Dating Dr. Dil - Review

Dating Dr. Dil

By: Nisha Sharma

Expected Publication: February 22nd 2022 by Avon

352 pages

Genre: Adult, Contemporary

Source: Publisher via NetGalley (Thank you!!)

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Goodreads description--Nisha Sharma’s hilarious new romantic comedy inspired by Taming of the Shrew features a love-phobic TV doctor who must convince a love-obsessed homebody they are destined to be together.

Kareena Mann dreams of having a love story like her parents, but she prefers restoring her classic car to swiping right on dating apps. When her father announces he’s selling her mother’s home, Kareena makes a deal with him: he’ll gift her the house if she can get engaged in four months. Her search for her soulmate becomes impossible when her argument with Dr. Prem Verma, host of The Dr. Dil Show, goes viral. Now the only man in her life is the one she doesn’t want.

Dr. Prem Verma is dedicated to building a local community health center, but he needs to get donors with deep pockets. The Dr. Dil Show was doing just that, until his argument with Kareena went viral, and he’s left short changed. That’s when Kareena’s meddling aunties presented him with a solution: convince Kareena he’s her soulmate and they’ll fund his clinic.

Even though they have conflicting views on love-matches and arranged-matches, the more time Prem spends with Kareena, the more he begins to believe she’s the woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with. But for Prem and Kareena to find their happily ever after, they must admit that hate has turned into fate.

I have kind of been on a contemporary Indian kick since Spring of 2020. I have found the culture fascinating to read about. As with any book, though, you don't know the content until you've read it. I can say upfront that Dating Dr. Dil had more descriptive scenes than I prefer. The word "smut" came to mind a few times. And it's kind of a shame in my mind because the rest of the story was worthy enough to stand on its own without the "extra." But I know there are many readers who really enjoy the exact thing I'm complaining about.

Kareena put her dating life on hold to accomplish her career goals and now she's turning thirty and feeling lonely. It doesn't help that her younger sister is getting married and her father and grandmother have started to get pushy. Kareena's father drops the bomb that he's planning to retire and sell their house, the one that Kareena's mother designed and Kareena loves. She wants to buy it from him, but she doesn't have the money. He would give her the money for a downpayment on a house if she were engaged though.

Prem is a practicing doctor that also hosts a television show on a South Asian TV network geared towards bringing awareness to issues specific to the South Asian community. He ultimately wants to open a community health center, but he needs funding from investors to make it happen. After he and Kareena go viral having an argument over whether or not love exists or is an illusion, one of his investors backs out. Prem needs to prove his family-oriented attitude to this investor. So he comes up with the idea for these two to fake get engaged to both get the financial backing they need.

I liked that Kareena and Prem didn't actually fake date. They contemplated it. And they spent some time getting to know one another while Prem tried to convince Kareena to try his plan. Kareena is intent on marrying for love and since Prem can't give her what she's looking for, she can't bring herself to give up on the idea. So she's still trying to find the right match for herself.

I really liked these two and the journeys that each needed to go on in order to come together. I also liked the side characters. I'm torn on continuing the series. Because on the one hand, I liked the side characters enough to want to see each get a chance at a happily ever after, but I also don't really want more smut which I imagine will be included in future books.

The only highlighting I really did was over errors in the galley version I read. Pronoun shifts, the wrong name mentioned once or twice, the wrong word, etc. I'm sure these things will be corrected in the final copy.

I liked Dating Dr. Dil. It hit the spot when I was interested in a book that I hoped I would finish quickly. My contemporary Indian craving was satisfied for a while. And I am both looking forward to and dreading future books in the series. Dating Dr. Dil gets 4 Stars. Have you read Dating Dr. Dil? What did you think? Let me know!