Title: Tastes Like Shakkar
Author: Nisha Sharma
Publication: August 1, 2023
Publisher: Avon
Genre: Romance
Pages: 350
SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads)
Bobbi Kaur is determined to plan a celebration to remember for her best friend’s wedding. But she has two problems that are getting in her way:
1. The egotistical, and irritatingly sexy, chef Benjamin “Bunty” Padda is supposed to help her with the menu since he’s the groom’s best friend, and
2. Someone is trying to sabotage the wedding.
With aspirations of taking over her family’s event planning business, Bobbi knows that one misstep in managing the Kareena Mann and Prem Verma (#Vermann) party, along with the other weddings on her plate, will only give her uncle another reason not to promote her. That means Kareena’s big day and Bobbi’s future career are on the line.
Bunty will do anything for his best friend, even though he has his hands full in finding a new location for his next restaurant while also playing mediator between his brother and father, the celebrated Naan King. When Prem asks Bunty to help with the wedding menu, he agrees, especially since it puts him in close proximity to the delicious Bobbi Kaur. When a mystery shaadi saboteur starts leaving threatening notes, and cancelling cake orders, Bunty and Bobbi have no choice but to call a truce and face the volatile attraction they have for each other.
Through masquerade fundraisers and a joint bachelor-bachelorette trip to Vegas, this chef and wedding planner explore their growing connection all while trying to plan a wedding at Messina Vineyards in a time crunch. But once the shaadi saboteur is caught and the wedding is over, will their love story have a happily ever after
REVIEW:
**A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**
I recently read Dating Dr. Dil and I feel in love with the author and her writing style. I loved the twists that she has created on Shakespeare’s plays. Taking them putting a contemporary twist with an Indian twist as well. So when I was on Netgalley browsing as I shouldn’t have done, I came across the second book in the series. I requested then kept my fingers crossed and hoped I would get approved. I was thrilled when I got that approval email.
Bobbi is an event planner. While she does it all she does Indian weddings the most. She is very good at it. When her best friend is getting married and then drops the bomb on her that they are getting married sooner than Bobbi was aware of, she has to jump into action to get it all done in time. With that, she is tossed into a partnership of sorts with her arch-nemesis Bunty (Benjamin). He is a well know Indian chef and her friends want him to do the food. When things start to heat up between them what will happen with their so-called fighting? This book is steamy….and kinky (finding kinks I didn’t know I had)…. However, the beginning is a slow burn. So don’t give up on it. It’s well worth the wait. MY dingus self pre-ordered this book from Barnes and Noble and then also requested it as an ARC but that is ok I will just add it to my collection.
Holy moly this book has made me so hungry for Indian food. Furiously googling Indian restaurants near me and discovering since I live in Northern Michigan the nearest one to me is a 1.5 hour drive away. I love the banter that these two main characters had with each other. It just built upon their relationship, they may have been enemies of some sort but that was just a base upon which they created their relationship. The descriptions that the author wrote in this book had me visualizing everything. The detail she provides helped me to see everything she was describing. The writing style flows well and doesn’t leave you wondering what she meant, only thing I wish was that the epilogue was something more. I wanted to know what happened with Bunty and Bobbi. Do they get married do they get engaged? Hopefully, we get more in the next book. I cannot wait for the next book in the series, I can only assume that it will be about the last friend in the girl’s friend group, can’t wait to see what Shakespeare play it will be. I have another one of the author’s books on my shelf at home and will be moving it closer to the top of my pile.
