Another great, fun rom-com from Sandhya. Loved the character of Pinky, someone uniquely and apologetically herself.

I've seen the other books in this "series" and have seen how popular they are. I, myself, haven't read them yet but I adored this one. I will be getting myself a copy of the other so I can read them too!

This book was received as an ARC from Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing - Simon Pulse in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I am a fan of Sandhya Menon and her books When Dimple Met Rhishi and There's Something About Sweetie and it was great to recognize some of the supporting characters in the previous two books be the principle characters for once like Pinky and Samir. When Pinky is faced with a dilemma to find a boyfriend her mother will approve and Samir has big dreams himself for landing an internship. Pinky decides to make a deal with Samir to be her "fake" boyfriend in exchange for an internship. But the days of pretending turn into sparks on pretend dates and Pinky and Samir learn that this might be something more than a fake relationship. I enjoyed every bit of this book and found a lot of the language and characteristics to be easy to picture and to follow. It was the same as being in high school love all over again. I know our teen book club will have a lot to say about this book too.

We will consider adding this title to our YA collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

4.5 stars

This was such a cute YA romance! Pinky is a fiery activist who constantly disappoints her corporate lawyer mother. Samir is a home-schooled teenager who charts everything in his organizer, and is set to pursue a future in law. When Pinky convinces Samir to be her fake respectable boyfriend for the summer, the pair discovers that they actually enjoy one another's company.

There are a few scenes of angsty YA wires-crossed-we-hate-each-but-actually-don't, but for the most part, Pinky and Samir's friendship turned relationship is simpatico. The real fire behind this book is the turbulent relationship between Pinky and her mother. Pinky's mom thinks she's capable of everything from lying to arson, and Pinky wants nothing to do with her mother's cardigan twin-sets and status quo. I loved the way this pair slowly works through the hurt and misunderstanding to something closely resembling a functional relationship.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC. I haven't read There's Something About Sweetie, but I was charmed by these characters, and now must!

10 Things I Hate About Pinky by Sandhya Menon follows two side-characters from the When Dimple Met Rishi companion series, Priyanka “Pinky” Kumar, an outspoken and rebellious teenager girl, and Samir Jha, a conservative and homeschooled boy. After her parents wrongly accuse her of a fire at their summer home, Pinky wants to prove to her parents that she is responsible and can make good choices. When Pinky discovers that Samir’s summer internship fell through, she offers him a room at the house and a future internship with her lawyer mother if he pretends to date her.

Sandhya Menon’s books have been all over the board for me. When Dimple Met Rishi was an average read for me, I loved There’s Something About Sweetie, but really did not care for From Twinkle, With Love (which is not part of the companion series). For me, 10 Things I Hate About Pinky was a mix of all the elements that readers have seen in Sandhya Menon’s books. As a result, there were some aspects of this book that I really enjoyed, but others that I didn’t enjoy as much.

The main character, Pinky, reminds me a lot of Twinkle from From Twinkle, With Love. Like Twinkle, Pinky is firm in her beliefs and will fight for what she wants. However, like Twinkle, I didn’t really mesh with Pinky’s character as she quickly jumps to conclusions and often starts arguments just to start arguments. While I appreciate that the author gave Pinky characteristics that made her act like an actual teenager, Pinky’s constant outbursts caused many situations and conversations to happen repeatedly throughout the book, which irritated me as a reader. That being said, Pinky’s personality makes this book come across as younger YA to me and I think readers in the target age range for this book would relate more to Pinky than I did while reading.

As for Pinky’s love interest, Samir, I liked him but found him to be too similar to Sandhya Menon’s other male leads. I think Sandhya Menon does a great job of differentiating her female leads by giving them their own dreams and aspirations, but often times, the male characters end up acting very similar, even if they don’t start that way. From the other books in this companion series, I always saw Samir as a little more awkward and not as traditionally charming. In this book, I found that he acted a lot like how I remembered Rishi in When Dimple Met Rishi. Samir is very confident and easily navigates Pinky’s complicated family relationships. In this book, it is mentioned quite a few times about how muscular and preppy he is, however, I never got that impression in earlier books. While I did appreciate Samir’s backstory and how that affected his life, the rest of his character seemed to blur with Menon’s other male leads.

As for the story itself, there were also some aspects that I enjoyed and some aspects that I didn’t enjoy. My favorite aspect of this book was the relationship between Pinky and her mom. While I do think there conflict was resolved too quickly at the end of the book (and I spotted the resolution from a mile away), their relationship was so authentic and I think many people will relate to their relationship.

Like I mentioned above, there were some conflicts in this novel that were too quickly resolved for my liking. Something explosive would happen at the end of a chapter, just to be resolved with a quick apology on the next few pages. This happened in multiple plots in the story from Pinky and Samir’s relationship, several instances with Dolly’s cousin, and the efforts to save the butterfly garden.

While I did appreciate the family relationships showcased in this book, there were some overall problems with pacing and character consistencies that held me back from fully enjoying this read. I found myself putting down this book and taking long breaks before picking it up and again, which means that this book didn’t fully captivate me. That being said, I still plan to check out more books by this author (I’ve recently added some of her to-be-released books on my Goodreads), but this book personally wasn’t my favorite. I give 10 Things I Hate About Pinky 2.5 out of 5 stars.

I wanted to love this, but I didn't. I *think* it was a loose retelling of The Taming of the Shrew/Ten Things I Hate About You, but it was so loose maybe not? Either way, I just didn't care for it.

Sandhya Menon has done it again. This rom-com take on angsty-teen-fake-dating is perfection. The Dimple-verse continues, but this standalone novel really takes the cake.

Pinky Kumar is a rebel girl. Her corporate lawyer parents haven't really accepted that yet--but Pinky's notorious for trouble-making, getting passionate about causes, and making bad decisions with boys. But after a mishape at the lake house has her feeling looked down on, she decides to fake date absolute cinnamon-roll Samir, bringing him up to spend the summer with her after his big internship falls through. Fake dating hijinks ensure, and Pinky finds a new cause: protecting the butterfly habitat nearby. All the while, Pinky is trying to rescue a baby oppossum, find some common ground with the mother who just doesn't seem to get her, and figure out what the heck she's actually feeling for Samir--because, come on, it's something.

This book is great. Seriously. It touches on so many great topics--Pinky is a fierce activist, she's got killer style, and feels so real. Her parents aren't stereotypical Indian parents and you like getting to know them a lot. Samir is constantly surprising you throughout the book.  The lake house setting is super fun, it's going to be a must-read beach read this summer--I can just feel it. I don't want to spoil anything, but some of the stuff we find out about Pinky's mom also made my heart swell too! It's something not talked a lot in books--especially with parents who can be seen as strict--so I'm excited to see this on the page. Also, the romance is so cute. Page 199--guys, page 199. I swooned. I said "aww." I shook my arms and said "yay!". The romance is super well-done in this one, and it doesn't hurt that 10 Things I Hate About You is my favorite movie of all time.

Okay, I could ramble for days, but pre-order this book now, and I'll talk to you once you've finished DEVOURING it.