Loved the cover, loved the title, loved the story. Its a witty look at sisters, families, self-acceptance and growing up. Three estranged sisters have to spend 14 days together in honour of their deceased father. Just imagine. 14 days with people you're related to but don't particularly care for. Its funny, its heart-warming, its emotional and made me appreciate my family , however annoying they may be!

𝑅𝑎𝑑ℎ𝑖𝑘𝑎 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑔𝑒𝑚 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑎𝑢𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑟….

I loved the debut and this is even better! #iwishwewerentrelated had me from the very title.

This is a book that despite containing death- is fun, engaging and completely addictive. Reeva became a character I instantly wanted to know more about.

I love the humour that shines through the pages of this one. I’ve had so many laugh out loud moments. I was definitely invested in wanting to know why Reeva’s mother kept such a big secret.

This is an engaging and completely unputdownable book, I was so excited about this one. It has delivered on every level.

Radhika is a brilliant author and a must for everyone’s TBR. This has been the book I needed to escape into.

I Wish We Weren’t Related is definitely one of my favourites from 2023 so far. I have adored this book which is out today!

My thanks to Rosie @headlinebooks for my #giftedcopy

I Wish We Weren’t Related by Radhika Sanghani is an entertaining story about death, grief, forgiveness and humour. There are three sisters, who do not get on together and then they find out that the father who they were told was dead when they were young is now really dead and their mother tells them through solicitors, that they have to go to their dead father’s house and say prayers for 14 days.
It is a mixture of craziness and family drama, laughter and tears and somehow the three sisters reconnect and become family again.
Recommended

Meet the Mehta sisters - Reeva hasn’t spoken to her two younger sisters, since her youngest sister, Jaya had an affair with Reeva’s fiancé and Sita the other sister sided with Jaya during the fallout.
They all meet together as their Dad’s last request was for his daughters to spend 14 days in mourning at his house, forcing them to take the time to explore their relationship.
It was a joyful and insightful read, loved seeing Reeva develop as a character, just wanted to give her a big cuddle.
Loved the author’s style of writing - it was fresh and funny.
Also found the cultural aspect interesting, showing an Indian family partaking in a Hindu ceremony.
Thanks @radhikasanghani @headlinepg & @netgalley for the eARC

I really enjoyed Radhika Sanghani's previous novel, Thirty Things I Love About Myself, and she has delivered another great read here. The complex family dynamics are in turn funny and poignant, and we learn along with the the main character Reeva some of the reasons for this. Recommended.

Thought the female family dynamics in this were very entertaining, especially between the three sisters, but found them to be grating without much levity at times.

After finding out the family secret of a lifetime, Reeva gets stuck in her long estranged (and dead) father's house with her two sisters for 2 whole weeks. Will they all make it through, or will the lies and secrets tear them even further apart.

Sanghani has brought to us a very interesting piece of literary fiction, diving deep into the family conflicts, death and grief, and the various relationships one can accumulate throughout a lifetime.
I don't know what I expected, but what we get here is a heartfelt story of 30 something Reeva who is struggling with grief and trying so hard to get her life together after dealing with so much trauma. It was very powerful and a beautiful take on love, family and death. It may sound a little stiff when I say it like that, but I swear this book reads so easily. I got sucked into it and finished the whole thing in less than 24 hours. I was so captivated by Reeva, and wanted her to succeed and get everything my BOSS lady deserved, I just couldn't stop reading.
The writing was flowy, and the dash of dark humour perfection.
I did feel like the plot was a bit farfectched at times, but you know what, I was still here for it.

One thing I particularly appreciated was having a portrayal of an Indian-English family, and not only their customs, but also the relationship the MMC (who was born and raised in the UK) had with her roots, how she connected with her culture.

Overall, a great read about family dynamics and, well, how messed up everyone's family can be tbh. Definitely worth the read!

Thank you NetGalley, Headline and the author for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I went into this book having no clue what it was about, other than hearing loads of people get excited for it. It is my first book from the author and I’ll definitely be looking out for her other.

I wasn’t to sure of it from the start. I couldn’t like any of the characters and couldn’t believe that family could act the way they did. Trust me, my family are a lot, but even though you hear about this sort of thing happening, I never really believe that family can be so cruel to one another.

But, God, am I happy I pushed through. This book felt like the best self help book I could ever read, and I don’t fully support self help books! But this was amazing! I ended up falling for the sisters and, even with her flaws, I think I loved Saraswati from the start. So many parts I wanted to highlight and remember and, despite the amount of times I’ve been told it, you really do need to stop worrying about everything and start living! Life is too short and family, blood or otherwise, is one of the greatest things you’ll have in life.

Overall, this is definitely one I think everyone should read and learn from!

How could anyone resist that title? I WISH WE WEREN'T RELATED is mostly set over the fourteen days of funeral prayers being held for Reeva's father. The father that Reeva's mother told her died thirty years ago. The father whose dying wish was for Reeva to attend his funeral prayers with the two sisters she hasn't spoken to in four years. Just when Reeva thought her life couldn't get any more complicated.

I can't resist a story about a dysfunctional family, and Reeva's family certainly fits the bill. While not all of Reeva's problems are overly realistic, and especially not that they all happen at once, I think there are a lot of different threads in the plot that will really resonate with different readers. I loved the nuanced way that this book tackles issues including alcoholism, alopecia, cheating, and motherhood. I WISH WE WEREN'T RELATED somehow manages to be both light and substantial, a page-turning read that has some really valuable things to say about some really important topics.

As much as I loved that this is a story about relationships between women, and not just between men and women, I have to admit that I loved the romance plot between Reeva and her boyfriend. If, like me, you can't resist romantic misunderstandings and characters who undervalue their worth, you won't want to miss this one. I WISH WE WEREN'T RELATED is a life-affirming read, which made me laugh and threatened to make me cry. Out on 6 July.

Being gujarati, I really enjoyed the book. Loved the crazy family dynamics and the drama. Definitely one to add to the shelves.

Really wanted to love this but just could not get along with the writing style. It felt very YA which was confusing when it is a story about adults.

How do you grieve a father you thought had died 30 years ago, but who actually died last week?

Family, and identity within your family is the theme for I Wish We Weren’t Related. Despite its topic, it’s a funny, heartwarming read. I didn’t really connect with Reeva and that hampered my interest of the book a bit. I would recommend it to fans of family drama and secrets.

Thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for a copy of book in exchange for an honest review.

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.

A phenomenal book that resonated so deeply. It touches upon then nuisances of culture and family dynamics so well. I will definitely be recommending to all when this book is published

Heartwarming multi cultural family saga about the sisters. Well written with heart. Was nice story I enjoyed reading this

I loved this a lot. As someone who has 2 sisters and is of Gujarati heritage, it was so relatable and I loved all of the craziness of the Reva’s family dramas. Jaya was the worst and honestly I think Reeva is a much better person than I am but her character development was amazing and I was rooting for her the whole way. Can’t wait to read more from this author!

Absolutely brilliant, loved it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me an advance copy, I will definitely be recommending.

It was a story I wasn't expecting. A faked death, three sisters who don't talk to each other for years and when they do, they argue, a mother who is a Bollywood star and, of course, a big secret. This story can grab your heart, break it and put it back together again. To tell the truth, I was initially annoyed by the amount of drama, but I kept reading with interest. I wanted to know how this whole tangled family story would end and how Reeva, the main character, would cope. I was surprised by the wisdom of this novel because I thought it was another light and accessible book that would be easy to forget.

When Reeva's Mum calls to tell her that her Dad is dead, she doesn't really care. Because he died 30 years ago.

But apparently, it's all a lie. Despite her thriving career as a lawyer, fighting for people and knowing exactly the right thing to say at any time - she's lost for words. Her twice-dead father had one last request for her and her estranged sisters; to spend the next two weeks at his home, saying prayers and sorting his estate.

Her Bollywood Star Mother is conveniently unavailable in the mountains, so she's left alone miles from home with her two sisters who completely ruined her life the last time they spoke. She just needs to make it through these two weeks, so she can bury her Father and move on.

But could this be a chance to finally get answers? Not just about who their Father was, but everything else that has fractured their family over the years? Or will any hope of family be buried along with their Father.

"It's the same thing we've been talking about all this time with truth. The meaning of life is to be authentic. To live it all as yourself. To do what feels right for you. That's it."

Radhika Sanghani is a relatable, raw and riotously witty writer; and this follow-up to her debut adult novel is further proof that her voice is one that demands to be heard.

IWWWR is painfully real, full of heart and so funny in the most awkwardly relatable ways. Reeva is everything I want in a main character - someone boldly themselves, fierce, flawed, smart but not infallible. She's a fighter - for feminism, for equity, for others - but not for herself yet.

I absolutely adored the way her relationships and connections shone through - the stunning and meaningful friendships, the complicated histories with family, and of course my favourite character; the sassy and regal cat, Fluffy Panda.

The scene is set instantly - little details that draw us into her life and create a connection that propels the story forwards. We spend just a few short weeks with Reeva and her family, seeing little captured moments in this one time in her life that might seem insignificant alone, but weave together to show a journey of discovery and healing. It's messy, chaotic, almost absurd at times as tensions increase and drama takes over - but it was unflinchingly, awkwardly entertaining and wickedly clever the entire time.

Reeva's journey was bittersweet and heartwarming, devastating but beautiful. She had so much conflict not only with others but inside herself; internal colourism and misogyny, repressed anger, and a brutal inner critic with unrealistic expectations. All of this was eating her up inside and even when her trauma and turmoil made her lash out and make bad choices, I just wanted to hold her.

A beautifully sweeping story about love - between family, between strangers, and for ourselves.

This book was so heart-warming and comforting. It is definitely one that will stay with me, I loved the characters so much. It had me from page one and I had to keep reading!