A heart-felt, romantic comedy featuring a Bangladeshi American teen.
WHAT’S THE BOOK ABOUT
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before meets Pride and Prejudice in this delightful and heartfelt rom-com about a Bangladeshi American teen whose meddling mother arranges a match to secure their family’s financial security—just as she’s falling in love with someone else.
Zahra Khan is basically Bangladeshi royalty, but being a princess doesn’t pay the bills in Paterson, New Jersey. While Zahra’s plans for financial security this summer involve working long hours at Chai Ho and saving up for college writing courses, Amma is convinced that all Zahra needs is a “good match,” Jane Austen style.
Enter Harun Emon, who’s wealthy, devastatingly handsome, and…aloof. As soon as Zahra meets him, she knows it’s a bad match. It’s nothing like the connection she has with Nayim Aktar, the new dishwasher at the tea shop, who just gets Zahra in a way no one has before. So, when Zahra finds out that Harun is just as uninterested in this match as she is, they decide to slowly sabotage their parents’ plans. And for once in Zahra’s life, she can have her rossomalai and eat it too: “dating” Harun and keeping Amma happy while catching real feelings for Nayim.But life—and boys—can be more complicated than Zahra realizes. With her feelings all mixed up, Zahra discovers that sometimes being a good Bengali kid can be a royal pain.
WHY YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK
I started my reading journey in 2023 with The Love Match by Priyanka Taslim. It’s a romantic comedy exploring an eighteen-year-old Bangladeshi girl’s dilemma in choosing her life partner – the dashing but poor Nayim Akhtar who understands her so well, or the equally dashing but aloof and rich Harun Emon.
I wouldn’t say I was bowled over by the romance, but I enjoyed reading it. The author loves Bollywood and Dhallywood (the film industry in Bangladesh). Consequently, the plot closely resembles a Bollywood film replete with meddling parents, clash between culture and ambition, a hard-working, middle-class girl struggling to achieve her dreams, two hot, eligible bachelors vying for the said girl, lots of confusion, drama, and tears, and finally, a happily-ever-after.
Taslim takes her readers on a colorful and romantic journey. Both the boys pull out all the stops to woo the girl (I am not complaining; there were some heartfelt but gooey scenes that took my breath away). The descriptions of the shalwar kameez and lehengas that Zahra’s mother weaves for her felt magical and oh-so-filmy.
The best parts of The Love Match are the honest conversations among Zahra, her friends, Harun, and Nayim about how parental pressure (especially in Asian families) negatively affects so many children. I also liked how each of these characters navigate through the minfield of parental expectations.
The last three chapters are the best in the book. I wouldn’t spoil the surprise for you. I would recommend The Love Match by Priyanka Taslim to any romance fiction fan yearning for brown protagonists.
BOOK DETAILS
Genre: Romantic comedy || Pages: 400 || Published on January 3rd, 2023 by Salaam Reads/Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
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Many thanks to the publisher for providing me a digital complimentary copy. This does not influence my opinion of the book. Many thanks to Lonely Pages Book Tours for inviting me to this blog tour.
AUTHOR BIO
Priyanka Taslim is a writer represented by Quressa Robinson of Folio Literary Management. Priyanka writes swoony young adult and adult novels starring the Bengali characters she wishes
she’d seen growing up.
When she isn’t writing, she’s teaching, reading, otherwise geeking out, or waxing lyrical about her dapper tuxedo cat, Loki.
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Debjani's Thoughts 
Sounds like bollywood romantic drama. Great review!
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Thanks 😊
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