Book Review: Dating Dr. Dil by Nisha Sharma

Dating Dr. Dil is a "Taming of the Shrew" retelling that narrates the lives of a heart doctor who does not believe in love (Prem) and a strong female entrepreneur who in order to save the house she grew up has to get married. Kareena has dreamed of having a family and a love-marriage, after seeing her parents grow up being so affectionate with each other. On the other hand, Prem grew up never hearing the words "I love you," and after his fiancee dies he goes hard on not believing that true love exists. Both being South Asian, their families are very pushy about them getting married and the idea of faking their engagement begins. For both of their benefits as Prem needs the money his mother promised he would receive if he finds a wife, and Kareena needs the money her father has saved for her engagement to be able to save her house.

The story was unique and many factors of it called my attention. Yet, there were also many factors that didn't trap me in the world of Kareena and Prem as much as I would have liked to be trapped.

Some of the things I enjoyed about the story was the culture and the way it was depicted. I had never read an Indian-American rom com and having all those details about the food they would eat, the customs and traditions they had in regards to family and marriage made me really intrigued in learning about the culture as a whole. Many people say that the romance genre is not one to learn things in, but I disagree as I found important information about this culture and their way of life and learned so much in a fun way.

The banter and chemistry between Prem and Kareena was also really well built and honestly it was my favorite part of the book and hence why I gave it the rating that I gave it. All of their scenes together were steamy and romantic. Their personal issues and barriers were fun to read about and them slowly finding their way back to each other was entertaining.

On to the things I didn't enjoy. Prem calling his umm.. manhood "Charlie" was not fun. The first time it happened, I kept thinking I had missed a character somewhere and then I realized what he was referring to and my mind just went blank. Didn't like this one bit, and it took a lot out of the steamy scenes when "Charlie" would come up (literally).

The other thing I didn't like was the added scenes that were a bit too dramatic and telenovela for me. One key example is the argument Prem has with Kareena's sister. Everything that he says to her sounded very premeditated and not something I believe would have really come out of his mouth, so it felt very unnecessary or at least unnecessary in the way it was described. Same thing with Prem's issues with saying "I love you," felt that could've been deeper and maybe more gutting than just his mom not telling it to him and then later showing him how to love. It just was anti climatic in my opinion.

However, the story is one I can recommend. It is filled with angst and a very thrilling romance that has a few pieces of unnecessary information or drama, but it reads easy and you get to expand the culture behind the books that you read.

Overall rating: 3.5 stars