This book was a huge nope for me. As an Indian and Bollywood lover, I went into this with expectations, but they were shattered. I went into it expecting a very filmy romance but this is not it.

This was a cutesy Bollywood romance that could have been more developed. I really liked the idea of the story much better than the delivery itself.
The games and laugh out loud moments fell a little short for me and I wished I had been able to like the characters more.
This was just an ok read for me. If you’re looking for something light and under developed this book is good

As I have many Indian clients I picked this book for its Indian setting.

Cultural setting
I was thinking it was written by an Indian writer but looking at the acknowledging at the end of the novel with all the English/American sounding names I wonder if it is not written by someone from Indian decent (she looks "Indian"). I very much missed the 'coleur locale' (the local setting) in the book. It could easily have been situated in Hollywood. Yes there are some remarks towards India mostly in food and cloths. Other things are mentioned like the Shaadi trap without explanation. With a global pool of readers in mind a bit of background would certainly improve things. Like is a marriage between someone from Kerala (what has a big ethnic Christian population) and someone from the north be like a Norwegian marrying an Italian? Caste is mentioned once. What are the implications of that in this day and age?
I also wondered about the religion of the hero and heroine. The heroine has a first name that is here a Muslim name. But she is from Christian Kerala. What is Vir? I imagine Hindu as Punjab was devided in 1948.
I also remember the uproar of a few years ago when Richard Gere kissed a Bollywood actress. In this novel there is a lot of public signs of affection. Has things changed or is this American influence of the writer?

Plot
The plot starts off totally silly (not that unusual in romances). Vir makes a remark about women being only good for the bedroom and the heroine wants to put him in his place and puts an announcement in the newspaper he is engaged. Ok so far. But why use her own name? And not realising what effect that can have on her reputation while she is in pr, educated and 26? I mean that is rather stupid. What makes the book sound like one of those completely unrealistic 1970-ties romances.
Another down grade is that the novel has moments that it is utterly boring and repetitive. I cannot feel any attraction between those two than wanting to go hankypanky with each other. Yes a lot of romances are only about bedsport and that can be entertaining read but this writer is Christian and wants to write a "clean" novel and the only mention is that they are "melting" and that he touches her "peaks and valleys". No a romance story does not need bedsports. The whole attraction can be mentally. We all swoon over Pride and Prejudice do we not? But this is boring. The man is not a nice person and he is also not a pleasure if you know what I mean.
There is also a bit of a strange storyline about a friend. Is he a total jerk or has he repented? Why letting him in when the last time he almost forced himself on you?

This kind of romances I tend to give a 3 star as in "nothing special" but due to the many flaws it is a 2 star. However some changes might help to bring it on a higher level. It might have been a one off and I saw the writer has another novel about Kuwait that sounds promising so I am borrowing that on Kindle Unlimited to have a more general idea about her writing-style.

File Size: 379 KB
Print Length: 146 pages
Publisher: Inkspell Publishing (December 10, 2018)
Publication Date: December 10, 2018
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC

ARC read via Netgalley.

It's definitely not my type of book. The male female dynamic is offensive. I didn't enjoy this one at all.

Not my cup of tea. I didn't like the hero, I think he was violent sometimes and he was misogynist. He was also possessive and that's not a quality that I tend to like in a romance hero. And he mistreated the heroine, she was immature sometimes but that's no excuse, she deserved better. I don't like heroes who disrespect his partners. That's not romantic at all.

The story had potential but it didn't work for me, the hero ruined it for me.

WTH?! I mean what the actual hell was this complete garbage? This was like a horrible throwback to terrible 1980s romances mixed with stupid pubescent behavior. Neither of these characters could make up their minds about what kind of people they were. I’m actually so angry at this book that I cannot even begin to explain how awful it is.

There’s a scene where a man advances on a woman in a threatening manner in a small space, says terrible things to her and hints at sexual violence and after being thrown out of the apartment, the same woman allows this same man into her apartment again! She even lets him cook for her? What the hell?! The author is sending women back into the dark ages with this trash and saying it’s okay to welcome a would be rapist because he’s your fiancé’s friend. But of course, this is the same author who allows the fiancé to grip his fiancée’s arm several times to the point of pain, but that’s okay. No apology needed.

And Souyma our heroine? What a complete idiot. She’s a complete peon at a PR firm, hears an actor making some sexist comment about women and it’s her revenge to talk to newspapers and claim to be engaged? How the heck is that revenge? Especially when she didn’t even think about how much damage it could do to her own reputation. Then again, the author couldn’t decide if Souyma was a smart girl or an airhead because there were some nice zingers usually said in anger only to be followed by empty-headed idiocy.

Do not purchase this book. Definitely do not read it, even if it’s free. Save your time for the billions of better books out there. If you want to read about Bollywood and romance try Sonali Dev.

I was provided an ARC of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

During what some in entertainment media are calling the Bollywood wedding season with the marriages of Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas, and upcoming nuptials for Kapil Sharma and Ginni Chatrath, the dramatic, mostly self-inflicted turmoil in Wish Upon a Bollywood Star is a timely tale. Soumya Ninan, a twenty-six-year-old Keralite woman, meets thirty-six-year-old Punjabi man Vir Seth at the public relations firm where she works as a junior agent-slash glorified gofer. Their best friends Kirti and Dhruva add to the melodramatic rendering of this Cinderella tale set in the 21st century.

Soumya’s impulsive short-sighted actions make her seem more like a spoiled brat than a college-educated professional who has earned a graduate degree. Overheard misogynistic remarks (sadly and recently echoed with the addition of racist overtones in real life about Priyanka Chopra) made by Vir regarding the “Shaadi Trap” lead Soumya to set a chain of events into motion that accelerates to steamroller pace. A fake relationship, misunderstandings, jealousy, and an attempted sexual assault by an envious associate are just a few of the familiar romance tropes included in this contemporary love story with retro attitudes from Barbara Cartland’s heyday used to examine the double standard of sexual virtue for women versus men in modern Indian society and most of the world, to varying degrees.

Initially, readers are asked to take a hug leap of faith in their suspension of disbelief with the premise that Soumya as a public relations professional is clueless about the potential for a variety of negative outcomes directly related to her prank. In her thoughts on pages 17 to 18, “She knew he was right. She hadn’t thought of the consequences when she had made that stupid move… Yes, that must be it: at twenty-six years of age, she was past the age of infatuation,” it’s clear that Soumya is deluding herself about her motives.

Wish Upon a Bollywood Star works as a satirical critique very loosely in the tone of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest of the impact of caste and class on present-day romantic relationships as academic and professional opportunities expand for women in India. Underlying themes about the heavy personal costs of fame and celebrity play out in a tangential storyline about Vir’s relationship with his co-star. Beyond geographical locations and cultural context, Pamela Q. Fernandes avoids a majority of the most popular distinctly Bollywood interpretations of romance tropes in favor of the more basic sources of conflict like age, economic, and career status disparities. Although challenging and updating Bollywood stories seems to be one of the author’s intentions, including a spontaneous group singing and dancing scene in this short beach read would have been totally incongruous and lots of fun, just like in the movies.

The author’s other works are listed on her site: pamelaqfernandes.com.

These two articles about Bollywood tropes were interesting:
www.vagabomb.com/The-Damsel-in-Distress-to-the-Lost-Man-10-Tropes-That-Bollywood-Needs-to-Stop-Using/

www.buzzfeed.com/pulkitd/19-bollywood-tropes-that-would-be-weird-in-real-li-5u4z