Really enjoyed reconnecting with the characters of the CMC. Can’t wait to see where this series takes us next.

I tried about three times to read this book but something about it just doesn't help keep me engaged. This is sure to be a good one for those looking for something light, airy, and a including desi (Indian) culture, but unfortunately that's not me.

I might try to pick it up again, or not. This is definitely a case of me, not the book.

I liked this opposites attract, arranged marriage story, in this case, the FMC Payal gets engaged to save her family’s business. The MMC, Aayan, is the youngest son and a little reckless with his reputation. I enjoyed the way their relationship unfolded and went from fake dating to a real relationship with deep feelings.
This was a good read, 4 stars.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed as in this review are completely my own.

Sugar, Spice and Can't Play Nice is book 2 of Annika Sharma’s Chai Masala Club. It can be read as a stand-alone.

Payal and Ayaan know of each other through the Desi community. Both are from the UK but currently live in the United States. Payal recently quit her job to pursue her designing career full-time (thank goodness for her family paying her bills so she is able to do this). Ayaan is seen as the lazy screw-up in his family even though he has a thriving career of his own. He has commitment issues and just broke it off with his girlfriend. They are both on a dating app and end up hooking up for the night. Not knowing, they both get summoned back home to discuss a business merger - including Payal being “sold off” in an arranged marriage to Ayaan. They are unhappy about the transaction but end up using each other to get what they want.

I enjoyed this book. I wish I had paid attention to this being part of the series (especially when I own book 1 but haven’t read it yet). I love all of the supporting characters. The story is well written with great character development but at times it does seem to drag on with lots of repetitive or unnecessary parts. It definitely could have been shorter. At first, I really disliked Ayaan but he really got under my skin and turned out to be such a sweetheart. His family couldn’t be more wrong about him!

I will be going back to read the first book and I look forward to reading the rest of the series!

Ⓦⓗⓐⓣ Ⓘ Ⓛⓞⓥⓔⓓ:
✨️The closeness of her friends
✨️All of the cultural references, traditions, etc
✨Payal’s clothing designs & fashion show
✨Ayaan was loyal and supportive of Payal (even from the background)
✨Nani - she was just amazing!
✨The bond Ayaan has with his sister-in-law

Ⓦⓗⓐⓣ Ⓘ Ⓓⓘⓓⓝ’ⓣ
✨️How PayPal was "sold off"
✨The "break-up" - they were both using each other. It was just so silly
✨️Longer than it needed to be (lots of repetitiveness)

𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝔹𝕠𝕠𝕜 ℍ𝕒𝕤:
Enemies to Lovers
Arranged Marriage
Family Drama
One Night Stand
Fake Engagement
Found Family
Lots of Banter
South Asian Rep
Dual POV

Thank you to @netgalley, @sourcebookcasablanca or the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Following the events of the first book in the near future, this is Payal’s story as she navigates her love life, family and her new business endeavor.

Similar to the first book, the writing style didn’t work for me. It was very descriptive and went into a lot of details about the scenery, clothes, food and most times, I felt these didn’t add value to the story. I wish there was more focus on the dialogues between the characters as well as fleshing out key situations that were the building blocks to the story. This would have helped with the romance as well because it was there as stated, just not felt. The flashbacks were well done as they were concise and with purpose.

The plot isn’t unique as it’s about two individuals finding their footing, while navigating their family’s expectations and finding love in the process. There are a lot of cliches and the reasoning for many decisions are quite expected and simple. I did feel bad for Ayaan because I could relate, however I failed to connect how his personality came to be. The ending felt rushed with all the secrets pouring out followed by forgiveness that felt uncharacteristic for some characters.

Contrary to the series name, the Chai Masala Club isn’t a key element in Payal’s story. Majority of the book passes with a few update messages to the quartet but nothing substantial like the first book. Akash does play a key role near the end of this story, which was interesting as he was shrouded in a bit of mystery throughout. Overall I’m not sure why, but I felt the Chai Masala Club treated Kiran differently than Payal and it felt more connected with Kiran.

This book has a sizable cast including Payal’s and Ayaan’s family and friends. I couldn’t connect with any, which is fine, but I did like how it depicted different family dynamics contrary to the first book in this series. The relationships were quite clear and complex. I wish the ending was more refined such that all characters understood their mistakes and gradually took to rectify them instead of glossing it over.

In the end, ‘m not quite certain I’ll continue this series. The writing style doesn’t work for me although I’m interested in reading Sonam and Akash’s story. I really wish I could have enjoyed these South Asian centric story’s more especially given the cute cover.

This was requested when I first found out about NetGalley and I had requested so many ARCs that I could not get to all of them before they were archived. I really wanted to get to this one, as it seemed interesting. If I can find this somewhere for a reasonable price, I will try to get it! I am giving this book three stars, as I don't want to give it a good or bad rating, since I did not get to it.

Don't let the title fool you, this right here is me as a reader hoping that sugar and spice do play nice as in the case of Ayaan and Payal who get into an arranged marriage for reasons that suit their families, not them personally and their shaky start somehow grows into something and you can't help but enjoy reading about family dynamics in this book.
Thanks Netgalley- I now wish I read the other book, and even better yet, posted my review earlier.

Firstly, this cover is absolutely beautiful!

I have not yet read the first book in the series, but, definitely plan to go back to. While I think this book can be read as a stand-alone, I do think reading the first book will help deepen my understanding of parts of this book.

This enemies-to-lovers romance is such an emotional journey! What starts out as Payal and Ayaan having their own reasons and plans for agreeing to the arranged marriage soon deepens into something more the more time they spend together and the deeper they get to know one another. Will they be one another's happily-ever-after? You will just have to read to find out!

If you enjoy Contemporary Romance, I recommend this book.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the ARC of this novel! All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Payal Mehra and Ayaan Malhotra are desperate to prove themselves to the world and their parents. That is why they both agree to marry each other to strengthen the business merger between their families. While neither of them is a fan of the other, they slowly start warming up to each other.

This book was like a typical starry eyed Bollywood movie plot. There was drama, comedy, and romance. Some parts had me cringing and some had me smiling. The desi representation was also pretty good, with the food, fashion, even down to the family drama and parent issues. Overall, it was pretty fun read.

I loved the South Asian representation in this book through Payal’s fashion line, food and commentary on the culture and what it is like to be a South Asian immigrant. The London and NYC settings provided the perfect backdrop for this story. I appreciated how ambitious, driven and passionate about their careers both Payal and Ayaan were.

I would recommend this for readers who enjoy closed door romances.

To be honest, this started off a little shaky for me. I was really wondering if I was even going to like the MMC, but as you dive deeper, I really enjoyed how the story came together. I did not enjoy the third-act breakup and thought it wasn’t necessary to get the point across. I would recommend it if you’re a marrriage-of-convenience girly. 

Thank you, Netgalley and Sourcebook Casablanca, for this eARC!

Sugar, Spice and Can't Play Nice was a very middle ground read for me. It didn't keep me hooked but I didn't hate it either. I couldn't connect with either of the main characters and I think that's what had me dipping in and out of this story. The initial enemies-to-lovers element of the story didn't seem authentic and as a couple, Payal and Ayaan didn't grab my attention. That being said, I liked the friendships and the chemistry between them all. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

💭Thoughts:
This is the second book in the Chi Masala Club series. I didn’t realize that until after I had started reading. It can be read as a stand-alone, though I’m going to go back and read the first since I think it would have helped with the character development.

I loved reading about the Indian culture- the food, the clothing and the holidays. It’s one reason I enjoyed the cover so much. Payal’s outfit is gorgeous. The aspect of family is strong in this book. I especially enjoyed Payal’s Nani.

The romance was a little slow for me to get into. Ayaan really isn’t the greatest guy and I found it very hard to root for him in the beginning. I found the dual POV helpful in getting to know and understand both MCs and their motivations.

If you like arranged marriages and enemies to lovers, I think you will enjoy this book.

✨ Thank you @Sourcebookscasa for the e-ARC via @NetGalley to read and review.

Pros:
-the expansive south asian representation: foods, rituals, clothing, holidays etc.

Cons:
-just could not measure up the greatness of the first book in this series
-the characters felt flat
-there was very little chemistry between the characters

Overall, I enjoyed this read but it just wasn't very strong. Maybe this should've been a different story.

Sugar, Spice, and Can’t Play Nice by Annika Sharma was absolutely charming and I highly recommend it!

An arranged marriage of convenience between "enemies" who previously hooked up? Sign me up! Payal and Ayaan are both career driven and have what could be described as contentious relationships with some family members. Unsurprisingly, they have more in common than either previously thought. I especially liked the dual POV so we could get a read on both of their inner thoughts. I did think it was a little long and sometimes the passage of time was a bit abrupt, but overall I enjoyed this.

This book really just took me for a ride. I loved the build up, the character development, and the writing. I would definitely read more from this author!

Sharma's romance novel is nicely written, with a tight sense of narrative and not, as too many others, with too much exposition. However, I found it very difficult to warm to her characters. Ayaan behaves like the brat his family thinks he is and he doth protest too much. I also don't enjoy a romance where the hero, in the opening scene, has been sleeping with another character.

I think this is the first Netgalley book I am giving 5 stars. It was written so well, I was never bored, I didn't really find myself glazing over pages, and all the characters blended together beautifully. I normally always have complaints with books, but I really can't complain here! The only complaint I have is I wanted more in the epilogue haha, but since this is part of a collection I assume going too far into the future would ruin the flow of the next set of books...guess I'll just have to stay up-to-date with Payal's friend group (CMC) in order to see where this couple goes next!

In terms of business partners, platonic partners, and romantic partners, Ayaan and Payal work so well together. They have their issues, yeah, but every issue that was brought up was completely reasonable to me and they found ways to work through them.

Sugar, Spice, and Can’t Play Nice is the second book in the Chai Masala Club series.
This one features Payal and Ayaan as they fake an engagement to please their parents and further their careers.

I loved the chemistry and the banter between these two and the dual-POV helped to see how perfect they were for each other. Fake dating is my jam and their previous encounter really added another layer of tension between them and it just worked so well. I really loved Payal’s passion for fashion and how focused she was on her goals, and I adored how supportive Ayaan was of her.

Overall, I enjoyed this one even more than the first, and it was an absolute five star read for me. Loved it!

Thank you so much to Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley for this arc in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.