My Last Love Story

Nirvaan and Simeen Desai are happily married and trying for a baby at the start of Kothari’s ambitious but deeply flawed contemporary romance. Simi is conflicted about the idea of having a child and not looking forward to the long process of artificial insemination, which is necessary because Nirvaan is dying of cancer and no longer fertile. She finds it understandably difficult to deal with his treatments, let alone undergo a possible pregnancy and childbirth at the same time. Luckily, their mutual best friend, Zayaan, is there to support them through Nirvaan’s illness. Simi’s attraction to Zayaan, his to her, and Nirvaan’s hopes for the two of them get tangled up with complicated issues in Simi’s past, as well as the pain, fear, and grief of the anticipated near future. Kothari (Bootie and the Beast) treats her subject matter with respect and honesty, but the actual romance between Simi and Zayaan follows standard romance-novel beats far too closely while the story of Nirvaan’s slow decline is full of raw, honest pain, creating an uneven tone with unfortunate spikes of melodrama. The book’s highs are very high, but the lows are pure soap opera. (Jan.)