I really enjoyed this romance novel with a twist. It was fun and light hearted but appropriately serious in places which was very moving.

I really enjoyed this book. You knew the ending as soon as you started but you didn't know how they would get there. Lots of twists and turns to this story and moments of frustration as you just want the story to get where it is going but I can't really say more without giving it away. The characters were all included for a reason and not just there for nothing.

Meghna & Karthnik are total opposites with very little in common - or are they?

This book is witty! It made me laugh a lot and maybe shed the odd tear too. It packs a punch but through little subtleties and cleverly exposes every emotion that everyone may experience in relationships. Every character is well thought out and oh so likeable - apart from one individual who goes by the name Seth! The story also gives us a tiny little glimpse into the subject of arranged marriages which was interesting.

What a great debut for this author!

A nice read.

This is a light hearted look at arranged marriages, supported by some Indian families. The parents of Meghna and Karthnik have arranged for them to meet and hopefully agree to an arranged marriage. Initially neither agree, but decide to become involved in a short fake engagement as it would be an advantage to both.

Meghna is warm and friendly, though Karthnik more reserved and distant. As expected, nothing goes according to plan. Meghna’s father and Karthnik’s mother are great characters, but Karthnik and his father don’t get along, resulting in his determination to stay single.

I enjoyed reading this steadily paced story, with enough twists and turns to keep you turning the pages. Characters develop as the story unfolds, with Karthnik becoming a more rounded character as the banter between him and Meghna turns to sizzling romance. For various reasons, both characters are at a turning point in their lives and I enjoyed reading about their journey.

Say you’ll be my Jaan by Naina Kumar 📕

💫 ‘Meghna, I don’t need to see a doctor. It’s you. You literally take my breath away.’

Meghna’s parents set her up to meet Karthik as an arranged-marriage after she has had no luck herself finding ‘the one’. After finding out Seth, ‘the-one-who-got-away’, is engaged and wants her to be his best man, Meghna decides to meet Karthik. Karthik knows he doesn’t want to ever get married but he’s tired of being set up by his mother to meet potential brides and so he makes an agreement with Meghna. They will pretend to be engaged for three months. That way it gets his mum off his back and Meghna has a date to the dreaded wedding. However, those three months are creeping up really fast and do they really want it to end?


My Review: 📖

This is a really cute, rom-com story with lots of secondary characters, interlacing with the main characters.
I really liked how this book delved into a variety of different topics such as love (unrequited and childhood), friendships, family drama, secrets, work issues and life-long dreams.

The main characters, Meghna and Karthik, are likeable and they are very cute together. Karthik is very respectful towards her and any boundaries she sets which was refreshing to read.
However, Karthik does have problems simmering under the surface and it just highlights how important it is for a child to have a stable and healthy upbringing with supportive parents. I feel this is tackled well in the book though and I enjoyed the discussion about counselling.

Seth was written very well because I disliked him straight away and how he was treating Meghna. I couldn’t wait for someone to put him in his place!

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room - Chapter 20 - ‘the sex scene’. Having waited so long until then for them to get together (given it happens in the last chapter!) the writing was a little disappointing. I would have preferred it to have either been a closed-door book or expanded the description more because it just fell short for me.

However, the epilogue was really nice because it was sweet and romantic and such a great way to end the book.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. A great debut novel and I anticipate it doing well. Well done Naina.

My Score: 4/5 ⭐️

Publication date 18th January 2024 - available on pre-order!

Thank you #netgalley and #penguin for the eARC 🙂

#sayyoullbemyjaan

I really like the title of this book, it wasn’t till I had read it that I fully appreciated it. A story of how our parents define us in more ways than we realise and how easy it is for that to affect our own development but written in a light style. An absolute belter of a first book.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publishers and of course the author for gifting me this advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was hilarious from start to finish with so much culture included in the story which made it such a fantastic debut book. I love the main characters and really felt so invested in them as I felt the story went beyond your typical romcom book. It was nice to read a book where I felt it wasn't a power trip against each other in the relationship but they both empowered each other to be better people which is exactly the type of positive energy authors need to breathe into their books.

Absolutely loved this book!

The authors writing style is amazing!

I look forward to reading more from them!

That’s right- you’re not actually seeing things- I’m actually back with a review! And what better way to get back into the swing of things than by sharing my long overdue thoughts on this e-ARC?

I always find it hard to rate books like these, but as far as lighthearted romcoms go, SYBMJ is up there with the most accomplished.

Kumar’s novel has all the ingredients of a truly satisfying romantic read- likeable characters, strong pacing, and believable chemistry between our two MCs.

It also features all of the tropes that a seasoned romance reader will have come to expect- fake engagement, grumpy-sunshine, enemies to lovers- but they’re set against a backdrop of Indian culture & heritage in a way that keeps this novel feeling fresh and interesting .

I really appreciated how the themes of self-discovery and the strains of cultural/generational expectations were just as central to the plot as Meghna and Khartik’s romance, and ultimately this really served to elevate what could otherwise have been your typical fluffy love story.

If I’m going to be critical, I did find the extent of our lovebirds’ miscommunication to be a bit eye roll-worthy at times (JUST BE HONEST WITH EACH OTHER, FFS!!), but in fairness I think that is symptomatic of my issues with the genre more generally. 🤷‍♀️

Say You’ll Be My Jaan is a charming debut from Kumar, and it’s sure to be a huge hit with romance readers when it’s published in January.

Thank you to @netgalley and @vikingbooksuk for issuing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Say you’ll be my Jaan is a lovely heart warming romance with humour and misunderstandings .
Meghna has had bed luck in the boyfriend stakes, blind date have been disastrous and now Seth who she’s always been hung up on now wants her at his wedding as ‘best man’
Meeting grumpy Karthik who is no fan of marriage and is resisting all attempts of his mother trying to make an arranged marriage, Meghna and he decide to fake date. Karthick so he can stop his mothers machinations, Meghna so she can attend Seth’s wedding not looking like a failure.
With lots of humour we can see these two are made for each other, but will they realise it ?
A lovely light entertaining read.
My thanks to net galley and publisher for the opportunity to review this book honestly.

Fake dating meets contemporary South Asian fiction in this desi romantic comedy. An impressive debut - congratulations.

It's been a while since I have read a book where I pined for the characters so much, this is such a cute book! The chemistry and banter between the 2 main characters is amazing.

I love a fake couple/engagement storyline so this one was straight on my tbr list, however it was a bit of a slow start for me.

I did though really enjoy the connection that Meghna & Karthik had and the slow burn romance between the two.

As well as the romance, the family dynamics between Karthik and his father, and Megan’s and Seth - who I was not a fan of!

Once I got 40% of the way I was hooked and devoured the rest of the book in one sitting! Overall I enjoyed it!

Thanks to NetGalley for the download

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin UK for allowing me to read an ARC of this book.

This is debut novel by the author Naina Kumar and what a fantastic job she has done. The cultural representation is spot on and doesn't feel forced. It is integral to the story instead of just a tick box exercise. I love the family dynamics and how true they are to South Asian culture.

Synopsis:

After a series of failed relationships and dating horror stories Meghna is feeling doubtful that she will ever get her happily ever after. Her parents marriage makes her believe in true love but is it out there for her?

Disaster strikes when Meghna's best friend, Sam, is getting married and wants her to be the best man, the same Sam who she has been in love with since they broke up in college. Spurred on by the thought of being alone how bad could an arranged marriage actually be?

Enter the handsome Karthik, who has agreed to an arranged marriage set up just to keep his mother happy. He doesn't believe in love or marriage after witnessing his parents relationship. He is not what Meghna was expecting who knew an arranged match could be so good looking, then he opens his mouth and so grumpy!

After much deliberation a mutual relationship might be beneficial for them both even if it's not the one their parents are expecting.

A fake engagement for 3 months which gives Meghna the perfect date for her best friends wedding and Karthik a way to get out of awkward arranged setups. What could possibly go wrong?

I would highly recommend this book for anyone who loves fake dating and grumpy/sunshine tropes.

A fun read with a fake engagement, bad first impressions, and close family ties. It’s safe to say Meghna and Karthik don’t hit it off at their first meeting, arranged by their parents who want to see them both happy but this pair agreed to meet for different reasons and since Karthik has no interest in marriage, it’s safe to say he’s not the one for Meghna, and after his behaviour, she certainly doesn’t expect to hear from him again. One thing leads to another and this pair find themselves in a fake engagement, lying to their parents, and trying to get to know each other well enough to sell the relationship, as they join each other at various events. I wanted to enjoy this story more than I did, but I wasn’t feeling the spark between the characters and the plot wasn’t enough for me to sink my teeth into so although it was a good book and one I’m sure plenty of people will enjoy with this pair fighting their attraction to each other (badly) I would have liked to feel the chemistry more between Meghna and Karthik.

I received a free copy of this book. All views are my own.

If you are a lover of the fake dating trope, like me, then this book is for you! Well, in this case, it was a fake engagement but you get the vibe.

Meghna and Karthik have such undeniable chemistry that I almost screamed at them to get over it and admit it within the first few chapters. This book shows their journey from being two people with opposing views on love and marriage, to getting to know each other through their fake relationship and seeing the other’s perspective.

I loved the show of Desi culture in this book and how it touched on various issues surrounding it.

I totally recommend this book to anyone who loves a cute romance, especially the fake dating trope. It won’t disappoint.

Thank you to Netgalley, Penguin UK and Naina Kumar for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Very readable, but ugh, I got tired of Karthik thinking he'd be just like his dad...

This book definitely isn't all roses and addresses stuff all too familiar in some Indian families - I came from one, and grew up with a similar father to his - namely considering others' opinions and achievements inferior to yours/bullying/disrespect for others/concerned with others' opinions, whether the others are part of your immediate circle or mere fringe people, because it's all about appearances/chauvinism, etc. There's a fair bit of it in this tale via one character, and there's a lot of positivity via many other characters, but there's also a huge user of a character in Seth, and tbh, that his wedding went ahead with his blackmailing bride, stunned me.

The tale itself was engaging, as was Megna, but Karthik was a pain and was far too 'woe is me' for me to click with him, and other than descriptions of him in his suit and his sharp jawline that seemed to enthrall Megna, I couldn't see any connection between them.

The characters are as American as I am English, but it's almost 'no sex, please, we're British' in the scenes between them, that consisted mainly of bottoms staying on, tops off, and at the same time, reminiscent of Barbara Cartland's fadeaway sex scenes. Out of place in a contemp romance - you either go there or you don't, and tbh, this was offputting.

There's a lot of dishonesty in this tale, intentional or not, and again it's something that I grew up with - being subjected to, and witnessing - all because of others' opinions. But, Megna had the most amazing parents, though again, her mother - surprisingly - considered her teaching not to be as valuable as being an engineer (thankfully the lawyer/doctor/dentist trope didn't make an appearance here, though I think perhaps the BMW one did), so that was another aspect of being Indian that didn't endear the book to me. And the lying, cheating bestie and Megna's brother needed to grow up.

Perhaps a Western audience will appreciate this more than I did, being a child of immigrant parents, like Megna's, with my father being an incarnation of Karthik's.

ARC courtesy of Penguin and NetGalley, for my reading pleasure.

This was a super cute story about two people learning to trust one another and themselves. Naina Kumar had a really good premise and characters that I liked enough to keep me hooked and interested all the way through.

I did find that the story felt a bit rushed at some points and I felt like we were being told what was happening rather than seeing it develop on the page.

I loved the cultural representation and the exploration of some really important topics with nuance and humour. All in all, I enjoyed reading this book and I'm really looking forward to seeing what else Naina Kumar has in store for us.

I would like to thank the publisher for providing me with an ARC through NetGalley. As always, my opinions are entirely my own.

This is a cute heart warming story about an Indian couple in the USA who agree to an arranged/introduced marriage to keep their parents happy. There are ex-boyfriends, father issues, best friend betrayals and more. All the usual misunderstandings arise but it's all dealt with humour and charm. An easy and engaging read that I thoroughly enjoyed

4.5 stars from me and hopefully more books from Naina Kumar.
What a great debut! Basically read the book in 2 days.
Despite the fake dating trope being super common it was still refreshing to read a story written with the perspective of an Indian arranged marriage (i do have a thing for books with different cultures or religions). I really enjoyed the plot and the fake arrangement between Karthik and Meghna. I saw early on that I wasn't a bit fan of Sam and was so happy that Meghna figured it out herself.
I felt here and there Naina could have gone into more detail instead of jumping to the next day or chapter.
I also loved the supporting characters (i am invested in Ankitas story so maybe that is something to look forward to?) and was happy with the ending. I love a good epilogue, so thank you Naina.

Will definitley read more books from Naina Kumar in the future.

Thank you to RHPG/Dell and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for a review.