Review: Rebel Hard

Rebel Hard by Nalini Singh
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a quite interesting read. It was my first book from the author and I have a couple of mixed feelings. I loved both characters: Nayna and Raj. Their passions, their uptake in life, their chemistry and everything in between. This book has some of the best and swoon worthy lines I've ever read, such as "Don't end us before we begin".
Things I love about this book:
- how both characters had great communication even though words didn't come easy to Raj, they both made an effort to talk to each other and understand each other
- how characters met in the middle, working hard to figure out what worked for *them* instead of family mandates
- the cultural aspect around their families, tradition, clothes and food
- the fact that sometimes, people fall in love and live happily ever after

What I wish would have been a little different
- There was some unbalance in the PoV from the characters. I'm ok with stories being told from just one character's pov, but in this case, having two and relying heavily on one (Nayna) over the other (Raj) felt unbalanced to me. This also taints a little bit the vision of the relationship the first 2/3 of the book, in which is all about Nayna's feelings, hopes and dreams while Raj's take a backseat. It balances out towards the end, but I would have loved to read more about Raj's from the beginning
- Given this, the actual romance/conflict around romance takes a little of backstage against Nayna's own family conflicts and her search for her own persona. While this is not a bad thing at all, I would have loved the romance to take more of a front stage.
- Raj's backstory is so powerful and it could have taken more time and space to develop (his feelings, his fears, how this shapes his entire being), instead of just going back and again to Nayna's family dynamics.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and the author's narrative style and look forward to see what else she's working on!
*I received an ARC on NetGalley*

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