Arya Khanna's Bollywood Moment Review

By Arushi Avachat

Star rating: ★★★★☆

Blurb

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.

Genre: Young Adult Romance

Read if you Like:

📕 Rivals to lovers

📕 Closed-door

📕 Family dynamics

📕 Friendship drama

📕 Indian wedding

My Thoughts:

Arya Khanna's Bollywood Moment is a great story that does a great job of capturing the perspective of a teenager. It has funny moments but also deals with more difficult topics like family dynamics and friendship difficulties.

In a lot of ways this book reversed the usual plot structure of a romance book (even a YA one). Arya had drama with her family and friends but on the romantic side things developed without a lot of conflict after some initial misunderstandings. I thought this was really interesting because there are times when romantic partners are supporting someone through family drama instead of the other way around and I think we see that less often as the conflict driving a book than the other way around.

I also liked that Arya made teenage mistakes. She saw most problems from her perspective and didn't think about how her actions might affect other people at times. Her problems were all-consuming and she sometimes wasn't able to see when other people were also struggling. I think this is much more accurate than portraying teenagers as tiny adults.

I recommend this one for anyone who likes a story about family and teen drama with some romance thrown in. I think this is one that could be enjoyed by adults or teens but the primary audience is teens (as it should be for a YA book).

🌶️ - Completely closed door only a few chaste kisses.

Thanks to Wednesday Book and Netgalley for providing me with an eARC of this title. All opinions are my own.