“My Last Love Story” by Falguni Kothari
Publishing Date: January 23, 2018
Genre: Romance, Fiction, Contemporary
Page Length: 304 pages (Netgalley copy)
Synopsis:
Simi Desai is thirty years old and her husband is dying of cancer. He has two last wishes in his final months: first, that she’ll have his baby so that a piece of him lives on, and second, that she’ll reconcile with her old flame, who just happens to be their mutual best friend. And so over the course of their last summer together, Simi’s husband plans a series of big and small adventures for this unlikely trio, designed to help them say goodbye to each other and prove to Simi that it’s okay to move on without him–and even find love again. (description from Goodreads)
Review:
My Last Love Story is a romance novel about love triangles. Our main character is Simi who is married to Nirvaan, husband. They both live an idyllic life in California. While they may look happy on the outside they are dealing with a lot. Nirvaan has cancer and only has about a year left to live so he wants to make up for lost time with a bucket list in order to make the most of it.
The couple has made a pact so while Nirvaan is going through radiation treatments, Simi is going through IVF treatments in order to have their child. Zayaan, a close friend of the couple also lives with them in order to help out with Nirvaan. Since their teenage years in Surat they’ve been known as the three musketeers. But they have a complicated history as Simi dated Zayaan before marrying Nirvaan. She has suppressed her feelings for Zayaan since long ago, but living together in close proximity has brought them up again.
The novel is fast paced and the story has a solid flow. I felt invested in the characters and their stories as their backgrounds are revealed through flashbacks. Seeing their stories helped me empathize and see where they were coming from. I did enjoy reading the from Simi’s pov, but i felt like there was a bit narration and there needed to be a better balance of dialogue. This made it seem as if Simi was talking at the reader rather than too them.
At times I was really frustrated with Simi’s character. I understood that she had been married for years and didn’t want to burden her husband as his illness got worse, she kept bottling her feelings up inside and not sharing them which led to a lot of arguments that could have been avoided. She kept holding onto the past (which is explained why) but she kept living in it.
I enjoyed that the novel is also enriched in culture. It’s a somewhat lighthearted novel about love and relationships, but also delves into deeper topics such as IVF and terminal illnesses. It’s also a story about how we grieve. Nirvaan’s diagnosis not only affects him but everyone surrounds him as losing a loved one is never easy.
Though the story was centered on love triangle it felt more like contemporary fiction than romance.
Final Verdict:
FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.
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Great review. This was a tough one for me to read, I just couldn’t seem to get invested enough to finish. -Ashley
I can completely understand. I thought it was good, but I did feel something was missing. I’m sorry you had to DNF the book.