Happy Women's Heritage Month!

Thanks to @goodreads @berkleypub for the gifted copy.

Serena Singh Flips the Script by Sonya Lalli is the perfect way to kick off this month and celebrate women. Serena is such a great female protagonist. She is smart, ambitious, independent, funny, unconventional and marches to the beat of her own drum. She doesn't let tradition dictate her life and she defies society's gender stereotypes.

This was marketed as a rom-com but it was more of a contemporary women's fiction story. It was a refreshing character story about Serena's growth as woman. She had to reconcile notions of womanhood & tradition, career goals, adult female friendships, romantic relationships, family. I loved to watch Serena become open about her feelings and let herself be vulnerable. She was willing to do the self work, move towards forgiveness and take a second chance at love.

I loved the story and cast of characters. I enjoyed learning more about the Indian culture and the references to Indian food were a bonus. The writing kept my attention and the author tackled important questions in a light hearted way. There were moments that made me laugh out loud and others that brought me to reflection, especially the moments between Serena and her mother.

Topics of exloration:
🤎 difficulties making meaningful friendships in adulthood
🤎 understanding mother's choices
🤎 cultural expectations unevenly placed on women
🤎 being open & vulnerable in relationships/friendships
🤎 traditional vs. career goals
🤎 honoring culture while remaining autonomous
🤎 establishing relationships with women you supervise
🤎 expectations of motherhood
🤎 notions of marraige
🤎 sustainability
🤎 assimilation and family sacrifice
🤎 opportunities for women in the workforce
🤎 forgiveness & unresolved family trauma
🤎 second chances in love

Bookdragon rating: 4.25 🔥

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Serena Singh has always known what she wants out of life - a successful career, long-lasting friendships, family - and what she doesn't - marriage, children. Despite the fact that her parents cannot see Serena's happiness without these things in her life.

She's got the successful career part down, but when it comes to friendships and her family, it's not going so well. Ever since her sister, Natasha's, wedding, Serena has felt their close bond slipping. When Natasha also announces her pregnancy, Serena sees their relationship going the way of all her married friends with children: promises to meet up that eventually fall through, not seeing each other for weeks, then months, at a time, eventually almost becoming a passing acquaintance.

So Serena decides to take matters into her own hands. Forming a friendship with Ainsley, a new co-worker makes Serena see that maybe she's focusing too much on work, and is herself part of the reason her other relationships have fallen to the wayside. So as she sets off to "flip the script" Serena will have to reckon with her past to learn that letting people in can bring about the most happiness.

I love how Sonya Lalli continues to tackle the universal theme of the expectations placed upon women in society. Yes, oftentimes there are differences, but really there are so many similarities such as the pressure placed upon women to want a marriage and children and anything different must be some kind of defect on the woman's part.

Seeing the choices that Serena's own mother, Sandeep, has made in her life, and how opposite they appear to be from ones Serena would make herself, causes friction within the family. Serena has her reasons, but they're reasons the reader isn't completely privy to until very close to the end of the story. Sonya Lalli gives a few chapters from Sandeep's point of view and by the time we get to the end, to the root of the main conflict between parents and child, I wish we would have gotten to delve deeper into Sandeep's own story. I felt like her voice was such a valid one to be heard, and we just didn't get enough of it.

In that regard I felt like there were a few points where the story just didn't really know what its main conflict should be. Is it the fact that Serena is bucking traditional female roles within Indian culture? Is it the deep-seated issues within her own family? The story kind of tries to make all of them relevant, but then blurs the line between them so much that the distinction, the impact isn't felt as clearly.

I loved the idea of this heroine who genuinely doesn't have any interest in being married or having children of her own. I was so hoping that Serena would stick to her guns and the story wouldn't delve too deep into finding a romance. While romance isn't the main focus, it's hard to separate the idea of this woman who is proud to not be married (essentially being single), but then bringing Serena's ex into the picture. An ex in which there's still a lot of baggage. I almost negates the idea that Serena is fine without having a significant other in her life. It also didn't help that I wasn't drawn into the relationship Serena had with her ex. It didn't break my heart that it had ended, and I equally didn't really root for them to make it work.

I was much more invested in the aspect that finds Serena looking for new friendships. I mean, how many of us have gotten to adulthood and found it extremely difficult to forge new, meaningful friendships? It's not easy. This storyline was completely on point for me. I loved seeing Serena and Ainsley form their bond. I loved that they provide each other with opposite perspectives. Ainsley is the hard working, married, mother of one. Serena the hard working, single woman. Their friendship grows and strengthens because they put the work into it, not because it's necessarily easy, but because they want to. Like any relationship, it takes work. Serena begins to see that it takes two people to make friendships work and that she's possibly been slightly unfair to her friends.

This was the main relationship draw for me. But I felt like there were times it was overshadowed by others aspects of the story.

Overall, I really enjoyed spending time with Serena Singh. I loved her unabashedly strong belief and convictions in her worth and abilities. I loved how she has strived to stay true to herself, and I loved seeing that we all still have the ability to grow. ( )