Reading YA novels reminds why I am so glad I am not in high school anymore. I love them but I am so glad I don’t have to deal with all the teen angst anymore (now, it’s adult angst). Arya was a breath of fresh air: a teen who is really focused on student government, school, friends, and family and not so much romance, although that eventually ends up on her radar. I learned so much about Indian wedding customs and food that I need to find and try. This book showcases how messy families can be but how crucial it is to muddle through and reach out to those that are important to you. This started out a little slow but blossomed into an incredible coming of age story.

Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for providing an ARC for me to review.
I really enjoyed this book. Having only seen one Bollywood movie before, I can't say that I'm familiar with them. but I really liked how the book was set up. I thought the relationship between Arya, Alina, and their mother could have been fleshed out more. I liked the academic rivals to lovers romance, and I also liked that although Lisa and Andy changed roles throughout the book, their personalities didn't change. This was a cute, fun book, and I really enjoyed reading it.

Arya Khanna's Bollywood Moment-a standalone

By Arushi Avachat-debut author

Setting: Boston

Page Count: 320

Rating: 4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Spice: 1/5 🌶️kissing only

Publication 1-9-24, read 1-8-24

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books for this ARC💛 ! I voluntarily give my honest review and all opinions expressed are my own.

✔️ YA
✔️ Rom-Com
✔️Multicultural/Indian wedding traditions
✔️enemies to lovers
✔️family drama

Summary- Arya is happy to see her sister Alina back home after leaving 3 years ago. She is to be married to Nikhil, who loves Bollywood just as much as Arya. Arya is a senior in high school stressing over college, reconciling her BFF trio breakup, and working in student government with her nemesis-Dean Merriweather.
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The characters- I enjoyed Arya and Dean spending time together and realizing their attraction. It makes me think on my own high school crushes I never told. As cute as they are, I also loved her sister Alina and Nikhil's relationship. They supported each other and Nikhil immediately became part of the family. I understood Arya's dilemma with Andy and Lisa. They broke up, so whose side are you on? I respected Arya and Lisa's reunion which was very mature . They talked, apologized, and that was that. Now Mamma was complicated. She was set in her ways and pushed away everyone who didn't agree with her. She was depressed and didn't have a clue how to reach out for help. I loved the cultural ceremonies before the wedding. I had to look a lot of words up for Shaadi, but I could picture their celebrations. Shout out to the movie Bend It Like Beckham, watching it helped a lot.

Overall, I enjoyed this YA novel, but I need the steamy scenes. I need cursing and stupid misunderstandings.

4.5 rounded to 5

This first novel is a very ambitious try at giving the reader a Bollywood film in fiction form. When you consider that one of the elements that makes Bollywood films a subgenre of its own is the lavish musical and dance numbers, with gorgeous sets, swoony songs, and glorious choreography, that is a tough bill to fill. Naming a lot of the great Bollywood films only works if you've seen them, and stopping the action every few paragraphs to insert lists of delicious foods doesn't quite serve the same function.

Still, that said, I loved this diversity-friendly story. Where the author really shines is in the family and friend dynamics, underscored by quite a chorus of aunties. Arya is often a difficult character to like: she's driven, resentful (for reasons) and oblivious to clues, but the author develops her growth arc naturally, and the romance is as sweet as any Bollywood movie romance.

Everything works out to smiles, which is the promise of a Bollywood happy ending, and though we got the dancing without the music or glorious sets, there is enough love for Punjabi wedding culture especially for the reader to want to jump over to Netflix and start checking out those movies. Or rewatching them!

Arya Khanna's Bollywood Moment is a fun and emotional YA book. She loves Bollywood movies and uses them to help her escape. Now Arya is helping her sister plan her wedding and she's learning to let past drama go for the sake of it. Things get complicated for her as her plans don't go as she hoped. She's trying to keep the peace at home and with her friends. She learns that life isn't always a movie and she has to find a way to navigate it. This was a great debut novel and I really enjoyed it!

I loved the culture in this story, especially the wedding events and traditions. I also thought the Bollywood movies seemed fun and I might have to check one out.

The story was cute overall and easy to read. I thought the middle got a little slow and was hoping for more wrap up concerning Arya's parents and her family's relationships with each other.

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All opinions are my own. Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the copy.

Arya Khanna's Bollywood Moment is cute and sweet while dealing with some tough family and friend dynamics. I enjoyed Arya and her enemies to lovers storyline with Dean. Some of the friend and family issues felt repetitive over time, but still explored important things. Overall, this was a good book.

Book 3 of 2024 - ☑️! Thank you to NetGalley,  Arushi Avachat, St. Martin’s Press & Wednesday Books for the ARC of Arya Khanna’s Bollywood Moment in exchange for my honest review!

What an exquisite first novel for Arushi Avachat - this own-voices, YA novel sets a high bar in the genre, as I can confidently say that it’s one of my new favorite young adult rom-coms. It’s marketed as “Save the Date” meets “Never Have I Ever,” and while I can absolutely see the comparison, Avachat beautifully constructs this world and these characters as all her own. Her writing is rich and engaging, and everyone in this world is so three-dimensional. I’ve noticed common traps in which teenage characters can come off as completely insufferable, to the point where it’s distracting to me as a reader or viewer, or there’s the other end of the extreme: they’re so wise beyond their years that they don’t even seem like real teenagers.

Avachat’s characters feel like real, flawed people - despite their faults, you can’t help be root for them. Arya’s family, friends and Dean (which, in the world of YA male main characters, he’ll join my list of great male MCs in YA novels, where Raven from The Raging Quiet has sat for me since the 8th grade) are beautifully diverse in all respects - gender, sexuality/sexual orientation, religion, race. It carefully and honestly deals with familial relationships, and mental health issues. The icing on top of the cake is that this book gave me insight to Desi culture, which I’m mostly familiar with through media depictions, but unfortunately, not deeply familiar on a personal level.

A spice rating is not relevant here. I’m excited to rate this a 5/5 ⭐️ overall. I hope that Avachat ventures into the world of adult rom-coms and rom-drams, because I’ll certainly continue to read her work. This book comes out Tuesday, 1/9/24 - if you’re a fan of YA rom-coms, you won’t want to miss reading this! 🎊 📚 💫 #NetGalley #AryaKhannasBollywoodMoment

This was a sweet and charming YA debut that had me emotionally invested in the characters from the beginning. I learned something about shaadi planning which I knew nothing about. I felt the romance took a backseat to the wedding planning and family tension which was fine by me, but I wouldn't necessarily call this a rom-com. I would definitely read Avachat's next book and appreciate her engaging writing style.

Arya Khanna’s Bollywood Moment was a fun YA read. I laughed so much. And liked the diverse characters in the story. I found it to be very heartwarming. It also is filled with pop culture references which I loved!

I definitely recommend this book if you liked the TV show Never Have I Ever.

Thanks to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for a copy of Arya Khanna’s Bollywood Moment in exchange of an honest review.

There is so much to love about Arya Khanna's Bollywood Moment. The plot and characters are both well-developed, the dialogue and conflicts are believable, and the American high school experience, with all of its studying, planning, and personal drama, really rings true. If you enjoy Bollywood productions, family drama, and YA rivals-to-lovers romance, then this book is definitely worth your time.

This was SO CUTE.
Arya is such a fun character. She's snarky and a little bit of an asshole but still so loving and kind. I really liked her character arc over the book, and I'm really happy with where she ended up.
I loved the romance in this book so much. They were so well-matched and Dean was so so sweet and I just loved them. It had me squealing for the last like 50%. The Pride and Prejudice parallels were PERFECT.
I will admit, at the beginning I was kind of bored, mostly because I think books that take place mostly in high school are just a little too young for me now. But when the romance got really introduced I was completely invested.
The family dynamics in this are really complex and interesting, and I especially appreciate that they weren't easily solved. The issues were messy and deep-rooted and they needed to be treated as such. Also, Arya is so clearly parentified, and I was waiting the entire book for someone to tell her that none of it was her responsibility and I am SO GLAD someone did.
The side characters were so good too. Andy and Emilia have my whole heart, especially Emilia. She was like a black cat in human form and Andy was like a golden retriever. Mindy was a much needed caring adult, and she provided a lot of stability. Alina is messy and cool and real. Nikhil!! I loved Nikhil so much, he was so soft and gentle and kind.
I loved the culture in this story, as we learn about all the different Shaadi traditions and all the different events in an Indian wedding. It was really such a fun time, and everything was described so beautifully.
I was only really annoyed with one or two things at the end, particularly Lisa, but overall this book was so lovely.

Love desi rep especially in YA but this one just did not hit. The tropes were fine but put together I felt very little interest and motivation to keep reading. An overall short read but definitely one wasted, sadly. And they felt very reminiscent of Ben and Devi (NHIE) but just fell flat.

i've seen a couple bollywood movies (courtesy to my college roommate), so i went into arya with expectations of dance numbers, drama surrounding the main leads, and a sweet romance - and arya did not disappoint! i loved learning about so many aspects of desi culture: from the food, to the clothes, to the intense amounts of preparations needed for the beautiful weddings. this book was truly an immersive experience.

though this book is marketed as a romcom, i would say it's equally parts family drama, friend drama, and boy drama. arya faces multiple conflicts throughout this book, and i'm a sucker for a coming-of-age love story that delves heavily into family issues. the family themes hit really close to home for me, and i felt for arya so much. in a way, i looked forward to the chapters with dean because it felt like an escape from the chapters with family that reminded me too much of my own issues with my family.

let's talk romance! i would categorize dean x arya as (soft) academic rivals to lovers and he fell first, both lovely tropes that i eat up every time. they spend the majority of the book bickering, and i think the transition into lovers was a bit rushed? but i enjoyed their romance nonetheless. the indoor picnic date was so so sweet and romantic.

some issues i had with the book were mainly with some of the characters. i simply did not like lisa, the horrible aunties, and honestly, alina! lisa was being really unfair to andy and arya, the aunties are pretentious and prideful and say terrible things to the khanna's, and alina seemed really immature despite being 23.

if you're a fan of ann liang's books, i would highly recommend arya!

overall, this was a cute, quick read that felt very realistic in its writing of high school lives and dealing with the growing pains of graduating, family issues, losing friends, and first romances.

This was a super fun read. Arya is a driven teen in her last year of high school. Between preparing for college and helping plan her sister Alina's upcoming wedding, she's got her plate full. On top of that, her best friends, who up until recently were dating, have broken up creating a rift in their usual friend group. In steps, Arya's school frenemy Dean who isn't quite as mean as he seems and definitely likes Arya a lot more than she realizes.

So the characters - somewhat a big cast of characters in this one which is kind of to the deteriment of some of the character development. It felt like Arya's mom, her sister Alina and her should be more fully developed as a group, and the relationship is there for Arya and Alina, but not so much with their mother. Granted, their relationship is strained because of her mother's depression. It just felt like there was more to explore there. The break up between the two best friends happens before the book starts and we don't know anything about these two characters' relationship, but other than creating some conflict between Arya and her friend Lisa, serves no real narrative purpose. It just gives the adults in her life reasons to give her advice or a reason for her to lash out at others which feels unnecessary. Investing more in the family relationship would have been enough to give the plot conflict, and make the whole story a bit more put together.

Overall, I enjoyed Arya Khanna's Bollywood Moment

i’m submitting the reviews for books by you that I already have, but I will never request another one. In October one of your employees made a horribly racist statement and you have chosen to do nothing about it. People have continuously asked you to say that you don’t stand with what the employee said, and you refuse to. This is not someone who I want to promote ever because you are sending the wrong message. These reviews will not be posted on social media because you don’t deserve the promotion. By not speaking out you are also not preventing your followers from stalking and harassing people who are participating in the boycott. Your silence speaks volumes. I hope that all of your authors move to other publishers because you are standing with a genocide. Watch this video for more information https://www.tiktok.com/@vivafalastinleen/video/7288407369313307947?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7211704101519296042

This book was cute but it was more coming of age than romance. Arya felt like a real character who made teenage mistakes. I enjoyed it enough.

My takeaway- I don’t know enough about Bollywood and need to immerse myself in the movies ASAP. Such a fun book, and I’m sure I’d love it more if I did know more about Bollywood.

This is a great YA novel. It has the enemies to loves trope, which plays out nicely. We get to watch a sister relationship start strained and eventually work itself out, and as an added bonus- the mom is difficult too. We ultimately see Arya learn and grow through her struggles and selfishness.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A YA romance with family drama, high school drama, and wedding planning stress. The romance is enemies to lovers, but I struggled to feel any chemistry between the main characters. There was a LOT happening beyond the romance - family tension, family member with mental health struggles, friendship rifts which ultimately made the story feel slow to me.

I hope this book works better for others!
DNF @ 37%

Young adult books are so sweet and nostaglic. But they also remind you how raw and real their feelings are and how they shape so much of their future. Truly enjoyed reading about Arya's life with family, friends, and those first romantic feelings. I also loved experiencing, as it was written so well you did feel part of the story, her culture. Great, clean read for tweens and up!

I am a huge fan of academic rivals to lovers and a huge fan of self-aware rom-coms, so as soon as I started reading this book I knew that the concept was perfect for me. And as I read it, I found myself falling in love with the story and the characters. The story was so charming, and I found myself literally giggling and kicking my feet and staying up late into the night just to finish this book in one sitting.

There were a few times where I found myself rolling my eyes at some of Arya's actions, but then I had to step back and remind myself that she is a teenager and that is often how teenagers act. And on that note, I found the characters, dialogue and scenarios in this book to be incredibly realistic. Sometimes when I read YA books, it's really obvious that the author has not spoken to a teenager since about the 80s, but that was not the case in this book. I saw a lot of myself as a teenager in Arya, and loved rooting for her and seeing her and her relationships develop.