Desi Wedding Must-Haves: Drama. Food. Fashion. More Drama. More food. And, of course, nosy aunties and uncles
A family curse that turns spoken prophecy into truth.
A world where your soulmate’s feelings appear as words on your skin.
A boy who has to decide whether or not to attend his brother’s wedding even though their parents have forbidden it.
A girl who encounters the boy she loved and lost and realizes where her heart truly lies.
These genre-bending stories focus on the magic (and tension) of the biggest family gathering. Both award-winning and debut authors share stories of broken hearts, rekindled flames, unlikely romances, and one particular auntie who loves to meddle.
From jewel-toned kurtas, music and dancing, to the aromas of cardamom and sugar, one thing is for certain: It’s going to be an incredible season.
My Big, Fat Desi Wedding by Prerna Pickett (Editor), Tashie Bhuiyan, Anahita Karthik, Payal Doshi, Aamna Qureshi,Noreen Mughees, Syed Masood and Sarah Mughal
Pages: 288
Publishing Date: January 16th, 2024
Publisher: Page Street
MY THOUGHTS
THANKS TO THE PUBLISHER AND MLC bOOK tour FOR THIS ADVANCE REVIEW COPY IN EXCHANGE FOR A HONEST REVIEW.
My Big, Fat Desi Wedding is a YA romance anthology with 8 short stories. Going into this book, I thought this would be a cheesy romcom and I was so ready for that but I was surprised to know that fantasy elements were also in the play in a couple of stories.
The Disaster Wedding is about a family where words spoken by women have power, for good or for bad. Jaanu’s elder sister is getting married and the family is so invested in that until Jaanu says something causing so much trouble. For a short story, a lot was going on, Fantasy and Romance, Enemy lover trope, and sibling bond. I liked this one okayish.
A Cynic at a Shaadi is about a teenage girl who is going through her first breakup and lost her trust in love. Despite whatever is going on she has to attend her cousin’s marriage where there are couples, love and people flirting. She hates everyone and everything but that wedding played an important role in gaining her trust in love again. I liked the male lead in this one.
Sehra, this tale is about siblings’ bond. It talks about how every family has different dynamics and relationships. Some limits are not to be crossed but when someone does that, they have to pay the price in one way or another. I wasn’t a fan of this story.
Fate’s Favorites is a fantasy romcom. A world where people start to get feelings of their soul mate on their skin. When one starts to get a tattoo they’ll know that their soulmate is somewhere but not specific. It was an interesting concept and this story felt like a novella. I enjoyed the concept but writing was not my cup of tea.
The Wedding Biryani- Zayna and Zain both are struggling with events that happened in their lives. The coping mechanisms of both are different. Zain is famous and the crush of almost all of the girls. On the other hand, Zayna doesn’t let people into her life. This sunshine-grumpy trope was interesting but for teenagers.
A Confluence of Fates- There is an inter-cultural wedding in this story and the focus is mainly on cultural representation, wedding traditions, and food. Mainleads met each other after several years and their history is mud with misunderstanding and cowardice. So many filler characters made it hard to keep track of important ones.
A Wedding Recipe for Disaster has to be my favorite story in this book. Salama and Osama’s family is an old rival and they are not planning to let it go in the near future. This story is about sometimes standing for yourself and making the right decisions at the right time. I felt the chemistry between characters and I was really rooting for them.
A Very Bloody Kalyanam is a rich fantasy romance story. This story could have been a novella. The world-building was beautiful and I imagined it as a movie. Two vampire clans having South Indian origin is an interesting concept, haven’t read about desi vampires before. It was a good one.
