A
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Romance
Theme: Enemies to Lovers, Forced Proximity, Taboo Relationship/Forbidden Romance
Archetype: Criminal/Mafia
This book is a delight! I know the cover is not nearly as cute as the cover of the first in this series, Partners in Crime, but don’t be put off! Enemies to lovers is suspenseful, twisty, swoony and so so good.
I don’t want to spoil anything about this story, so please refer to the cover copy below for the basics of the plot. I have so many wonderful things to say about Enemies to Lovers, and probably 90% of them would spoil the surprises, which I do NOT want to do to you, so this review will attempt to explain without revealing too much. (This is a challenge.)
Sejal Chaudhary inherited her mama’s calculating brain, her daddy’s quick fingers, and the boatload of trauma that comes with being the eldest daughter of criminals. Although Sejal has never claimed to be a good girl, she’s spent the last couple years laying low and going (mostly) straight. That is, until a con gone wrong sends her into the arms of a handsome stranger who’s set on dragging her back into her messy family drama.
Krish Anand never mastered the fine art of being a bad boy…he would take a book over bullets any day. But when his FBI agent brother goes missing, he has no choice but to suit up for the adventure of a lifetime. Certain that someone in Sejal’s little crime family is behind the disappearance, a desperate Krish manages to convince the beautiful thief that his brother’s badge is actually his.
The deal is simple: help him find his brother, and Krish and the law will leave Sejal be. With an up-to-no-good ex also hot on her trail, Sejal reluctantly agrees. As they wind their way across the country on planes, buses, and automobiles, sparks ignite, and what began as a fragile temporary truce starts to look more and more like a partnership.
Falling for the enemy? So cliche, but so good…if only they can survive long enough to chance a happily ever after.
First, let’s discuss the most obvious part of the plot: the adventure. I absolutely adore well-plotted adventure stories. The suspense created was tangible: I would put the book down for short stretches to catch my mental breath and then immediately go back to it. In other words, I could put the book down, but I couldn’t go far. My mind searched constantly for where the twists might be and each time I was genuinely surprised. It was great!
Second, the romance. When Sejal and Krish first meet at that bar in the opening pages, the chemistry is electric. That sparkle swiftly disappears when Krish presents himself as an FBI agent and Sejal thinks she’s being kidnapped by the FBI. When Sejal’s terrible ex makes his presence felt (which doesn’t take long), it turns out that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” and so an uneasy truce is formed.
As with all the romances that really capture my attention, the shift from enemies to lovers is gradual and tentative with Sejal and Krish finding moments of courage to let their vulnerabilities show. Truth be told, I enjoyed the growing bond of friendship between Sejal and Krish more than I enjoyed their chemistry. They really start to SEE each other – become known to one another in a very deep sense. That’s magical to read.
There is one particular scene which has nothing to do with chemistry or sex or romance, but everything to do with taking care and it has stuck with me (in the same way that it stuck with the Krish) and I’m going to share it with you behind the spoiler below.
If you can resist, I recommend skipping this spoiler because it’s revealed in such a lovely way in the story.
So Krish and Sejal are on the run, trying to get to Las Vegas. Through a series of incidents, they end up nearly broke and nearly without options. They scrounge together cash for two tickets to somewhere and Krish gives Sejal the change to get them some food.
Krish is one of those precious souls who genuinely enjoys salads. He’s been trying to order them at the various eateries they’ve been to, but they’ve always been these limp, unappetising affairs. Sejal finds him a genuinely appetising salad and buys it for him even though that leaves pretty much no money for food for herself. At this stage, they still don’t entirely trust each other and this moment of care and consideration is seismic in its impact. This salad says, ‘I want to care for you and thank you for saving my life and even though I don’t know that we can trust each other, I’m here’ – that’s a lot for a salad to say, but it does!
The slow transformation of their relationship links to another theme within this series: found families and also creating new, stronger bonds with biological family. There is a bucketload of childhood trauma for Sejal to work through and while she works through it she builds connections with those around her, the kind that make her think a different kind of life is possible for her.
I don’t want to spoil the particulars, but her father and her mother are both equally terrible and…
They have a terrible habit of treating her and her sister like objects to be used for their own gain instead of as people they care for.
Sejal is dealing with A LOT. There is a lot for her to overcome and yet she finds the bravery to face it all. Beautiful!
There is so much I love and so much I want to say, but I daren’t say another word more on either because I would love for you to experience this book as I did: knowing very little about what was about to unfold.
There are some recurring characters from Partners in Crime and for the conclusion to have maximum feels, I would recommend reading them in order.
As with all books with thoughtful, considered representation, this one further expanded my empathy for people with different lived experiences to me, and also helped me understand what those lived experiences might be like. The nuanced, insightful mentions of race and its impact on the characters were integrated seamlessly into the narrative and were an integrated part of their multi-faceted identities. As a pretty ordinary White Zimbabwean living in South Africa, you can imagine that I know desperately little about the lived experiences of South Asian women, particularly those raised in Las Vegas by career criminals.
To replace all the details I want to share (or spoil) about Enemies to Lovers, I’ll include a little background. The last fortnight has been incredibly difficult for my immediate family, with stressor piled upon stressor, the latest of which was an emergency admission to hospital. But for the hours that I was reading this book, those stressors disappeared. Even when I was waiting to hear from the hospital, I could escape into this book for a reprieve from the shitstorm around me. Enemies to Lovers is fantastic and well worth the A grade.
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