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Year of the Chick #1
Year of the Chick
Romi Narindra must find love before her parents find her a husband. From whiskey-breath scum bags to uni-brow creeps and everything in between, Romi and her wingmen come up empty time after time. But hope floats again when she meets a fellow writer unexpectedly. On the Internet. So will it be arranged marriage doom, or an Internet affair that's not as a creepy as "To Catch a Predator"?
526 pages, ebook
First published October 26, 2011
193 people are currently reading
1341 people want to read
About the author
Romi Moondi
14 books153 followersRomi Moondi is a Canadian writer who primarily writes rom-coms with the aim to make you laugh, activate your heartstrings, and possibly even 'get some dust in your eye' on occasion.
When she's not writing novels, Romi can be found dreaming up screenplays, copywriting for clients, travelling, trying out new recipes, and loving Seinfeld forever.
Next up: A brand new version of 24 HOURS IN PARIS (completely different from the one currently on Wattpad) will be available online and in bookstores on May 10th!
Ways to interact:
Twitter: romimoondi
Instagram: romimoondi
Wattpad: romimoondi
Facebook Author Page: http://www.facebook.com/RomiMoondi
Blog: http://romimoondi.wordpress.com
When she's not writing novels, Romi can be found dreaming up screenplays, copywriting for clients, travelling, trying out new recipes, and loving Seinfeld forever.
Next up: A brand new version of 24 HOURS IN PARIS (completely different from the one currently on Wattpad) will be available online and in bookstores on May 10th!
Ways to interact:
Twitter: romimoondi
Instagram: romimoondi
Wattpad: romimoondi
Facebook Author Page: http://www.facebook.com/RomiMoondi
Blog: http://romimoondi.wordpress.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 150 reviews
February 5, 2012
WTF? What’s a Canadian fantasy author doing writing a review for a chick-lit novel? Actually, forget that I write about zombies and magic and stuff that goes bump in the night for one second … I’m a guy! Chick-lit is like … I don’t know, something that men are supposed to run away from while pulling their hair out in clumps. Well, good news – I’m bald so there’s not a lot of hair to pull out and your heart has to be a cold dead thing if you’re a guy and you didn’t like Notting Hill.
You see, I like to read and review chick-lit due to my genetic handicap when it comes to writing romance in my books. I’ve made it well known that I suck at writing romance so, selfishly, I read the occasional chick-lit novel to help me get my head around what makes for effective romance. (Seriously … here’s a review I did for fellow Canadian author Catherine McKenzie’s delightful SPIN and here’s another one for her second book ARRANGED. If you haven’t bought these books, go get them … today!)
I’m Twitter buds with the author of YEAR OF THE CHICK. Romi Moondi provides me with a daily chuckle and a happy reminder that I should be thanking God that I don’t live in Toronto because Romi tweets from the Go-Train each morning on her way to work. Its a play-by-play of freaky-deeky people that she encounters in Canada’s largest city and I laugh my ass off every time. It’s pure gold.
YEAR OF THE CHICK is Bridget Jones’s diary for a multi-cultural world. In an era where Bollywood has replaced Hollywood in terms of not only global influence, but popularity and revenue generation, Romi Moondi provides readers with a quirky, fast-paced novel that gives white people like me a glimpse into what it’s like be an Indo-Canadian child of immigrants and all the family obligations/expectations that come with it.
This book delivers for a number of reasons, notwithstanding Romi’s quirky writing style. Peppered with snarky observations and seasoned with neurotic sounding self deprecating humor, YEAR OF THE CHICK tells the story of a fictitious Romi (or is it fictitious?) as she searches for the perfect man. Actually she’s searching for ANY man, but I digress. Her prime motivation? She doesn’t want to wind up in an arranged marriage and really, I can’t blame her one bit. You know, because her parents have established that both Romi and her sister will be in arranged marriages pretty damned quick … not cool! Naturally, Romi has to move quickly to thwart the whole arranged marriage thing – somewhere out there is a guy for her and sby God, she’s gonna find him! (There’s this other issue of a twelve month deadline established by her parents during which Romi needs to lose about twenty pounds before they find her a suitable East Indian man of good standing. Not only are they going to find her a guy, they won’t do it because she’s too fat! Ugh! The girl can’t win!)
What happens next is an epic (okay, not really epic … how about frantic) search for a mate because the whole arranged marriage thing is so NOT going to happen if Romi has anything to say about it. There’s a year’s worth of looking … from websites to nightclubs to blind dates … Romi chronicles each misadventure and what makes this book so bloody brilliant is the author’s writing style: it’s first person narrative, but there are emails, text messages, Facebooking … you name it, it’s all there. Because each chapter encapsulates the way in which the generation below me actually communicates in our wired world, it made this book all the more real for me. But that ain’t all, folks, not by a long shot.
We’ve got sister-sister angst proving that family drama is not the exclusive domain of white folks. We’ve got an undercurrent of tension between Romi and her parents – there’s love of course, but you have to feel for Romi because she’s living a double life and trying desperately to maintain the anchor that is her family when she has adopted western ways. I can’t honestly imagine what that must be like because my Canadian family goes back about four generations. I think this is what makes this book so darned honsest, too, because we don’t see enough of this in mainstream books and entertainment (with the exception of Russell Peters who while still a funny guy has milked the whole “somebody’s gonna get a hurt real bad” routine dry, frankly.) and we should. Toronto is the nerve center for new Canadians, trust me. It’s a city that is filled with immigrants and Romi captures the flavor of Toronto better than a lot of established authors because she lives it every single day. This made me wonder just how much of the book was fictitious and just how much was a very personal glimpse into the author’s life. When a reader gets that deep sense of connection with a book, you know it’s a winner.
Romi has done a hell of a thing with YEAR OF THE CHICK. (And it’s the first in a TRILOGY! Screw Star Wars!) She’s chronicled a year long search for the perfect man with no shortage of hilarity, and she does it by giving readers a taste of that double life that the rest of us can’t even imagine. The writing is tight. The pacing is brilliant. The characters are rich and diverse. There’s so much to like in this book that I can’t even begin to list everything in one blog post. By the way, YEAR OF THE CHICK needs to be a movie. Seriously. And it has to take place in Toronto (okay and in New York a little later) because Toronto is central to what makes the book work and the author gives readers a taste of the city on damned near every page.
It’s a fun book, yes, but I think it’s an important book (WTF? How can chick-lit be important? It’s fluff!) because the search for love is a universal theme that isn’t the exclusive domain of the dominant culture. It’s an honest glimpse into Indo-Canadian life and the message is still the same regardless of your ethnicity: we all just want to fall in love.
(YEAR OF THE CHICK is available at your usual online book-buying venues. My copy was graciously provided by the author.)
You see, I like to read and review chick-lit due to my genetic handicap when it comes to writing romance in my books. I’ve made it well known that I suck at writing romance so, selfishly, I read the occasional chick-lit novel to help me get my head around what makes for effective romance. (Seriously … here’s a review I did for fellow Canadian author Catherine McKenzie’s delightful SPIN and here’s another one for her second book ARRANGED. If you haven’t bought these books, go get them … today!)
I’m Twitter buds with the author of YEAR OF THE CHICK. Romi Moondi provides me with a daily chuckle and a happy reminder that I should be thanking God that I don’t live in Toronto because Romi tweets from the Go-Train each morning on her way to work. Its a play-by-play of freaky-deeky people that she encounters in Canada’s largest city and I laugh my ass off every time. It’s pure gold.
YEAR OF THE CHICK is Bridget Jones’s diary for a multi-cultural world. In an era where Bollywood has replaced Hollywood in terms of not only global influence, but popularity and revenue generation, Romi Moondi provides readers with a quirky, fast-paced novel that gives white people like me a glimpse into what it’s like be an Indo-Canadian child of immigrants and all the family obligations/expectations that come with it.
This book delivers for a number of reasons, notwithstanding Romi’s quirky writing style. Peppered with snarky observations and seasoned with neurotic sounding self deprecating humor, YEAR OF THE CHICK tells the story of a fictitious Romi (or is it fictitious?) as she searches for the perfect man. Actually she’s searching for ANY man, but I digress. Her prime motivation? She doesn’t want to wind up in an arranged marriage and really, I can’t blame her one bit. You know, because her parents have established that both Romi and her sister will be in arranged marriages pretty damned quick … not cool! Naturally, Romi has to move quickly to thwart the whole arranged marriage thing – somewhere out there is a guy for her and sby God, she’s gonna find him! (There’s this other issue of a twelve month deadline established by her parents during which Romi needs to lose about twenty pounds before they find her a suitable East Indian man of good standing. Not only are they going to find her a guy, they won’t do it because she’s too fat! Ugh! The girl can’t win!)
What happens next is an epic (okay, not really epic … how about frantic) search for a mate because the whole arranged marriage thing is so NOT going to happen if Romi has anything to say about it. There’s a year’s worth of looking … from websites to nightclubs to blind dates … Romi chronicles each misadventure and what makes this book so bloody brilliant is the author’s writing style: it’s first person narrative, but there are emails, text messages, Facebooking … you name it, it’s all there. Because each chapter encapsulates the way in which the generation below me actually communicates in our wired world, it made this book all the more real for me. But that ain’t all, folks, not by a long shot.
We’ve got sister-sister angst proving that family drama is not the exclusive domain of white folks. We’ve got an undercurrent of tension between Romi and her parents – there’s love of course, but you have to feel for Romi because she’s living a double life and trying desperately to maintain the anchor that is her family when she has adopted western ways. I can’t honestly imagine what that must be like because my Canadian family goes back about four generations. I think this is what makes this book so darned honsest, too, because we don’t see enough of this in mainstream books and entertainment (with the exception of Russell Peters who while still a funny guy has milked the whole “somebody’s gonna get a hurt real bad” routine dry, frankly.) and we should. Toronto is the nerve center for new Canadians, trust me. It’s a city that is filled with immigrants and Romi captures the flavor of Toronto better than a lot of established authors because she lives it every single day. This made me wonder just how much of the book was fictitious and just how much was a very personal glimpse into the author’s life. When a reader gets that deep sense of connection with a book, you know it’s a winner.
Romi has done a hell of a thing with YEAR OF THE CHICK. (And it’s the first in a TRILOGY! Screw Star Wars!) She’s chronicled a year long search for the perfect man with no shortage of hilarity, and she does it by giving readers a taste of that double life that the rest of us can’t even imagine. The writing is tight. The pacing is brilliant. The characters are rich and diverse. There’s so much to like in this book that I can’t even begin to list everything in one blog post. By the way, YEAR OF THE CHICK needs to be a movie. Seriously. And it has to take place in Toronto (okay and in New York a little later) because Toronto is central to what makes the book work and the author gives readers a taste of the city on damned near every page.
It’s a fun book, yes, but I think it’s an important book (WTF? How can chick-lit be important? It’s fluff!) because the search for love is a universal theme that isn’t the exclusive domain of the dominant culture. It’s an honest glimpse into Indo-Canadian life and the message is still the same regardless of your ethnicity: we all just want to fall in love.
(YEAR OF THE CHICK is available at your usual online book-buying venues. My copy was graciously provided by the author.)
July 24, 2014
This was a pretty good read that I read on wattpad for free. When Romi's parents seek arranged marriages for both her and her sister, Romi searches for her love away from it. When she falls in love online with a writer, she wonders if he is the one. Can she meet him and continue their friendship as something more? Find out in Year of the Chick.
This was a pretty good read. I enjoyed this chick lit romance and hope it becomes a movie one day because I would def pay money to see the film. If you love chick lit romance novels, def check it out for yourself. Here's the link to go read it and the book series is on amazon too.
http://www.wattpad.com/story/1568271-...
This was a pretty good read. I enjoyed this chick lit romance and hope it becomes a movie one day because I would def pay money to see the film. If you love chick lit romance novels, def check it out for yourself. Here's the link to go read it and the book series is on amazon too.
http://www.wattpad.com/story/1568271-...
April 20, 2015
2.5 stars.
Had to put my sceptical me on hold & ignore gaping plot holes & the fact that our heroine in most cases makes very bad choices. But the author has an enjoyable writing style & I may try another of her books in the future.
Had to put my sceptical me on hold & ignore gaping plot holes & the fact that our heroine in most cases makes very bad choices. But the author has an enjoyable writing style & I may try another of her books in the future.
January 16, 2019
Could not finish. Main character unlikable
July 18, 2016
3.5 Star Rating
Almost a fun-reading!!!! Loads of fun stuff to laugh though I hate when there was lots of talks about the ARRANGED MARRIAGE delirium. I think too much mentioning about the arranged marriage stuff is ruined a little bit of actual relish of the story.
All the characters were okay with me..... :( But I dislike some of the character traits of Romi. My feelings about the "Whole Romi Character" was bit complicated. I didn't hate Romi entirely though I didn't like her either.
Over all, I like this very much. The story was pretty good, fun & enjoyable one but I'm still in a unpleasant mood about the end of the novel because I truly expected a significant ending than this. Recommended to everyone as a "Must Read" book who loves to read a fun & enjoyable story. Hope to read the second book of the series.
Almost a fun-reading!!!! Loads of fun stuff to laugh though I hate when there was lots of talks about the ARRANGED MARRIAGE delirium. I think too much mentioning about the arranged marriage stuff is ruined a little bit of actual relish of the story.
All the characters were okay with me..... :( But I dislike some of the character traits of Romi. My feelings about the "Whole Romi Character" was bit complicated. I didn't hate Romi entirely though I didn't like her either.
Over all, I like this very much. The story was pretty good, fun & enjoyable one but I'm still in a unpleasant mood about the end of the novel because I truly expected a significant ending than this. Recommended to everyone as a "Must Read" book who loves to read a fun & enjoyable story. Hope to read the second book of the series.
March 17, 2015
he story is relatable and fun weather you're a 20 something or beyond. I knew about the whole arranged marriage thing beforehand, and marveled at the lengths an INDIAN-CANADIAN girl has to go to just to have a social life. I'm looking forward to reading BOOK 2, basically Romi's parents lied about their intentions and have gotten an aunt involved in theie manipulative scheming! Plus, there is JAMES. Sorry to say I still don't trust him. He's hot and cold throught this book and a bit arrogant! I don't think one NYC meetup changes alot, sad to say. I'm kind of like the skeptical BFF: Waiting until Book 2 to see if MISTER BARCELONA is legit, or merely a relationship stepping stone..a learning experience and nothing more. Honestly, if I saw his profile on Facebook, as a single woman myself, I'd call BS just on what little we know about it from this book. No one is THAT perfect! What is he hiding? Not looks, obviously. Is he married, a user, a hypocrite, a racist, does he use women shamelessly? I'm hoping Book 2 has answers because someting does not jive about James. He seems fake.
January 5, 2015
For me this book was "Meh".
Do you have that one friend, that overreacts to every little thing, that's so dramatic and spend hours dissecting tiny details, and can't pay attention to anything else except for themselves?
I find those kinds of friends best in small doses. A whole book inside the mind of this person, just wasn't my setting of choice.
Though I did enjoy that the setting explored the Indian culture, which definitely has it's own set of rules and traditions when it comes to love and dating.
Do you have that one friend, that overreacts to every little thing, that's so dramatic and spend hours dissecting tiny details, and can't pay attention to anything else except for themselves?
I find those kinds of friends best in small doses. A whole book inside the mind of this person, just wasn't my setting of choice.
Though I did enjoy that the setting explored the Indian culture, which definitely has it's own set of rules and traditions when it comes to love and dating.
June 19, 2015
I wanted to love this book. When I first picked it up it I loved the synopsis. The first few chapters were exciting and I felt a connection with the main character, Romi. That is also when I started to cringe every time Romi opened her mouth to complain. A lot of what she complained about were things that were within her control. I did enjoy the twists and the writing was great, I was just completely thrown off by Romi's attitude.
Read
December 29, 2012Wow - this character is unbalanced! It was an easy read that I liked well enough and I might read the second book to see what happens, but the main character really needs to get some therapy to deal with her wild emotional swings of rage against her friends... or, if she really hates her friends that much & that often, she needs to get new friends.
August 13, 2012
I absolutely loved it...I am off to read the next book now and really hope there is more from this author. After all...books 1 and 2 have January and February on their covers...so we just need 10 more books to round out a calendar year!! ;)
January 5, 2014
This book was light on the romance and heavy on the fat-shaming neurosis. The author is funny, which mostly made up for the fact that her name-sake character was a 28 year old woman with the emotional range of a 13 year old child.
July 19, 2014
This was a pretty good book. The author is really funny. My main problem is that the love interest in the story is a total tool! I just couldn't get past his toolishness to really enjoy the rest of the story.
July 15, 2012
Too silly to read very much of it.
August 14, 2012
Very cute story. I had to buy the second book to find out more of her craziness!!
November 24, 2020
By the end of the book the main character was actually driving me crazy.
I wanted to get it over with.
I wanted to get it over with.
December 20, 2021
An unexpected gem I got as a Kindle freebie on Amazon! I loved, loved, loved Romi and her zany personality and her crazy life.
Let me try to summarize the plot in a paragraph without giving away all the fun. Romi is the daughter of Indian parents who migrated to Canada. They're going to arrange a marriage for her in a year, so she's got 12 months to find a guy to fall in love with herself and maybe get married to him. In the middle of her wacky dating (or not) adventures, she starts a blog about her search and meets what she believes is the perfect guy on the web--only he lives in Barcelona! What's a girl to do?
I can't count the number of times my heart fluttered, sputtered, died, and got reborn while reading this novel. It was a lot of fun, and Romi's personality--quirks and all--is hard not to love.
Can't wait to read the next book in the trilogy!
Let me try to summarize the plot in a paragraph without giving away all the fun. Romi is the daughter of Indian parents who migrated to Canada. They're going to arrange a marriage for her in a year, so she's got 12 months to find a guy to fall in love with herself and maybe get married to him. In the middle of her wacky dating (or not) adventures, she starts a blog about her search and meets what she believes is the perfect guy on the web--only he lives in Barcelona! What's a girl to do?
I can't count the number of times my heart fluttered, sputtered, died, and got reborn while reading this novel. It was a lot of fun, and Romi's personality--quirks and all--is hard not to love.
Can't wait to read the next book in the trilogy!
May 27, 2018
I gave this 5 stars. Why? Because it is rare, frankly, that I find a work that makes me laugh and is such a fun read. Romi is a relatable character in that many of us feel a little uncomfortable in our own bodies and in our struggles to find the 'one'. The pressure she is put under by her parents to commit to an arranged marriage might be unfamiliar to many of us, but the pressure to find a mate and begin a nice stable 'respectable' life probably isn't. I enjoyed Romi Moondi's sense of humor and felt that her voice is all of us at some point in our lives. I found it refreshing!
September 2, 2018
Didn't finish this book, found it annoying
I actually would have given it only 1* but thought might be bit unfair at it might have got better if i read to the end, I didnt though as if i had to read one more tins about how fat she was and how she needed to lose weight, i was going to scream! It just got on my nerves, i couldn't carry on reading a story with the main characters moaning on and on about her weight .
I actually would have given it only 1* but thought might be bit unfair at it might have got better if i read to the end, I didnt though as if i had to read one more tins about how fat she was and how she needed to lose weight, i was going to scream! It just got on my nerves, i couldn't carry on reading a story with the main characters moaning on and on about her weight .
February 14, 2025
Very Detailed
So first time I've read anything by this Author. I was pleased for the most part. The characters were built up will. You could picture the world that they live in.
I just wanted more action and less background details.
More action. The premise is great Strict stick to your own race and don't go outside the color lines of your heritage. And then to end in a cliffhanger. I have to read the next book so I can find out what happens next.
So first time I've read anything by this Author. I was pleased for the most part. The characters were built up will. You could picture the world that they live in.
I just wanted more action and less background details.
More action. The premise is great Strict stick to your own race and don't go outside the color lines of your heritage. And then to end in a cliffhanger. I have to read the next book so I can find out what happens next.
May 9, 2020
I really struggled with this one. I didn't like basically any of the characters, thought the plot was bland, and didn't find much of it believable other than the overbearing parents.. How does someone hold on to a job if the do so little other than personal blogging or personal emailing at the office?
August 10, 2017
One of the most lame books I have read. I kept hoping it would get better. The surprise is not that Romi never meets her soulmate but that anyone at all is willing to befriend her. She has all the depth of a puddle.
May 15, 2018
Humorous and engaging
This is a funny story that has me rooting for Romi and her quest in finding love before her parents get her in an arranged marriage. I'll have to check out the next book to find out what happens next.
This is a funny story that has me rooting for Romi and her quest in finding love before her parents get her in an arranged marriage. I'll have to check out the next book to find out what happens next.
June 30, 2017
Rather slow. While the story had some fun parts, the entire book seemed to be building to the last two chapters, which are an introduction for book 2. A disappointment.
August 13, 2018
I liked it so much I read the whole series and didn't want it to end.
December 8, 2018
Not a book I would normally read. It was easy reading, but not my style.
April 17, 2020
A light fun read.
May 12, 2020
***I have read this book.***
It wasn't a poorly written book, it just wasn't for me.
It wasn't a poorly written book, it just wasn't for me.
August 4, 2020
It was ok I guess.
February 22, 2021
3 1/2 stars
Displaying 1 - 30 of 150 reviews