Sari, Not Sari by Sonya Singh: Book Review

Sari, Not Sari by Sonya Singh is a fun look at the importance of family and culture in our daily lives. If you enjoy romance novels or books set in the celebration of an Indian wedding, I recommend reading this book.  The book publishes April 5, 2022.

From The Publisher:

Manny Dogra is the beautiful young CEO of Breakup, a highly successful company that helps people manage their relationship breakups. As preoccupied as she is with her business, she’s also planning her wedding to handsome architect Adam Jamieson while dealing with the loss of her beloved parents.
For reasons Manny has never understood, her mother and father, who were both born in India, always wanted her to become an “All-American” girl. So that’s what she did. She knows next to nothing about her South Asian heritage, and that’s never been a problem—until her parents are no longer around, and an image of Manny that’s been Photoshopped to make her skin look more white appears on a major magazine cover. Suddenly, the woman who built an empire encouraging people to be true to themselves is having her own identity crisis.
But when an irritating client named Sammy Patel approaches Manny with an odd breakup request, the perfect solution presents itself: If they both agree to certain terms, he’ll give her a crash course in being “Indian” at his brother’s wedding.
What follows is days of dancing and dal, masala and mehndi as Manny meets the lovable, if endlessly interfering, aunties and uncles of the Patel family, and, along the way, discovers much more than she could ever have anticipated.

Book Review:

This was such an entertaining read!  The storyline was enlightening, full of joy, and brought the reader along to the Indian wedding festivities.  I really enjoyed it.

The author does a great job of developing Manny’s character.  She is a strong, successful female whose thrown herself into her work since the sudden passing of both of her parents.  Despite being engaged, she really has not been successful in her life outside of work.  I loved that the business relationship she establishes with Sammy  becomes the vessel for the life she hadn’t even realized she was missing.

The reader is brought along to this week-long event as seen through the eyes of Manny.  She is welcomed to the celebrations as if she were a family member and this immerses only child into the culture of her late mother.  Little did she know, there was a stronger connection to this family than what meets the eye. The cast of characters involved with the wedding were highly entertaining (the man that provides the attire for Manny being my favourite).

The author includes several of the cultural challenges that face young adults in this community. The emphasis on finding someone to marry is highlighted and one cannot help but to feel this pressure. I had known that  relationships are often hidden from parents in order to allow them to develop in a slower, Western way and I felt this was important to have been a part of this book.  The inclusion of several gay characters was an important statement in Sari, Not Sari.

What I Liked:

• Watching Manny change as she becomes immersed into family and culture
• The information gleamed into the culture, food and dress of the characters
• The inclusion of diverse characters into the storyline

I Recommend This Book To:

Readers that enjoy romantic comedies or fiction that celebrates family and culture.

My Rating:

★★★★☆

Add Sari, Not Sari to your Goodreads shelf

Acknowledgments:

Thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada and Netgalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Similar Books I’ve Reviewed:

Dating Dr. Dil by Nisha Sharma

Kamila Knows Best by Farah Heron

First Love, Take Two by Sajni Patel

Thanks for reading! I hope you have a wonderful day ☺️