There are not enough words to describe how much I loved this book, but I'll try to summarize: diverse characters are at the top of this list. Indian Americans, a gay couple, a sassy overweight protagonist that shatters the illusion that fat means unhealthy... This book has something for anyone who has felt unaccepted, self conscious, or misunderstood by their parents.

I can't recommend it enough!

This book is my new favorite romcom of 2019! Sandhya Menon has captured the Indian-American lifestyle once again, with fantastic fat representation, in a heart-warming, fun and well paced YA book. I adored Sweetie and was so excited to read the romance that developed between her and Ashish. One of the best reads of 2019, hands down.

I think there was some mistake made in the fact that the first book I read by Sandhya Menon was <i>There's Something About Sweetie</i>. While I've heard a many great things about this author in the past, I've found that her latest book fell incredibly short of expectations, despite how utterly promising the premise of this book initially sounded. Ultimately, by the time I finished this book I was left feeling annoyed and disappointed despite all my best efforts to enjoy the reading. And I really, <i>really</i> wanted to like <i>There's Something About Sweetie.</i> Unfortunately, what I found instead was a book with a lot of potential that was trying far too hard to accomplish its goals. And it is that effort of trying too hard that really ended up ruining the entire novel.

<i>There's Something About Sweetie </i>is a story about a young Indian American boy, Ashish, whose heart has just been broken and whose parents believe he is turning his back on his heritage and a young Indian American girl called Sweetie who is, to put it simply, not thin and has to deal with the fallout of her mother's insistence that she is unhealthy, will get made fun of, and needs to lose weight and how, when Ashish turns to his parents to help him through the heartbreak by finding him someone to date, the two build a relationship. Basically, it's a love story between teenagers.

Now, I can certainly appreciate a teenage romance. I'm not generally incredibly fond of them when the romance is the entire focal point of the story, but I've found several over the years that I've enjoyed. What really turned this particular romance into one of annoyance and frustration was the level of cheesiness that was portrayed throughout and the utter lack of realism behind the characters. To begin, Sweetie was always frustratingly "all-knowing" in the sense that she somehow magically could give a quick <i>wise </i>speech to another character, whether it was Ashish or his friend Oliver, and change their minds almost entirely. In fact, literally all of Ashish's development came at the hand of some <i>sage-like</i> advice from his parent-chosen girlfriend. All Sweetie ever had to do was offer a differing opinion on a comment he made and suddenly every belief and personality quirk Ashish had was instantly changed. One comment and his growth became magically exponential. And it was just simply ridiculous. Character development like that takes time and needs to be portrayed in such a way, otherwise the characters are not believable in the slightest.

The degree of insta-love that existed in this novel was frustrating and, quite frankly, rather gross. The word love was thrown around <i>so</i> quickly in retrospect to how long the characters had been dating. And when the book tries to present this relationship as one that is going to last and result in a marriage, it left me with nothing more than to roll my eyes far too many times. Three dates and about a month of dating is not long enough to suddenly have fallen in love with someone.

I don't read romance novels for a reason and a lot of that has to do the excessive amount that the characters talk about how attracted they are to each other, regularly referencing their bodies and beauty. It's a realistic aspect to teenage life and life in general, but I don't want it in the books I read because I don't enjoy reading it. I also think, largely, we put an excessive amount of attention on looks and reading about characters who regularly think to themselves something along the lines of, "I am so lucky, such and such is SO gorgeous" annoys the heck out of me. It's not necessarily <i>wrong</i> and I know others enjoy reading these kinds of books, but for me it was excessive and irritating.

And finally, perhaps the most unfortunate of instances in which the novel was trying so hard to send a message, but failed entirely because of how the message was portrayed lies in Sweetie's struggle against her mother regarding her weight. The purpose of this comes from a good place, to show that weight is not an indicator of worth or beauty and we definitely need more books to portray this fact. It was one of the reasons why I was so excited when I was approved for this ARC. But unfortunately, despite best attempts, the issue of weight really was not properly addressed. With a goal of bringing to light the problems with fat shaming, the book isolates anyone of larger weight whose lifestyle is not active. Instead of supporting the message that weight does not determine your worth, the book muddles it by suggesting that weight does not determine one's worth when coupled alongside that person being the fastest runner on their track team. In fact, Sweetie even asks Ashish to meet up with her so she can show off her athletic prowess as a way to prove to him that her size doesn't have an effect on whether or not she is worthy of him, suggesting that if Sweetie <i>weren't</i> the fastest runner on her track team she would have no way to prove herself worthy. And that message is just not okay.

Now, this isn't to say that the entire novel is horrible. There were some things I genuinely and deeply enjoyed, particularly that surrounding Ashish's friends. The representation of a gay couple, both on the basketball team, and the home-schooled teen who struggled to fit in with the group, but eventually was able to work through the problems of his behavior were really great additions to the novel. The conversation that Sweetie had with her mom at the end of the novel was nice as well.

Overall, I wasn't the biggest fan of this book. The good pieces were minor subplots and hardly took up any of the novel as it was instead focused on Sweetie and Ashish, two characters I just couldn't get past my frustrations with. From the issues with insta-love, poor character development, and, though seemingly coming from a good place, an unfortunate take on issues of weight <i>There's Something About Sweetie</i> had a lot of problems.

<i>I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>

Review will be posted on my blog (linked), Goodreads, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon within a month of the book's publication.

Set in the Dimple universe, There's Something About Sweetie, is just as tooth achingly adorable!

Sweetie is fat, and she's comfortable with that - she also happens to be the fastest runner at her school - probably the state. But her mom is always on her case about being overweight and is convinced Sweetie can't be truly happy unless she's thin.

Ashish (yes, Rishi's younger brother) is traditionally handsome and is being recruited by colleges for his prowess on the basketball court, but he's lost his mojo. Since his ex-girlfriend cheated on him, he can't play ball and he can't even talk to girls. So when he agrees to have his parents set him up he thinks nothing of it until he meets Sweetie and she is unlike any other girl he's ever liked.

I love the true and real setting in this contemporary YA fiction that is all about every-day life in a local high school -- while still providing a realistic perspective from a different ethnic and religious background.

I appreciated seeing life through a different perspective, one that holds families in high esteem, shows teens accepting of each other, and evidences the commonalities across cultural divides. All these aspects make this an excellent read for today's young adult readers who only want a book about their lives -- but who will gain so much more.

The pleasure of reading this third book by Menon (From Twinkle, With Love and When Dimple met Rishi, each linked but stand-alones as well) made me go back and explore the earlier titles that the author has given us. These are each engaging reads that might need a push or a book talk to get them going but will then take off.

Another great read from this author. Fun, lighthearted but still contains an awesome message, especially for young women that’s needed in this modern age. You can help but fall in love with the characters.

There's something sweet(ie) about this book!

There's Something About Sweetie by Sandhya Menon follows two athletic Indian-American teenagers who develop a romantic relationship despite cultural and societal expectations. Ashish Patel finds himself heartbroken after his first love cheats on him. Despite his reservations, he asks his parents to set him up with an Indian-American girl. Enter Sweetie Nair, a top-notch track star whose mom opposes the match since she believes her daughter weighs too much. As a result, Sweetie becomes determined to prove her mother wrong.

Sandhya Menon's books have been hit-or-miss for me. While I enjoyed When Dimple Met Rishi, it lacked the spark to make it one of my favorite contemporaries. On the other hand, I did not enjoy From Twinkle, With Love at all due to unlikable characters and an overdramatic plot. Going into There's Something About Sweetie, I was not sure what to expect. I'm happy to say this book exceeded my expectations and ranks as my favorite among this author's books.

I loved both Sweetie and Ashish because their personalities greatly differed from the characters in Menon's other stories. While I enjoyed Dimple's headstrong personality and Rishi's gentlemanly attitude, I found Twinkle and Sahil to be watered down versions of those two characters and less likable. Sweetie possesses the same strong beliefs as Dimple, but comes across a lot more reserved and intuitive to others' feelings. Rishi completely differs from Rishi or Sahil as he is portrayed as more "popular" and "cool." I dislike when I read books by the same author and all of the main characters and love interests across the stories read the same. I appreciated that Sweetie and Ashish were vastly different than Menon's other characters to set them apart.

If you have read Menon's other two books, they follow a fairly similar formula. Each character has their passion, which is mentioned, but never as integral to the story as it may seem. I would say this is only half true for this book. Based on the synopsis, Sweetie's track and "Sassy Sweetie Project" is mentioned, but there is a large focus on the dates that she goes on with Ashish as well. I would say the book holds true to the synopsis in this case. While the largest focus is placed on the arranged dates for Sweetie and Ashish, there is a large focus on Sweetie and how her weight is viewed through Indian culture as well. I think this will satisfy readers who were put off by the inaccurate synopses for some of Menon's other books.

There were several other aspects of this book that I really appreciated. In the author's note at the beginning of the story, Menon mentioned how her weight has fluctuated through the years and she has had vastly different experiences based on her weight at the time. She also mentioned that Sweetie describes herself as "fat" in the book because it is only a negative word because of societal connotations. However, she also acknowledges that some people, especially those bullied using this specific word, may feel uncomfortable when they see this word in the story and they are entitled to that feeling. I always appreciate reading about an author's connection to a story and I thought Menon's note before the story was incredibly thoughtful to those who may be triggered by the discrimination that Sweetie faces, especially since it often comes from close family members within this story. Just a warning: While this book does have a prevailing message of loving your body that although authentically portrays Sweetie's experience, it may be extremely uncomfortable for some readers who struggle with body image. Since there is a large amount of negative commentary regarding Sweetie's weight, you may want to skip this book if this triggers you.

Another aspect of this book that I really enjoyed was learning more about Indian culture. Sweetie and Ashish go on arranged dates by Ashish's parents that are described as "typically Indian." It was interesting to learn more about Indian culture and its influence in Indian-Americans' lives. I think the two main characters also provided other perspectives that we have not seen yet in Menon's books. Prior to this story, Ashish only dated white girls. Sweetie does not fit the stereotypical mold of the "perfect" Indian girl. It was interesting to read the conversations surrounding these topics in the story.

Overall, I really enjoyed There's Something About Sweetie. I really liked the main characters and learning about a culture different than my own. I give this book four out of five stars.

This was such a great book. Sandhya Menon is going to make me a romance reader. I don’t even like cute books!

But I love this one. Every teen should have this book on their TBR list.

It's no surprise that I love this book. I've loved everything by Sandhya Menon! Revisiting Ashish and seeing his character grow through this book was special too. This one will be loved by my romance readers, and I'm so looking forward to putting it in their hands!

There's Something About Sweetie is a rich, layered, nuanced and incredible book. The 3rd person dual POV is not something that one sees a lot of in YA, so that was a refreshing change.

I enjoy reading books about teens of color who are allowed to just be. Teens who embrace their heritage and find joy in their family's traditions. Teens who love their parents, even in the midst of hiccups and maybe not so great choices. Teens who aren't dwelling in some sort of cultural, tragic pain. Those books are important... but so are rom-coms!

Sweetie. What can I say about Sweetie, except that she is one of my absolute favorite YA heroines? Not only is she super kind, a literal sweetie, but her confidence and her attitude.... gah, she is perfect! She runs track, she can sing, she's amazing and I adore her.

Ashish. I loved reading about his heartbreak, and how deep down he just wanted to be a good person despite how he may have behaved in the past.

Ashish's parents. Phenomenal. Their love for their sons is palpable, and they were so much fun to read. I enjoyed reading a book where parents were present and there for both of the main characters. Refreshing, and their quirks made them entertaining as well.

I loved watching Sweetie and Ashish fall for each other. But the best was that Sweetie refused to take any crap from him or anything. Her strength will inspire so many readers, and I can't wait for it to get into their hands.

Overall, the book was full of heart and humor, and my favorite by Menon so far. I'm so excited this book gets to exist!

2.5 stars

Although I have really enjoyed Sandhya Menon's other books, I felt that this was her weakest effort. I had two main problems with this book:

1. I really don't like books where the love interests fall for each other immediately. It's just not realistic. At the start of this book, Ashish is devastated over his breakup with Celia and allows his parents to set him up (since it worked so well for Rishi - his older brother and main character in When Dimple Met Rishi). When Ashish first sees Sweetie, he is exceptionally intrigued and attracted to her. He tells Sweetie that he is still hung up on Celia but his thoughts and actions seem to contradict this statement at every turn. He and Sweetie get very serious very quickly. Seemed pretty insta-love to me.

2. While I applaud the author for attempting to deal with the issue of plus size teens and the idea of fat shaming, this book left me feeling uncomfortable. Sweetie describes herself as "fat," but she makes a definite point that she is not a lazy or flabby "fat." She is the fastest girl on her high school track team with the possibility of a college scholarship in track. Her first meeting with Ashish is to race him so he won't think that she is just "fat," but to prove that she is an athlete and therefore she is worthy of him. Sweetie's attitude seems to imply to the reader that teens who are overweight for other reasons (i.e. sedentary lifestyle) are unworthy--and this strikes me as fat shaming. The fact that Sweetie's mother constantly harangues her about her weight might explain Sweetie's need to constantly defend herself, but I think that this book took that narrative a bit too far.

Those issues aside, it is a very cute, fluffy teen romance novel.

An adorable companion to When Dimple Met Rishi that is worth the read. While There's Something about Sweetie is definitely predictable, I was still engaged with and rooting for the all of the characters. (In fact, I am hoping for future books for all of Sweetie and Ashish's friends.) The universality of the themes combined with the diverse cast of characters makes this a book that will appeal to a wide variety of readers. They will see bits of themselves in a variety of characters, but they will also see their teenage world from the eyes of teens who are also very different from themselves. A great addition to a high school classroom or library.

I’ve now read all three of Sandhya Menon’s published books and can confidently say that each book has been better than the one before it. There’s Something About Sweetie is the best kind of companion novel: the shift in focus to a beloved character, cameos from the previous main characters, and an expansion of the world. But it’s also a fantastic book in its own right, separate from Dimple and Rishi’s story, and could easily be read as a standalone. The well-developed romance and fully fleshed out characters had me believing in Ashish and Sweetie’s chemistry and relationship from the very beginning. Since many readers already know and love Ashish, it would have been easy for Sweetie to be overshadowed, but Menon has written a female character who is confident (although not without realistic self-doubt and insecurities), funny, compassionate, and unwilling to fade into the background. Sweetie takes charge of her story, and her life, and I was happy just to join her for the ride.

There’s Something About Sweetie is another great read from Sandhya Menon. Like Menon’s other novels this story embraces a strong female lead who is finding a way to balance a life between tradition, parental expectations, and her personal wants and dreams.

Sweetie Nair is such a loveable and relatable character. She knows she is fat because people have been telling her that her entire life, whether comments from bullies, boys she liked or members of her own family she has heard it all. Sweetie is tired of people assuming that being fat is a negative thing. That may be one way to describe her but she’s so much more - an amazing athlete who can outrun most people in the state, a great student and an amazing friend. The only thing she wants to prove to herself and others is that being fat doesn’t define her.

Ashish Patel is a star basketball player and has a great group of friends but cannot get out of the funk that has overtaken his life since his ex-girlfriend cheated on him. In a moment of weakness he agrees to let his parents set him up with an Indian-American girl in hopes that he’ll be able to move on. He’s not totally convinced there is even a possibility it’ll work until he meets Sweetie. There is an instant chemistry between the two but they find themselves facing many obstacles along the way.

This was a fast-paced and enjoyable read. I loved the interactions between Sweetie and Ashish. Every time they talked I found myself pulled into the story a bit more. For fans of When Dimple Met Rishi this is a great book to find what happens to the younger Patel Brother.

There really is something about Sweetie. Being able to be a part of an audience that gets to watch a girl come into her own is amazing. But when it's a girl who everyone had something negative to say, it's even more triumphant.

Sweetie is a BAMF and I hope that she inspires an entire movement of accepting yourself as you are. We all need to be the best of ourselves.

I absolutely loved There's Something about Sweetie, and I have no doubt it'll be one of my favorites of this year. As a fat reader, the fat rep in this novel hit real close to home, and I loved the message of self-love, confidence, and being enough. Sweetie is such a wonderful character, with a huge personality. I'm glad that she had a complex personality outside of her weight. Ashish is my new book boyfriend; he was so caring and thoughtful. It can be so hard to find novels with fat rep that aren't problematic, and There's Something about Sweetie managed to be uplifting and empowering.

There's Something About Sweetie is this fat girl's dream novel. Sweetie was an amazing character that I instantly fell for. She's a confident feminist who isn't ashamed of her size. I haven't read Dimple yet, so I don't know how this compares to the first one.

I loved the alternate perspectives between Ashish and Sweetie, which really let us get to know each other and their unique struggles. We get the perfect balance of their lives, one being the good, Indian daughter and the rebellious jock. Sweetie is comfortably middle class whereas Ashish lives in a mansion with everything he could ever dream of.

I loved that Sweetie and Ashish were total opposites and yet they were a perfect balance for each other. I loved watching Sweetie slowly get the courage to stand up to those closest to her who were always commenting negatively on her weight. She gets the courage to do things that she didn't think she could at the begging of the novel. I loved that she was fat and an athlete. However, I was kind of upset that she constantly brought up the fact that she was an athlete and wasn't lazy or gluttonous. I'm not an athlete but I'm fat and that's okay. Otherwise, this book was extremely fat positive and I loved it. People learned to change the way they spoke or thought to be more positive and supportive of fat people.

Ashish had to learn to not be so self-centered and cut slack to those around him. I loved his transition from self-centered jock to an amazing boyfriend and amazing friend.

This is a feminist, fat-positive contemporary. We get to see a strong, fat female character get her fairytale ending along with a diverse cast of characters. Trust me, you need this one.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book from Simon Pulse through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.*

Summary

This story follows the intertwining storyline of Ashish and Sweetie, who are drawn together from the start. Ashish recently broke up with his girlfriend Celia and his parents decide the perfect set-up would be to have him date a nice Indian-American girl like Sweetie. Sweetie is a track star at their high school, though people judge her due to her weight, even her parents. When her mother decides that she and Ashish cannot date due to how they would look together, Ashish's parents draw up a contract to have the two date in secret and their relationship blossoms.

Likes

I adored this book! I wasn't expecting any less because I have loved all of Menon's books thus-far (she's coming out with a series of re-tellings in the near future, so I am also SO on board with that!). Sweetie is an amazing main character, hands-down. She is so relatable and I myself have struggled with weight my entire life so I felt so connected to her. It's hard to be fat and have everyone judge you, even if you can keep up with the best of them. What's worse is that her parents constantly remind her of her looks and that is just so damaging to anyone who has been in this position before. I fell in love with Sweetie and her Sassy Sweetie Project and she stole my heart. Ashish was a great main character as well. He bounced off of Sweetie in the best ways and accepted her for who she is, which is one of the most beautiful things about this story. He was genuine and it felt so real and it worked. Of course, these two have some troubles like any couple would, but the romance in this was so sweet and natural and sdfhouisdhfs. I could go on forever about how much I love how Menon writes her romances but that would be an entire dissertation type review. It's also important to mention how the cover art for this is so well-done. It has representation of Indian-American culture as well as fat culture, and it's so cute to boot. Bravo!

Dislikes

I literally disliked nothing about this book. It was perfect. 

Recommendation

I would recommend this book to fans of Menon's other novels as well as anyone who needs a lighthearted contemporary read to break up their fantasy reading!

I’ve read all of Menon’s other books and this one might be my favorite, and saying it was too cheesy at times would be my only complaint. Ashish and Sweetie make a great pair. Sweetie’s empathy and talent are to be admired but my favorite thing about her is her ability to stand up for herself even when it’s hard. Sweetie is more than her outward appearance or even her achievments and she’s not afraid to let everyone know, Coming from an entirely different culture some parts of this book were hard to relate to or get to know, but over all I found Menon’s descriptions of being an Indian-American teen to be relatable and funny. This book is definitely going to be a highly recommended one.

There was so much to love about this book. I think it's an understatement to say that I adore Sandhya Menon's books, starting with When Dimple Met Rishi so when I saw there was going to be a sequel focusing on Dimple's brother I fangirled hard. Ashish and Sweetie's relationship was simply adorable. I loved getting to know more about Indian culture and traditions. It was so great to see how devoted Sweetie was to her culture, family, friends and to herself. For any girl (or boy!) struggling with body image, acceptance, self-esteem--this book hits the nail on the head: loving yourself no matter what anyone says. The only reason I couldn't give it 5 stars was because of how little issues Ashish and everyone around him had with Sweetie's appearance. I feel like in the real world that would be a bit of a struggle for them as a couple based on the relationships I see in middle/high school. I can't wait to read more from Menon as she is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors in the YA genre! #weneeddiversebooks Thank you Netgalley for this ARC. All opinions are my own.