Thank you to the author, publisher and @NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

My god, Nisha can write STEAMY and SPICY and still make you feel your feels. Veera and Deepak were a phenomenal end to this series.

Veera fell first, but Deepak fell HARDER and that ONE BED SCENE? Thank you for that Nisha 🫶

If you’re looking for Shakespeare inspired romances, start here and then follow up with Chloe Liese’s Wilmot Sisters.

I typically don't love friends to lovers books, but this definitely worked for me. Veera and Deepak were best friends until one day he's engaged and she's been fired from her job and her world just falls apart. She leaves to travel the world with her twin sister and after one little shipwreck, the only person she can think to call is Deepak.
Deepak's life just blew up. His "fiance" dumped him via social media and there is a PR nightmare, so when Veera calls him, he hops on a plane because he just wants to be close to her. After too many shots they are getting real fake married and both of them have a hard time trying to understand why they weren't together all along.
I love a good drunk married trope, especially in Vegas, but India totally works for me too. Especially when these characters were so obviously obsessed with one another. My whole body would swoon everytime Deepak would talk about his heart hurting and his panic attacks and not realizing he was just so deeply in love that his whole body ached with it. I loved that there was no third act break up and no miscommunication here. They didn't let anyone tell them that thier connection wasn't stable and they were totally committed to one another. Another great Desi book for me to be obsessed with.
Thank you to Avon, Netgalley and Nisha Sharma for this early copy.

Did I finish this book or did this book finish me? This book was everything I needed!
But for real, this book was perfecttttt! Literally had everything I love: marriage of convenience, desi romance, found family, billionaire romance, & so many I can't think of it my head is spinning
Absolutely NO critiques
I just knew I'd love it l'm so sad to see this series come to an end

I loved this so much. I am a big fan of Nisha Sharma and this one was a highlight. It reminded me of Colin and Penelope from Bridgerton season 3 but fake dating and Indian version. I remember Sharma saying the book was like that on Tiktok earlier this year. I will be purchasing a physical copy.

Marriage and Masti is everything I've been wanting in romances lately: heat, chemistry, pining, and friends to lovers! This is a book I'm proud to have on bookstore shelves.

I loved the opening with a “yacht-wreck” and from there the action was always moving. I tore through this book in just a couple days, eager to see where the story was going. The examination of what it means to be the last single person as all your friends are entering committed relationships and particularly the family dynamics around the expectations for “life milestones” were very impactful for me personally. Sometimes I find friends to lovers overwrought, but here I understood how the cultural factors made it more difficult for the leads to express their feelings for each other. I also enjoyed the spice - no one writes a bedroom scene quite like Nisha!

I absolutely devoured Marriage & Masti. This is definitely my favorite of the series (even though I think all 3 are great). Veera may have fallen first, but damn is Deepak down bad lol. Their love felt so genuine and true, even though their relationship started a bit unconventionally and despite Deepak being absolutely clueless a while lol.

I also really loved that this book touched on how it feels to be a successful, single woman and how that can feel both exhilarating and lonely at the same time. I loved seeing Veera stand on her own merit and show her brilliance.

This whole series is so well done. From the romance, to the culture, to the friendships- I love everything about these.

Highlights:
- Romance: MF
- Accidental marriage
- Friends-to-lovers
- She falls first, he falls harder
- Only one bed
- Romcom

Thank you to Harper Collins & Avon Books for a review copy. Decision to read/review was my own. Opinion is my own.

I hate that this series is ending. This was such a good conclusion to the Aunties were Shakespeare series. I think tis FMC was certainly my favorite. I love a forced marriage of convenience....

Thank you NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Overall, I enjoyed the book and very much appreciate the representation of South Asian characters in a space where they have been underrepresented. Marriage & Masti was a fun and lovely end to the trilogy. I only wish we would have learned more about Deepak, including how and when he realized he was in love. I also found the emotional evolution of Veera and Deepak's relationship from friends to lovers to be somewhat rushed and wished for a bit more insight on their thoughts as they navigated this transition.

Audience: Adult
Plot: 4.5 out of 5
Characters: 4.5 out of 5
Spice: 🌶️🌶️ out of 5
Keywords: Romance, Friends to Lovers, Fake marriage, Billionaires, South Asian women, LGBTQIA representation
Tea Pairing: Classic Chai, with a Blueberry scone for Deepak

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley from Avon and Harper Voyager. Thank you! All opinions are my own.

This is the third and final book in the ‘If Shakespeare Were an Auntie’ series. And I’m kind of sad that this is the last one — I loved this series so much!

Marriage and Masti is inspired by Twelfth Night by Shakespeare. It tells the story of Veera and Deepak, who were introduced to readers in the previous two books. Veera, a smart savvy business woman is traveling with her twin sister Sana, and they are shipwrecked. Veera calls the last person she wanted for help—the handsome billionaire, and former best-friend, Deepak Datta. Deepak flies to her rescue, which sets off a chain of events where sparks fly, and hearts are mended.

I enjoyed this book so much — I loved how the relationship between Veera and Deepak progressed throughout the book. I felt that Veera’s relationship with her sister was so relatable, especially how sisters can bring out the best and worst in each other.

Since this is the story of Veera and Deepak, readers don’t necessarily have to have read the other two books before reading the third. However, all three stories are interconnected, and they do provide some context with regard to Veera’s friends Kareena and Bobbi.

Loved the Aunties—we got the same fun banter like the other books, which was great. I really enjoyed reading about the cultural and religious ceremonies that were featured throughout the novel. I would definitely recommend this to fans of contemporary romance, and to anyone who may have read and enjoyed Dating Dr. Dil, and Tastes Like Shakkar. Nisha Sharma is such a fantastic writer, and she is one of my absolute favorites.

I have loved every book in this series from Dating Dr Dil to Tastes Like Shakkar. I think this one may be my favorite. I just adore friends to lovers. Deepak and Veera have been friends and were very close into he got engaged without telling her. He didn’t realize she had feelings for him. I love her fake marriage trope where one is very much real married and trying to woo the other. The romance was so on point and very specific to her which confused her since was trying to keep it fake cause she didn’t want to be hurt again.
This was just so good. They were so good together once he convinced her he was serious. Loved this!
Also we finally find out who the gossip columnist is. Don’t worry there was a lot of family drama and the aunties are never far.

I am not a diehard Shakespeare stan. I cannot insult you with Shakespearean quotes, I haven't read the majority of his tragedies (or even most of his comedies), and my understanding of the Shakespeare historical era are weak at best. However, none of that is true when it comes to Twelfth Night, which is the only play I've read multiple times, and for my own personal enjoyment. And I've got to be honest, while I love a good fake romance/marriage of convenience set in the modern era, this didn't deliver that Twelfth Night goodness that I wanted. I was entranced and reading it because I loved Veera and the assorted cast of characters we've met since the start of this series, but somewhere around the grand declaration of love I just wasn't having it anymore. Certainly recommended if you enjoyed the first two books in this series, or Nisha Sharma books in general, but it wasn't my favorite.

3.5 stars

I am thankful for the arc! I haven’t read the other books in the series so my review is only based on this book.

This book was a really fast, one sitting read. I have really mixed feelings about the story. I really adored Veera and Deepak but I disliked every other character to some degree (except Deepak’s father - his mom was likable until she pulled the do this for my son move that reminded me of mother in laws in every show that will sacrifice their daughter in laws in a heartbeat for their sons). They all irritated me by their actions that lacked any actual empathy or sympathy for Veera beyond words. So much of this, in fact, every bit of this book was extremely predictable. Almost every scene felt like it was plucked out of a Hindi show or movie and then was sprinkled with sex. Even the ending was so Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai coded with how easily everyone forgives each other and are a happy family.

I think I’m so annoyed because the characterization of Veera is so perfect for a great storyline of growth and development but the story was just filled with cliche after cliche. Her situation with her dad is such a common experience that could have been so nuanced but it was treated like a Disney villain arc. A lot of the romance scenes once or twice would have been swoonworthy but being able to predict/clearly visualize which movie/show every scene came from ruined the effect of this being Veera and Deepak’s love story. It felt so generic. Veera was also giving every “bahu” (daughter in law) in every daily soap that was honestly a disservice to her characterization. She forgave everyone at a drop of a hat for hurting her every five minutes when they had done nothing to earn it (specially her twin, who I despised every second of the book).

Deepak was a highlight easily for me, it’s so easy to like him but he also falls victim to the every moment is taken from a show/movie where his actions feel fake and overly trying to be the “men written by woman” vibe which lessens the romance impact but this is probably only a issue if you are also a desi grown on bollywood content. I wish he had been firmer and stayed a bit more the authoritative businessman from the beginning of the book at the end instead of randomly turning into this golden retriever cheerleader for Veera, Sana, and Olivia (which Sana specially did not deserve at all).

I liked the book overall but I wish it hadn’t been so predictable and overdone. I wish we had explored more of Veera’s emotional struggles instead of them being throwaway lines said to Deepak that made him coo at her. I wish we had also gotten to see more of Deepak’s struggles as the expected heir that caused him to be so oblivious for so long. His sudden switch for Veera felt unearned. His forgiveness of Sana and Olivia also felt the same.

Marriage and Masti by Nisha Sharma is a standout finale in her hugely popular If Shakespeare was an Auntie trilogy. A creative retelling of Twelfth Night, this book sees two best friends, Deepak and Veera, getting married on a whim while abroad in India and using the arrangement as a way to advance both their career goals.

Filled with humor, heart and heat, this spicy friends to lovers, dual POV romance was entertaining and lighthearted with cameos from other couples in the series. Great on audio narrated by two standout South Asian narrators, Vikas Adam and Soneela Nankani, this is one not to be missed and is sure to satisfy fans of authors like Sarah Desai and Sanji Patel.

Highly recommended to libraries looking to diversify their romance collections and for fans of contemporary romance told from South Asian perspectives. This book also contains some parental neglect and open door scenes, which may be difficult for some readers. Regardless, romance lovers who have enjoyed the first two books in the series will not want to miss this outstanding conclusion which contains a heartfelt author’s note at the end.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

I had to put it down around 33% of the way through. This book dives into a modern Indian romance with a fun twist, starting off with a fake marriage. The story itself is intriguing, but the writing can feel a bit too literal at times, making it drag a little. That said, the characters and cultural elements are spot-on, so if you’re into contemporary romance, it’s still worth a read.

Two of Veera Mathur's best friends have married two of Deepak Datta's best friends. And they've been hanging out. Quite a bit. Which is why it's a shock that he's going to be marrying someone else. Someone she didn't even know he was dating. Oh, and their father's are merging their companies. And Veera's unceremoniously out of a job. Plus, her two best friends are married women which means they are part of a community that Veera can't be a part of. What is she supposed to do? Well, she can take off and travel the world with her twin sister for eight months getting ready to build their business. She doesn't expect to end up in a yachtwreck. But that's where the book opens. With both of their purses at the bottom of the sea, Veera only has one option for who can help.
Deepak is ecstatic to have something to do. His influencer fiancée just broke up with him via TikTok. Why not fly to India? At least he can catch up with his best friend. And why not get drunk and then demonstrate a marriage ceremony for an elderly couple renewing their vows? Except that the ceremony is real. Even if they're not legally married, Deepak is strangely reluctant to do anything to rectify the situation. Even though Veera keeps calling it a fake marriage, Deepak, while fully realizing this might help him in his bid to become CEO of their parents' company, is actually just as happy to stay married.
Of the three books in this series, this was my favorite. I was disappointed that we didn't get more with Veera's father but I really did enjoy this story. I think because Deepak and Veera had such a good relationship when the story opens. Also, Deepak is fairly certain from the beginning that this his end game is going to be Veera.

Four and a half stars
If Shakespeare Was an Auntie #3
Follows Tastes Like Shakkar
This book comes out August 27, 2024
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley, and Avon and Harper Voyager
Opinions are my own

Veera has been traveling around the world trying to figure out her next move after being fired from her father’s company. To add to the hurt Veera’s best friend Deepak unexpectedly gets engaged, confirming he never harbored any romantic feelings for Veera. When Veera needs Deepak’s help he comes to India and in a drunken and euphoric haze the two end up married. When Deepak and Veera head back to New York they have to decide how to navigate their “fake marriage” so Deepak’s impending position as CEO doesn’t get jeopardized. Neither of their families seem very happy with the abrupt wedding and its effects. As Veera and Deepak come together to prove themselves to their families the two realize how much they count on each other’s love and support. Can Deepak get enough votes for the CEO position? Will Veera finally have enough confidence in herself to do what she has dreamt of, regardless of her father’s opinion?

This romance checks all the boxes with culture, familial expectations and the message of surrounding yourself with those that believe in you. The friends to lovers trope just makes the story that more enjoyable! I will miss this series!

💍👩🏻‍❤️‍👨🏻 Marriage and Masti 👩🏻‍❤️‍👨🏻💍 by @nishawrites

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

I am indeed a little sad as this series (If Shakespeare was an Auntie) is coming to an end. I really liked the book and thoroughly enjoyed it, but a couple of things didn't settle well with me. A part of it might be because I expected a lot as I loved "Tastes like Shakkar." This book is more relatable to early 20s clad. The drunken marriage scene and especially the reason they did it were an offset for me. Deepak and Veera are independent, ambitious, smart people, and hence, it did not make any sense.

Overall, the story was good, and both the main characters were lovable. It gave a complete Bollywood movie feels - the drama , the South asian cultural references, the meddling families.
Veera and Deepak were friends befire they accidently got married, and it's delightful to see them grow fonder for each other, face their career struggles together, overcome their insecurities and fear, and live up to family expectations.I definitely expected more of their heartfelt conversations at times and more romance, but their chemistry was spot on.
This was a classic feiends to lovers and she fell first but he fell harder trope!

Thank you, @netgalley and @nishawrites, for the ARC review.

I have been loving Nisha Sharma's If Shakespeare Was an Auntie series and was so excited to read the final installment, Marriage & Masti. This Twelfth Night retelling is about Deepak and Veera, two career-focused friends who fell out of touch when he got engaged to another woman… then accidentally got married after that engagement abruptly ended. But maybe being (fake) married will help their respective careers? And who knows, maybe these (briefly distant) best friends have more chemistry than they’ve ever acknowledged…

This is the couple I’ve been dying to read, especially after the cliffhanger at the end of the previous book, Tastes Like Shakkar. Something about Deepak and Veera told me they’d be an incredible couple to read about, and they did not disappoint!

Tropes & Narrative Devices:
- Friends to lovers
- Fake marriage
- Marriage of convenience
- Only one bed
- Twelfth Night retelling
- Interstitial content (article excerpts; text exchanges; etc.)
- Third-person narration

What I Liked:
- Deepak and Veera! I just love these characters so much. Getting to know them in the previous books, I already had an idea of who they were and had high expectations for their relationship arc. Veera, in particular, surprised me a bit here. She’s not quite as shy as I’d previously pictured her; she has grit and acerbic humor and is a “brat” according to Deepak. For his part, Deepak seems so cool and collected on the surface, but there’s more to him, and I love how soft he is for Veera. Their friends-to-lovers arc is so cute, especially against the backdrop of being fake married.
- Indian and Hindu wedding and marriage traditions. I’m neither Indian nor Hindu, but I loved learning about the culture here, particularly about weddings and traditions surrounding marriage. There are so many ceremonies and customs, so much jewelry, so much family involvement. I enjoyed getting to know more about the culture and seeing how involved Deepak and Veera are with their community.
- Navigating complicated friendships and family relationships. In addition to the romantic partnership at the center of this, there are also some complex tensions with friends and family. Veera has a toxic relationship with her awful father. Her twin sister, Sana, is an important relationship that goes through some tough spots here. And Veera’s friendship with Kareena and Bobbi has also become fraught in the past year. It’s a lot to navigate, and I liked seeing how things work out.
- Seeing the three couples all together. I’ve loved these books and these characters. It’s a joy to see them all interacting with each other now that they’re all coupled up!
- Challenging the patriarchy. Veera never backs down from calling out sexist people and customs in her culture, and I like how she and the other characters navigate those in ways that feel more modern. Maybe her mom’s generation isn’t there yet, but Veera and her friends are able to blend feminism with their culture. This includes both within their marriages and in the workforce. These women are leaders and deserve so much more respect.
- Those interstitials! Throughout the series, it’s been a riot to read the intermittent articles from W. S. Gupta, text exchanges between the various characters, and more. They offer fun insights into what’s happening on a larger scale and in the background. They also give the impression that their lives are so much fuller and richer than any concise novel could show. It makes the world feel that much more vibrant and real.

What Didn’t Work for Me:
- Nothing, this was great!

Final Thoughts
Marriage & Masti is a wonderful way to end this trilogy. I loved Deepak and Veera, their friendship, and the chemistry that sizzles and helps make their fake marriage real. They have full lives, with family and friends, their careers, and all the little quirks that make them unique. This was a joy to read, and I’ll miss these characters now that the series is done.

✨ Marriage & Masti by Nisha Sharma ✨

I absolutely love the If Shakespeare Was an Auntie series and OH MY GOSH this was the most perfect way to conclude an amazing series!!! This Twelfth Night inspired contemporary romance is full of friendship, family, undeniable chemistry and of course…Aunties!

💍 Marriage of Convenience
💖 Friends to Lovers
🎭 Twelfth Night Inspired
📚 If Shakespeare Was an Auntie
💼 Boardroom Drama
🌶️ Blush Worthy Spice

As a lover of both Shakespeare and the Romance genre, this series has been an absolute joy to read! 100% planning a reread soon and I can’t wait to see what Nisha Sharma comes up with next!

Thank you so much Avon for sending me an advanced copy!