Genre: Contemporary Romance
My Review - 5 Stars
If you enjoy the enemies to lovers trope, have I got the book for you! The Chai Factor is an incredible debut that kept me glued to its pages.
Let me tell you: this book has some of the best character growth I’ve ever read. But I have to admit, I wasn’t sure about Amira, our Muslim engineer heroine, at first. I thought she was acting rather childishly for a 30 year old woman. Things aren’t going as she planned with her degree and she’s heading home to finish her grad school thesis in peace. This is all on her mind when a fellow train passenger sexually harasses her, with a side of racism to boot. (Amira’s mom is from Gujarat, India and her dad is a Gujarati Indian from East Africa.) But then a white man intervenes and my reaction was, “who is this unicorn?!” Amira’s reaction was to get pissed off at him and I just did not get it. At the same time, I wanted to know what was driving her reactions to the people around her.
Oh, and that white guy who tried to help her? Well, when Amira gets to her grandmother’s house, she learns Duncan and the rest of his barbershop quartet just moved in to the basement. I almost cackled at Amira’s horror over sharing space with him. There’s banter and sparks and animosity aplenty. They do not bring out the best in each other at first but the evolution of their relationship had me absolutely captivated. I could not get enough of their romance once they finally gave in to their feelings.
This story doesn’t shy away from hard topics. The plot delves into religious homophobia and workplace sexism. This is set in Canada and Islamaphobia, xenophobia, and racism are just as big of issues there as they are in the United States. It was interesting to see the similarities and differences between the two countries and particularly how current US policies impacted Amira, including a past incident of racial profiling at the airport. The story also digs in to how this plays out on social media: the harassment Amira faced after her story went viral, the way white supremacists use social media as a platform, and so on.
Amira and Duncan have to talk honestly about these specific differences. It becomes crystal clear when Duncan’s brother decides his daughter can’t spend time with Amira’s niece because of her race and religion. Duncan is trying to be the change he wants to see in his family and community, especially for his niece. However, he didn’t realize he should have told Amira about his family’s hateful views and this put her and her niece in harm’s way. My heart went out to Duncan in his anguish but it was ripped in two over the pain Amira and Zahra experienced. Duncan didn’t know what he didn’t know and yet the burden should not be on Amira to educate him. As a white person, it can be tempting to think I wouldn’t act like Duncan but I can’t let myself off the hook like that. We all have to do the work and interrogate our privilege. People’s very lives are on the line.
And so Amira and Duncan have to decide whether they can move forward. Are these differences too big to overcome? At first, Amira thinks they are. But this is where the aforementioned character growth kicks in.
Amira has to confront her anger and ask herself if this is all people see in her and if this is all she is. She does have to decide the kind of person she wants to be: in her relationship, in her family, in her friends, and in her workplace. Amira has a lot to be angry about and justifiably so but she can’t take it out on everyone around her. Reading her work through all of this turned out to be cathartic and I was really impressed with where she landed and how she decided to give Duncan another chance.
I loved Amira and Duncan together. The side characters were wonderful, from Amira’s best friend to her mother. Plus the rest of the barbershop quartet added so much depth to the story, what with two of the members being in a relationship. There’s so much more I could talk about but really you should read it for yourself. This book had great humor and heart and I’m really excited to see what Farah Heron does next.
For people who prefer low heat level, this is pretty closed door. However, it doesn’t shy away from Amira’s interest in dominating, which set it apart from other closed door romances I’ve read.
CW: Islamaphobia, xenophobia, racism, sexism, homophobia, closeted characters, divorce, reference to past racial profiling, sexual harassment, reference to side characters’ substance abuse, reference to past child neglect, unnecessary use of “spastic” as descriptor, eating disorder, hospitalization for eating disorder
Synopsis
Thirty-year-old engineer Amira Khan has set one rule for herself: no dating until her grad-school thesis is done. Nothing can distract her from completing a paper that is so good her boss will give her the promotion she deserves when she returns to work in the city. Amira leaves campus early, planning to work in the quiet basement apartment of her family’s house. But she arrives home to find that her grandmother has rented the basement to . . . a barbershop quartet. Seriously? The living situation is awkward: Amira needs silence; the quartet needs to rehearse for a competition; and Duncan, the small-town baritone with the flannel shirts, is driving her up the wall.
As Amira and Duncan clash, she is surprised to feel a simmering attraction for him. How can she be interested in someone who doesn’t get her, or her family’s culture? This is not a complication she needs when her future is at stake. But when intolerance rears its ugly head and people who are close to Amira get hurt, she learns that there is more to Duncan than meets the eye. Now she must decide what she is willing to fight for. In the end, it may be that this small-town singer is the only person who sees her at all.
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