Amit is a great love interest and I think he really represents us as the kind-of-cool AP gang. I personally think this book does a great job with the romance aspects, avoiding the typical stereotypical brown-girl-falls-for-white-boy-and-rejects-her-culture. On top of it all, her dad is sick, paying the bills is becoming harder and harder for her mom, and she’s eligible to compete in a national tournament for Muay Thai – which of course, costs money which is a problem. Kareena and Amit grow closer, which is great for her since her close friends Saanvi and Rayna ditched her last year, leaving her with one friend. As a result, she’s forced to tutor the genius-somehow-turned-academic-failure Amit Shah. While juggling a large extracurricular commitment, she’s also still got school – and in her computer science class, the dude that’s most likely to be valedictorian is slacking and falling asleep in class. The book centers around the protagonist Kareena Thakkar, an Indian-American high school student who lives and breathes Muay Thai, a type of martial art that’s kind of similar to boxing. Quick note: I received a copy of this ARC from NetGalley but it didn’t affect my review in any way, shape, or form. Kareena’s bid for the Olympics could very well make history–if she has the courage to go for it. Admitting her feelings for Amit will cost Kareena more than just her pride–she’ll have to face his parents’ disapproval, battle her own insecurities, and remain focused for the big fight. Which is inconvenient, since she’s starting to fall for Amit Patel, who just might be the world’s most perfect Indian. Despite pleasing her parents, excelling at school, and making plans to get her family out of debt, Kareena’s never felt quite Indian enough, and her training is only making it worse.
If only her sport wasn’t seen as something too rough for girls, something she’s afraid to share with anyone outside of her family. She’s landed the chance of a lifetime, an invitation to the US Muay Thai Open, which could lead to a spot on the first-ever Olympic team.
If seventeen-year-old Kareena Thakkar is going to alienate herself from the entire Indian community, she might as well do it gloriously.
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