I really liked this book, I enjoyed reading about the Indian cultural and wedding traditions. Manny runs a company that helps people break up. and find themselves. Manny feels her true self was not represented when a magazine cover showed her with very light skin, and suddenly she wants to learn about her culture. She ends up at a large Indian wedding with a client/friend Sammy, where she tries to fill in the gaps her parents never put told her about.
I was surprised at how far Manny came in feeling Indian after only one week, she’d had a lifetime of missed cultural experiences. Maybe she picked up more than she thought as a child.
I liked how her opinion and feelings towards Sammy evolved as she saw him with his friends and family. 4 stars.

BLURB:
“Manny Dogra is the beautiful young CEO of Breakup, a highly successful company that helps people manage their relationship breakups. As preoccupied as she is with her business, she’s also planning her wedding to handsome architect Adam Jamieson while dealing with the loss of her beloved parents.
For reasons Manny has never understood, her mother and father, who were both born in India, always wanted her to become an “All-American” girl. So that’s what she did. She knows next to nothing about her South Asian heritage, and that’s never been a problem—until her parents are no longer around, and an image of Manny that’s been Photoshopped to make her skin look more white appears on a major magazine cover. Suddenly, the woman who built an empire encouraging people to be true to themselves is having her own identity crisis.
But when an irritating client named Sammy Patel approaches Manny with an odd breakup request, the perfect solution presents itself: If they both agree to certain terms, he’ll give her a crash course in being “Indian” at his brother’s wedding.
What follows is days of dancing and dal, masala and mehndi as Manny meets the lovable, if endlessly interfering, aunties and uncles of the Patel family, and, along the way, discovers much more than she could ever have anticipated.”

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Manny Dogra is the CEO of Breakup, a company she founded herself and built up to the point it is now publicly traded. She is engaged to Adam, who has helped distract her from the death of her parents. After Manny is whitewashed on a magazine cover, she realizes she wants to know more about her Indian heritage, but she has no family left to ask. When Sammy Patel comes to Breakup with an unusual breakup request, Manny first turns him down before realizing that she and Sammy may be able to help each other. She will help him with his breakup request, and in return, he will take her to his brother’s wedding, where she can get a crash course in being Indian.

I was hoping to learn more about an Indian culture through reading this book, as well as hoping for a good romance, and it left me wanting in both categories. There seemed to be a lot of stereotypes, both in the Indian characters and the LGBT side characters. Adam was a very one-dimensional character, and I know that is supposed to be part of what attracted Manny to him in the first place and left her wanting in their relationship at the time of this story, but there needs to be some other side to him. As for the romance, I really never felt a connection between the characters; it was just like we were told that suddenly they like each other. <spoiler> The ending was a disappointment, too. I just don’t find it realistic whenever a couple who has known each other for days gets engaged because they are just so much in love. </spoiler> A company built around helping people break up with their partners was an interesting premise, and the emails that started each chapter provided some humor.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book.

Manny is the CEO of Breakup, who specializes in crafting the perfect breakup email. Along with her successful business, she's engaged (and will be married as soon as they can lock down a date), and set to be on the cover of a popular magazine. But when the cover comes back totally whitewashed, Manny realizes that she really doesn't know how to be Indian. Along with a unique client who has agreed to take her along to his brother's elaborate Indian wedding, she begins to discover what being Indian means to her.

I was having such a good time with this book. I kind of want to forget that the last few chapters happened and reimagine them myself, because I thought they were a little out of order and rushed.

But the rest of this book? It was a sweet story about family, learning about traditions, and finding a place where you feel accepted and loved. It was full of beautiful garments, family moments and I loved Aliyan - he shows her that there is not one surefire way to be Indian, and I thought that was really special.

I hope that Sonya will write more books, because it was really fun. Fingers crossed it's set in Canada too!

If you are a fan of contemporary romances, this one will check all the boxes. Taking a page from "enemies to lovers" and "fake dating" and combining them with some giant Indian family wedding shenanigans means a beautiful, if weird, book of love and romance.

The weird part is all from the protagonist's business empire - staging breakups for other people. If you can get over that as a flourishing business model, this book is a delight and a joy.

I loved this story. As someone who didn't get much feel for my parents ethnic roots I can sympathize with Manny. She is an amazing Indian American CEO - celebrated as an amazing young entrepreneur, she realizes how little she knows about her culture when her face has been photoshopped to look whiter on a magazine cover.
Sammy is another extraordinary Indian He needs to attend his brother's big Indian wedding and doesn't feel comfortable bringing his non-Indian girlfriend with him. He doesn't want to embarrass his family in front of his brother's soon to be in-laws.
Manny learns to be Indian from Sammy and his family and on the way, she realizes that work isn't the only thing in life.
I received an advanced copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Unfortunately, this book had a lot of problems. I wanted to like it but ended up thinking it was just not very good, mainly the writing. The Indian food sounded amazing, though.

Cute concept, not exactly the best presentation.

There were a lot of fun possibilities with the story. BUT most of it is overshadowed by the fact that this story suggests that someone can reconnect with their culture in ONE week. It's honestly kind of offensive.

2.5 stars rounded up.

This was a quick, easy read and overall was pretty cute. But it was also really problematic in a lot of ways and so much was too far fetched, even for a rom-com. I had a hard time believing that the main character (who's Indian) could be THAT naive about anything to do with Indian culture - I mean, I'm white and even I *know* things just from cultural observations from movies and books. The ending was also just too rushed. This had so much potential!

I really like reading rom-coms that follow a different culture because it opens up my eyes to hole different world. Sonya SIngh did a great job with that in this book where I learned a lot but also enjoyed every second of this romance.
Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review!

This book was Bollywood magic! Everything I love about those movies even without the music was present. Manny and Sammy’s relationship from bad beginning to sweet ending was wonderful to watch unfold.
I also loved the finding of self identity through the exploration of culture. Manny’s story of feeling at loss at what identity was truly hers spoke to me as someone who is also stuck between cultures myself.
I truly enjoyed this story, however I just wished certain things were different. For one thing I would have liked it to be longer so that the ending, while sweet didn’t feel rushed. Also I would have like more interactions with Adam that should actual chemistry between them and didn’t feel clinical. I just couldn’t see any real affection between them to sell me on their relationship. I also would have like more interactions with Sammy to make the love story feel more believable and less rushed,
All in all the balance between romance, comedy, culture and self identity was done well. Would definitely recommend to fellow romance lovers looking for more diversity in their stories!

(I received an e-arc from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.)

Sari, Not Sari is Sonya Singh's debut novel. I really enjoyed it!

What's it about? From Simon and Shuster: "This delightful debut rom-com follows the adventures of a woman trying to connect with her South Asian roots and introduces readers to a memorable cast of characters in a veritable feast of food, family traditions, and fun."
Our lead character is Manny - the owner of a unique business. 'Breakup' helps people ease the pain of ending their relationships. They'll help find the right way and words to break up - by email and/or text. A fun premise for sure. You'll find email requests at the beginning of each chapter that are quite funny. I found this tidbit reading Singh's bio - "Sari, Not Sari, is an ode to her own personal dating experiences, during which she honed the art of writing the perfect break-up email/text."

Now, following the rom-com formula, Manny has her own relationship issues, there's a client that might just be more than business, a find yourself epiphany for our lead character, a great bunch of quirky supporting characters and the ending that you really want. I quite liked Manny as a lead - she's warm, funny, caring and - she can't see that her fiancée is a bit of a donkey's behind.

Singh gives us more to love with Manny's search for her South Asian roots and the large, boisterous and loving Patel family. Seriously, I'd love to go to one of their family get togethers - food, family and dancing - what's more to want? (Note that I really like Bollywood movies and can see this novel as a film!)

I loved Sari, Not Sari - what a great debut this was. Pick this one up for the beach bag this summer. 3.5

Manny Dogra has it all: she’s the CEO of a highly successful company BreakUp, that offers users to purchase break up packages, she’s engaged to the handsome and equally successful Adam, and she just landed a magazine cover.

Despite the recent loss of her parents, she remains determined to fulfill their wish for her, to become an example of American success. When the magazine cover features a heavily photoshopped version of herself that makes her appear several shades lighter, she begins to wonder if the sacrifices she’s made to hide her culture were worth her mainstream success.

Manny’s struggles are very relatable. Many people of color have felt the need to hide their culture in order to properly assimilate with white society. Manny’s decision to embrace a more ‘color blind’ existence meant that she missed out on important cultural experiences other Indian people her age understand. Her conversations with her fiance following the magazine reveal that this was likely unintentional, but it affected how she is viewed by the world.

On the other hand, Sammy Patel is very aware of Indian culture. He comes to Manny with an odd request: to be taken on as a BreakUp client in order to break up with his white girlfriend ahead of his brother’s wedding. He tells Manny that as an eldest son, it would be unacceptable to be both unmarried and in an interracial relationship.

He is willing to end his relationships with his tight knit family for his girlfriend, who feels the closeness of his family is off putting. Manny, who lost her family and was left without an extended family, is horrified by this revelation.

While initially very confused about Sammy’s anxieties, she agrees if he brings her as a guest. She thinks this is the perfect opportunity to be fully inducted into Indian American culture. This was the best part of the novel. I loved how Sammy encouraged her to embrace many different aspects of Indian life, which included service to others, sharing meals, and interacting with a frustrating but loving family.

I also thought her lessons in eyebrow threading and dancing to be ‘laugh out loud’ levels of funny. In fact, there are a lot of hilarious moments in 'Sari Not Sari’.

Each chapter begins with a potential BreakUp client ‘pitching’ themselves and their situation via email. They are messy and sometimes shocking, but each is very different from one another. It injected more intrigue and juiciness to the story, and there was one that was particularly shocking.

If this is any indication of Singh’s comedic abilities, I’d love to read a ‘woman vs. the void’ book in a similar vein to Melissa Broder. I think that would be a triumph.

In general, Sari not Sari is a touching and funny story about a woman’s journey to self acceptance and the power of community. Each character had a very layered backstory that informed their motivations. Sammy’s family were each so vibrant and realistic. While I'm still undecided about the new romance, I was satisfied by both Sammy and Manny rejecting the very solitary lifestyle of contemporary America in favor of love from family.

My rating: ★★★★☆


Is this the book for you?

Short synopsis: A successful Indian American CEO decides to attend a fake wedding in exchange for a crash course in Indian culture.

tw: death of family, racism, anxiety, infidelity


Goodreads:

When Manny Dogra, CEO of a company that specializes in break up strategies for customers, is invited for a magazine photoshoot, she thinks she’s finally going to become a household name. To her, the cover is extremely whitewashed. She realizes that her ambitions to be an ‘all-American’ have caused her to be completely out of touch with her culture.

When a new client, Sammy Patel approaches her with an unusual request, she decides to make a business offer: she will attend his brother’s wedding as his plus one in exchange for a crash course in Indian culture. In the lead up to the wedding, Manny is embraced by Sammy’s big, loving family. She learns how to dance, how to dress, and how to style herself to be a convincing Indian woman.

What I enjoyed about this story was how immediate Manny feels relief when she’s around the Patels. I felt the immense pressure she put on herself to please the colorblind white people around her, at the expense of being able to speak out against the many microaggressions she experiences, particularly from her fiance.

Furthermore, Sonia K. Singh does a great job critiquing a very capitalist, American, idea that our only connections should be with the nuclear family. It was so gratifying to watch both main characters, who were willing to embrace this damaging ideology at the beginning of the book, recognize the beauty in having a large family.

I went into this book thinking it was going to be a simple romance, but it was much more than that. It’s smart, tender, and a great journey.


StoryGraph:

I found Manny's struggles as a South Asian woman in a very white male dominated industry to be extremely grounded and interesting. Her family struggles with race and identity were also relatable to many people of color. While I enjoyed the gradual exploration of her culture and community, I did find Singh's decision to make some aspects of Indian culture the butt of the joke to be disappointing. It's a quick, lighthearted read that does a decent job with South Asian representation. I'd love to read more about the peripheral characters.

Usually, I love reading Sonya Singh books. But this book was not doing it for me. There were too many issues in this book that it made the main character very messy, especially in the romance department.

I find myself not really liking Manny at times. She was too flakey about her situation that I could not give any sympathy to her. She made her life that way a long time ago. And she now realizes it’s a problem when her wedding comes sooner than later.

I really didn’t like how rushed the romance was in the book. They should have waited. Not all romance should be rushed. It should take its time.

I was drawn to this book for its gorgeous cover and unique title! Sonya Singh’s Sari Not Sari was a delight to read! Being a South Asian decent, reading stories about my Indian heritage is so heart warming and enjoyable!

Manny our main character is fake dating Sammy and attends his brothers wedding. In exchange all American raised Manny gets a taste of her desi side while being introduced today tadka and irritating aunts and uncles.

Thank you Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for the complimentary galley. I highly recommend this fun, romcom novel that hit the shelves on April 5, 2022

Sari, Not Sari had a good premise when reading the description of the book. I love to read about Indian culture and I love a good Girl Boss vibe. But unfortunately this book has lost its mark with me.

Our main character is Manny who is a CEO of her own company called Break Up. Where they have clients request personalized break ups done for them that is communicated through email.

Now Manny was unfortunately never really taught about her culture because her parents desire to ingrain her in America. Now that her parents are gone due to a tragic accident, she is still dealing with her grief of that loss and chooses to engross herself with work in her company.

Alongside her working all the time is her fiance Adam who isn’t really there a lot and pushes her to work more. He also can’t make a commitment to set a date for them to start planning their wedding.

Through a mishap of magazine white washing her features on the cover. Manny realizes that she needs to understand her own self and her Indian culture.

In comes Sammy, and some of my issues with this plot. Sammy is an Indian man who has a non Indian girlfriend. He needs Manny's services to do a “temporary” break up with his girlfriend for just a week for his brother's wedding. Sammy explained that Indian culture is so tight on marrying other Indian’s women that he was also afraid that his family of Patels would cancel his brother's wedding due to his choice of a girlfriend.

Manny addressed, why can’t you just be honest with family instead of temporarily breaking up with his girlfriend? But Sammy was adamant that this was the only “solution.” Which to me, was kinda shallow and didn’t make sense to me.

So in exchange for doing this personalized email for Sammy, she asked him to take her to his brother's wedding to have a crash course about the culture. Which to me from an outsider's perspective, Manny experienced it and not really learned about it.

So the book goes on where she is getting to know Sammy’s family and on with the family wedding festivities. That's where they eventually got to know one another and realized that they loved one another. With the reason’s below, not sure how that happened.

My biggest issue of this book are these:

It took maybe 45-50% of the book to finally really start to see Sammy in Sari, Not Sari. For a rom-com, that felt like forever! I felt like the love interest should have been introduced and the relationship built a lot sooner than it did in the book.
You don’t really get to know Sammy, heck you barely see them interact with each other in the book. So it was Insta Romance that happened in a span of a week. A lot of the story is Manny interacting with everyone but Sammy. Actually, you may know more about Sammy through his family than Sammy himself. So I felt there was no chemistry there and no true build of romance.
Both Manny and Sammy were in separate relationships throughout the book, which I felt wasn’t really addressed as a good conclusion in the book. It was half haphazardly mentioned and dealt with and then it was over.
Not sure why this bothers me but here it is. One of the family members gets upset with Manny about using their family to learn about Indian culture. The girl told Manny to leave and not come back. But for reasons I really can’t remember, Manny decides to stay for the wedding. Well, you don’t see that situation get resolved at all. So I am wondering, why build that relationship throughout the book with that relative and without a peep of that situation you don’t read of that person again. No resolution, just tossed through the window as if it never happened.
The resolution of the ending in the last 5% of the book was not great. It felt quick and it didn't make sense. I really feel the ending needs to be stronger because the ending is what really made me feel this book wasn’t good.

This book had good potential but I feel that romance wasn’t strong for a rom-com and the ending wasn’t that good.

This was an light, easy read that taught me a little about Indian culture, particularly wedding rituals.
The story revolves around Manny, the CEO of a company that helps people break up with their significant other. Her relationship isn’t ideal and when her fiancé “whitewashes” her picture for a major magazine cover, she decides that it’s time to get in touch with her South Asian heritage. Manny uncharacteristically decides to take on a potential client in return for an immersion in Indian culture at his brothers week long Indian wedding.
The reason that I didn’t give this book a higher rating is I found the romance a little rushed and unbelievable. I also found some of the characters were written as stereotypes of Indians and the LGBTQ community. These aspects reduced the story in my opinion.
On a positive note, I did enjoy that the beginning of every chapter included a letter from a prospective client. The situations and break up reasoning added some humor to the story.
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon Schuster for providing me with this ARC in return for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc!

3.5 stars, rounded up

I enjoyed this rom-com! It’s a pretty easy, fast-paced read. The characters were interesting, the plot was entertaining, and the writing was well done! The romance was a bit too fast-paced, though, in my opinion, and the ending was definitely a bit too rushed for me; I definitely would have liked to see a bit more resolution. Despite this, I still enjoyed the book :)

Cute fun read from an awesome author. I loved the character development. It was funny but also had sweet moments. I really enjoy reading from new authors and cultures and felt like I learned as I was reading too.

I really enjoyed this book and it gave me a few laughs. I really liked Sammy and Manny. With Sammy’s help Manny is trying to figure out who she is and finds out more than she was expecting. This was a fun, easy read that kept me turning the pages. I would recommend this book. I received a free book and the views and opinions are my own.

Thanks to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster Canada as well as Sonya Singh. This book...well...it was very clever but not realistic at certain points..but is it a cultural issue for me? I do not know...but it was a fast moving relationship...I just did not understand but it was a good read.