All posts tagged Sandhya Menon

Make Up Break Up

By Brookelorren on Leave a Comment
Make Up Break Up

I’m so excited because Make Up Break Up comes out this week! In case you didn’t know, Sandhya Menon has a pen name in order to write adult books: Lily Menon! Her first full-length adult romance Make Up Break Up, comes out on Tuesday. She also wrote the novella “Booked for Christmas” which was excellent. And there’s more to come!

Make Up Break Up is about two tech entrepreneurs: Annika, who created a computer program called Make Up, which has a premise of getting people back together, and Hudson, who created a program called Break Up, which helps people break up.

Obviously, they have two different philosophies on life. Their two businesses aren’t exactly compatible. As the story progresses, they will end up bumping into each other at work.

The only problem is–Hudson is hot. And Annika thinks he’s a complete jerk. Why does she have such a negative reaction to him? As you read the book, you’ll find out that they have met before.

I enjoyed how Ms. Menon slowly reveals the details of their story. I don’t want to give out too many details, but we eventually find out why they have such an animosity towards each other. I was so surprised at the final revelation. And of course, since this is a romance, there’s a happily ever after.

I did find Annika to be a little immature at the beginning of the story, considering she’s an adult, but some people are like that. Especially when they become emotional about something.

If you’re looking for a cute romance and the tech industry is your thing, I definitely recommend Make Up Break Up. It’s definitely an adult book, so I don’t recommend this to younger Sandhya Menon fans, but if you’ve loved her YA books and would like something a little steamier, you may enjoy this book.

10 Things I Hate About Pinky

By Brookelorren on Leave a Comment
10 Things I Hate About Pinky cover

Sandhya Menon’s books are always so amazing! Her most recent book (out last Tuesday) was 10 Things I Hate About Pinky. It’s the third book in the Dimpleverse, and if you haven’t read the others, you should! This latest book stands on its own, but! If you read them in order, you’ll be familiar with some of the characters and situations and it will be a little bit cooler.

I haven’t written a lot of reviews lately (I’d love to fix that at some point) but today’s review is going to be a little different than normal. I’m writing a list:

10 Things I Love about 10 Things I Hate About Pinky

1. Pinky. Pinky is such a great character! We meet her first in There’s Something About Sweetie, but we get to know her a lot better in this book. She’s such a sweet, caring person. I love how we get to see this side of her in this book.

2. Samir. Samir, who begins a fake-dating relationship with Pinky, is almost her opposite. While Pinky is a free-spirit, Samid has a planner and his life revolves around it. Over the course of 10 Things I Hate About Pinky, he learns that some things just can’t be planned. Including how he ended up fake-dating Pinky in the first place. It happens towards the beginning of the book, but I’ll leave that up to you to discover.

3. Family relationships. We mostly get to see the relationship between Pinky and her mother, but there are other relationships here. Her mother starts out as very antagonistic towards Pinky, but they work things out. Samir and his mother have some things to work out too. We don’t see much of her here, but their relationship does evolve.

4. Friendships. The main friendship here is between Pinky and Dolly, whom we haven’t met before. We hear a little from Ashish as well. Summer friendships are great!

5. Saving the World! Okay, Pinky and Samir don’t exactly save the world, but they do try to save their little part of the world, which is under threat. While I won’t say whether they succeed or not, they get involved in a little protesting.

6. Animals! Pinky rescues a wild animal early on in the book. Also, there’s a butterfly habitat that Pinky and Samir visit. Both animals play roles in the book.

7. Laugh out Loud. One of the things I love about Sandhya Menon’s books is that they are funny. There were several places where I couldn’t help but to laugh out loud.

8. The Cover. This is such a beautiful cover! I think it personifies Pinky perfectly. It would have been cooler, maybe, if there was a butterfly on the cover, but it matches the rest of the Pinky set, and it’s so happy.

9. Uh Oh. The Big Misunderstanding. Of course, not everything in this book could be as happy as the cover, could it? There are several misunderstandings that are cleared up, including a huge one that almost tears Pinky and Samir apart.

10. The Happily Ever After. You couldn’t call this book a romance without it.

So, was there anything I hated about 10 Things I Hate About Pinky? Absolutely not! I loved this book. It just came out last Tuesday, and I encourage you to go pick it up. If you like fake-dating and enemies to lovers, then you’ll probably like this too.

Of Curses and Kisses

By Brookelorren on 8 Comments

Hello! I am super excited to be a part of Sandhya Menon’s street team (AKA Sandhya’s Sweethearts) and to be part of the Of Curses and Kisses blog tour! This is a great story and you’ll all be able to meet Jaya and Grey in just a little over a week! If you live near Denver, she’s having a launch party at the Tattered Cover Colfax location and you’re invited! You can meet Ms. Menon, and she’s really sweet. If you see me there, say hi. I know I can’t compare to Sandhya, but it’s always good to meet people that like the same books as you, right? I’m an introvert so I have trouble approaching people, but I promise I’m nice.

Standard Disclaimer: I received an Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Of Curses and Kisses is a Beauty and the Beast retelling set at an exclusive Colorado boarding school. The elements she uses in the story are so beautiful. Here’s a quick synopsis:

Will the princess save the beast?

For Princess Jaya Rao, nothing is more important than family. When the loathsome Emerson clan steps up their centuries-old feud to target Jaya’s little sister, nothing will keep Jaya from exacting her revenge. Then Jaya finds out she’ll be attending the same elite boarding school as Grey Emerson, and it feels like the opportunity of a lifetime. She knows what she must do: Make Grey fall in love with her and break his heart. But much to Jaya’s annoyance, Grey’s brooding demeanor and lupine blue eyes have drawn her in. There’s simply no way she and her sworn enemy could find their fairy-tale ending… Right?


His Lordship Grey Emerson is a misanthrope. Thanks to an ancient curse by a Rao matriarch, Grey knows he’s doomed once he turns eighteen. Sequestered away in the mountains at St. Rosetta’s International Academy, he’s lived an isolated existence—until Jaya Rao bursts into his life. Sparkling and elegant, Jaya’s unlike anyone Grey has ever met. Still, he can’t shake the feeling that she’s hiding something. Something that might just have to do with the rose-shaped ruby pendant around her neck…


As the stars conspire to keep them apart, Jaya and Grey grapple with questions of love, loyalty, and whether it’s possible to write your own happy ending.

My Thoughts

Of Curses and Kisses cover

Who doesn’t love a good enemies-to-lovers story? This story has so many wonderful Beauty and the Beast elements: a girl that loves books, the rose that loses petals, magic, and two people falling in love. However, it also has other amazing elements, such as the sister relationship, loyalty to family, and questions about duty.

The story is told in two points of view, so you get to see both Jaya and Grey’s perspectives. I don’t want to give too much away, but these characters are put into an impossible situation and react with normal human emotions, and somehow they work through it.

The setting is great too. It’s at a boarding school! I live in Colorado, and so does Ms. Menon, and she does an excellent job describing things. There was one scene with a formal dance… so beautiful. Writing goals, I tell you. If you’ve never been to Colorado before, after reading this book, it’ll feel like you have.

If you’ve read her other books, you might notice that Of Curses and Kisses has a slightly different tone than the When Dimple Met Rishi books. It’s a little more serious and not as rom-com-ish. It still has both its funny moments and themes you’ll find in her other books, such as the line “Kiran was one of those guys who thought Jaya’s X chromosome stood for ‘xplain things to me.'” (The line was taken from the ARC and is subject to change).

Hopefully you’re excited for this book now. There were so many great lines from this book, I filled up two pages in my book journal of lines that I really liked. This is the first book in a trilogy, and you’re likely to love this one and be hooked for the other two (the next book, and likely the third, will also deal with characters in this universe). There’s still time to pre-order, but if not, it will still be available on the 18th.

Here are a few places where you can get Of Curses and Kisses (in the US, although it’s available in many countries):

You can also request an autographed copy from The Tattered Cover if you can’t go to the launch event. Their web site says that they can’t guarantee that it’ll be autographed, but I bet it will.

About Sandhya Menon:

Sandhya Menon

Sandhya Menon is the New York Times bestselling author of When Dimple Met Rishi, Of Curses and Kisses, and many other novels that also feature lots of kissing, girl power, and swoony boys. Her books have been included in several cool places, including the Today show, Teen Vogue, NPR, BuzzFeed, and Seventeen. A full-time dog servant and part-time writer, she makes her home in the foggy mountains of Colorado. Visit her online at SandhyaMenon.com, on Twitter @smenonbooks or on Instagram  @sandhyamenonbooks.

So are you excited about this book? I know I’m excited about getting a finished copy because that cover is gorgeous. I’m also excited about the launch event.

Blog Tour Schedule:

There’s Something About Sweetie

By Brookelorren on 2 Comments
There's Something About Sweetie

There’s Something About Sweetie was the second book I’ve read from Sandhya Menon, although I have the Of Curses and Kisses ARC (thanks Sandhya!), so I’ll probably read that one next. I checked this one out of my local library and listened to it via audiobook.

Sweetie is an Indian American who sings for fun and runs like the wind. Oh, and she’s also fat. She reminds me a lot about Mirna Valerio — AKA the Mirvinator — a well-known overweight distance runner. Sweetie is okay with her weight, but her mother certainly is not.

Ashish Patel, Rishi’s brother from When Dimple Met Rishi (link is to review) is in a slump. He’s always been a ladies’ man, but after the first girl he really cared about left him, his confidence is gone. He can’t even play basketball the way he used to. In a fit of desperation… he asks his parents to set him up with someone. It worked for his brother, right?

His parents try to set her up with Sweetie, but Sweetie’s mother won’t have it. She thinks that Sweetie is too fat, and people will laugh at her if she dates an athletic boy. So they start seeing each other behind their parents’ backs. You’ll have to read the book to find out what happens.

My Thoughts

I really liked There’s Something About Sweetie. It’s lighthearted, funny, and the characters are likeable. At the same time, this book does have a serious message. People are more than their weight. Health and weight are a complicated issue, and just because a person struggles with their weight doesn’t mean that they don’t deserve a person to love, to wear nice clothes, or to enjoy a meal at a restaurant.

The characters were great too. Sweetie and Ashish don’t go to the same school and have different sets of friends. Not only do we get to know Sweetie and Ashish, we get to know their friends. Ms. Menon does a great job in giving both of them supportive friends that have their own interests and problems.

The book does a great job in instilling teenage insecurities into the characters. I love how it tells the story from both Sweetie and Ashish’s points of view. The book also is infused with Indian culture.

Conclusion

I recommend There’s Something About Sweetie, but you should probably read When Dimple Met Rishi first. Both stories are in the same universe, and Dimple happens first. You can read one without the other, but reading them in order brings more depth to the world the characters inhabit. And you’ll definitely want to read both of these before 10 Things I Hate About Pinky comes out (June 2, 2020).  There are a lot of great books coming out by this author and you should read them!

Of Curses and Kisses Cover Reveal!

By Brookelorren on 4 Comments

Last week I was chosen to be one of Sandhya Menon’s Street Team members! I’m excited because her books are great and she’s such a nice person. Anyway, one of her new books (coming out February 18, 2020) is Of Curses and Kisses, which is a Beauty and the Beast retelling set at a private school in Colorado!

She revealed the cover today and I’m allowed to share it with you!

It looks adorable! The release date is still months away, but you can read an excerpt over at Bustle! You can also pre-order it already.

When Dimple Met Rishi – Sparks Flew!

By Brookelorren on Leave a Comment

Last weekend, I got to go to the Colorado Teen Writing Conference. One of the authors there was Sandhya Menon, and I wanted to read one of her books before I went. While I was trying to figure out which of her books to read, someone mentioned that Dimple was a computer scientist. Just like The Kiss Quotient had me at math, When Dimple Met Rishi had me at computer science.

Both Dimple and Rishi come from traditional Indian immigrant families. Dimple rejects these traditions. While her mother wants her to find the Ideal Indian Husband and get married, Dimple wants a career as a computer scientist. Rishi, on the other hand, wants to follow the path that his family has lined up for him and marry the girl that his parents have arranged for him: Dimple Shah.

Dimple doesn’t have any clue about this so-called marriage arrangement, so when she meets Rishi for the first time at Insomnia Con (a six-week summer program for computer scientists) things don’t exactly turn out the way that Rishi would have hoped. I won’t say what happens, but it is funny as anything.

What I Liked

I loved this book. It was funny and the characters were great. I haven’t read many (perhaps not any) stories with Indian-American characters, and I really liked that aspect too. The relationship development between Dimple and Rishi was realistic and sweet.

There were so many awesome quotes I wrote down into my book journal from this book, such as when Rishi’s brother told him “You’re like, some weird thirty-five-year-old teenager” or when Dimple’s “stomach began to flutter up a tiny tornado.” It made the book much more colorful.

There were so many ways that I could identify with Dimple as a character. Not only did I major in computer science in college, but Dimple also had to deal with jerks who mocked her for her looks. The book is full of truths about life, and the characters learn these things for themselves as they develop throughout the course of the book. I just love it.

I can’t think of anything I didn’t like about the book.

If you’re looking for a cute contemporary story, I highly recommend When Dimple Met Rishi. It’s funny, sweet, and has so much to say. I definitely plan on reading more books by this author at some point, and hope to read the accompanying eNovella, As Kismet Would Have It, that comes out on April 30th as well.