Synopsis:

Naomi Kelly will do anything to make her new brand consulting business a success. She lands a career saving contract to rebrand the Mukherjee family’s failing local bazaar, but as the “oops” baby of a free-spirited Bengali mother, Naomi’s lack of connection to her roots represents everything Gia Mukherjee disdains. Dev Mukherjee knows everything his mother wants…including her wish for him to get married. When a potential match assumes Naomi is his girlfriend, they decide to pretend date to sabotage his mother’s matchmaking efforts in exchange for lessons in Bengali culture. As Naomi and Dev bond over awful dancing at Garba, couples cooking classes, and tackling the rebrand as a team, they start to realize while their relationship may be fake, their feelings for each other are starting to become very real.

Review:

This was a South Asian romance set on the West Coast of Canada in small town Kelowna where the communities are so different because everyone knows each other. I have a friend whose family lives in Penticton (also mentioned in the book) so I thought it was a pretty fair representation of reality. I loved the incorporation of South Asian foods, clothing and celebrations to the story. Dev is a grumpy sunshine and I was a bit annoyed by how accurately he was represented trying to abide by his family’s wishes LOL (this is such a thing in SA culture). The meddling aunties were real and the romance was sweet. I will definitely be keeping an eye out to see what this author writes next!

I was provided an ARC of this book via Netgalley and the Berkley Besties program.

This was really cute! We follow Naomi as she works really hard to establish her independent brand consulting business aft work working at a corporate firm. Her latest rebranding job is a local bazaar who's owner is very hard to please. Naomi's mother did not raise her with a traditional Bengali upbringing, and she feels alienated when she is around other's who were raised in a traditional India home. She wants desperately to connect with her heritage, but she doesn't know who or how to ask. Enter Dev, son of the woman who's bazaar Naomi is rebranding. Dev much like Naomi's mother wants to break free of the confines of the traditions that are being forced upon him. His mother has hired a matchmaker and wants him to have an arranged marriage. He was forced into a career he doesn't really love because his father would only accept certain careers, and he never seems to be able to do anything right. While working with Naomi, things start to fall into place as she runs interference for him on his potential matches as his fake girlfriend and opens her world to the culture and traditions she has never experienced under the guise of research for the rebranding.

I thought Dev and Naomi had great interactions. Their grumpy sunshine dynamic played well with the plotline of wanting to fit in and know your culture and knowing and feeling overwhelmed by it. I still don't understand why it was a big secret that Naomi wasn't raised with the culture by her mom and that she wanted to learn more about her heritage. I get being embarrassed by that, and not wanting to make her mom mad, but that whole thread seemed a weak and underdeveloped. Perhaps I missed something. Overall, this has some spicy scenes, some emotional scenes, and I overall thought this was a fun read.

This was SO cute. I loved learning about the Bengali culture and thought it was a fun take on a fake dating romance.

Thank you so much for a copy!

I'm a sucker for a grumpy/sunshine, fake dating romance and this one didn't disappoint. I loved the focus on Naomi's disconnected feelings with her culture and how she learns through Dev and his family. I also loved watching their romance bloom through all of their adorable encounters. I'll be recommending this to anyone looking for a cozy romance.

Naomi needs her brand consulting business to put her back into the positive in terms of saving. Putting herself out there, she needs to win the hearts of the Mukherjee family and change around their store. This won't be as easy as it sounds however; as she isn't what the Mukherjee family wants. They want someone who is versed and grew up in the Bengali culture.

Dev is home helping his family out after the loss of his father. They don't know that he left his job and refuses to marry without their being some sort of love involved. With his aunties on his tail to match make him, he convinces Naomi to be his fake girlfriend in exchange for cultural lessons.

So what happens when both realize they have set out for more than they bargained for?

Sunshine and Spice was a fake dating romance that I instantly took a liking to based on Dev, the MMC's, point of view. I admired his want to not bow down to his family's demands and actually find love in his life. I died laughing at one scene where his aunt shows up at the treadmills, with him telling her honestly how he felt. While I did enjoy reading about Naomi's character arc as well, there just wasn't the same "spark" I found in Dev's. I love learning about different cultures while reading and Palit's debut gave me many things to research and learn in order to celebrate others. Overall, solid novel for those who enjoy fake dating and "oh snap" are they going to kiss FINALLY reads!

This is a charming story full of heart and family. It does a nice job showing the struggles of being in, being out, and being accepted by a community and its impact on identity, while also having a nice focus on the romance.

This was such a cute story, that centers around Dev and Naomi, who enter a fake dating arrangement. I just adore this fun trope, and thought the banter was top notch!

WHAT TO EXPECT
-opposites attract
-fake dating
-family dynamics
-great chemistry!

*many thanks to Berkley Romance and Netgalley for the gifted copy for review

Really enjoyed this fast pace Rom-com. Naomi and Dev were great characters to read. The authors writing was so easy to read and it grabs your attention from the very beginning.

I like the cultural dilemma element in this so much. It had great family, humor, chemistry, self-identity, and journey to self-discovery destinations! Please give this author more opportunities. I liked this and it didn't feel like a debut or recently published. It felt like it had been written with her whole heart! Thank you to the publisher, Netgalley, and the author!

this was cute! this is was the first time i’ve read a Bengali romance book and i loved seeing my language peppered throughout this story! i find stories about children of immigrants rejecting their culture and family and traditions to embrace the West to be tired and boring so this was refreshing to read Naomi in search of that and to reconnect with her background. my only issue is that i didn’t really root for Dev for most of the book, i think he was disrespectful to his culture and himself and Naomi for a lot of the book which made the third act breakup very annoying 😀

Likable characters, a fake relationship, meddling mothers and more in Ms. Palit's new book, SUNSHINE AND SPICE. It stars a lovely, bubbly lady, Naomi, who is a brand consultant. She is hired to update a failing local bazaar. She meets a grouchy, dishy guy named Dev, whose mother owns the bazaar. Naomi must do an extraordinary transformation to the business, but her lack of knowledge for her South Asian roots proves detrimental to understanding the client's wishes. However, Dev is culturally-rich in Bengali traditions. Dev's mom is determined to marry him off, going so far in hiring a matchmaker. The two of them hit upon a plan, he will help Naomi immerse in her culture and they will fake date, to spoil his mom's love making attempts. Will it work?

As Dev and Naomi work together, their make-believe dating ratchets up to sizzling. Their feelings for each start to simmer and then turns steamy hot! Will their cultural problems keep them apart or will they fall madly in love?

SUNSHINE AND SPICE is a swoony, sexy, funny story that delivers the perfect amount of complex situations, multi-layers of culture, family problems, drama and seasoning to a perfectly-paced plot. I loved it! It was fun learning about the Asian culture. Ms. Palit did a splendid job detailing all the dynamics and traditions of it. The story is fascinating, has strong characters and a powerful message. Immerse yourself in this wonderful, indulgent story!

This was such a grounded, original, fresh romance. I loved the banter and chemistry between the two leads, and the fleshed-out world they live in elevated this book to the next level. A total delight!

This was a QUICK DNF! I'm sorry but these characters are so annoying. I also took issue with the same struggle that BIPOC people in America who are first generation Americans face due to parental figures. It is honestly played out. And the writing was pretty basic.

A cute quick romance with two of my favorite tropes: fake dating and grumpy x sunshine. Plus, lots of family drama. I wasn't completely sold on Dev as the MMC but I enjoyed Naomi's character and the moments where she's learning little pieces of Bengali culture from him. While both MCs are Bengali, Naomi wasn't raised knowing much about her culture or being in contact with her Bengali family members, while Dev was raised traditionally and surrounded by family. While it is a romance, it focuses a lot on cultural identity, growing up without really being immersed in half of who you are, and the feeling of not belonging as a result. I liked the depth that added to the story and learning about Naomi's mom's background. I think the family drama and the struggles Naomi is going through will draw people in who can relate to feeling like they have missed out on half of who they are whether because they were raised that way or just grew up distant from family geographically or emotionally. Both MCs are also embarking on new career paths - Naomi is branching out on her own after leaving a bigger company and Dev wants to change his entirely. I really liked that aspect of the story and think readers will find it relatable, especially now when many people are finding themselves changing jobs more frequently and finding that they have more interests/talents that suit them better than what they originally planned on. It's a bit of a slow burn but once they get together things get steamy very quickly! Sunshine and Spice is not your typical romance, in that I do feel like it's more of a coming of age, finding your roots, drama with some romance but I enjoyed it.

I received a drc from Berkley via NetGalley which I have voluntarily read and reviewed. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

There is nothing I enjoy more than to be educated while I read, especially when it comes to reading fiction. I love that this romcom focused on the cultural traditions, foods and lives of East Asian families. I found the characters to be very relatable and thoroughly enjoyed the banter and witty jokes friends have as they begin to get closer!

Fake Dating will forever be a top 3 trope for me, but this was incredible with the aunties also match making for him as the story continued on. Dev and Naomi were so much fun to get to know, and I truly enjoyed their passions and how they stood up for what they believe in, especially about their family histories and culture.

I think anyone with people pleasing tendencies can relate to wanting to do what your mother wants for you... even if it means fake dating the girl your mom hired to rebrand her Bazaar. The romance was a treat, but honestly the way Naomi worked through the lack of knowledge about her culture and the Bengali language while deciding if she wanted to immerse herself to learn more, or keep everyone at arms length as her mother raised her.

Fun, steamy fast paced, intriguing read that kept my attention and was different than my usual choices! Would recommend.

Loved the chemistry between Naomi and Dev. Also, loved the second-generation and South Asian representation. Definitely recommend!

So the general premise of the book was nice. It was this girl Naomi, who is a whitewashed second generation Canadian-Indian (Bengali) girl who has no touch with her culture because her mom experienced the most tiger of tiger parenting from super strict Indian parents, which made the mom rebel and have a kid at 18. After the parents cut the mom off, the mom never felt any attachment to Indian culture and subsequently never taught her daughter anything. This could have been an interesting premise because this fully Indian girl is raised by a Russian/Ukrainian white stepdad and knows a lot about that culture.

Naomi goes to Gia as a potential lead to redesign Gia's shop and Gia immediately starts judging Naomi for not being cultured and I understand that's a first generation immigrant thing to do but it was so in your face and preachy that I feel like it didn't get the message across. Even if we assume Gia had good intentions and this is a plausible real life interaction, the dialogue felt stilted and comical.

Gia is also looking for matches for her son because he's in his early 30s now and he doesn't want to get married because he doesn't want to get cut out of his family for marrying out of his culture. Why is he worried? He's never been interested in marrying within the culture because he doesn't want to date and marry someone that blindly obeys their parents. So while Naomi is doing a redesign for DEV'S MOM she is also pretending to be dating him which is a terrible idea because who dates their client?? I guess what makes it comical is that Gia can't know and so Gia is setting up her son on all these arranged marriage dates while Naomi is supposed to save Dev's ass and pretend to be his scary and in loe girlfriend. It's like her and Dev are supposed to have chemistry but you can't see it. Suddenly, there's a line about him being attracted to her and I'm like where did that come from??

AND THEN 10-12 chapters in they start sleeping together but they never actually put a label on their relationship. The actual climax happens when Gia finds out that Naomi has been doing this with her son and it's supposed to be this whole dramatic moment because then Naomi's mom comes in and yells at Gia in perfect Bengali. There's supposed to be tension but it's immediately resolved so you don't feel anything.

Also Dev has no idea Naomi is Bengali and assume she's west Indian but in the reveal, he finds out she's Bengali and that's a point of contention?? Whitewashed Indians have existed for decades, it's 2024, some diaspora aren't attached to their culture!!! I don't get why she hid it and I don't get why he was mad she hid it when it's a nonissue.

This book was clearly supposed to be a grumpy x sunshine book but they both sound grumpy as hell. I'm supposed to (as the reader) think that she's sunshine just because I'm told to feel that even though nothing about her being bubbly is ever shown in the text. I was not convinced that her smearing gulab jamun syrup on Dev's beard was supposed to be hot.

Dev is supposed to be an accountant but quits his job because he wants to go into sports but they never talk about what he actually wants to do with his career, it's just vaguely mentioned as ~sports~

Very confusing. Very boring. I think a lot of the book issues could have been resolved if it were a little longer in length.

I loved this book! It was the cutest rom com. I love Dev and Naomi's relationship. I also loved how both of their cultures were showcased in the book, I can relate because both of my parents are immigrants. The fake dating trope is always a favorite of mine! Thank you Net Galley and Berkley Publishing for allowing me to read this book.

Naomi is determined to do whatever it takes to make her new brand consulting successful. She gets a huge opportunity when she is hired by the Mukherjee family to rebrand their bazaar. Only, she was hired because of her Bengali roots, a culture Naomi’s mom avoided and did not teach Naomi about at all. She gets help from Dev, Gia Mukherjee’s son. Gia has recently hired a matchmaker for Dev who wants a love marriage. They agree to fake date while he teaches her about Bengali culture.
Fake dating is one of my favorite tropes, and this book does it so well! The family dynamics, the rich culture, and the different ways the two characters react to the culture and traditions make this book so special. I love that Naomi is such a strong, successful woman, and Dev has the sweetest heart. Their dates were so much fun, and I would love to do some of those activities with my husband. This was a fun read nad I will be looking for more from Aurora Palit!
Thank you to Berkley Publishing and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

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