There’s Something About Sweetie (Dimple and Rishi #2)

Each book of Sandhya Menon’s keeps on getting better. She is now one of my go-to authors for excellent YA contemporary fiction. This book is best read after When Dimple Met Rishi, which is also excellent, but it can also be read as a standalone. I will do the best I can to express my love and appreciation for this life affirming book.
Sweetie Nair is a beautiful, smart track star. The only problem is that she is “fat.” People frequently make fun of her in a snarky way, and her mother constantly pressures her to lose weight. When Ashish Patel, a handsome young athlete who wants to date again after a difficult breakup with his ex girlfriend Celia, is matched with Sweetie by his parents, she can’t believe it. Though her mother forbids her to date Ashish because of her weight, Sweetie and Ashish decide to date anyway, with the Patels’ approval. Can Sweetie convince herself and her mother that she is worthy of love even though she is overweight?
This book touched me in such a deep way. I was, and still am, one of the”fat girls.” I was made fun of, rejected, and made to feel small and worthless by people who either didn’t care how they made me feel or did it on purpose to be cruel. But that is only because I let them. Each person has worth and value, no matter how they look on the outside, and I love how Sweetie’s story supports this truth. If only there were more guys like Ashish, who saw Sweetie’s beauty shine from the inside outwards. I love how Sweetie took control of the way she felt and did things to affirm her beauty instead of succumbing to her own negative self-talk as well as others.’ The writing was descriptive and realistic, as well as funny and emotional. I don’t personally agree with some of the views and lifestyles of the characters, and I didn’t like the profanity, but other than that I wholeheartedly recommend this book. Everyone who has ever felt like this or knows someone who struggles with this area should read this book. I am eagerly anticipating the author’s next book!
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley, and I also purchased the hardcover from Amazon. A positive review was not required, and all opinions expressed are entirely my own.

This is by far my favorite Sandhya Menon book to date! Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed her first two books, they were fun, cute romances but – a little forgettable. She took a slightly deeper dive this time and I LOVED IT. It’s only been day so far but I think There’s Something About Sweetie is one I’m going to remember. Aside from the adorable (as always) romance that is featured, we also take a hard look at; body image issues (particularly how they relate to American-Indian culture), mother-daughter relationships, getting over hard breakups and finding ways to love yourself despite what anyone else thinks.

There were a couple rough patches where the dialog felt a little cheesy or too forced. Especially in relation to the body positive conversations, they felt a little like they came straight from a personal development book. However those issues are pretty minor and are easy to overlook. As a whole I thought this was a beautiful, motivational story and I had so much fun getting to see our main characters fall in love with each other – and themselves.

NOTE: This can definitely be enjoyed fully without reading When Dimple Met Rishi BUT if you have read it — then I think you’re going to love this even more. (Even if you think you miss Celia, trust me.) There’s a few little cameos too from the first book which are fun. As for me, I think the romance is even better in this one.

Recommend for fans of:
– Lighthearted Contemporaries
– Simple/HEA Love Stories
– Body Positivity
– Bollywood
– Hallmark Channel

Just like the first book, I loved this book from the beginning. I especially like the topics Menon decided to tackle through this book, one of them being weight and its correlation to likeability and how one is treated.

She tackles this issue through the eyes of Sweetie who is perhaps the nicest and most thoughtful character I’ve ever “met”. She is a star track athlete, Indian, and fat. In an attempt to prove to her mom, those in the Indian community, and herself that fat girls can do anything skinny girls can, she begins the Sassy Sweetie project. During this time, we get to see Sweetie grow into a girl who is confident in who she is and confident in how others perceive her.

As a lovely companion to Sweetie, we get to learn more about Ashish. I wasn’t sure what to think of him after finishing WHEN DIMPLE MET RISHI, but I absolutely fell in love with him in this book. We see him fight against what he believes makes him inferior to his brother, strive to overcome his feelings for his ex, and work to become the guy he believes worthy of Sweetie.

What I loved about this book, and it’s something that I think we didn’t see enough of in the first book, is the growth we see in both Sweetie and Ashish. They’re each working towards different goals in their lives, but they’re able to support and assist each other along the way.

A couple of other things I loved about this include their friend groups and Ashish’s healing time. Ashish and Sweetie both have “large” friend groups which, I’m guessing, can be hard for authors. They have to make sure that we readers get to know each member of these groups as individuals who have different personalities and different pasts. Menon did a great job with this. She would give us small scenes with the main character and one of their friends so we had a little more time to get to know the friend apart from the group. There was even some inner friend group drama to show us the friends’ personalities a little better.

Also, I loved that Ashish didn’t just move on from his ex in the blink of an eye. He struggled to move one and was truthful with Sweetie about his struggles. This felt much more real than in some other books that I’ve read where the character is all-of-a-sudden over their ex with one look at their new love interest.

Staying on the romance topic, I’m still a big fan of slow-burn romances so I wish I could have seen more of that. Or at least been able to simmer in the tension for a little while longer. Nevertheless, I still really enjoyed Sweetie and Ashish’s relationship.

Overall, it was another slam dunk from Menon, obviously. It was a beautiful romance, a story towards body-positivity, and learning to be yourself.

Ahhhh! This book is so adorable and heartfelt and funny and awesome – my favorite rom-com (for any age group) that I’ve read in a long time. I adored both Sweetie and Ashish so much that after devouring the first 200 pages in a big gulp, I found myself slowing just because I loved them so much, I HATED the idea of them experiencing their inevitable black moment (that bit in every romance just before the end when everything seems to go wrong)…but I should have known better. They handle it perfectly, and so did Sandhya Menon, who has become one of my top 2 rom-com authors in the world (along with Lucy Parker).

CW: Sweetie faces a lot of fatphobia from her mom, but she talks back to it in her head from the very beginning and I CHEERED for her empowerment throughout the book as she sets out to do everything she’s been told (by her mother) that she can’t do because of her weight. (Sweetie herself is profoundly body-positive from the very beginning, and a very emotional forward by the author talks about the ways in which Sweetie’s experiences resonates with her own personal experiences as a teen – and how she wrote this book for every other girl facing those attitudes.)

Sweetie is fabulous exactly as she is, Ashish sees that from the very beginning, and they are utterly adorable together – SO good for each other in every way. The painful relationship arc between Sweetie and her mom (who is a TERRIBLE parent in many ways – but is also believably driven towards those parenting attitudes by her own intense personal insecurities and fears, in a way that feels true and sad) is also a really powerful one.

I love all the characters in this world so much. I would love to read more books about them! (I especially want Pinky’s story.) When I finished this book, I felt like I was glowing internally, because I was so happy for Sweetie and Ashish – and now I really want to re-read When Dimple Met Rishi (about Ashish’s older brother) now, immediately! The two books could be read in either order, and I think I love this one even more, but really, I just want to spend as much time with this family as possible. 🙂

Great price. Good quality.

Galaxyaudiobook Member Benefit

- Able to comment

- List watched audiobooks

- List favorite audiobooks

- Bookmark will only available for Galaxyaudiobook member