An incredibly enthusiastic 5 stars from me! This is an absolutely incredible debut and I am excited that the world will have the opportunity to read this!

After a meeting set up by their parents, Meghna has no intention of ever seeing Karthik again. However when he calls her a few days later to propose a fake engagement so that he won't get set up by his mom anymore, Meghna sees the perfect opportunity to have a fake fiancee for her best friends wedding, since she still has unresolved feelings for him.

I absolutely loved Meghna and Karthik both separately and together - I think their romance is really realistic and believable, especially since the book takes place over a couple of months (No Insta-love here!). Karthik tells Meghna that he never wants to get married (his dad is a POS) and I loved the Meghna set boundaries immediately and said they couldn't have any type of romantic relationship if getting married someday wasn't an option.

There's also a very "girl power" moment toward the end with Meghna's "best friend" that had me cheering! I am so glad that she was able to stand up for herself and have a really lovely moment with his fiancee.

Read this for:
- Fake Engagement
- Dual POV
- Only One Bed
- He Falls First
- Banter
- Character Growth
-Grumpy/Sunshine

My only slight complaint is: that the POV often shifted within a chapter and there wasn't a clear enough page break to denote that which sometimes left me confused for a sentence or two.

Thank you to Random House Publishing/Ballantine for the eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Please consider preordering this book!!

You would never know that this is a debut novel. The characters were well fleshed out, the storyline moved quickly and it all meshed very well. Meghna and Karthik pretended to be engaged for a couple reasons and then started to have feelings for each other.. Their parents were very emeshed in the culture of India and wanted their children to meet and fall in love or get married and then develop feelings for each other. Meghna wanted to be swept off her feet and when she me Karthik that certainly did not happen. I really liked how Meghna befriended Julie who was marrying Seth (who Maghna thought she loved) and showed her what Seth really was and how he had taken advantage of them both. It was a very enjoyable story to read

I got this book from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review

With the way it was written, it felt so real, Meghna and Karthik felt real. And that’s the part that struck me so deeply. It was beautiful. Every single second of it.

Say You’ll Be Mine

4.25 ⭐️

Fake dating + dual perspective + great character development? Yes please!

Meghna and Karthik decide to team up and fake date to survive pressure of their Indian Families and an upcoming wedding by fake dating. As they slowly get to know each other a friendship slowly starts.

This book had really great characters. I loved the depth that each of them had as they worked through family and friend relationships nearby. Sometimes fake dating books can be cheesy in how they get forced together, and this didn’t feel that way. It felt like a slow burn as the characters took their time getting to know one another even with forced proximity.

Thanks to @netgalley for this ARC!

A delightful debut fake dating romance that's heartfelt, fun, and sexy. Perfect for fans of The Wedding Season and musical theater. A must read!

This was a cute, somewhat predictable fake dating romance. I liked Meghna and Karthik well enough but was not blown away by their chemistry/ yearning for them to get together. I did like the author’s writing style and how the story flowed.. 3 🌟

Anyone remember the 1997 Jennifer Aniston film, Picture Perfect? If you enjoyed the premise of that film, Say You’ll Be Mine is a book that you’ll want to check out! I also saw this book titled Say You’ll Be My Jaan which now that I have read the book made me swoon!!

Meghna and Karthik have their own motivations when agreeing to enter into a fake engagement. The series of events they attend together as a result of their arrangement leads to mutual pining, miscommunications, and eventually love! It also leads to one brilliantly executed ‘there’s only one bed’ trope!

Something I appreciated is that both characters have their own things to work through and the story leaves room for both of them to do so without it feeling rushed.

The ending and epilogue were so so lovely!!!

This book also had some really great supporting characters from Meghna’s best friend Ankita to Paul the intern. Aw, Paul.

I will be checking out the next book from Naina Kumar!

I wish we could have found out what the outcome was for Seth, particularly hoping in my head he experienced consequences for what he'd done.

Some content warnings include sexual discrimination and harassment, manipulation and plagiarism.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Dell/Random House publishing for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

4.25 🌟

Do you ever pick up a debut and wonder if you'll regret it?! You won't with this book!

This fake dating troupe was so well done. Sometimes with romcoms they can be a little cheesy and the convos between the characters can feel forced and that was not the case with this book. Also, I loved the dual perspective from both main characters.

Thanks, Netgalley for the ARC of this book!

This debut modern take on arranged marriage was so cute! It worked well for the insta love trope because of the arrangement part. I love fake dating/marriage story line and Naina nailed it! Plus the two main characters were so lovable and fun to learn more about.
Fun romance that I would recommend to get anyone out of a slump!

Say You’ll Be Mine is a lovely debut novel by Naina Kumar. If you love contemporary romances with rom com vibes sprinkled with Indian culture you will absolutely love this romance! I will for sure keep an eye out for new books in the future released by this author.

Summary: Meghna is under pressure by her parents to get married. Her mother is disappointed in her career choice as an English teacher and always makes comments regarding her career. One day her mother offers to set up a meeting to meet a single bachelor by the name of Karthik. He’s a grumpy, hot engineer who is also under immense pressure by his mom and dad to get married and settle down. After an argument with his father, Karthik proposes a fake engagement to Meghna to get his parents off his back. Meghna agrees only if he will accompany her as her wedding plus one.

The romance is a gradual build which I loved! They took time to get to know each other and it felt authentic not rushed or insta love. They supported each other with their careers and gave each advice. I loved how we could see Karthik opening himself up and falling in love throughout the fake engagement. There were moments when he was getting jealous and I was here for it 🤭

My only dislike was there was a LOT of miscommunication where both of them weren’t discussing how they truly felt and both were hiding their feelings.

Tropes
-GrumpyXsunshine ☀️
-Fake engagement 💍
-One bed
-he Falls first ❤️
-slow burn romance 🔥

Things I loved
💘Indian representation and culture
💘Dual POV
💘the pining and the banter..oh my godddddd
💘I adored the side careers and I’m super invested in what will happen to Ankita(fingers crossed she will get a book)
💘Discussion of therapy towards end of novel- Karthik had a lot of daddy issues and needed therapy working through those issues.
💗HEA

Spice Rating
🌶️ scene happens toward very end of novel.

Thanks to Netgallery for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I am obsessed with books like this, so it is not a shock that I absolutely loved this one. Meghna and Karthik meet via their parents. Meghna wanted to give her parents a shot at finding her a match and Karthik has to endure a year of letting his mom set him up so that she will never bother him again.
At first meeting, Meghna realizes that Karthik isn't a match for her and she goes on her merry way, That is, until she receives a phone call from him "proposing". She doesn't even know what to think, but she needs a date to her best friend's wedding (whom she might still have feelings for) and he needs to look like he is stable so that he can get the job he has dreamed of. They decide that they will go through with it, just for three months, until the wedding.
As each of them learns more and more about the other, they realize they might not be perfect, but they are perfect for eachother. Oh my goodness my heart. I loved both of these characters and the struggles they faced so much. I felt their emotions and wanted to get in there and hug them both. I'm just glad they had each other so I didn't have to. I can't wait to see what comes next!
Thank you to Random House, Netgalley and Naina Kumar for an early copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for providing a DRC of this title for review.

Say You’ll Be Mine follows teacher Meghna and engineer Karthik as they agree on a mutually-beneficial fake engagement– Karthik will be the plus-one to the wedding of Meghna’s best friend, and Meghna will give Karthink a reprieve constant matchmaking attempts of his mother– and discover inconvenient feelings in the process.

I really enjoyed this one! Despite the classic romcom send-up, Karthik and Meghna’s connection felt very real and natural, and I loved how they both grew as people and together in a relationship as well. The last quarter was probably a little bumpier than it needed to be due to some basic miscommunication– and I say this as someone who is a fan of the miscommunication trope in general. All in all, though, this was such a fun debut and one that I would definitely recommend to friends and patrons! 4.5 stars/5.

ARC review! This was so stinking cute. Such a great debut novel! I would say sometimes the “in their head” dialogue would be a bit much and I would have liked more actual banter between the two main characters but overall, very well written and entertaining! Would definitely read more of this author.

Meghna followed her passion and became a teacher instead of listening to her parents and becoming an engineer. When she needs a date for her best friend’s wedding, she agrees to be set up.

Karthik is the epitome of grumpiness and to get his mom off his back he agrees to a year of being set up. He never dreams he will meet someone like Meghna. Even though he can’t offer her something real he offers to be her date, in exchange for her being his fake finance. This way they each get what they want.

This was a cute over the top rom com. I enjoyed the cultural representation. I always enjoy reading about different cultures and learning new things, and this book explained them in wonderful ways. I also enjoyed the humor as it kept me wanting to keep reading and seeing what all the characters would get up to next. The pacing was a bit uneven with parts of it lagging and parts of it rushed. I wish that it would have been more even throughout so it would have held my interest throughout better. I did enjoy the characters. They were likeable and I was rooting for them. I also felt like something was a little too familiar with this story, maybe a little too formulaic for my liking, but I’m not knocking it down too much for this as it is truly hard to be very original. Overall, the writing is good, and I look forward to seeing what this author comes up with next. They are one to watch.

If you are looking for a feel-good rom com with strong cultural roots, then check this one out.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group, Ballantine – Dell, and Netgalley @Netgalley for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Meghna has been content to forge her own path as a teacher and aspiring playwright, against her parents' wishes of her becoming an engineer, but when her college ex-boyfriend and longtime writing partner, Seth, announces he's engaged, she second-guesses her choices. An opportunity presents itself in the form of Karthik, a grumpy engineer who doesn't want to get married (after seeing his parents' terrible marriage as an example) but agrees to go on dates to appease his mother. The two agree to a fake engagement, with it helping Karthik land a promotion and keep his mother off his back and helping Meghna get over her still lingering crush on Seth with a built-in wedding date. But as the two spend more time together, Karthik's prickly demeanor evaporates, even if his anti-marriage views don't, and the pair continue to grow closer.

I love fake dating romances, when the trope is tackled in a believable way, like is the case here. These two's communication issues were frustrating at times, but also incredibly realistic. I could really see how each of them misinterpreted the others' actions and responded accordingly. I shipped them so hard from the get-go and was glad to see Meghna and Karthik get the happy ending they deserved!

Thanks to the publisher for my eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

5 stars - 9/10

This was really a fun engagement of convenience and fake dating novel! I loved the development of both the FMC and MMC. I think they really developed as their own person throughout the book as a result of having met each other. The romance was perfect. If you are looking for a cozy romance, I highly recommend Say You’ll Be Mine!

A sweet fake-engagement romance. Characters felt vulnerable and realistic. Kumar did a good job of making the reader understand and accept the obstacles in the story while still rooting for the HEA.

This was cute and sweet, but missed the mark. I found the MCs insufferable and ultimately this didn’t have the depth I usually want in a romance.

What a great debut novel! Love the dual point of views of both Meghna and Karthik. There was a great dynamic between both characters, and lots of push and pulls as both characters developed and grew throughout their "engagement". Enjoyed the bits of Indian culture in the storyline, and I look forward to reading future books by Naina Kumar.. Would give 4 1/2 stars if I could!

This was a really great debut novel from Naina Kumar. If you're a fan of a slow burn, strangers, friends to lovers, fake engagement - then this one is for you!

The story is told in dual POV, between Meghna and Karthik. Meghna is an aspiring playwright with a "best friend" who she secretly is crushing on. Unbeknownst to Meghna, her best friend, is engaged (and not to her)! He's even asked her to be his best man.

Karthik wants to desperately get his mother off his back and agrees to meeting with women for a potential arranged marriage. It works to his benefit when he meets Meghna who agrees to a meeting with Karthik and they become fake engaged.

Pick this one up for yourself to find out what happens next!

The reason for four stars was because Meghna could not see what was right in front of her with her "best friend." But nonetheless this was a great read!