Sari, Not Sari by Sonya Singh

Sari, Not Sari by Sonya Singh was just what I needed: a fun, funny and fabulous kissing book. In this meet-cute, Manni doesn’t know much about her Indian roots. In fact, her parents had her focus mainly on achieving all the success she deserves as an American. They had seemed to leave all of India in the past and so had she. But then her business Break Up (a business that helps couples break up and move on) starts soaring. Manni gets a tremendous opportunity for a front cover in a famous magazine.

While Manni should be over the moon, her cover page was white washed! Her Fiance,who seems to never be around, doesn’t seem the problem with it. Suddenly, Manni longs to feel connected with being Indian. And the perfect opportunity rolls in with Sammi. Sammi wants a temporary break-up with his white girlfriend because he can’t bring her to his brother’s wedding. Manni and Sammi strike a deal. He teaches her how to be Indian and she gets him his break.

To be clear, I don’t believe in self-made rich CEOs or bosses that everyone loves. And I definitely do not believe in the American Dream. But for this book, I let go of my bitterness, and enjoyed Manni’s character arch. BreakUp is this fast-growing multimillion company. Manni is a great boss whose team loves her. The author crushes the self-made myth with a cast of best friends/co-workers such as Rob (CFO) and Anaji (badass in everything). And there is good diversity in the book with queer characters.

Besides, my dislike of “Rich people” I loved the creativity of the plot. A breakup business is a fascinating idea to use for a fake-dating trope. I also loved that there was a little of hate to love. The perfect combination of snark without being too cruel and, therefore, an unbelievable love story.

The novel has a taste of bollywood/Indian soap opera, which is awesome because I was turning the page late a night because of the drama. Yet, there was never too much drama or nothing unforgiveable. Singh does enough conflict to keep the story interesting, but the connection between Manni and Sammi is the real treat. Sammi’s family is quite entertaining. If you ever wanted to be a part of a weird bid family. You are going to enjoy this story.

One downside was the reader got to see very little of the brother’s wedding. I wanted a more bollywood wedding. But we get some showmanship at the end.
Also, while most rom-coms have parts that are cheesy, I did eye roll a few times at the cheese levels.. Mainly; the romance seemed too quick. But whatever, not the greatest sin in romance.

I love the friend characters and I am hoping this will be a series. I am giving it a 4.5 out of 5 stars for being a fun romance with a message about diversity. There were a few issues with the romance feeling rushed, but that is not uncommon for this genre.
I recommended this for people interested in an adult, clean (no sex scenes, sorry), fabulous Indian (can’t be someone who doesn’t see color) romance comedy.

This book was so-so for me. I usually enjoy this author but couldn’t get moving on this title.

Manny is a super woman in her own right. She owns a successful company, Breakup, where she helps people manage their breakups as well as dealing with the loss of her parents and planning a dream wedding to Adam.

Manny is struggling with her “self”. She was brought up to be American however recent events make her question if she’s really Indian.

Enter Sammy, who turns her world upside down in more ways than one.

With Sammy’s help, she attends his brother’s wedding, while learning how to be Indian.

There was an instant romance with Sammy and Manny, which was concerning, and it felt rushed.

Overall, I think it was a decent book, slower than I liked but I liked learning about Indian culture.

Thanks to Netgalley for allowing me to review and read this title, all view are my own. I just reviewed Sari, Not Sari by Sonya Singh. #NetGalley

Sari Not Sari published in April, 2002 from Simon & Schuster - many thanks to them and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion. I started this book back in March and it was a "not right now" kind of read. I did return to it this week, finishing the last 2/3 by audiobook.
This debut rom-com tells the story of Manny, female CEO of Breakup, a company that is hired to break up relationships swiftly and successfully. Manny was raised "All-American" and isn't in touch with her South Asian roots, but when a major magazine cover Photoshops her skin so she looks more white, Manny has an identity crisis and decides to focus on learning what she's missed.
I'm enjoyed the characters, but one of the big plot twists was very obvious to me, making me feel like it could have been less predictable. I think Breakup is such an interesting idea for a company. It's really not that much different from all the dating apps - and I could see this becoming an actual service provided, even having it as part of a dating app!

I read this book in a day. And during that time I found a few bright spots. Unfortunately there were also many pitfalls. The characters felt like caricatures, in so many ways, and the ending wassss. . . .um can't say it without spoiling, but I did not like it. They can't all be for everyone! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was a beautiful story of finding yourself while in the midst of discovering or rediscovering your roots. Cultures differ and she feel pulled towards her roots despite her parents seemingly casting their culture aside to assimilate better in America. It helped me understand the Indian culture a little better since I don't know much about it personally and I enjoyed it immensely.

"Like I said in Marble, Manny, this light of yours...it's so freakin' bright."

AHHHHH. Literally my reaction when I finished this book. AHHHHH. Such a good book that I honestly needed. Manny Dogra is a successful CEO of Breakup, a company known for helping their clients break up with their partners. Work has always been her motto. As an Indian American who never really touched upon her Indian roots due to her late parents purposely removing their Indian culture away from their lifestyles, Manny has always been more American than South Asian. However, after a fall out with her fiancé Adam, where he recalls that he doesn't see "colour" (Ummm who does this dude think he is...), Manny decides it's time for her to embrace her brown colour and all that comes with it. Right on que, Sammy Patel enters in as a client of Breakup, wanting to fake a break up with his fiancée Lisa so he can attend his brother's wedding without the issues of having a non-brown date. In comes Manny, who then hears Sammy's situation, and as the two confide, they decide that Sammy will take Manny as his date to the wedding and tell his family that they are there together for business reasons, while Manny gets the chance to learn about the South Asian culture through all the festivities that come with Indian weddings. However, as Manny delves her way through henna parties, endless naans and dancing off in her lenghas, Manny also forms a connection with Sammy and feels closer to him than she ever did with Adam. UMM HELLO? SAMMY IS A CUTIE. Manny's time with Sammy's family also causes her to delve into the life of her parents, and why they made the decision of staying away from their South Asian norms and values. THE ENDING HAS THE BIGGEST PLOT TWIST. I love how this book touches on the South Asian culture. As someone who just experienced a month of weddings🤪 I definitely understand the chaos that comes with Indian weddings. A beautiful book about being true to oneself AND OWNING ONE'S IDENTITY NO MATTER WHAT.

The characters are unrealistic and absolutely hard to relate to. The writing is mediocre at best. Everything is like a caricature of itself.

Love the author! Her books never fail to amaze. As always, I love the accurate details of the POC colors. Representation matters even when the story is a rom-com!

This was a really fun book! Not the spiciest rom com of the year, but very good for collections looking for ok followups to Alisha Rai's Modern Love series

Thank you to Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! It was a sweet story but the way pacing was a little jarring for my taste. Super cute story with solid characters but I couldn't fully get invested because it was so rushed.

I enjoyed this book for a few reasons, The writing, the characters and the culture. This book was pretty good, there were a few moments that were a little too cheesy and felt a little rushed to me but with still the story was good.

Sari not Sari is book just about every foreign person can relate too. I grew up a foreigner and I saw a lot of our up bringing in these characters. I would definitely recommend this book, you’ll have lots of laughs and it’s also entertaining

What a clever and delightful read! At first the pacing was such a way that I bookmarked the book for a bit before returning to it. I'm so glad I picked it back up because it twisted and turned in it's own Bollywood way and quickly became a page turner.

Although I am not of the author and MC's culture, I greatly enjoyed Manny's journey of self-discovery and reclaiming of her roots. There were many topics that I won't unpack in effort to not give anything away, but this book was simply a wonderful experience and opportunity to explore from my Kindle. I appreciated the chance to learn more about Manny's culture and the nuanced interpretations and variations families choose to make their own.

Brava!

Thank you NetGalley, Sonya Singh and Simon & Schuster Canada, Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review!

4 stars!

I loved this! As a South Asian, it's so refreshing to see such beautiful South Asian representation that balances what it's like to be a diaspora. Lalli's writing is great, and I love how lovable the characters were!

I love the MCs . The Indian representation was beautiful . I thought i would love this book. I wont say it was the worst . The whole book felt rushed .

Can you v say a little heavy on instav love, i wanted to like it but this one was definitely not for me. Fake dating romance that read as women's fiction. Full of Indian culture, heritage and i did enjoy all of the delicious food descriptions.
Overall an ok debut it just wasn't for me

I love desi book covers with desi titles and even though there are very few Bollywood movies I'm down for, the fresh blurb of Sari Not Sari had me intrigued and I was expecting some good Indian rep with a big fat desi wedding. Yes, the book had all of those but they felt rushed and not the right kind of Bollywoody for me to get attached.

CEO Manny Dogra owns a business that helps people manage their relationship breakups in a very notorious digital age. It's named 'Breakup' and I really wanna call the author out on this because it sounds so lazy 😭 (helps with the puns though lol)

anyway, after a magazine cover pales her complexion, and she starts struggling with her own engagement, Manny plans to accompany a client - Sammy Patel - to his brother's wedding to get in touch with her South Asian roots and in return help him with his cross-cultural relationship.

up till the part where Manny has a fallout with her fiancée Adam and is about to leave for India with Sammy, the book had me really excited and I was looking forward to the wedding scenes, seeing how the chemistry between Sammy and Manny works out, watch Manny figure out how to drape and handle a sari (mind you I was reading this book after donning a sari at my college farewell for the first time myself).

the buildup to the part which was supposed to be IT for the readers and capture their hearts was good, but it just went downhill from the wedding, particularly from the uncomfortable scene between Manny and Sammy's sister. What was that?! It was so weird and awkwardly written. The author could have pulled off that pivotal point better.

and the ending oh boy, the ending was when I brought my rating from 3 to 2. It was very rushed and just not logical. even if I were to gloss over the plot – which maybe could've done well at the box office as a movie but as a book NEVER – the characters weren't that amazing either, neither the main ones nor the side ones. so in short, i couldn't bring myself to care about anything in the book.

thank you netgalley for my e-arc!

Thank you so much Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for this interesting title in exchange of honest opinion.

I requested the book the instant I saw it because 1) I'm a South-Asian,
2) I love when characters explore their heritage,
3) Breakup Company?! Sounds like a perfect business plan.

The first half was brilliant, It was everything I expected- Bollywood Music, Delicious Indian food, Gorgeous dresses and Overbearing relatives. I laughed so much. It was pure delight. I thought it was going to be a five-star read but then the second half went horribly wrong. The ending was abrupt. I hated the twist or what was supposed to be the climax of the story. Not only it was predictable, but also what we would call 'Sappy' or 'Cringey'. The romance was a huge disappointment. Another fact that I would like to highlight, Indians are so much more than broken English, heavy accents, outdated beliefs and their nose-poking habits. I wish the representation were better! Anyways, if you want to read a fun book without bothering too much about means what, I think you will enjoy it.

I loved this book so much - such a cute, quick read. Main character Manny is on a journey to get closer to her Indian roots. When Manny and her business fiance are having a hard time connecting. Then Sammy, a prospective breakup client, comes into the picture and begs for Manny's help to temporarily break up with his white girlfriend while he goes to a family Indian wedding. I love the nuances between the different cultures, especially as Manny explores her own.

I also love the premise of Manny's company - Breakup - where they help people break up with their significant other swiftly and politely.

UM SO CUTE! This was such a fast, cute romcom read. I love main character Manny and her journey to get closer to her Indian roots. I also love the premise of Manny's company - Breakup - where they help people break up with their significant other swiftly and politely.

Manny and her business partner / fiance are having a hard time connecting. Then Sammy, a prospective breakup client, comes into the picture and begs for Manny's help to temporarily break up with his white girlfriend while he goes to a family Indian wedding. I love the nuances between the different cultures, especially as Manny explores her own.

WOW GUYS just wow. I cant even think of words right now it was so good. This was such a beautiful and educational introduction into Indian culture with the most heart-stopping romance. I most definitely recommend.