I liked this! I would've loved to see a bit more of the growth in Mehar's relationship with her dad but overall, it was an enjoyable read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

This book started out pretty strong and dealt with a lot of important topics like class, complicated family relationships, partner violence, and homophobia but fell flat for me a bit toward the end. There was so many issues to resolve but none of them were really dealt with in a significant way. The resolution at the end also seemed so rushed.

I enjoyed learning a bit more about culture and traditions in India though.

What a Desi Girl Wants was a lovely coming of age story about a girl who feels torn between the life she grew up with and the life she has missed out on. I loved learning about Desi culture through Mehar's story and her romance with Sufiya. The only thing I disliked was that the ending felt hurried and we didn't really get the conflict resolution I wanted between Mehar and her parents. It seemed like there was still some unfinished business and feelings to talk through before the end of the book. Overall a great read!

Mehar hasn't been to India since she moved to the United States with her mother. She resents her father for not trying to maintain their relationship when he chose to stay behind. Now that her father is engaged to socialite Naz, she has agreed to return to India for the wedding. While there, she learns more about her heritage, family history, grandmother, father, and how society generally works in India. It's an interesting exposure to familial, societal and all other relationships.

What a Desi Girl Wants by Sabina Khan is the perfect blend of romance and drama with characters that are vibrant and relatable. As a brown girl myself, the story felt incredible close to home. I love the way Sabina Khan touches on family dynamics throughout this novel. The backdrop of India was a great touch as well. I've read Sabina Khan before (The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali) and it was amazing to see how real her characters felt.

Thank you NetGalley and Scholastic Press for the e-arc!
I have heard so many good things about this book and personally, I think this book definitely lives up to its reputation. I've been seeing it described as a fantastic coming-of-age story with a really heartwarming story of family and growth, Mehar is an amazing protagonist to read about as she is very complex, and getting to follow her story as she learns to accept herself and her emotions is amazing. I think they portrayed the relationship with Sufiya in a way that really captures the beauty of young love and slowly falling for the person that you care about perfectly.
I did see some complaints that it felt too ya, but it is definitely advertising such and I don't see an issue with that. I think it's a fantastic example of a romance for young adults to really see themselves in the characters. I thoroughly enjoyed it and definitely would recommend this for many readers.

This book was so good. It was great being introduced to another culture. I resonated with the theme of trying to improve a relationship with an estranged father. So many things were going on but not in a chaotic way. It was written in such a way that you were able to follow various intertwining storylines. Mehar bothered me at times. The ending was slightly abrupt. I wanted to know more Aleena and Dadi’s pasts. But the book takes place over a break for Mehar so I guess the ending makes sense, I just wanted more!

"What a Desi Girl Wants" by Sabina Khan is like a warm hug of a story. Mehar's journey back to India for her father’s wedding after years away sets the stage for a heartwarming tale of reconciliation. The romance between Mehar and Sufiya is sweet and full of heart, especially with the class differences adding a touch of drama. Exploring Mehar's Indian roots adds a beautiful layer to the tale.

Additionally, there is the sibling rivalry plot with her future step-sister, Aleena. Aleena is a social media influencer that Mehar thinks is shallow and just uses her father for likes. Her dynamic with Mehar and the rest of the family is like watching a storm brew. You can practically feel the tension jump off the pages. While some parts follow a familiar path, the characters and settings breathe life into every page. Sabina Khan's storytelling is like a magic spell that pulls you right into Mehar's world. In a nutshell, "What a Desi Girl Wants" is a heartwarming journey of love, family, and finding oneself.

"What a Desi Girl Wants" by Sabina Khan is a YA novel that beautifully explores the complexities of its characters, offering readers a multifaceted narrative that is both heartwarming and thought-provoking. I thoroughly enjoyed this book for its richly drawn characters and the nuanced exploration of family dynamics and identity.

One of the standout aspects of this novel is the complexity of its characters. Mehar is a relatable protagonist who grapples with her mixed feelings about her family and heritage. Her journey of self-discovery and the conflicts she faces as she navigates her father's lavish lifestyle, social expectations, and her budding relationship with Sufiya are beautifully portrayed. Sufiya, Mehar's grandmother's assistant, is a standout character with depth and authenticity. Their evolving friendship and potential for romance add layers of depth to the narrative.

The family dynamics in the story are equally compelling. Mehar's strained relationship with her father and her growing distrust of Naz and Aleena, his fiancée and stepdaughter, create a tension that keeps the plot engaging. Khan expertly explores themes of identity, belonging, and the clash of traditional values with modern influences.

When Mehar goes to visit her family for her father’s wedding, it’s been years since she has seen any of his family in person. And at this point her relationship with her father is very strained. It only makes things worse that her father’s new future wife and stepdaughter are suspicious and Mehar doesn’t like them. As she reconnects with her family and tries to protect her father from them, she starts hanging out with her grandmother’s assistant, Sufiya. Their relationship grows as they spend time together and slowly it starts to blossom into more.
The discussions around family relationships and building and rebuilding trust I think are really well written and I love that nothing is quite as simple as it seems. Every character is given depth, and their choices make sense given their experiences. I liked the progression of Aleena’s character, as Mehar gets to know her better. Their relationship changes so many times: and I love that they evolve as they learn and understand more about each other’s pasts. I liked that there was a discussion on the relationship dynamics between Mehar and Sufiya because Sufiya was a lower class than Mehar, and the implications of that. Their relationship was really sweet (it’s a side plot device, not the main story line).
This is a great book about mending broken familial relationships and supporting those we love.

DNF at 25%

I thought I would love this since I am pretty similar to Mehar: I'm an Indian person with divorced parents who grew up in the US feeling disconnected from my culture. However this book feels written for a younger demographic than me, there's a lot of "telling" instead of "showing," and the jokes feel immature at times despite Mehar being 17. I might pick this up later, but for now I wasn't compelled to read past the quarter-point.

This one shouldn't have been as much of a slog as it was. On the surface it ticks all the right check boxes: YA a la Princess Diaries/What A Girl Wants, but make it queer and Desi. Unfortunately the writing was just so uninspired. I could set a clock by the narrative beats the author was trying to replicate and all the meaningless set dressing fluff just taking up space where ANY character growth should be. If it was just a question of mediocre writing that would be one thing, but I'm frankly irritated by the complete lack of depth in any of the cultural nuances of this narrative form the POV of the narrator, to the point that it actually feels appropriative, even though the author clearly has South Asian lineage. I wish it had any of the comedic light heartedness of the trope this is based on, and lacking that, characters that aren't caricatures. Disappointing because this author is one of the few that does ANY sapphic rep in South Asian/Muslim YA.

I picked this up because I had just finished the last season of the show Never Have I Ever and I needed more Desi-rep in my life. This definitely scratched the same itch because, like Devi, Mehar is constantly making a mess of things, making assumptions, and ignoring other people's feelings!! It made it difficult to like her, but like Devi, there are too many redeeming qualities that still make you root for her anyway.

I thought Mehar was harmfully flippant about the potential consequences for Sufiya being openly lesbian/bisexual. Mehar was pushy about it being totally fine, despite having been living in the US for most of her life and not having much of an understanding of the cultural consequences in India and how those might be different than in the US.

I really enjoyed seeing Mehar reconnect with her family and think about how she can stay connected to them moving forward.

I read this author’s book Meet me in Mumbai not long ago and really loved it. What a Desi Girl Wants shares some of the things I enjoyed about Meet me in Mumbai: there’s a teenage girl trying to understand her own family history and how she fits into it.

In this book we meet Mehar. She lives in the United States with her mom and doesn’t see much of her dad who is Indian royalty.
Mehar actually has a lot of issues with her dad as a result of her parents splitting up. When Mehar’s mom took her and moved to the US, Mehar felt like her dad should have come too. But he stayed behind in Indian to take care of his mother. (And, honestly, must have additional responsibilities because he’s a member of a royal family).

Mehar always feels like when she does see her dad that all he does is find fault with her. He didn’t like her last boyfriend, he doesn’t love how she dresses etc.

And now Mehar’s dad is about to get married again. He’ll have a perfect step-daughter and I think Mehar is jealous but can’t put a name on it. She feels like her dad isn’t that connected with her, they don’t live close together, and they don’t have anything in common, his new step-daughter might be the kind of daughter he’d actually want.

But Mehar does decide to go to India for her dad’s wedding. She will stay a month during her winter break.

When she gets there, she connects with her grandmother pretty quickly. But she is very suspicious of her soon-to-be-step-sister. And the readers will be suspicious of her too. We go back and forth a lot on whether we can trust her.

Mehar also starts falling for Suffiya which isn’t as accepted in India as it would be in the US.

Throughout the book, Mehar starts seeing everyone differently. Maybe she can reconnect with her dad. Maybe she should have stayed closer with her grandmother. Maybe she should have listened to her dad’s side of the story too and not just her mom’s.

Mehar is grown up now and getting to know the other side of her family feels like it might help her understand herself better because her dad’s family is part of who she is too.

I enjoyed the book but l’ll admit to liking Meet me in Mumbai more. Luckily, I already own a third book by this author and I look forward yo reading it soon.

I won a copy of this book in an Instagram giveaway. Thanks!

Mehar doesn’t have the greatest relationship with her father. Ever since her mother left India with four-year-old Mehar in tow, things have been strained. When Mehar’s father visits them in Newton, Kansas, he’s full of judgement and criticism. There are always fights between her parents and fights between Mehar and her father. During his last visit, Mehar said some terrible things to him, and she hasn’t spoken to him since. What she has done is stalked Aleena Obaid’s Instagram account. Aleena’s mother is dating Mehar’s father; Aleena calls Mehar’s father Daddy and her social media feed is filled with the three of them as a happy soon-to-be family.

Mehar doesn’t know how she feels about being replaced. She’s even more unsure when a wedding invitation arrives. Her mother, though, encourages her to go, to visit her family and India. While she’s never been away from her mother so long, Mehar is actually looking forward to going, to making up with her father, to seeing her grandmother again, and to seeing India itself.

And … everything is almost perfect. Her grandmother is lovely and warm and so very happy to have Mehar there. Her aunts adore her (well, except one), her young cousins are a delight, and Mehar is fascinated to learn more about her father’s side of the family. Her heritage, her blood, her culture. She also has a small — tiny, even! — crush on her grandmother’s assistant, Sufiya.

She also loathes her soon to be stepsister, Aleena, who is determined to make everything about her, who mocks Mehar for her ignorance and her American-ness, who judges her and deliberately takes unflattering pictures of her for Aleena’s Instagram, all while hogging Mehar’s father. It’s hate at first sight. Sure, Mehar’s jealous. Her father found the perfect Indian daughter to replace Mehar, the perfect Indian wife to replace her mother, and she’s fine with that. It’s all fine. Just peachy. Mehar isn’t the only one gritting their teeth about this wedding, though, and she isn’t the only one who doesn’t like Aleena. Maybe someone should say something; maybe someone should put a stop to this wedding.

What a Desi Girl Wants is a Young Adult book taking place in the middle of a boisterous, loving Indian family with so much food, so many clothes, and lots of servants. There are nods to classicism, with the wealthy Nawab family and their giant palace — a palace so giant they’ve turned a portion of it into a hotel and museum because they simply don’t use as many rooms as they used to. They are a family with vast inherited money steeped in traditions and a rich, tapestried culture contrasted both by the single parent household of Mehar and her mother, and the servant Sufiya, who doesn’t dare set a foot wrong lest she lose her job, and thus they money her family relies on. But they’re only nods, much as the brief and somewhat token nod to the complicated existence LGBTQ+ people face in India.

The main focus here is on Mehar reconnecting to her father’s side of the family — to a grandmother who adores her, aunts who welcome her with open arms, and a father who will throw money at her in lieu of spending time with her. A father who, for all that he wants Mehar there for the wedding, to have fancy clothes and to have a good time, makes very little effort to spend any time with her. It’s a feeling of estrangement well built up and explored on Mehar’s side, but the resolution of this conflict felt unearned, as Mehar’s father hadn’t really done anything more than exist and be both dismissive and judgmental through much of their relationship.

Mehar and her grandmother, on the other hand, have a lovely rapport. Mehar thrives under her attention, loves hearing her stories and spending time with her, loves being indulged and wanted by her. Their talks about her grandmother’s role in her parents’ unhappy marriage feel a little too easily resolved, but the story isn’t about the divorce as much as it is Mehar and her Indian heritage.

Sufiya and Mehar have an easy friendship that slowly becomes something more, though not without its difficulties. For Mehar, raised in America, certain of her mother’s acceptance, falling in love with a girl is as easy as falling in love with a boy, were she so inclined. For Sufiya, it’s much more nuanced, as Mehar is the granddaughter of her employer, belonging to another class altogether. Mehar doesn’t have two sisters and parents relying on her job, relying on her to make connections and a good match in order to continue to support them. Mehar won’t be the one in trouble if Mehar’s grandmother disapproves of the relationship.

However, none of that is ever dealt with, much as with the wedding itself. The whole book takes place during the weeks leading up to the wedding. The story ends before the wedding and before any real resolution. Not every book has to have a message, of course, but I felt like the book just trailed off in the middle of the sentence, leaving me just sort of sitting there. For all that Mehar’s mother mentioned, pointedly, the marked division between the upper class in their palaces and the immense poverty just outside, there was no other comment. Mehar seemed to neither notice nor care; not that she had to, but why make it a point early in thebook to have almost nothing to say about it, later? The only focus on this book, beyond the bonding with her grandmother, felt like it was on the lavish, beautiful, and expensive clothing and jewelry, and all the food that Mehar was served. I don’t know what this book was trying to say, and I don’t know what to take away from it other than that Indian weddings have a lot of clothing changes, a lot of food, and cost a lot of money.

The writing is good, the pacing is a bit fast — days passing between chapters without comment — and it really did feel like everyone was always busy with preparing something. I appreciated that the Urdu words were used freely without spoon feeding the translations. I just feel like so much is unresolved. It was an easy book to read, but I don’t really recommend it.

I found this book to be well written and enjoyable to read. Sabina Khan does a great job again creating a wonderful immersive experience for the reader. She doesn't shy away from harder topics and presents potentially more unfamiliar cultures in a way that is easy to follow while still seeming to stay authentic. The only complaint I see is that the ending does not seem to be complete. There seem to be a number of loose ends that while not integral to the main plot are still relevant and are left hanging. Still, this a great read and worth checking out.

What if Princess Diaries but Indian and gay??

Maher is the daughter of a Nawab in charge of the Taj Mahal in Agra, India, but she has been living in a random town in Kansas with her mom! She finds out from Instagram that her dad is marrying a socialite, Naz, and her influencer daughter, Aleena. When she gets invited by her dad to come visit for the wedding, she must deal with fitting in, reconnecting with her family (especially her dad and his mom), and maybe finding love.

This Sapphic story is a cute romp through Agra and the Palace they live in. You will be drawn in by the nuanced discussions around fitting in, whether by family, class, or society as a whole! Check this book out!

Thank you to Scholastic, Scholastic Press, and NetGalley for allowing me early access to read this book.

I had really enjoyed The Love And Lies of Rukhsana Ali, as well as Zara Hossain Is Here. After those two extremely emotional rides, it feels like Sabina Khan is rewarding her readers with a romcom.

What A Desi Girl Wants is, to little surprise, an updated What A Girl Wants with all the glitz, glamour, and unfortunate news stories. Mehar hasn't seen her family since she left a decade ago under poor circumstances, and her father's getting remarried, while her dadi's not doing well. Mehar can't skip the wedding-- but from what she knows of her soon-to-be-stepsister, she doesn't like her. She's determined to dislike, and determined to blame.

What she views as set-ups, condescension, and general rudeness sets her even more firmly against her soon-to-be newer family. While she finds comfort in seeing familiar faces, spending time with her dadi, learning about their family, and practically with her dadi's assistant (similar teenage age? early 20s? it's never quite spelled out), Mehar is still a YA protagonist who's going to be growing,
That means, of course, she's going to be making the same mistakes-- mostly with eavesdropping and jumping to conclusions. While things work out eventually, they do end up causing disruptions in her relationships, and she does not learn the first time.

Mehar at the end, has a wider picture of her world, and how it was shaped by those she loves, as well as her own biases, and how she views people. 3.5 out of 5 stars, rounded up!

mehar hasn’t been back to india since she and her mother left over a decade ago. she doesn’t have the best relationship with her dad, who decided to stay in india instead of going with his family, but when she receives news of his upcoming wedding, she decides she’ll go and try to repair their relationship.

sabina khan is one of my favorite authors, so i was really excited when i found out she’d be releasing another book this year! one thing i love about khan’s books are how family dynamics are explored, and this aspect was definitely prevalent in this book. mehar has a strained relationship with her father since he didn’t come with mehar and her mother to the u.s. the last time she talked to him, she said things she’s regretting now. she’s also not a fan of the woman she’s marrying or her daughter, as she’s sure both of them are just using her father for his money and status. this leads to a lot of tension between everyone, but mehar just wants to make sure her dad will be okay. the moments with aleena, mehar’s almost-stepsister, really left my head spinning. one moment i’d be sure aleena was a bad person, then the next i felt sorry for her. i love how khan was able to write such a complex character despite aleena not being a pov character.

another thing i loved was the relationship between mehar and sufiya. sufiya is mehar’s dadi’s assistant, and the two quickly become friends, before realizing they may also have other types of feelings for one another. this is yet another point of tension, as the implications of their relationship could be profound for sufiya. i really liked how their relationship played out, though.

i highly recommend this to any YA fan!