Book Review - I Wish We Weren't Related by Radhika Sanghani

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Title: I Wish We Weren't Related

Author: Radhika Sanghani

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Headline Review

Publication Date: 6th July 2023

Rating: 4 Stars

Reeva Mehta is thriving. Consumed in her career as one of London's top divorce lawyers, she doesn't bat an eyelid when her mum calls to tell her that her dad is dead. Because he's been dead since she was five . . . hasn't he?

If finding out her dad was alive - until last week - wasn't bad enough, his last request was for his daughters to spend fourteen days in mourning at his house. Which means Reeva must spend a fortnight stuck with the people who betrayed her when she needed them the most - her sisters.

Navigating her absent Bollywood megastar mother, newly dead father and scheming sisters with only a temperamental boyfriend - and even more temperamental cat - by her side, it's no wonder Reeva's hair is falling out. Could confronting the truth help the Mehtas put aside their differences, or will attending a funeral be the death of this family?

A fresh, funny and oh-so-relatable novel about trying to be the grown up when your magnificently messy family seems set to sabotage everything. Get ready to laugh, cry and fall in love with this addictive read.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and despite it centreing around death and a fourteen day morning period, it wasn't a sad depressing book.  It felt quite life affirming and dealt with a few tricky topics, appropriately, and ultimately was about loving yourself. 

At times I found Reeva really hard to connect to, but as the book went on and she actually started to work on herself, I found myself rooting for a lot. 

I thought the story was a great concept, and really enjoyed getting to know the sisters that Reeva rarely sees or talks to anymore.  And their mum is a larger than life character, and Reeva's nieces are adorable and have some of the best funny lines in the book 

I was hooked on trying to find out what the big secret was that lead to Reeva's mum faking her husband's death for so many years. It's such a drastic thing to do, to cut a father off from his family, and the siblings came up with so many outlandish theories, as they started to learn about the father they never knew, after his real death. 

I love books featuring characters from a different culture to my own, and really enjoyed learning more about the Mehta family and their family's religious death customs. 

I especially loved the wisdom of the long last auntie, who was easily one of my favourite characters. 

Very enjoyable, I had a good time reading this and will certainly be looking out for more by this author in the future. 

Thank you to Headline and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.