Payal is a girl on the verge–of living a life she’s always dreamt of, becoming a rising star in fashion, and…of marriage?!
When her parents insist she marry fellow Londoner and serial dater Ayaan Malhotra in order to save their company, Payal has a choice: stick it to her dysfunctional family but put her hard-earned fashion success on hold…or get engaged to save her family’s fortune and rescue her own dream-come-true life.
Ayaan has always been seen as the reckless spare to his brother, the golden child heir to their parents’ company. A little wild, a little broken, and desperate to prove himself, Ayaan agrees to get engaged to Payal — on the condition that he gets 50 percent stake in his parents’ company.
Neither Payal nor Ayaan anticipate the challenges of keeping their respective agendas behind the engagement to themselves: a meddlesome grandmother, a spurned ex-girlfriend, two families with stakes of their own, a fashion brand on the line, and, unexpectedly, actually liking each other. But as the two race toward an impending engagement ceremony date, they realize that maybe they aren’t just in this for business…and perhaps, love is in the cards after all.
Sugar, Spice, and Can’t Play Nice (Chai Masala Club #2) by Annika Sharma
Pages: 432
Publishing Date: March 2nd, 2023
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
MY THOUGHTS
THANKS TO NETGALLEY FOR THIS REVIEW COPY IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW.
I was in the mood of reading a light romance so it seemed the right choice at that time.
Payal moves to US from UK for school and stayed there while working on her fashion line. Her family shows their affection by paying for all her expenses, otherwise, they don’t have an emotional bond, except for Nani who is close to Payal. Nani is the maternal grandmother but in this book Nani was the paternal grandmother which doesn’t make any sense, I find these kinds of blunders in South Asian Rep really nettlesome. Please, do a little research before labeling the wrong label relationships.
Ayaan is also working on his career in NY. He is not the most reliable and stable person. His family is worried that he won’t be able to settle down in his life. On the other hand, Ayaan is desperate to prove himself and take the reins of his family business.
Both Ayaan and Payal only met once and it didn’t end well. Both of their parents want them to get married for securing a business deal. Payal’s father is desperate to save his business and Ayaan’s father wants his son to be mature. Trade-off wedding is not something they both want, but there is a silver lining for each. Fake dating sounds like a win-win situation for both.
The story was cliche, the same run-the-mill story. The unique element was Cringy Writing. I am all for emotional connections and light romance, but I am not interested in learning about the sizes of organs of both genders. I won’t ever get it why authors think it is necessary to define everything comprehensively. The cringy writing style took away most of the positive aspects of the story. The story didn’t have much to offer so there were filler characters and dragged scenes. I just wanted this book to end, I knew the ending and the cringy writing and one-dimensional characters were getting out of hand.
I could have finished an assignment instead of reading this book.
