One thing that I will love every iteration of is a fake dating story, especially when the MCs are reluctant to admit that the relationship is more real than they ever bargained for. MAKE THE READER WORK FOR IT!!!!!! This was an incredibly cute romance!!

This is the second book I read by this author and while I did end up enjoying it, it took a moment for me to. Veer irritated me to no end in the beginning. He acted as if Harsha blackmailed him into pretending to be her boyfriend when she only asked and offered money that he accepted. His hostility and coldness was annoying. Once he got over himself, I enjoyed the book more. Their relationship was cute and the steam was good. I liked the supporting cast as well.

Such a fun rom com with an all South-Asian cast! The perfect follow-up to Swati Hegde's debut novel, Match Me If You Can. If you are a fan of fake dating, forced proximity/only one bed romances with a big Desi wedding, you will love this story. The whole thing is so cute!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I knew I had to pick this up as a fan of South Asian-centric romance and as someone whose family is from Bangalore. I also grew up watching Bollywood movies, which made the premise really interesting to me. In the end, the story was quite solid and I enjoyed the reading experience, but the plot didn't have any major standout elements to me. Therefore, I'd give it somewhere from 3 to 3.5 stars. Harsha and Veer's romantic trajectory follows a pretty standard fake dating timeline, although I would have liked a bit more buildup of their feelings and a little more exploration into their development as both individuals and a couple. I did, however, really enjoy some of the explorations of different family dynamics and the LGBTQ+ representation. Overall, I do think this could be an enjoyable read for anyone looking for a fake dating story with some family drama mixed in!

Overall, this book was a solid read for me, but not one I completely fell in love with.

I really enjoyed the overall premise and cultural aspects of the story. The characters were a mix of loveable and frustrating, which made for a nice balance of sweet and tense moments. The story definitely had a lot of potential, but something about it just didn’t quite hit the mark for me.

The character development and plot felt a little too surface-level, which made it hard for me to feel the chemistry between the FMC and MMC. The pacing also seemed a bit off—fast in some parts, slow in others—which made it tough to really dive into their story and become invested.

I’m always here for a story about a young woman finding her independence and love, and while this one had its charm, I just wish it stood out a little more.

That said, I think this book would definitely be a hit for the right readers, so would still recommend!

Thank you Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine - Dell for the free eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I received this book as an ARC. This was a really fun, fake dating romance. The build-up was incredible, I loved Harsha and Veer so much! I loved how they both had their own dreams and how much they supported each other. I loved how much Veer really loved Harsha, even before she realized it. I appreciated that the third act conflict was resolved fairly quick. I also appreciated the different family dynamics that were included. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and loved Swati Hegde’s writing.

Another Romance book in February..... Well of course I read them all year around. :)
This book was so good, there were so many feelings and emotions and the chemistry is so hot.
This book definitely gives you the don't judge a person or better yet don't judge a book by its cover, bc Veer and Harsha judged each other and got a surprise.
We get the fake dating, difficult families and a wedding. So much drama and so much fun.
Also, there is a bunch of Indian culture in this book and it was fun to learn and read.
So glad to have read this book it was a fast read for me bc it was so good and held my attention.

There was a great quote from Alan Yang when Master of None won an award for best comedy. "Thank you to all the straight white guys who dominated movies and TV so hard, and for so long, that stories about anyone else seem kind of fresh and original." With romance novels, for so long, stories have been centred around white Americans and Europeans, that it feels incredibly fresh to have such a great Indian novel, with characters who are uniquely Indian and really breathe fresh life into a familiar trope.

Harsha has moved to Bangalore (a city I was not familiar with and fell down a rabbit hole googling) after finishing college at Berkeley and is still trying to find her place in her grown up career as a photographer. When her boyfriend unexpectedly breaks up with her, she has to find a date for a family wedding asap. Enter Veer, her favourite barista, who needs the money to help pay his brother's tuition. Despite feeling resentful that Harsha asks him to lie about his job to impress her family, he agrees. And a fake dating romance begins!

I enjoyed that the characters were so culturally specific - social media plays a role in communicating in a way that felt very different from an American influencer, and there is considerable mention of the nuances of the Indian film industry and that kissing in public is not appropriate around older relatives. I also appreciated that the conflict that the main characters have with their families is not over an arranged marriage - Harsha's cousin Neha does have an arranged marriage, but there is no disagreement between generations on this issue and it is treated as one option amongst many to find a partner. There is also the reveal of a character as LGBT, which is handled very sweetly and kindly.

I do wish we had gotten more of a sense of the perspective of Harsha's parents. She has an ongoing conflict with them about wanting to feel supported, and I never quite felt like I understood where they were coming from or why they felt that Harsha needed to find someone else. I wish I had more of an idea of what motivated them.

Can't Help Faking in Love was such a fun read - I read it late into the night because I couldn't put it down - and I'd recommend it to anyone who loves a good fake dating trope!

"Harsha Godbole has never been dumped like this before."

Harsha Godbole is from a rich family with connections to Bollywood. Determined to make it on her own, Harsha has recently moved back to Bangalore. She's trying to start a photography business and was recently dumped by her rich boyfriend (who her parents probably WOULD have approved of).

Veer is a barista who dreams of being an actor. But he needs to help take care of his mom and brother, who needs money to go to school or he will be kicked out.

After an encounter with her cousin and facing the reality of going to the wedding alone, Harsha decides to put her trust fund to use and hire Veer to be her boyfriend. He needs to money for his brother's tuition so he agrees. They'll both benefit and definitely won't be falling in love ;)

I thought this was a super sweet story. I loved the character growth in both characters and reading about how their love story bloomed. I also loved watching Harsha become who she wanted to be without her parents. I can't wait to read more by Swati Hedge!

Thank you to Random House Publishing group and NetGalley for providing an ARC for an unbiased review.

3.75 stars This is a classic fake dating romance set in Bangalore. She's grown up with a snobby rich family that she's estranged from, he's a barista who is putting his brother through school. Her snobby cousin is getting married. You can probably guess the general arc from here, especially given the title. :)

The first couple chapters of this book I couldn't stand the female main character to the extent that I was dreading getting through the rest of the book. However, she has a great arc and quickly softens and opens up. This book was exceptionally sweet and I loved that it took place in India (I've read a lot of books about the Indian diaspora but having protagonists living in India was a big difference and I found it very different.) .

It's also a great length for a book like this, it moves quickly and I was never bored. I'm tempted to doc a quarter point because of how much I disliked the female main character in the first few chapters but she becomes likable fast enough that I won't.

Thank you to Random House Publishing group for providing an ARC for an unbiased review.

3.5 ⭐️ Swati Hegde delivers the best easy, feel-good escapes to India! I also loved the nostalgic romance quotes from TV shows in the chapter headers!

There were a ton of things I really enjoyed about this book. I loved learning more about Bangalore and Indian culture in general. The vibrant descriptions make the reader want to travel there and see experience it for themselves.

I also loved that the male main character has a gay brother. This isn’t the main plot by any means but it was an important addition and we get to see Veer’s very culturally conservative mother grapple and ultimately accept her son’s homosexuality. I thought it was handled with grace and realism.

I think the discrepancy in the main characters’ wealth and upbringing was another aspect that was both important to the story and handled very well. We see Harsha struggle with both wanting to be financially independent from her parents but also deal with the downside of growing up with extreme wealth and then facing the real life difficulties of being poor. The author also brings up the fact of Harsha always having a safety net of generational wealth which is completely different from being poor and from a poor family.

All in all, this was a great book. I thought parts of it were a bit repetitive and I wanted to shout “just talk already” since there could have been a much quicker resolution with some heart-to-hearts but this is a romance book and we needed that third act friction in order to enjoy a happy ending.

Very cute and fun! Loved all the sitcom references in each chapter and thought the representation of Indian culture and family dynamic was very accurate. MMC was such a simp for the FMC which I absolutely love!

3.75/5 ⭐
.5/5 🌶

Such a fun, Indian rom-com! Quick read and chemistry from the beginning! Young, modern Indian characters navigating tradition, unconventional family dynamics, faking their way to love and their dreams. This was my first read by Swati Hegde and overall enjoyed.

Tropes:
💚 Fake dating
💜 Only one bed
💚 Indian Culture
💜 All-BIPOC cast
💚 Big desi wedding
💜 Closed door romance
💚 Complicated family dynamics

Book Blurb:
Harsha Godbole has never felt love from her family, but she’s always been surrounded by their Bollywood business mogul wealth. Now back in Bangalore after studying in America, Harsha is ready to start her adult life without their money. But that becomes impossible when everything she’s worked so hard for comes crumbling down. Fearful of showing up to her cousin’s upcoming wedding as a failure—and worse, a single failure—Harsha decides to put her trust fund to good use . . .

Veer Kannan does everything for his family. He even gave up his dreams of becoming a Bollywood star to get a more consistent gig . . . although working as a barista wasn’t really the big break he was hoping for. It’s a humble life, but a happy one, nonetheless. Then financial aid falls through for his brother’s first year in business school, so now Veer needs to come up with a large sum of money, and fast.

Harsha’s outlandish plan to hire her favorite barista as her fake boyfriend for the weekend-long wedding bash is received surprisingly well by Veer, who hopes this will be his ticket to Bollywood. But Harsha and Veer get way more than they bargained for in this heartwarming journey to finding unexpected love and courage.

Tropes:
Opposites attract
Fake Dating
Slow burn
Bollywood

This book was so fun! A quick and engaging read.

I loved Harsha and Veer, and why they started fake dating. I actually loved that their reasons were meaningful, not just surface level.

Add in A LOT of slow burn, and some Bollywood, and you get a fun rom com that's different than all the rest (in such a good way).

I loved the side characters and the culture written into the story as well. It really made a well rounded book that was fun to read.

Harsha comes from a family of wealth and privilege, but it working hard to make it on her own as a photographer and independent woman. In order to save face with her family, she goes along with her cousin mistaking the local barista, Veer, for her boyfriend. Veer has Bollywood dreams, but works his coffee shop job in order to put his brother through business school. He proposes a deal with Harsha: he will pretend to be her boyfriend for the family wedding if she pays him 500 million rupees. She agrees, not knowing that along the way of fake dating she will behind to feel the chemistry growing between them.

Honestly, this story just didn’t click with me. The beginning encounters with Harsha and Veer were so off putting I don’t see how it was able to turn into love along the way. Their love story just wasn’t conveyed to me as the book progressed. In the end, I just didn’t believe and feel their happily ever after. They seem to have nothing in common other than fake dating, forced proximity, and a commitment to their mutually beneficial ruse. Harsha works hard to benefit herself and impress her family while Veer works hard to benefit his family. Their values just seem in complete opposite of each other. To me, the only reason they end up together is because the author wrote it that way. If I could give half stars, I’d give this 3.5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing-Ballantine for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Swati has very quickly become an automatic buy-author for me. swati has such a great way of writing stories you can easily play in your head and make you feel like you’re watching a romcom rather than reading one. while in Match Me if You Can, the FMC resembled the typical (and loveable) quirky stereotype (think Jessica Day), Harsha is much more of a Cece type, in which she picks and chooses where her soft spots land and she’s very protective of her own self (not to say she is selfish, do Not get it twisted). she is firm in who she is even if it doesn’t always work out for her. it’s always refreshing to read about a main character who knows what she wants, who is doing what she loves to do, and is firm to who she is throughout the entire book. she doesn’t compromise herself or her ambitions to make her life easier for anyone else.

ranting about women because it’s almost galentine’s day #oops let me love on my man Veer really quick because he is a DREAM. i think part of what makes this book and this couple work so well is because while harsha sort of has to take care and look after herself, veer’s role is taking care and looking after the people around him. i love a “i can do it myself” x “but you don’t have to do it alone” couple and this is very much what they are to me and i love them with all my heart <3

the perfect friends to lovers, fake dating book i’ve read in a long time and i cannot wait for more from swati!!

thank you @dellromance for the arc

This was such a sweet fake dating story. I really loved the nods to Bollywood and the Indian wedding. Veer and Harsha had such great banter and chemistry.

This a classic on the fake dating trope. We have our two main characters, Harsha who comes from a rich influential family, and Veer who is an aspiring actor working in a coffee shop. Harsha has rejected her family's money to try and make it on her own as a freelance photographer.. Veer is trying to figure out how to make extra money to pay for his brother's college now that the full scholarship was pulled. This is where the book actually starts to get good, as you expect, Harsha ropes Veer into being her fake boyfriend in front of her family and they fall in love through the shenanigans, It did take me a while to get into it.

This was mostly just fine, but I mainly feel like it didn't really achieve what it set out to do. Harsha starts off pretty unlikable with her spoiled rich girl vibes, and she simply doesn't go through enough character growth. She doesn't want anything to do with her parents if she doesn't have to, but when by the end her dad says he respects her wishes and he then cuts her off from his bank account, she's very hurt and offended. Like Harsha, I'm sorry, but you can't have it both ways. Either you're going to be independent and make your own money with freedom from your parents, or you depend on them, but either way, just make a consistent choice. I think as a reader I was meant to be proud of Harsha for how far she's come, but nothing in her behaviour felt consistent, so I just didn't know what to make of her and had a hard time sympathizing.