth, and other parts with a delightful reinterpretation of Sweet Home Alabama. However, it is a "tell" rather than a "show" kind of story, with the narrator rambling about her motivations for pages. Particularly in this moment in time when this is published, it is hard to convince me that a budding politician is a sympathetic character. I think the most frustrating thing about this, and what separates this from romance novels that I would rate higher is the absence of Meena's parents, sister, and niece. If they are such a significant force in her life, they needed to actually be present in the book somehow; at least, more than the chapter at the end when her sister was tacked on. I really think this book had potential, and because of editing, turned out to be an "OK" story rather than a great one.

LOVED - representation of Houston weather!

Enjoyed - cast of characters in the neighborhood during the storm. I actually wish we saw more of them!

Meena is going full steam ahead with her political ambitions, but there is one issue she must resolve…finalizing her divorce. Hopefully a quick trip to Texas and paying her ex Nikhil a personal visit will finally have him signing in the dotted line. What Meena doesn’t see or realize until she lands is that Houston is under a hurricane warning and she is stuck in Houston with Nikhil until the storm passes. The two must learn to work together, communicate and weather the storm. Hard truths, uncomfortable feelings and all. What will the state of Meena’s and Nikhil’s relationship be once the hurricane is over?

Encounters with fire ants and a cottonmouth, some entertaining neighbors and harrowing storm, this is more than just a second chance romance.

The concept of this book drew me in straight away and I was very excited to read about Meena and Nikhil and their second chance romance. While I did enjoy the story overall, I found it to be a bit flat I still enjoyed it, and will recommend.

I hate miscommunication more than any other trope, but especially when a relationship fails because of it. This book was poignant and sweet, and my heart literally breaks for Meena and Nikhil- they wasted so much time where they could have been together if they'd not been so caught up in their own issues and insecurities. Reading about their past failure to communicate needs and then getting to see them actually talking about the issues was so satisfying. Thanks Netgalley for the e-ARC!

The premise of this book was promising, and I loved the idea of reading a book that is like Sweet Home Alabama. But sadly it fell a little flat for me. I enjoyed the tropes, and the angst, but there was zero communication. Or barely any there. They were very cute together, But they went from 0 to 100 real quick without much changing. I do love me a taking care of them when they’re sick trope! Overall it was sweet but I was just expecting more. More talking, more growth, more development and just more!

Such a cute one! I snagged this immediately because of the Sweet Home Alabama parallel and I'm so glad I did! I will absolutely be picking this one up and annotating my copy! SWOON

I enjoyed the premise and plot of this book. The idea of two estranged, still married exes being stuck together during a hurricane had so much potential! However, the character development fell a little flat for me, and something didn’t totally work for me about the writing style. Meena was so obtuse in her denial of Nikhil’s desires and feelings for her that I didn’t find it quite believable.

Flirting with Disaster

If you loved the movies Sweet Home Alabama or the Notebook, then I have a book for you!

Meena is a success lawyer and she has big plans - political plans on Capitol Hill that require she takes care of a teeny tiny issue she hasn’t resolved in 8 years….her marriage. On a timeline, she flies to Houston to get her husband, Nikhil, to finally sign the divorce papers. Unfortunately, she ends up at their old house right when a hurricane hits and the two get stuck in the house together. But Nikhil isn’t willing to sign the papers right away and old feelings come to light. The two have to decide whether to reconcile or officially go their separate ways for good.

This was my first book by Naina Kumar and it did not disappoint. The second chance tension was lovely and I’m personally all about a man who yearns for years without giving up.

As an ambitious girlie who totally understands Meena’s drive, it hit close to home when she started to question what she wants for herself versus the accolades shes been trying to achieve due to other’s expectations. Success is a fickle friend. Other ambitious people pleasers will feel this one.

The author also includes discussions about natural disasters and details about the flooding the regularly happens in Houston, including home damage and displacement. There is diverse representation too, Meena is American of Indian descent and Nikhil is biracial white/South Asian.

Thank you Dell for the ARC and Prhaudio for the ALC

Vibes:
Second chance
Care taking
“I’ll fix myself for you”
Forced proximity
“I’ve always loved you”
Ode to Houston
Career vs love
People pleasing

This is a well written second chance romance that I think you’ll like. Meena and Nikhil fell in love and got married in Las Vegas. Meena always planned on living and working in Washington DC as a lawyer and she moved there after the marriage failed.
Now she’s ready to get an official divorce, so she goes to Houston to have Nikhil sign the papers.
Unfortunately, Meena didn’t realize that there’s a large hurricane bearing down on them. As they hunker down in the house together, Meena remembers all the reasons she married Nikhil in the first place. For his part, he never wanted to get divorced at all.
Can they get their relationship back?

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley, I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Thank you Netgalley, author and Random House Ballentine Publications for the ARC.

Meena is ready to finally close the chapter on her whirlwind Vegas wedding to Nikhil by finalizing their long-overdue divorce. But when a hurricane traps her with the man she’s been avoiding for years, unresolved feelings come rushing back like the storm outside. Stuck together, Meena and Nikhil are forced to confront their past, their mistakes, and the undeniable chemistry still sparking between them. Could this natural disaster lead to a romantic resurrection, or is this their final goodbye?
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Let’s start with the basics: A desi version of Sweet Home Alabama? SOLD. Add in a hurricane, a reluctant divorce, and some steamy unresolved tension, and you’ve got my full attention. I went into this book with high expectations, and let me just say—Naina Kumar delivered!

The heart of this story is Meena and Nikhil’s second-chance romance, and it’s written with so much care and depth. Their miscommunication in the early stages of their relationship was painfully relatable, but what really hit home was how cultural expectations and upbringing shaped their choices (or lack thereof). Kumar does an incredible job balancing these heavier themes with the lighthearted fun of two exes thrown together by fate.

Let’s talk about the hurricane! Forced proximity? YES, please. The storm wasn’t just a clever plot device—it became this metaphorical mirror reflecting all the chaos, emotions, and tension between Meena and Nikhil. And oh, the tension! Their banter was sharp, their chemistry sizzled, and the emotional growth? Chef’s kiss.

What I also loved was the tight focus on the main couple. There are a few supporting characters who pop in and add value (and humor), but the story doesn’t stray far from Meena and Nikhil’s journey. It feels intimate and raw, like you’re watching two people piece together a puzzle that’s been gathering dust for years.

Naina Kumar’s writing shines with its cultural authenticity. The South Asian elements felt natural and familiar—whether it was the subtle nods to family expectations, societal pressures, or the quiet power of simply being seen and heard by someone who gets you.

In short: this book is romantic, emotional, and deeply satisfying. If you’re a sucker for second-chance love stories, hurricane drama, or desi flair (and who isn’t?!), you’ll devour this one.

It's a 4/5 🌟 read for me.

If you're in the mood for a love story that’ll blow you away (pun intended), this is the one!

I absolutely loved Say You'll Be Mine, and I've been so excited for Flirting with Disaster! Second chance romance and forced proximity? What more could you ask for! Nothing like a hurricane to bring people together.

A new author for me and the humor did not disappoint! I felt every ounce of my millennial self in this and loved the plot

Flirting with Disaster is an emotional roller coaster of a second chance romance. Meena is a successful lawyer in DC and is planning to finally run for office.. so she has to head down south to officially get divorced from Nikhil after 7 years of not speaking only to get stranded with him during a hurricane. I was expecting it to be a little more light & fluffy with the Sweet Home Alabama comparison, but the characters had very real problems and were in so much pain being apart. I had a love-hate relationship with Meena & Nikhil.. they both made mistakes and I could see both sides of their issues. I thought the first half of the book was so much more entertaining with the hurricane drama then it kind of got slower. Fans of The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce will like this one! 3 stars