Sister of the Bollywood Bride by Nandini Bajpai (Review)

Title: Sister of the Bollywood Bride
Author: Nandini Bajpai
Type: Fiction
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Publisher: Little, Brown
Young Readers
(Hachette Book Group)
Date published: May 25, 2021

A complimentary physical copy of this book was kindly provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Mini’s big sister, Vinnie, is getting married. Their mom passed away seven years ago and between Dad’s new start-up and Vinnie’s medical residency, there’s no one but Mini to plan the wedding. Dad raised her to know more about computers, calculus, and cars than desi weddings but from the moment Mini held the jewelry Mom left them, she wanted her sister to have the wedding Mom would’ve planned.

Now Mini has only two months to get it done and she’s not going to let anything distract her, not even the persistent, mysterious, and smoking-hot Vir Mirchandani. Flower garlands, decorations, music, even a white wedding horse—everything is in place.

That is, until a monster hurricane heads for Boston that could ruin everything. Will Mini come through as sister of the bride and save the day?

⤖ My Review ⬻

Where do I even begin with Sister of the Bollywood Bride? What had first caught my eye about it was the cover–I think it’s absolutely beautiful. When I read the synopsis, I was really pulled in by the promise of the wedding and the story leading up to said wedding. Even though by this point I was starting to lean away from YA a little bit, I just couldn’t resist requesting a copy of Sister of the Bollywood Bride to read and review for you all!

I found the main character, Mini, to be instantly likeable. I struggled a bit with reading about her teenage struggles sure, but luckily I found those moments to be rare. The main thing that stood out to me about Mini was how multi dimensional and real she felt.

I will say that I also became quite invested in Mini’s mission to make her sister’s dream wedding happen–especially of all of the obstacles standing in her way. I also found the portions focused on grief (no spoiler here, it’s in the synopsis, don’t worry!) to be both heartwarming as well as heartbreaking. I definitely sobbed at least once.

I enjoyed the characters in Sister of the Bollywood Bride as well as the story–which I found held my attention while also sounding very realistic (I wouldn’t have surprised if a friend of mine had told me this story about how she tried to make her sister’s wedding happened, or if I read about it on a blog or on social media). I loved Sister of the Bollywood Bride and look forward to more from Nandini Bajpai.

⤖ About the Author ⬻

Nandini Bajpai grew up in New Delhi, India, one of four sisters and many cousins, in a family that liked to read. She lived and worked in India, Australia, and the US, before settling in the Boston area with her husband, kids, and a fluctuating number and variety of pets. Although she dabbled in corporate finance, business analysis, and fostering shelter animals, her first love is writing.