International Book Tour: My Big, Fat Desi Wedding edited by Prerna Pickett (A YA Romance Anthology)

Thank you so much, @mlc_tours x @pagestreetya for choosing me as a host for this beautiful and super-relatable book full of desi romances, desi weddings, food, traditions, cultures, love, fights, friendships, relationships, heartbreaks, second chances, strength and so much more.

All of the eight short stories in this anthology will make you giddy especially if you have grown up in a desi household or with watching extravagant Bollywood romances (SRK-coded specifically) or are somehow related to it. No matter the country, be it India, New York, or California and no matter it is a Pakistani, Indian, Zoroastrian or a Tamil Wedding, they will make you feel all of the emotions depicted in them.

From enemies to lovers, second chance romance, strangers to lovers, rivals to lovers, or even lovers to exes to lovers again, all of these tropes are present in these stories.

The presence of that one mysterious but wise aunty in all those weddings was such a pleasant thing to read.

The Disaster Wedding: It shows how words have consequences but only when you give power to them, the way they navigated through this was lovely.

A Cynic at a Wedding: I was slightly irritated by it initially but then everything becomes relatable and I was glad that dealing with emotions was dealt perfectly.

Sehra: This hit home like no other. I felt it to the core. But I was annoyed at the mention of Tariq’s one bad habit esp when nothing came out of it.

Fate’s Favorites: The whole idea of soulmatism in it was insane. I loved it to bits.

The Wedding Biryani: How mutual loss and grief can bring two apparent rivals together was brilliantly done.

A Confluence of Fate: I absolutely adored the strong female lead in this and how she stood her ground.

A Wedding Recipe for Disaster: The idea of a Punjabi Pashtun wedding was such a treat and how Istikhara prayers actually help.