Jana Goes Wild by Farah Heron

Jana and Anil had two amazing weeks together before something ended their relationship before it could really start. And then Jana realized she was pregnant. The story jumps to five years later when Jana and Anil are both in the wedding party for mutual friends so they’re all going to Tanzania for two weeks to go on safari and celebrate the wedding. They apparently are excellent co-parents sharing equal custody of their daughter Imani, but really don’t interact otherwise. Anil continues his many years of apologizing and on this trip asks Jana to really give them a chance at being friends for Imani’s sake.

I think part of my struggle with this story was that it was single POV from Jana’s perspective so we spent a LOT of time reading her inner monologue which was very repetitive throughout the course of the book. The forced proximity did give Jana and Anil the chance to have a few moments together but if this hadn’t been a romance novel, I wouldn’t have seen enough from Anil to make me excited at all for their relationship. At one point he texts “You know how I feel about you” and I literally spoke out loud and said “I don’t even know how you feel!” Also, the final conflict was a little far-fetched. Jana even said to herself “What are the chances …” - yes, what ARE the chances. Lastly, there was a distinct lack of honest and direct communication between the characters and I just really felt like they were too old to still do such a poor job communicating.

I really loved all of the travel/wedding aspects of this story - the game drives, the hotels, the parties and all of the food! But as a romance, I felt like it fell flat for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy to review.

Where do you wish you could travel for a destination wedding?