✨ 𝐑 𝐞 𝐯 𝐢 𝐞 𝐰 ✨⁣
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𝘔𝘺 𝘚𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳’𝘴 𝘉𝘪𝘨 𝘍𝘢𝘵 𝘐𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘞𝘦𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 by 𝐒𝐚𝐣𝐧𝐢 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥⁣
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The moment I saw this title, I knew I had to read it. I’ve always found myself fascinated by Indian weddings, and they synopsis seemed right up my alley!⁣
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I loved so many elements of this book, especially since it is heavily focused on Indian culture and traditions and the beauty that is a wedding celebration. I really enjoyed the family dynamics and seeing teens trying to find themselves while also honoring their family traditions.⁣
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What I didn’t enjoy so much was the romance. 😬 I loved the heroine dearly… until she came into contact with the love interest. 😅 I found both of them very whiny and insufferable and lacking in a real connection aside from having a few things in common. I found myself not rooting for them in any way. The heroine’s relationship with her cousins was much more interesting.⁣
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Overall, this is a pretty cute read! Thank you so, so much to @abramsbooks and @netgalley for my complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review! 𝘔𝘺 𝘚𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳’𝘴 𝘉𝘪𝘨 𝘍𝘢𝘵 𝘐𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘞𝘦𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 hits shelves on 4/19/22!

3.5 rounded up to 4 for exceptionally high sweetness and cuteness levels of this book ( and let’s not forget this ultra adorable cover! )

I have to admit: I enjoyed the previous works of the author a little bit more! But I can never say no to have dreamy experience of a desi wedding! Each step of celebration is perfectly told and made me feel like I was actually there and participating that fun!

Culture, traditions, rituals, family’s expectations are realistically written.
Let’s take a quick look to the plot:

Zurika is likable character who has a big dilemma: chasing her dreams at music or finding a reputable career to please her family! Even though she’s talented violinist with a bright future opportunities ahead of her, her parents want her follow her older sisters’ path to become a lawyer. Now she has a last chance to get accepted by a very prestigious music school but the auditions intercepted with the wedding ceremony of her sister that she’s required to participate at each step of traditional ceremonies and let’s not forget: the groom’s charming cousin is also one of her biggest rivals at the competition. Can she achieve to beat the major laws of physics by being two places at the same time?

So far, it was entertaining, extra sweet read with lovely characters. The romance parts between Naveen and Zuri were also adorable! The ending was well wrapped up!

I love the author’s feel good novels and I’m looking forward to read more of her works in near future!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Abrams Kids/ Amulet Books for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

Let's start with the positives because there, unfortunately, aren't a ton of them. It's always fun to see Asians in YA, and I appreciated the Indian rep in My Sister's Big Fat Indian Wedding. I've been on a reading streak of books about Indian weddings lately, and of all the ones I've read so far, Sajni Patel's book is the one that actually centers around the wedding itself. Patel takes us through different events in the Big Fat Indian Wedding, and I appreciated her attempt to highlight the various traditions.

Unfortunately, the whole book kind of falls flat. For a story about a colorful, vibrant and lively celebration, it's pretty boring. The plot itself isn't particularly strong, and it feels like a bulk of the story is spent describe the wedding events instead of telling an actual story. The writing isn't particularly impressive and needs to be cleaned up in a few areas. There's a huge cast of characters, but they aren't particularly developed. I honestly couldn't remember who was who for the first half of the book because I couldn't bring myself to care enough to commit anyone's name to memory. Zuri’s little sister was probably the most interesting character just because she had a bit more personality than anyone else, but the bar isn't set really high for it. The romance isn't very compelling, and as someone who hates miscommunication as a trope, I wanted to bang my head against a wall when Zuri kept willfully misunderstanding Naveen.

I appreciate the attempt, but this unfortunately wasn't for me.

I really enjoyed this book. I learned so much about different cultures and traditions as well. My favorite thing was the family dynamics. Zuri has an incredibly loving and supportive family but that doesn't mean there won't be conflict. The characters were likeable and relatable. Overall, it was a very sweet and joyful book. It is one that I will purchase for my high school library and use for book talks this spring.

Zurika Damani is an extremely gifted violinist. Unfortunately, within the desi(Indian) community, music can't make a decent living. Her parents expect her to follow in her older sisters' footsteps and study law. Zuri has dreams of being accepted into a prestigious music school and her one chance to audition just happens to fall during her sister's wedding week. Not only that, one of her main competitors just happens to be a good looking cousin of the groom.

I absolutely LOVED Sajni Patel's two books in the Trouble With Hating You series. I was so excited to get my hands on this book! I will say, I was a bit disappointed. The story just seemed to drag and didn't keep my interest like her other books. Maybe because this was more of a YA read? I still appreciated her taking on the bad side of Indian culture, the expectations and old school mentality.
If you've never been to an Indian wedding, this does a great job of detailing the awesomeness that is desi weddings. I wanted to be there, to eat all the food, to dress up, and to dance the night away!
While this took me longer to finish than her other books, I still found it a cute story and definitely recommend.
Thank you to Netgalley and ABRAMS Kids @piquebeyond for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

This was adorable and so super cute. I loved the dynamics of the romance and the ending. If anyone is looking for a cute story for this coming spring/summer then look right here.

This is a fun and adorable YA/emerging adult rom/com that does tackle some bigger issues such as family obligations, expectations and body/cultural stereotypes.

Sajni is one of my favourite author, I love her work and I was excited to start one of her YA novel. It was such a great story, Sajni really knows how to put write a story including inclusive topics. Every teenagers and young adult, need to read this book, it's fun and light. Perfect for a sunday afternoon to chill and remember how weddings are one of the best events ever haha

Thank you so much netgalley for providing me with an arc!! Sajni Patel is one of my favorite author and her books make me feel so relatable. After reading The Trouble With Hating You and First Love Take Two, I was so excited to read her other books and this one couldn't have been more perfect. I absolutely love wedding and it's been so many years that I haven't attended a single wedding, but this book gave me all the vibes. The tradition, the food, family dymanic... I loved it. I felt like I understood Zuri in so many ways. She's independent, outspoken, and being a brown girl, I know those traits are hard for some people to accept. I loved Zuri's passion and how she fought for her dream. I loved Zuri and Naveen's relationship. It was cute and so much fun to read about.

This was such a fun book. Every event of the wedding sounds wonderful that I wish I had been a guest. Zurika and Naveen are very likeable main characters. They are surrounded by great family. Don't be surprised if you finish the book and start watching violinist clips on YouTube.

One of my most aniticpated release by one of my comfort authors , Sajni Patel writes one of the best desi rep and this one was no different . This book was everything i wanted it to be . This book tackles a lot of problems that desi kids face and did it so well , from choosing career your parents want you to do to the deep rooted colourism that exists within the brown community .

zurika is our main character who wants to be a violonist while her parents want her to pursue law like her older sisters , now her sister's wedding and her one of the most important competition is in the same week and now it's about her choosing her priorities , and due to this zurika does stuff that her family told her against but at the end she chooses what she really wants and what is more important to her and i totally rotted for her .

The family values , the cousin bonding everything made me so emotional , done so well that it made me cry multiple times , the romance was quick but still felt developed ( even though i don't think they'll stick in the long run ) the shaadi romance was a really nice and fluffy side plot , i loved naveen like i like all sajni patel's love interests , they are like no brown boys can be .

All in all this book was a delight to read and i would recommend it to everyone <444
Will give a detailed review on all my socials closer to the release date

This all comes from someone whose favorite genres are YA and romcoms.

This book was somehow less than i expected. If you read the first two sentences of the description--"Zurika Damani is a naturally gifted violinist with a particular love for hip hop beats. But when you’re part of a big Indian family, everyone has expectations, and those certainly don’t include hip hop violin."--it feels a little bit repetitive. Like, it says both "hip hop" and "violin" in each sentence, and you are like, wow is that the whole personality for this character and the whole way the book will be structured? And the answer is, yes! It's really pretty flat!

But, i gave it 3 stars anyway because it was easy and sometimes fun to read, and i didn't wish i weren't reading it at any point. It's all fine, just... there's no there there.

I am a big fan of Sajni Patel having read both her adult romances and her other YA book - so when I saw this I knew it was a must read!

To start, I love the cover art for this - it definitely sets the right tone for the story. The book was bright, vibrant, and energetic. Patel did an amazing job of vividly weaving the story so that you felt like you were there for the wedding week festivities - her descriptions left you seeing the bright colors, hearing the beats, and smelling (and dying to try) all the delicious foods! (Was I the only one who needed to throw on some music and dance while reading? It made me want to move!)

Once again, Patel writes relatable and real characters - ones with strengths and flaws and who you are rooting for. I loved the sisters and their truly, real sibling dynamic and Zuri’s cousins and the great friendship.

I adored Zuri’s passion and loved how hard she was fighting for her dream and, as a big Lindsey Stirling fan, I was so excited about the type of music she was passionate about. Zuri and Naveen were so fun to read about and I enjoyed seeing their time unfold. I was wishing for an epilogue because I wanted a glimpse of what the future might hold for the two. Guess I’ll have to hope for another book: college music school romance? 🤞😊

While this was a fun, bright YA romcom Patel still manages to weave in a several important, difficult and highly relevant issues: Fair & Lovely cream and the troubling implications / ongoing issues with that; ‘acceptable’ career paths; inter generation conflicts… I admire her ability to address topics and have them in the story and balance that with the levity of a romcom.

I can’t wait to see what she comes out with next. Thank you to NetGalley and Abrams Kids / Amulet Books for the opportunity to read an early edition. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

DNF at 25%. I really liked two of this authors other books so I had high hopes going into this one. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a let down. I love how this author gives bits of Indian culture and I was excited that this one was all about a wedding. But the book just didn’t flow. The writing didn’t capture me and it was actually hard to get as far as I did in the book.

My Sister's Big Fat Indian Wedding my Sajni Patel is a YA rom-com that follows an aspiring violinist who must secretly juggle the obligations of her sister's extravagant wedding week with auditions for a prominent music contest—all while trying to dodge her boisterous family's matchmaking schemes. I loved the Indian culture shown throughout the book such as the outfits, the jewelry, the food, and traditions. I've been to quite a few Indian weddings and this book made it such as I was experiencing a wedding all over again. The descriptors of the food and clothes made me super nostalgic as well and had me wishing that somebody would get married soon so that I could dress up in a fancy salwar kameez or lehenga and eat all the delicious wedding foods!
Sajni is amazing at writing detailed imagery which makes the reader more engrossed and connected to the novel. Zuri was such an inspiring MC and role model for readers. One thing I loved about Zuri was how she handled the critiques she received from aunties- who can be quite filter-free. Sajni made me fall face first for Naveen and wrote him as an amazing love interest- flirty, cocky, charming, and talented. The story for Zuri from rivals to lovers was one of the best I've seen written. Aside from the romance, Sajni Patel does an amazing job of spinning this tale of a young girl who wants to follow her dream of being a musician. If you love a light, funny, swoon worth love interest, Indian weddings this book is for you.

Okay, so to start off thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read and review this book! I actually got an ARC from this author before and I didn’t love her last book but I wanted to try this one and I loved it! The relationships shown, family and romantic, were done nicely. And I also really enjoyed the diversity in this book. The plot was so good and I recommend this book to everyone! Again thank you to Netgalley for an early copy of this novel! :)))

4.5-rounded-to-five stars!

Sajni Patel isn’t a new author for me. I really loved <i>The Trouble with Hating You</i> and <i>First Love, Take Two</i>, and this book is next in line!

This book is young adult and follows Zurika Damani as she immerses herself into her sister’s huge wedding festivities while grappling with her dreams on the side. There’s a contest for a full-ride scholarship at a musical college, and Zurika wants to show them what she’s made off, right on the heels of a Juilliard rejection. The contest, though, falls smack dab in the middle of her sister's wedding. Zurika's ready with a plan, but it might take a village to pull it off.

Enter Naveen, who shares this dream with her, and off they go on an adventure to show the world what they’re made off — and maybe prove to themselves that their dreams aren’t as far-fetched as they feel. Naveen is in the same boat, and after hitching a ride with the girl who nearly runs him over, a new rivalry is formed! I loved Naveen so much, because he is exactly what I picture a young Bollywood-esque hero as, with his filmy dialogues, looks, and the way he sets out to make Zurika fall in love with him during this wedding week.

Aside from the romance, Sajni Patel does an amazing job of spinning this tale of a young girl who wants to follow her dream of being a musician, which is against any South Asian doctrine — we have the “respectable” careers, and then we have the arts. So many of us have felt torn between these, and I think that watching Zurika be so unsure during her college applications resonated with me because of it — especially given that her older sisters are lawyers, so the bar is pretty high for her!

The whole book spans a single week, so I genuinely felt like I was attending the wedding right with them, and having all of those functions that are made impossible by the pandemic right now means that I could live vicariously through them. Desi weddings tend to be huge in splendor, traditions, outfits, jewelry, food and of course, family. This book is basically a week into desi life!

There’s the intergenerational conflicts, because we see Zurika interact with aunts and uncles and grandmothers. Whether it’s fairness creams, or body hair, or open criticism about desi communities, Zurika brings a fierceness and need for justice to the table that’s pretty much what we would like to say to our families! I loved how she was scrappy, brutally honest, but was still respectful of the other person’s place in her family. Even if she crossed a line, she made up for it, and that balance is so important.

But outside of the extended family, Zurika's also torn and guilty about missing part of her sister's wedding festivities because of the contest. I loved seeing her reasoning play out, and I loved that at the end, she chose what was most important to her, but that didn't mean she had to lose the other as well. A lot of the time, there's this underlying message of "you can have this <i>or</i> that, not both" but that's not always how life works!

I grew up with very little books that were about my culture, or followed desi communities. The importance of traditions even when you don't understand them, the importance of family, trying to carry the culture after emigrating somewhere else are all struggles that immigrant families face. Zuri's character and her motivations are important for the next generation of readers because she brings an understanding to the table — a way for young readers to see themselves in her and be able to parse both sides of the coin.

Being Gujarati myself, it’s not often that I get to read a book with so much Gujarati lore and reference. This book was absolutely filled with it and we’re all the more better for it. There was also respect paid to Zurika’s mother’s Trinidadian heritage, which was amazing to see. I learned a few things and piqued my interest into learning more!

As much as I loved the book, and as much as I did squeal at all the filmy tropes, I did feel that the romance fell a little flat for me. Naveen and Zurika were meant to be introduced (read: match-making) before they fell into this competition, but by the end, I think they become something between friends and lovers, rather than just lovers. I think I would've liked if that was extended a bit to clarify. Other than that, the last two chapters were filled with <i>everything</i> and compared to the pace of the rest of the book, it was a lot. I think the story would've benefitted from a slightly slower end - though desi weddings end faster than you can blink, so if that's what the author was going for, they're spot on!

If you're looking for a Bollywood movie in book form? This is it. It's a whole masala movie, with the sweeping romantic descriptions, the bright colors and chaos of an Indian wedding, and an underlying message that rings true for all of us. Highly recommend!

[Thank you ABRAMS Kids, Amulet Books and NetGalley for providing this book to me in exchange for an honest review!]

This will be up on pop culturalist closer to release week. This is one of my favorite Sajni Patel books. Sajni knows how to write well-rounded desi books and as a desi reader I really appreciate that!

The setting of an Indian wedding was my favourite part of the story. Although the wedding traditions in my culture are different to Gujarati wedding traditions, the atmosphere, large amount of guests, and overall extravagance is all the same. As well as the well meaning relatives that are casually colourist and fatphobic. While I enjoyed the discussions about these topics in the book as well as the overall setting I just didn't connect to the characters the way I thought I would.

This book was one of the more incredible contemporaries I've read, combining the complexities of familial bonds, pursuing dreams, and being an Indian-American.

Zurika Damani is absolutely passionate about playing the violin - so much, that she knows music is her calling, not law school, unlike her parents. But after a rejection from her dream school, she'll do anything for her last chance -including competing in a musical ompetition that just so happens to take place during her sister's wedding. And not just any wedding, but a big, fat, Indian wedding, complete with a horse and bharat (but unfortunately, no elephant). Zurika will do anything to compete, even if being sister to the bride makes it next to impossible, but luckily, she has a loyal band of cousins who are determined to see her succeed and a South African frenemy, Naveen Patel, who seems to equally dissuade and encourage her. Could she really make it through the entire wedding weekend and get into a top musical school?

So there was a lot of good things about this book:

1. The references to Indian culture:
- First of all, they mentioned Fair and Lovely!! Oh my goodness, but I just ABHOR that horrid cream, so its nice to see that someone else does too. (I was just wondering how Zurika got off so easy because I know I would have died if I had done such a thing, so it was nice to see that it ended up being accurate after all)
- The fact that only 4 careers are acceptable in Indian society: medical, engineering, law, and business - story of my life
- The auntie/uncle network: could someone PLEASE explain how this still works to me because it absolutely astonishes me how Indian people can know each other from practically across the country (and in some cases, the world)

2. Indian food and clothes: I don't know if it was because I was Indian myself, but gracious, all that mention of food was really heartbreaking. How could they really have eaten so much good food and not gained extra weight? (And why did the author torture us this way with such descriptions?) The clothes also were so colorful and vivid, and I could easily imagine how beautiful they were.

3. The wedding customs: They had the shoe thing!! Okay, so I've never seen it action, but I have definitely heard about it, and I was beyond thrilled to see it occur in the book, and the fact that it occurred so humorously, I just loved it.

4. Naveen Patel: So obviously, I'm not a huge fan of enemies-to-lovers tropes; it drives me crazy because so many are based on just... I don't know. Randomness?? But this book did NOT do that at all! In fact, the relationship between Zurika and Naveen can be described more as frenemies, and I really, really liked that. They're not sure how to feel about each other because they're "technically" rivals, but at the same time, they both can relate to music not being acceptable as a profession for an Indian, and it draws them closer together even if they are technically opponents.

5. Family bonds: I know that it's a wedding and all, so families are kind of important, but even so, it was still really heartwarming to see how connected they all were with each other. There was loyal cousins, relentless teasing, and the typical sibling rivalry, but underneath, they all knew what truly mattered and acted accordingly. This book really made me proud in that regards.

So anyways, with that being said, I rate this book as 4.4 stars because I truly did like it a lot. I love a good cultural book, especially if its Indian, and I feel like this book definitely was accurate. I love the threads of culture woven throughout, and I love how its not a typical enemies-to-lovers trope. This honestly makes me want to look at some of the author's other work and see how that is, but anyways, for now, I do recommend it.