This book was such a short, sweet and fun novel about love, loss, self-identification, finding happiness, and ultimately dealing with change.

The main character, Ayesha deals with all after an incident that left her and her mother without her brother Ajay. There is a distance or a wall that Ayesha builds separating her old self from her new and reserved self. Love is the driving factor in her life as she must come to terms with the man her mother is setting her up with at her best friends wedding, and her past love and all the emotions that comes with.

I enjoyed the flow and message of the novel and I enjoyed reading it.

This is such a cute and sweet short story about childhood friends who have always loved each other but history gets in the way. Great quick read that will make you laugh and smile. TW: car accident/family death

Very sweet book. You can always rely on depth and emotion from Sonali! I'm not always a fan of novellas, but I'm glad I had the opportunity pick this one up. Thank you to Sonali Dev and team!

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Photo by Molly | bookstagram | MN in Minnesota. May be an image of book and text that says 'AMAZON ORIGINAL STORIES THE WEDDING SETUP A SHORT STORY Sonali Dev USA TODAY Bestaelling author'.








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chaosinchapters 🌟 book review 🌟

💙 The Wedding Setup - A Short Story
✏️ @sonali.dev

💫 Available on Kindle Unlimited

Ayesha lost her brother seven years ago, at the same losing everything else important in her life as well. She swallowed her pride and and her independence and career drive to become a dutiful daughter to her grieving mother.

It is time to celebrate her best friends wedding and let loose! Of course her mother has a date setup for her - a doctor even! (A ladies parts doctor!) Then Emmitt shows up, her brothers best friend and secret love of her life! The man she swore she would never fall for again! Will Ayesha follow a new path and help satisfy her mother or will ahe finally put herself first?

This was such a cute short story! Guys if you are looking for one last book in January, I finished it in an hour! This is my first Sonali Dev book (even though I have two on my physical TBR collection) and I loved her writing style! I wanted this to be a full book!

I am planning on moving her 2 books I have up on my list!

📕 Pride, Prejudice and Other Flavors (own)

📕 Recipe for Persuasion (own)
🌟🌟🌟currently available right now on @bookoutlet

📕 Incense and Sensibility

📕The Emma Project - @netgalley book waiting to be read
🌟🌟🌟 out in May 2022

Thank you @netgalley for letting me read this in exchange for an honest review!

#bookreview #netgalley #netgalleyreview #bookstagram #sonalidev #theweddingsetup #bookstagrammer #shortstory #bibliophile #bookrecommendations #kindleunlimited #addictedtobooks #reading #readmorebooks #bookreview #romancebooks

LOVED this fast romantic funny story about a reverse set up at an Indian wedding. Highly recommend! Just the afternoon pick up you need.

The wedding setup is a short story of Emmitt and Ayesha who meet each other after seven years and Ayesha 's mother has setup her meeting with an Indian boy at her friends wedding and now Ayesha is tired handling the business with her mother after the death of her brother Ajay. I loved how the writer dove into the complexities of Ayesha s character and tell the story through a person's life who has been through grief. I really liked the mother-daughter relationship in the book and exploring the love Ayesha and Emmitt always had for each other. It's a warm, fuzzy story that will make you cry. Loved every bit of it.

The plot focuses on the character development of our protagonist, her journey of self-discovery and the real meaning of her happiness.
Our protagonist, Ayesha Shetty had lost everything else important to her seven years ago and as the situation demanded she became the reflection of what her family was missing out i.e. her brother to support her mother.
Trying to fill in the gaps of present, her past comes and stand in front of her. Her love that she ignored for the sake of her family is back in front of her, will she chose the only family she has now again like her past or will she be choosing herself now?
The character development of our protagonist is the main treat of this story and i definitely loved reading this. The pace was well maintained and the author had penned down each character very nicely.

This short novella is my first book by Sonali Dev, it deals with grief and family relationships which were amazing and felt real. However, I didn't feel a connection with the main character and her love story. Even though it was a novella it could have included more details/backup information.

I finally got a chance to read a book from this author, and I'm so glad i did. Although it's a novella, it was such a great and satisfying, and enjoyable read. And I felt all types of emotions while reading this book. My views on her mother changed as I was reading, and that's a good thing. This author has a new fan and I can't wait to devour all of her backlist

I received a copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

This short story was so cute! It was a light yet emotional read that would be perfect for on the go. I love how the author didn’t stray to far away from Ayesha’s grief over the loss of her brother, but instead used to it to fuel her strength. However I do wish there was more to read since I wanted to know more about each character, but I think that as a short story it did it’s job. I strongly recommend to people who love, well love and reconciliation with former love. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

This an adorable short story by Sonali Dev and is a quick read. In true Bollywood fashion, Dev writes about Ayesha Shetty a driven, young and single woman who heads to her best friends' Indian wedding where she will need to confront her past, both romantically and personally.

This was the first piece I have read by Sonali Dev and I found it charming. I can understand why she is a best selling author with her other family centric series.

🍽 BOOK REVIEW 🍽

Synopsis: Ayesha Shetty lost her brother seven years ago, the same time she lost everything else important to her: her dreams, her fierce independence, and the man she loved. Not wanting to see her mother hurt anymore, she put her wild self away and became the dutiful daughter her mother needed and took on her brother’s role in the family business. Now her best friend’s big, fat Indian wedding is a chance to get away from her endless duties at the restaurant and maybe even have some fun (if she remembers how). But a setup arranged by her mother, with a doctor no less, is the last thing she needs. The fact that he checks all her mother’s boxes just makes everything better…and worse.
Then Emmitt Hughes shows up. Her brother’s best friend. The love she once chose over family duties and her responsibilities. The one she asked to leave, and who did. The one who knows the real Ayesha. Torn between a love from the past that could cost her the only person she has left and her sense of obligation to her mother, will Ayesha find the strength to stop thinking about what everyone else wants and finally put herself first? Or is the old Ayesha truly gone for good?

Review: For a short story, that synopsis really gives too much away, in my opinion. I liked this book, but would have loved an elaborated version of the story in a novel format. Also, with few characters, 3 of them named Edward, Bela, Emmett, AND the author put in a twilight reference, too coincidental for me. I love twilight as much as the next gal, but some originality in naming characters would have been preferred. I also found the writing style to be a bit erratic, and sometimes I got confused between when the past and present was being described. I also was confused about the MC’s Amma’s feelings towards the love interested. It got a bit confusing until the end!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my review

2.5/5 stars ⭐️⭐️✨

Do you want to read a short story that gives you a chance to find what really makes you happy, a second chance at love and just amazing characters? Then The Wedding Setup by Sonali Dev is the perfect book for you! Just loved it! You should check it out!

Ayesha suffered a huge loss to her life, her brother passed away

She pushed everything and anything away from her after that, including Emmett

She is attending her best friends big Indian wedding and who shows up but Emmett

They get stuck away from the party and end up talking out everything and it happened to be the best thing ever

Once she overcomes the fact that Emmett is her brothers best friend and her sense of duty to her mother, she can once again fall head over heels in love with Emmett

I received this book in exchange for a review via NetGalley

I just reviewed The Wedding Setup by Sonali Dev. #TheWeddingSetup #NetGalley

My first book by Sonai Dev and loved it.

The characters of Ayesha and Emmitt are so believable and their love story rings true for so many Indian girls.

Ayesha sacrifices her love for the fear of losing her mother. With her dreams on hold, she just goes through the motions of life until she meets Emmitt again at her bestie Bela's wedding.

As misunderstandings are cleared there is a happily ever after.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC

Love this easy-breezy story! Thank you so much for this copy Netgalley! :) Loved the characters and family dynamics in this wholesome story :)

What a delightful read by Sonali Dev! It was chocked full of emotion, food, laughs and of course, romance. Ayesha's life has not been easy since her brother was killed in a car accident. She's spent the past 7 years running a business she never wanted, living a ghost life and running from her real self, all to try and keep alive the remaining family she has, her mother. It's the eve of her best friend's wedding and she finally has time off to try and find the energy to celebrate. But she soon finds her new take on life has to be reconciled with her old life. There's only one person who can help her with that journey and he's just showed up. I would definitely read an entire book about their romance as it continues.

This is a short story and a second chance romance that takes place at a wedding - Ayesha Shett's best friend's wedding. I loved the references to characters from Twilight - the bride and groom were Bela and Eddie (Edward), and Eddie's best friend is Emmitt. I admired Ayesha - she had given up attending college when her brother died and returned home to work in their family restaurant, which requires so much work and attention to keep it profitable. This is very far away from the future she had once expected for herself, and then there was the man she had also given up - who, seven years later, has turned up at the wedding. He was also her brother's best friend. To complicate matters, Ayesha learns at the wedding that her mother has invited a potential suitor for her, a gynecologist. There was some humor about that - small talk about his job would definitely be difficult.

While I enjoyed the story, I think it suffered from being a short story. There just wasn't enough time for me to become invested in the characters and the romance. My thanks to the author, Amazon Original Stories, and NetGalley for allowing me to read this copy before publication.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Cute and short, I really liked this short story! Although I, as a reader, felt slightly detached from the main characters' romance as we didn't know much about their past.

I am a huge fan of Sonali Dev's, The Rajes series. So when I saw this on netgalley I had to request it instantly. In all honesty I didn't read enough into and see it was a short story, because I generally don't enjoy short stories so I was a bit worried but when I saw it was an amazon original story I was slightly relieved because of all the short stories I have read the Amazon originals have been the ones I have liked. They are short but impactful and in my opinion give such great snippets of the authors style of writing that I have often gone on to read authors based of these Amazon originals and loved them.

Now more specifically to the book this book follows Ayesha, shes at her bestfriends wedding and her mum is trying to set her up but her bestfriend has other plans. I really enjoyed the way this book unfolded. It gave a great example of Sonali Dev's writing and reminded me so much why I love it.

As always with her books it covers so much. Friendship, Romance, Dysfunctional family dynamics, past loves, strong and ambitious woman. All the stuff I love in a book. The only downfall to this book was that there was not enough and if thats all I have to complain about then thats a great book in my... books.