Hi!
Welcome to the first of three Blog Tour stops I'm doing for recent or upcoming Harlequin releases.
This first one falls under the Harlequin Presents umbrella, defined as:
This is The Surprise Bollywood Baby by Tara Pammi.
I have to be honest, I had absolutely no intention of reading this book. I only wanted to mention it in passing on a Blog Tour stop because I tend to keep choosing the same type of romance books and wanted to show you that Harlequin release different types every month. I do not find anything related to babies or pregnancy remotely romantic (three kids and two c-sections will do that to you) so if you are of a similar persuasion, you may also be pleasantly surprised like I was. My intention was to skim through a few chapters but I got sucked in to it straight away, mainly because of the female lead.
This is book two in a series, which I didn't know, but I don't feel like I missed a whole lot. Anything relevant is explained. Our main characters here are Zara, a 35 year old Bollywood film star, and Virat, a 30 year old movie director & member of a well known family involved in the film industry. Zara takes the lead in the relationship, deciding that a fake engagement with Virat is exactly what they both need to put an end to the sleazy tabloid rumours being published about them.
This was a super fast read (one-sitting) that provided a very welcome hour and a half of escapism. One thing I enjoyed while reading it was searching some of the terms or words I wasn't familiar with and looking at some of the clothing and decor items mentioned online. There were a couple of really lavish social events in this book so it was lovely to be able to picture them.
I also appreciated that, during the sex scenes, consent was established. Even more importantly, (and something I haven't seen in a romance novel before) there was an acknowledgment of a woman not being expected to climax through penetration alone. I have read too many novels where the woman melts into a puddle at the mere suggestion of a shaft, so to read this was honestly very refreshing.
The chemistry was cute, but overall the plot was lacking for me. I don't think the title fits with the story - the pregnancy isn't central to the plot and doesn't set the scene for the whole book. I'm not mad, I just really do not think that the cover or indeed the blurb online fit with the story at all. I found this enjoyable mainly because of Zara - I thought she was a really strong character, and felt like her growth from the woman she was a decade earlier was evident even though we didn't get to see her back then. I don't think we needed all the Vikram stuff, although I do realise that it was necessary to tie the two books together.
The first book in the series, Claiming his Bollywood Cinderella is available on Borrowbox if you'd like to check that out.
The Surprise Bollywood Baby is part of the March 2021 Harlequin new releases and is available now.
Kindle (Ire/UK)
Kindle (US)
You can keep up to date with the author on her website, www.tarapammi.com or @TaraPammi on Twitter, @Tara_Pammi on Instagram.
If you are interested in more Harlequin or Mills & Boon books, there are currently a ton on sale at Bookstation, with free delivery within Ireland on orders over €10. If you've never tried one before but would like to, I highly suggest having a look through the titles and seeing if something grabs you. If ever there was a time where a bit of romance and escapism was needed, this is it!
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