I know practically nothing about Bollywood, but that doesn’t stop me from loving what little I know from pop culture. Between the dancing, the drama, the epic weddings…what isn’t there to love? The synopsis for Arya Khanna’s Bollywood Moment gave me Never Have I Ever vibes, and I definitely wanted to be transported into that world. Plus, maybe I’d get some recommendations for Bollywood movies I should watch.

Shaadi preparations are in full swing, which means lehenga shopping, taste testing, dance rehearsals, and best of all, Arya’s sister Alina is home. The Khannas are together again, finally, and Arya wants to enjoy it. So she stifles her lingering resentment towards Alina, plays mediator during her sister’s fights with their mother, and welcomes her future brother-in-law with open arms. (Okay, maybe enjoy isn’t exactly right.)

Meanwhile at school, Arya’s senior year dreams are unraveling. In between class and her part-time gig as a bookshop assistant, Arya struggles to navigate the aftermath of a bad breakup between her two best friends and a tense student council partnership with her rival, the frustratingly attractive Dean Merriweather.

Arya is determined to keep the peace at home and at school, but this shaadi season teaches Arya new realities: Alina won’t always be in the bedroom down the hall, Mamma’s sadness isn’t mendable, friendships must evolve, and life doesn’t always work out like her beloved Bollywood movies. But sometimes, the person you least expect will give you a glimpse of your dream sequence just when you need it most.

Structured like a Bollywood film (entertaining intermission included!) Arya Khanna’s Bollywood Moment will make you swoon, laugh, cry, think, nod your head in agreement, and quite possibly make you get up and dance.

The book I read before this one (which I haven’t even put a review up for yet) actually made me want to stop reading for a while. I had been reading things that were making me feel so blah that I just couldn’t do it anymore…and I took a long break. It took me almost a month to pick up a book again. And thank goodness it was this one, because I’m fired up and ready to read again in 2024!

What didn’t work for me

The Lisa/Andy/Arya triangle: Though the title of the book really seems like it will focus on the wedding, there are *a lot* of other things going on, and while a lot of them really enriched the story, I feel like I could have done without this friendship drama. Andy disappeared for days at a time for college stuff and Lisa didn’t really factor into the story, ultimately, so I feel like this was just added to make things unnecessarily tense…and it wasn’t needed.

The mother: I don’t want to go into spoiler territory, but we don’t really get answers about what’s going on with Arya and Alina’s mom…not really. Did it affect the way I read the book? No, not really, but I would have liked some resolution here.

What I liked

Enemies to lovers: My favourite trope. I will never not love it. That being said, I liked that the enemies part didn’t last too long and that there was nothing pulling these two dramatically apart in the middle of the book (spoiler alert?). We just saw them progress, and it was nice. I love them together.

The Bollywood of it all: I have never watched a Bollywood movie and I’m not familiar with the wedding spectacle of the culture (beyond what I’ve seen on TV), but I love that Arachat didn’t dumb it down for those of us who did know. She used the real words, presented what was going on as fact and just moved on. I liked that it was my responsibility to look things up if I needed to. Plus, the whole thing seemed like fun. It was really giving me wedding vibes from Never Have I Never, which I loved. And the intermission in the book was cute!

The bookstore: As a reader, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that I love a good bookstore, but I also enjoyed the relationship that Mellie and Arya had and the scenes that took place there really warmed my heart.

4 STARS

“I have so many tangled, confusing feelings for this boy.” —Arushi Avachat, Arya Khanna’s Bollywood Moment

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Wednesday Books for an advanced book copy in exchange for my honest review.