Say You'll Be Mine: A Novel

Much better than the last Indian romance I read and just as good as other fake-dating romances. Just with a few Hindi and Tamil words and too many mentions of delicious food!

Dual third-person POV from Meghna and Karthik. I loved watching both of them grow and discover each other and push the other to be better.

There are multiple great examples of Desi relationships and traditions, the author was clearly writing from some experience.

This has some spicy moments but is mainly a slow burn based on emotion and light banter.

Romance books with humor are the best and this one did not disappoint. The story line was so different than any I have read before with the arranged marriage culture. It added a great twist! The author did an awesome job with writing the guy as thinking he knows exactly what he wants in life then it all unexpectedly and surprisingly changes. Reading the internal struggles of both main characters made this book so entertaining.

This book will probably end up being one of my top 2024 reads. Did I read it last year? Absolutely.. But it was published this year and I reread it this year so I get to make the rules!

Have I mentioned how much I love fake dating lately?!?! ! I love fake dating! I love watching two people fall in love, while trying not to fall in love, while keeping that love.secret. It’s swoon gold!

BUT THIS?!? Naina had to go and add my Kryptonite, Cultural expectations and family pressure! Ohhhhh the drama! I am here for this! This whole book is absolutely delightful and I could not recommend it more!

In this charming romance story, we follow two very different people, Megha and Karthik, who pretend to be engaged. Karthik, who has no interest in getting married, proposes the idea to please his mother. Meghna, who dreams of marrying the love of her life someday, agrees to the fake engagement so that she can bring Karthik as her plus-one to her best friend's wedding.

As they spend more time together pretending to be a couple, they start to get to know each other better and their relationship deepens into something more, leading to many sweet and intimate moments together. Breaking away from their traditional family norms, they follow their passions in their desired careers and find out what they want in their life. The story is filled with love, happiness, emotion, taking big risks, and following your heart!

☆ 4 stars

This book is romance all the way! Elementary teacher Meghna Raman’s Indian parents want their daughter to marry. Halfway across the country, New Yorker Karthik Murthy’s Indian mother wants her engineer son to marry. Neither family knows the other. Meghna is still in love with her college sweetheart who is soon to be married to the lovely Julie, a singer songwriter. Karthik has sworn off ever marrying because, above all else, he is fearful he will become cruel and domineering like his father. Karthik senses a rage boiling deep inside himself.

Through the Indian-arranged-marriage-grapevine both Meghna and Karthik end up in Meghna’s parents home in a culturally rich meeting for their arranged marriage. Both Karthik and Meghna agree to fake an engagement for different reasons. For Karthik, an engagement will stop the multi weekly visits to different homes searching for the right girl and for Meghna, she would have her plus one for ex boyfriends’s wedding.

As the fake engaged couple navigate family and social events and the wedding activities, their lack of communication drove me crazy. I wanted to pull my hair out! Just talk to each other! But, then the excitement and sexual tension would be absent and we would be reading a short story.

Sub plots of family concerns, job woes, and a few surprises work well in fleshing out the story. Overall, a predictable romance with the reader having a few pauses that just maybe the results might not be as easily predicted as thought. A three star read for me.