Book Review: Flirting with Disaster by Naina Kumar

Official Synopsis: It's been years since Meena has seen her husband, Nikhil . . . years since they first laid eyes on each other back home in Texas, years since they eloped in Las Vegas and she felt true happiness. A high-powered lawyer on Capitol Hill, ready to move on (or at least, she thinks so) with another successful lawyer, Shake, Meena has returned home. This time, finally, to obtain a divorce.

But there's one thing Meena couldn't have accounted for: a hurricane forming in the Gulf, veering right toward them, giving them no choice but to hunker down in the home they had built together. Suddenly, she finds herself trapped amid gale-force winds and pelting rain with the man she once loved.

As they spend more time together, Meena begins to remember everything that drew her to Nikhil: His small-town charm, his thoughtful nature. . . his absurdly good looks. But things make sense with Shake. He’s steady and ambitious and wants exactly what she wants. She’ll stick to her plan, come hell or high water. But will her windswept heart make the right choice, when the storm settles and the eye passes over?

I love a book where the weather is a reason two people are brought together, and I found the weather, and the way hurricanes work was written really well. I'd be lying if I said I don't always judge when someone gets a tornado watch/warning wrong in any kind of media, but it was right in this book. The rest of the weather references, and fall out after a hurricane, made a lot of sense and were written well in my opinion.

The rest of the book, with Meena and Nikhil being stuck together, Meena being stubborn about how to interact, and there finally being a moment where they break down and talk are all really well written and powerful moments within the story. There is definitely a lot of adrenaline and fear-based moments where they finally talk, and then realize it shouldn't have taken this long for them to have these hard conversations with each other. Meena and Nikhil had a lot to unpack, even with a natural disaster around them, then lead Meena to finally realizing she might had not seen how there are two sides to everything.

Meena is a powerful character, who works hard for what she wants, and part of the story really shows how sometimes you don't need the 'perfect' partner to still get what you want, you just need to understand what they want too. Nikhil has a different look on life, but is definitely just as hard working and cares a lot about the people around him.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I love a good second chance romance, and these two characters had a lot to learn about themselves and each other, especially with the gap between when they last saw each other. There is a lot of well written character growth and everything Meena realizes felt really realistic in the grand scheme of things. Loved how the book ended, and the pop culture references as well.

I rated this book 5 out of 5 stars.

Flirting with Disaster comes out January 14, 2025!

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