It's your move, Wordfreak! by Falguni Kothari

Title: It's your move, Wordfreak!
Author: Falguni Kothari
Format: Paperback, 282 pages
Pub. Date: January 18th 2012
Source: Goodreads First Reads

★★

Two stars.

I received this book through Goodreads First Reads.

I loved the premise of this book (& the darling cover), but unfortunately, it fell far short of what I expected.

My first disappointment stems from the book's description. I feel mislead, I expected more of the actual courtship between Alisha & Aryan. But the book starts with their blind date. I felt left in the dark about how they met, only being told throughout the novel now & then that their chats were flirty, risque, or witty.

I never felt any real attachment to the characters. Aryan is alright. I was a fan of Alisha's... Until Mr. Kumar showed up. Then, the "strong" girl tried to talk rationally to an abuser, allowing herself to get pommeled "in the name of justice." Aryan shows up the next night, sees her lying broken, & instead of feeling empathy or sympathy or hell, sadness. He gets enraged with her not letting him know- to the point that he hurts her in his "point making." She screams at him to get out & her mom comes in calmly, saying that she heard the conversation. Yet, she says to stay with him.... After he has blown up & pinned her injured daughter down in fury. After this point, I honestly stopped caring.

I found Alisha to be weak, Aryan to be insufferable, & his "bombshell" explanation for his brooding was anti-climatic. It didn't play out like I thought it would, & I don't mean that in a good way. I would have been done with Aryan a long time ago. It's odd- I'm a child of divorce & the daughter of a stroke survivor, but still, I wasn't emotionally invested in this plot.

The end, when I finally reached it, seemed rushed. Admittedly, the epilogue did make up for it a bit.

A non-plot related thing that bugged me was that non-English words were italicized but not explained. Obviously, I figured out a brief definition based on context clues, but a thorough one would have been nice. This book would have benefited from a glossary or footnotes.

I wish I liked this book. Truly, I do. I wanted to love it. I'd think about reading the sequel, but only if I won a copy.