This was such a delightful blend of family drama, cultural exploration, and romantic comedy. The writing was so vivid, I truly felt transported and immersed in the world of Indian traditions and modern-day challenges. I really felt for Mini as she navigates familial expectations, unexpected love interests, and the chaos of wedding preparations. It was such an easy and fun read, really heartwarming with a bit of Bollywood flair.

This book is a fantastically fun read. It didn't take too terribly long to get immersed in the book and become intrigued by the characters. I highly recommend the book to anyone looking for a fun and really amazing sisterly love type book. Mini and Vinnie are just really cute as sisters, and I really related to Mini's character quite a bit. I also love the cutesy romantic vibe even though typically it's not my thing. I rate this book a 5/5!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

I loved how this book went into so much detail regarding Indian weddings - it was really great to see and to imagine non-South Asian readers reading and being exposed to this cultural representation. However, overall, the story was a bit difficult for me to get through in terms of the plot and the writing style.

DNF - Did not finish. I did not connect with the writing style or plot and will not be finishing this title. Thank you, NetGalley and Publisher for the early copy!

Very cute and fun with enjoyable characters you’d like as friends. I connected with the protagonist and her love of dogs because I have a sato rescue pup also. The storyline was a bit “convenient” but light and optimistic. I love fluffy every now and then and this sweet romance fit the bill.

I was so excited to read a desi romance but somehow I couldn't really enjoy the book. I liked that the author tried to show the divide between North and South India, but it did feel a bit superficial at times. I wish more research was put in this aspect of the story. The beginning was really strong but the story kind of lagged towards the end. It was a nice book that I am sure a lot of people would enjoy, it just wasn't for me.

This was a nice YA book, with a cute romance. I liked how the family played such a big role in the book! And it's a perfect summer read! Overall, I would definitely recommend trying it!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

This fun novel explores the life of a teen attempting to plan her sisters Bollywood style wedding and navigate relationships. I received this novel as an advanced reader copy from net galley in exchange for an honest review

I can’t remember the last time I read a contemporary novel, and actually felt seen. Of course, I’ve read books with brown protagonists (Counting Down With You, and The Henna Wars), that I’ve identified with, but you could count the amount of books that I’ve actually felt represented in, on one hand.

Although the book followed an Indian-American teen, and I’m completely Indian, the little things, like seeing the city I live in, and the customs my grandparents follow in the pages of a book, meant the absolute world to me. The amount of times I saw Mumbai mentioned made my heart full – and then I saw events that took place here, and I was squealing, and my brain was just omg, yes! I live there, I went there last year! For the first time, I just felt SEEN, and that just made me so happy, and filled my heart with joy. Seeing how both the love interest and his dad went to Mayo had me so excited, because even MY dad and his brothers went there. Hearing about aunts that work in Bollywood, and Massi’s that sell jewelry also just hit so close to home.

Although I connected more to the love interest than the main character, reading a book about people that looked like me, and had the same problem as me, just made my problems feel valid. I loved that in this book, there were never had any “token” characters of color, and no character followed any stereotypical behaviour – because no, we’re not all the same! Having so many aspects I identified with in a book was unexpected – in the absolute best way possible.

Not only did I resonate with the characters in this book, it was also just a lot of fun to read. It was centered around a big fat desi wedding (and desi weddings are hands-down the best so)… Even though I’m only 1/2 Punjabi, and I’m 1/2 Hindu, seeing my culture in the book made me feel so special, because, yes, there’s SO much more to India than just the food, the clothes, and Bollywood (which is why we need more #OwnVoices authors)! With chatty, gossipy aunties, and precious banter, Sister of the Bollywood Bride had me perpetually feeling like this 🥺🤍!

Although, yes, I loved most aspects of this book, I did have a few problems! I’m not a huge fan of the miscommunication trope, but when it’s executed well, I have absolutely no problem with it. However, the miscommunication trope in this one annoyed me – and it was practically just the main character overreacting for no reason! I’m going to try and be very vague here so I don’t spoil anything – but when the miscommunication takes place, Mini, the main character, acts very childishly, and does everything to NOT speak to the love interest and solve the problem, which really irritated me.

The book also has a huge emphasis on Bollywood, and while it does cover that Bollywood is not the only thing about India, I found it unnecessary to be calling it a “Bollywood” wedding, or “Bollywood” bride. There are so many beautiful things about our country, and I wish we got more books based in India talking about things other than trauma, or Bollywood!

This is not necessarily an issue I had with the book, because I understand that the audience of the book would be Indian-Americans than just Indians, and it’s more of a personal preference – but – there was a huge focus on religion in the book, and how it was impacting the main character and her sister. In my school, and within my family, as well as 95% of my friends, almost none of us are religious, and are non-practicing. I think if we’re going to talk about our generation – almost all the students in our school (which is huge – 15 grade levels from Preschool to Grade 12, all with 120 students per grade) – almost all of us have English as our first languages, and though we know Hindi, and bits of the languages we studied in school, like French, or Spanish, English is still our first language. If, in India, or Mumbai where I live, we’re not religious, at like all, then I guess I just didn’t really understand why people were being so religious in America, where obviously after a while, you grow used to Westernized customs, and your own habits and requirements change.

Yes, of course, my grandparents are religious, and a few of my friends parents are too, but in our generation, practically no one is. Every household has different rules, and different ways of going about things, but a LOT of people in the book were really religious, so I just found it a bit unusual.

A hilarious, resonant, and fluffy contemporary, Sister of the Bollywood Bride is a beautiful novel that hit extremely close to home. A book that celebrates Indian culture, it’s also something that shows us that there’s so much more to India as a country than what most people think. Seeing little references, and customs I identified filled my heart with joy, and I’ll definitely be re-reading this one soon. Although the miscommunication trope was executed poorly, and there was an unnecessary focus on Bollywood, the story had me laughing, swooning and crying all at once. Sister of the Bollywood Bride is a solid book I loved reading, and I would readily recommend it to anyone looking for a light, fun read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Little, Brown Poppy for the arc of this book. All opinions are my own.

This book… what a heart warming story! I really enjoyed this one! It was fun, it was funny, it was sweet, it tugged at the heartstrings. It had everything I love in a good YA contemporary.

Mini was such a great MC! I love how dedicated she was to giving her sister Vinnie the Bollywood- style wedding of her dreams, on a limited budget. Watching her go through all this work for her sister reminded me of my relationship with my sister. I loved their bond. It was so great.

I really enjoyed learning so much about Indian weddings/culture. It was so incredible to read about them and see the meticulous details and planning that goes into it. It’s mind blowing. Everything sounds so elaborate and stunning. It was the perfect visuals that Bajpai created that fully immersed me into the culture. Her descriptions were out of this world. I loved it!

Everything about this book was stunning. From the pacing, to the plot, to the voice, to the characters and their stories. This was a hit from me & I can’t recommend it enough!

I was highly anticipating the release of this book because the premise sounded so cute and fun! I’ve been looking for more cutesy drama filled South Asian contemporaries to read and this hit all those checkmarks. I think what I most wanted to see and what drew me to this book was the fact it was following a “Bollywood” style wedding which if you know me, I’m obsessed with, and the characters involved two sisters which is something I always find to connect with in books because I have a younger sister who’s one of my best friends. Some of the things I loved about this book was the romance between Mini and Vir. I thought it was really cute, very much puppy love but as with puppy love it was very pure and wholesome. I was buddy reading this book with one of my South Asian friends and we were squealing like high school girls (for context we’re both almost finished with college) during any Mini and Vir interactions. I also did like the progression of relationships besides romantic relationships like the one between Mini and her aunt and Mini and her sister who’s getting married Vinnie. I thought Mini as a character had a lot of spunk and sass to her and she definitely reminded me of a couple of South Asian people I’ve met in my life.

As much as I did love all these crazy shenanigans and the wedding drama, I think the author could have done a bit more research on the way the concept of North vs. South Indian semantics were brought up. I thought it was wonderful to show that this divide between North and South India exists (even though it shouldn’t) and there were prominent places in the book that highlighted North Indian supremacy. The format in which the author implemented this theme though could have been smoother. In the writing there were moments where everything was fine and suddenly a comment about South India was made or Manish’s family was speaking English in a “different” way than how Mini would speak Punjabi. This all makes sense because I know the author is drawing from her own experiences, but I felt like there were comments and language that was used in the book that made it feel like she was othering South Indian people and its traditions. I don’t think by any means this was the intention, but again, my friend who’s Tamil and I were discussing this book and wanting to love it so much, but these interruptions made it difficult to do so.

All in all, I would recommend checking out the book, but I wanted to highlight this point I made because I don’t want specifically white readers to get the idea that North Indians are superior to South Indians. This is definitely not the case and one could argue the author did want to have a marriage of harmony between people from these two communities, I just think the execution could have been a bit better.

Characters: 6/10
Atmosphere: 8/10
Writing Style: 7/10
Plot: 7/10
Intrigue: 7/10
Logic: 6/10
Enjoyment: 6/10

Rating: 6.71 or 3/3.5 stars

This started out really strong. I enjoyed Mini's story as she planned her sister's wedding. But the story lagged a little bit near the end with all the diasters and then the coincidences were a lot.But this was still a very enjoyable book.

The most concise way that I can explain this book is that reading the story filled me with an abundance of joy. It was sweet and heartfelt, and while it was a chill and easy read, it at times got emotional, which I felt was a perfect balance.

I enjoyed the relationship between Mini and her sister, though I feel it could have benefited from a little more development. I would have loved to hear about some childhood memories of theirs, or important aspects of their relationship (I feel like a wedding speech, either reading about Mini delivering it or seeing her write it, could really have strengthened their bond in regards to how I as a reader saw them). However, I thought the family dynamic was realistic and I loved to see how Mini navigated being the youngest daughter, especially how she dealt with no longer having her mother around.

Mini’s relationship with Vir was sweet and simple, and while I liked them together, I think things moved a little too quickly. I also think the drama that was thrown at them towards the end was a little surprising, but ultimately smoothly done and made things interesting during the final parts of the wedding planning.

It was so much fun to read about all the events and see Mini think about all the details that are included in Indian and desi weddings. It really made me miss going to weddings, and spending that time with family. I love how passionate and resilient Mini is as a character, and seeing her deal with everything was entertaining and compelling. However, the only critique I have is how she did not much seem like a high school junior. If I was reading without knowing how old she was supposed to be, I would assume she was around fourteen. This is a big reason why I feel this book at times reads like a middle-grade novel (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing!).

The representation in this book was absolutely wonderful and made me feel so seen. I loved seeing so many parts of my culture on page, and things that are a constant part of my own life were a part of Mini’s as well. I loved reading about so much that I could relate to, and I saw myself so many times in this story. It was such a pleasure to read and made me feel a lot of joy.

To wrap things up, I think this is the perfect, fast-paced, fun read for summer. It made me so unexplainably happy and I feel warm and cozy just thinking about; I love stories centered on culture and family, and those are a big part of this novel. I definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a sweet story to captivate them!

I loved this story! I especially loved all of the relationship aspects. The relationship that the main character has with her family as well as her love interest is what makes the book. It brought me all the warm and fuzzy feelings I was looking for. I absolutely devoured this book. I read it in one day! If you are looking for something sweet and heartfelt, then you should pick up a copy of Sister of the Bollywood Bride ASAP.

I feel like this was the perfect book to read after a very stressful school semester. It’s a mostly light-hearted contemporary where the stakes aren’t super earth-shattering/life-or-death but still important to the main character. I cannot imagine planning a wedding in real life, but following along Mini for the ride as she tries to coordinate a wedding on a somewhat low budget was highly entertaining.

Indian weddings are notorious for being for over-the-top, and the book delivers on that front with vivid descriptions of everything, especially the clothes. Mini has a talent for clothing design and creates amazing pieces. I feel like I would have appreciated it more if I had a background in fashion and textiles, but it was a feast for the mind’s eye regardless.

As the synopsis promised, there is a romance plotline to the story, but it’s not the main focus, so if you’re looking for a romance-centric book, this is probably not the book for that. Mini has a very classic meet-cute of the awkward variety with Vir, who is mysterious, charming, and almost ridiculously multitalented. There is a twist or two to their relationship, but nothing so dramatic as to completely derail the fun atmosphere of the book.

One of the more serious topics that this book does touch on is grief and losing one’s mother to cancer at a young age. Although I lost my own mother at an older age than Mini (who lost hers at age 10), I still related a lot to her experience, especially with the awkwardness of disclosing to people that your mother has passed away when they assume she’s still alive. Mini tries to downplay her complex regarding her mother’s death, but it’s clearly a thing that still affects her and how she relates to the various people in her family, especially her sister and her maternal aunt, who she felt abandoned by in the aftermath of her mother’s passing.

My primary critique of the story was that there were aspects to Mini’s relationships that felt underdeveloped. I saw hints here and there of deeper things to be explored between her and her sister, who is 8 years older and was just on the cusp of adulthood when their mother passed, but they were not given the space that I hoped for. There was also the thread of Mini excelling at art while being pushed toward STEM by her father that kind of just got glossed over and left hanging, even though various other people were affirming her artistic talent throughout the book and pushing her to consider majoring in art/design. Maybe the author felt like that shouldn’t be the focus since the book is about the wedding planning shenanigans, but personally I felt it would have been better if it had been touched on more.

Conclusion: If you want a fun-filled summer read, read Sister of the Bollywood Bride!

I LOVED THIS BOOK! I absolutely adored reading about the wedding of a culture different from my own. As Mini attempts to plan her older sister's wedding, she is also dealing with grief from the loss of her mother, anxiety that everything won't be done or at least not as perfectly as she would want it to be, and so much more. This book is about family and the impossibility of continuing your life as "normal" after the loss of a beloved family member. I loved how Bajpai drew me in and made me feel like a part of the family in this book.

5/5 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Poppy for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I so very much enjoyed the author’s previous book - A Match Made in MehendiMatch Made in Mehendi so I was seriously looking forward to getting lost in the cute and adorable book all about the Big Fat Indian Wedding!

Mini, a high schooler has just found out that her older sister will be getting married and while her father isn’t interested in the whole Big Fat Indian Wedding hoopla; once Mini finds that her late mother has actually saved up some jewellery for her daughter’s wedding - she know she needs to do everything right for her sister and for her mother’s memory.


Now, she knows that her father won’t be of help, her sister is too busy with her Medical Residency and she herself has no idea how to go about - so she turns to the only source she knows - the Aunties in her Indian Community.

Sister of the Bollywood Bride read exactly like it’s title - a whole lot of drama, familial loyalty and whole lot of shenanigans as well as an adorable meet cute romance to get your senses tingling!

Sister of the Bollywood Bride by Nandini Bajpai contains just the sort of drama I love to read about. Following a girl who singlehandedly plans her sister’s wedding, this one is filled with both wedding catastrophes and community support. The main character is kindhearted, and the descriptions of each aspect of the wedding make the event jump off the page. I would definitely recommend this to those looking for an entertaining and uplifting read.

When her sister decides to get married last-minute during her residency, Mini is feeling the pressure. Her mother passed away, and her father is busy with his tech startup, so she takes it upon herself to make all her sister’s dreams come true. With little time and fewer resources, planning the wedding is no easy feat, but the community comes together to pitch in. Family and communities coming together are some of my favourite elements to read, and the unwavering support in this book is so touching.

❀ COMPASSIONATE MAIN CHARACTER

Mini is such a compassionate main character, and I admired the hard work she puts in to make her sister’s wedding special. She has impressive planning skills, and she overcomes each hurdle, from limited funds to an impending hurricane. While Mini is incredibly mature and hardworking, her voice still reads like a teenager’s, and she has her flaws. She also has an interesting talent for altering clothes. and this element of fashion design was a nice surprise.

❀ VIVID DESCRIPTIONS

What I especially enjoyed about the book is its extensive descriptions of wedding planning. Bajpai covers each component of Vinnie’s dream wedding, including mouthwatering foods and dazzling jewelry. These vivid descriptions make the plot truly come to life, and I had so much fun reading about each scramble to save the day, and celebrating with Mini when things turn out as planned.

❀ SWEET READ FOR SPRING

Sister of the Bollywood Bride by Nandini Bajpai is a chaotic contemporary with a lot of heart. With strong family ties, a caring main character who is easy to root for, and gorgeous descriptions of each element of the wedding, this one is sure to charm its readers. This is the perfect short and sweet read for the spring.

This was books very cute and wholesome. I would definitely recommend this as a book for anyone who loves YA Contemporary. There was a small romance in the book which I really liked. Only issues with the book is that the writing felt a bit juvenile, weird stops and a lot of exclamation points. I also felt like the romance had unnecessary conflict/angst. The romance was great without needing to add a little 3rd act drama. Overall I really loved this book and how it showcased South Asian culture.