"Give Love a Chai" was a second chance romance between former best friends and childhood sweethearts Ting "Tia" Wang and Andrew Parker, who were brought back together by the discovery of a paperwork snafu from a decade earlier that resulted in their divorce never being finalized. Having just gotten engaged to another man, Tia was desperate to correct the error, but Andrew was determined to fight for another chance with the only woman he'd ever loved. Their chemistry was as strong as ever, but working through the problems that drove them apart and everything that had happened after their split was both challenging and unexpectedly emotional. (Related: I would advise readers with sensitivities around the topic of miscarriage not to ignore the content warning at the beginning of the book as it does play an important role in Tia and Andrew's story.)
I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from this book given that it is Wen's debut novel. While I thought that the writing showed promise, IMO there were a number of aspects of the story that could have been
improved. For example, pacing was a major issue for me, especially in the second half of the story, which seemed unnecessarily convoluted and dragged out. In addition, Andrew and Tia seemed to keep repeating the same behaviors and mistakes over and over again, and their lack of trust and failure to communicate was incredibly frustrating.
Overall, "Give Love a Chai" wasn't a terrible book, but I didn't enjoy it as
much as I had hoped I would. However, it may appeal to fans of emotional contemporary romance, second chance romance, or marriage in trouble stories. I would give another one of the author's books a try in the future.
*Review copy provided by Smartypants Romance. All opinions expressed are my own.
About "Give Love a Chai"
Give Love a Chai, an all-new charming second-chance romance from Nanxi Wen, is now available in Kindle Unlimited!
Tia Wang’s Wedding Planning To-Do List:
1. Find the perfect dress
2. Win her future mother-in-law's approval
3. Divorce her not-so-ex husband, Andrew Parker
When she fell in love and married her childhood best friend on a whim in Vegas, Tia innocently thought love conquered all. Turns out, that was a crushing lie. Her world shattered as she and Andrew were torn apart by secrets and mistakes.
Ten years later, Tia has left the pain behind and carved out a new life with Mr. Perfect. The only thing standing between her and happily ever after? A divorce from Andrew.
It should have been easy for Andrew to sign his name on the dotted line. Independent, prickly, and always in control, Andrew has done everything to escape his past. But seeing Tia on his doorstep after all these years? He can’t help wondering what might have been. Andrew has never forgotten Tia and vows to fight for their relationship this time around. If he has to hold those divorce papers hostage to get his second chance, he will.
Feelings resurface, stronger and more complex than ever. But Tia and Andrew have more than Mr. Perfect between them. Can they overcome past mistakes to forge a future together, or will new threats ruin their second chance at forever?
"Give Love a Chai" is a full-length contemporary romance, and can be read as a standalone. Book #2 in the Common Threads series, Seduction in the City World, Penny Reid Book Universe.
Read an Excerpt from "Give Love a Chai"
I didn’t care what Andrew Parker thought.
Not anymore.
Still, I put on some lip balm before I could think too much about why and opened the door. Andrew sat by the little island in his kitchen, hands gripping a beer.
Huh.
I had never seen him drink alcohol before. Unlike pretty much everyone that I knew, he had been very intentional about not engaging in underage drinking. It made me sad to think about all of the changes that I missed, moments that I had expected to be part of if he hadn’t pushed me away.
Now, I was getting angry. I held on to that anger. Anger was easy. Anger had carried me through the first few months after he had betrayed me, especially when I was railing against the world in those awful days in the hospital.
Oblivious to my anger, he looked up. “You still smell like those fruity Lip Smackers you used to love, Ting.” His gray eyes roamed over me. A single dimple flashed at me, as his lips tugged to one side.
I couldn’t believe he still remembered my fondness for Lip Smackers. I had been using them since I first immigrated to the United States from China and discovered them in the aisle of some supermarket. I was the only person over the age of ten that still used them, but I was loyal to what I liked. Unlike Mr. Cool in front of me. “I don’t go by Ting anymore. It’s Tia now.”
“When did you decide that?” Andrew asked, unfurling himself to standing. His six feet two inches of muscles towered over me. The large kitchen suddenly felt small. Andrew the man had a presence that overwhelmed me in a way that Andrew the boy had never.
“Almost ten years ago when I needed a fresh start. I wanted a name that helped me to fit in,” I said, daring him to say anything.
His only response was the tightening of his shoulders. I couldn’t tell if he was reacting to my dig about a fresh start, or to me changing my name after years of him encouraging me to keep my given name. When we first met twenty years ago, we had bonded over not fitting in. As much as he told me “screw them” when our classmates made fun of my foreign-sounding name, my faint accent, or squinted their eyes while saying “konnichiwa” despite my protests that I was from China, I had cared too much. My name was the part of me that was the easiest to change.
“Okay, Tia,” he started, letting my name roll over his tongue, as if testing how it felt. “Why are you here?”
I looked into his face, so achingly familiar that I could have drawn his features from memory. I let myself feel the full weight of sadness, bitterness, and regret wash over me. Andrew Parker was my past, an anchor that I hadn’t even realized was holding me back. I needed to move forward now.
In a voice that sounded stronger than I felt, I said, “I want a divorce.”
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