Series: Book #2 (standalone after Kismat Connection)
Publication Date: 20th May 2025
Genre: YA Romance, Own Voices
3.5 Stars
One Liner: Depends on your expectations
Raina wants to win the National Bollywood Dance Circuit Scholarship to prove that dance is a stable career choice. She also wants to show that she and her boyfriend, Aditya, are still the perfect couple despite the current differences between them. However, Aditya breaks up with her, and the choreography for the event is a mess.
Raina’s hopes for a do-over put her in a time loop where she repeats the same day again and again. Raina has to figure out what went wrong and fix it to fix the issues in her real life. But perfection may not be the only thing required!
The story comes in Raina’s third-person POV.
My Thoughts:
Before I start the review, I have to confess to laughing at the title. I like alliterations, but this one is so cheesy! Anyhoo!
Though the book is presented as a standalone, it is the story of Raina, Madhuri’s younger sister, from Kismat Connection, the author’s debut novel. Reading book one might help familiarize oneself with her character arc and the family dynamics.
In Kismat Connection, Raina and Aditya are the perfect couple (though they are teenagers). Raina was one of my favorite characters (I liked her more than Madhuri). Here, we see the actual Raina, whose zeal for perfection comes with a ton of insecurities and relationship disasters.
We get straight to the conflict. The time loop starts early, which means there are eight of them before real life resumes. Luckily, the pacing is quite good. However, this is an advantage and a disadvantage.
You will like the book more if your focus is on the time loop or Groundhog Day trope, where Raina tries to figure out how to fix the situation. However, you are likely to be disappointed if you want more elements about Indian American communities, families, or even the trending Bollywood dancing trope. That’s because the book is laser-focused on Raina’s character growth, and the other elements take a back seat. They are used only when necessary and discarded afterward.
Raina’s arc is actually good. She learns a lot thanks to the time loop and understands how and where she went wrong. Aditya shows promise, but since he has been made the perfect boyfriend, there isn’t a chance for much growth. He is easy to like, so no complaints.
I can also see an improvement in the writing style. This book is less clunky and has a smoother flow. Raina is flawed but not a red flag; something that didn’t work as it was supposed to in Kismat Connection.
Now, my issue is with the rest of the details. Though it’s a dance competition, we don’t see a lot of it except for some formations and a couple of moves. Given how dance is integral to Raina’s life, using it as more than a foundation would have helped. Then, there’s that competitor who never got exposed for what she did. It doesn’t seem right that she gets away. Then, the roles of Raina’s mother and sister are severely limited when their presence could have enhanced the plot and added another layer to it. We still don’t know what’s troubling Madhuri.
Though we get some typical competition between aunties and the ‘sanskari’ standards Raina has to deal with, they don’t add much to the plot. It feels superficial and stereotypical.
While there are a few desi emotions and moments, the book doesn’t, as such, stand out among many others that ride the same wave. It’s just another Western book with Indian characters using a few known tropes. It could have been with any characters from a slightly conservative background, and would have read the same.
To summarize, Sanskari Sweetheart is a decent sophomore novel dealing with YA romance. It has improved upon certain elements from the previous book, but it has a few issues of its own. Of course, I’d read more by the author. She shows promise and is a work in progress, just as she should be at this stage of her writing career.
Thank you, NetGalley and HarperCollins, for the eARC.
#NetGalley #SanskariSweetheart
***
PS: While the cover is cute, I don’t think it is accurate. Raina has long black curly hair (to her waist), and Aditya has thick black waves framing his face.
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