Tuesday, May 21, 2019

There's Something About Sweetie by Sandhya Menon

Title: There's Something About Sweetie
Author: Sandhya Menon
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication date: May 14, 2019
Pages: 384
Source/format: e-ARC // Netgalley

Rating: ☆☆☆1/2 

Synopsis (from goodreads.com):

The irresistible companion novel to the New York Times bestseller When Dimple Met Rishi, which follows Rishi’s brother, Ashish, and a confident fat athlete named Sweetie as they both discover what love means to them.

Ashish Patel didn’t know love could be so…sucky. After being dumped by his ex-girlfriend, his mojo goes AWOL. Even worse, his parents are annoyingly, smugly confident they could find him a better match. So, in a moment of weakness, Ash challenges them to set him up.

The Patels insist that Ashish date an Indian-American girl—under contract. Per subclause 1(a), he’ll be taking his date on “fun” excursions like visiting the Hindu temple and his eccentric Gita Auntie. Kill him now. How is this ever going to work?

Sweetie Nair is many things: a formidable track athlete who can outrun most people in California, a loyal friend, a shower-singing champion. Oh, and she’s also fat. To Sweetie’s traditional parents, this last detail is the kiss of death.

Sweetie loves her parents, but she’s so tired of being told she’s lacking because she’s fat. She decides it’s time to kick off the Sassy Sweetie Project, where she’ll show the world (and herself) what she’s really made of.

Ashish and Sweetie both have something to prove. But with each date they realize there’s an unexpected magic growing between them. Can they find their true selves without losing each other?


M Y  T H O U G H T S

There's Something About Sweetie is bursting full of cuteness, fuzzy good feelings and amazing relationships whether it be friendships or romances. Ahish Patel and Sweetie Nair are too cute for words when they are together. With alternating POVs between Ahish and Sweetie, There's Something About Sweetie explores the thoughts of each teenager and what they think about their cultural expectations, social norms and what is true to their hearts.

Sweetie is confident young lady despite people putting her down about her weight, even by her own family. She proves to others that she can be an athlete and a great singer despite people calling her fat. Sweetie believes in herself and she radiates in self-love. Ahish is recovering from a broken heart and is also having trouble with the pressure of his family telling him he must date and marry an Indian girl per expectations and approval of his family. Because Rishi, his brother, ended up finding Dimple, Ahish believes he can find love too and allows his parents to set him up with a girl of their choice even though he was originally hesitating about the idea.

There's Something About Sweetie is body-positive. Sandhya Menon defies stereotypes and focuses on self-acceptance and acceptance of each other based on personality and not social norms and physical appearances. Abiding by cultural traditions and expectations are often hard for many young people. Sweetie and Ahish make their own story even though society builds this wall of pressure telling them what they should or shouldn't do. However, they are very cordial about incorporating their Indian culture with their American lifestyle, finding a good balance between the two. I highly suggest reading this rom-com if you love Menon's When Dimple Met Rishi. There's Something About Sweetie is a little bit too instalovey at times but I can get pass that.


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