I am absolutely stunned that this is not only a debut, but that this author wrote this novel as a teenager. Just blown away, so impressed.
Kismat Connection is a delightful romp through a pair of besties in their senior year as they navigate questions of love, destiny, family, and fate. I'll admit, I'm not a big romance reader. I likely would not have picked up this book if not for BookishFirst's ARC raffle, but my oh my, I did not know how much I needed this story.
This is not just your run-of-the-mill fake dating, friends-to-lovers YA romance story. Don't get me wrong, it has all the best, cheesiest, warm-and-fuzzy-est beats that you'd expect from a story like this, but it also goes so much deeper than I had expected. These characters are mature, realistic, intelligent teenagers working through questions of identity and culture and what it means to be seen and to be part of a family, all while the uncertainty of their senior year and college decision season looms near.
I can't tell you how deeply I fell in love with the Iyer family, and Madhuri, while stubborn and at times infuriating, exhibits deep character growth and a connection to her culture that had me tearing up and cheering for our girl. Arjun, playing opposite her, is mature beyond his years, forced into a role of parenting himself and leaning on his found family for comfort, while remaining so steadfast and firm in his feelings and beliefs and identity that he acts as a foil to Madhuri's uncertainty.
You think you have the story figured out by the synopsis, and for the major beats, you probably do. But every other interaction and character development and family love fest and argument and plot twist and goofy moment in between is so, so good and so, so authentic. I was really over here screaming for these kids towards the end, what a truly fun experience. I'm so so happy this story exists, and these characters exist, and this author exists.
Kismat Connection is a delightful romp through a pair of besties in their senior year as they navigate questions of love, destiny, family, and fate. I'll admit, I'm not a big romance reader. I likely would not have picked up this book if not for BookishFirst's ARC raffle, but my oh my, I did not know how much I needed this story.
This is not just your run-of-the-mill fake dating, friends-to-lovers YA romance story. Don't get me wrong, it has all the best, cheesiest, warm-and-fuzzy-est beats that you'd expect from a story like this, but it also goes so much deeper than I had expected. These characters are mature, realistic, intelligent teenagers working through questions of identity and culture and what it means to be seen and to be part of a family, all while the uncertainty of their senior year and college decision season looms near.
I can't tell you how deeply I fell in love with the Iyer family, and Madhuri, while stubborn and at times infuriating, exhibits deep character growth and a connection to her culture that had me tearing up and cheering for our girl. Arjun, playing opposite her, is mature beyond his years, forced into a role of parenting himself and leaning on his found family for comfort, while remaining so steadfast and firm in his feelings and beliefs and identity that he acts as a foil to Madhuri's uncertainty.
You think you have the story figured out by the synopsis, and for the major beats, you probably do. But every other interaction and character development and family love fest and argument and plot twist and goofy moment in between is so, so good and so, so authentic. I was really over here screaming for these kids towards the end, what a truly fun experience. I'm so so happy this story exists, and these characters exist, and this author exists.