Book Review: There's Something About Sweetie
There's Something About Sweetie
by Sandhya Menon
Blurb: Ashish Patel didn’t know love could be so…sucky. After he’s dumped by his ex-girlfriend, his mojo goes AWOL. Even worse, his parents are annoyingly, smugly confident they could find him a better match. So, in a moment of weakness, Ash challenges them to set him up.
The Patels insist that Ashish date an Indian-American girl—under contract. Per subclause 1(a), he’ll be taking his date on “fun” excursions like visiting the Hindu temple and his eccentric Gita Auntie. Kill him now. How is this ever going to work?
Sweetie Nair is many things: a formidable track athlete who can outrun most people in California, a loyal friend, a shower-singing champion. Oh, and she’s also fat. To Sweetie’s traditional parents, this last detail is the kiss of death.
Sweetie loves her parents, but she’s so tired of being told she’s lacking because she’s fat. She decides it’s time to kick off the Sassy Sweetie Project, where she’ll show the world (and herself) what she’s really made of.
Ashish and Sweetie both have something to prove. But with each date they realize there’s an unexpected magic growing between them. Can they find their true selves without losing each other?
Cover Review: I think this cover is adorable and perfect for the sort of story inside. It's full of colors and smiles and Sweetie, who is the focus of this book.
Plot: It was a pretty cute plot with some deeper undercurrents. Ashish is recovering from a broken heart (even if he's over-dramatic about it) and Sweetie is trying to show everyone and herself that she isn't just who she looks like on the outside. There's a lot of highs and lows during their romance as they try get to know each other.
Besides the romance, though, the part I also liked was between Sweetie and her mother. They have opposite points of view on her size and while her mother is trying to protect her, she's also trying to protect herself. As you might guess, they do fight, but in the end they talk it out and make up with one another. Which I think is something we should see more of.
Characters: Sweetie- She was the absolute best part of this book and to be honest, it's kind of her story. She's plus sized, which I love, and a track runner, which I love even more. But what I loved most of all about her is how she loved herself. Most of the time with a curvy protagonist, they're working on coming to grips with who they are. But Sweetie had already done that and it was so refreshing to see someone like her who didn't care about her size. If you don't read it for anything else, read it for beautiful, sassy, Sweetie.
Ashish- On the flip side, however, I didn't really like Ashish at all and kind of suffered through his chapters. He's a rich boy, which is already hard enough for me to like, plus he had such a major ego. I did like how he liked Dimple the way she was as well, even if it did feel like he obsessed over her looks a bit much.
Other Characters- I also couldn't go through without mentioning Dimple's girl squad, who were the best and I wanted to be friends with. They had her back, they supported each other, and when they thought Ashish was cheating on her, drove with her to kick his butt.
Ashish's friends were about as annoying to me as he was. He had two gay friends who were dating each other that made me uncomfortable the whole time and a homeschooled sort of friend that feel under the stereotypes of homeschooling.
World: I don't remember much about the setting, but I did like all the little locations they went to. The temple, the holi festival, the coffee shop. It gave it a nice mix of Indian tradition and modern California.
Other: Since this is a romance, there is quite a bit of kissing and some touching of each other (with clothes on), but I was happy to find there were no sex scenes like in When Dimple Met Rishi. So you can keep that in mind if you want to read it.
Rating: 4 stars
Have you read this book? Should there be more plus sized protagonists in YA? Tell me in the comments.
Suggested Posts:
Comments
Post a Comment