#Tastes Like Shakkar

[triviareads]

If I were to write the ideal desi heroine, she too would send a guy a Excel spreadsheet with every Indian restaurant in the tristate area, followed by a tit pic.

[ash-and-books]

Rating: 5/5

Book Blurb: In the hilarious follow-up to the breakout rom-com Dating Dr. Dil, Nisha Sharma adds shakkar and mirch to Shakespeare’s iconic comedy Much Ado About Nothing for one sweet and spicy love story.

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?With the return of the meddling aunties (who are scary good at finding information) and a lot of hilarity and hijinks, Bobbi and Bunty’s romance is an event you don’t want to miss.

Review:

A new spin on Mch Ado About Nothing featuring a wedding planner and her sexy nemesis chef who both have to come together to save their best friends’s wedding from a secret saboteur. Bobbi Kaur is a wedding planner who loves what she does, she’s determined to give her best friend the perfect wedding, the only glitch is that she is forced to spend time Benjamin “Bunty” Padda. The hot and grumpy chef who might have said the dumbest thing to her when they met one year ago and now they both can’t stand to be in a room together. Bunty is a chef who doesn’t want a serious relationship, in fact he’s vowed to remain a bachelor for life... except for the fact that he can’t help but be completely wrapped around Bobbi Kaur’s fingers. He knows he’s messed up when he met her a year ago and is willing to do anything to get a second chance to make it right with her. Yet the more time they spend together the more their growing attraction grows... yet Bunty knows he has to focus on his chef career and taking care of his family business.... but he’s finding that Bobbi is making him reconsider everything. On top of that they both have to work together to find out who is trying to ruin their best friends’s wedding before it’s too late. Can Bobbi and Bunty work out their relationship or was it doomed from the start? This was such a cute and sexy read. I loved Bobbi and Bunty as a couple and how much they really fit together. They really support and take care of one another and my goodness it was so sweet and I mean Bunty sure knows his way around rope hahaha. This was a very unique and fun take on the classic shakespeare story and I enjoyed getting to see where the couple from the first book went in this one as well. Overall, it was such a fun read and I can’t wait to see where the third book goes with the newest couple!!!

*Thanks Netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager, Avon for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

[floating-in-sunbeams]

i’m so in love with benjamin that i might stop breathing

[somewherelostinbooks]

Tastes Like Shakkar- Review

Tastes Like Shakkar By Nisha Sharma Genre: Contemporary Romance Series: If Shakespeare Were an Auntie #2 Publisher: Avon Publication Date: August 1,2023 Rating: 4.75 Stars Amazon Indiebound Description: In the hilarious follow-up to the breakout rom-com Dating Dr. Dil, Nisha Sharma adds shakkar and mirch to Shakespeare’s iconic comedy Much Ado About Nothing for one sweet and spicy love…

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

🦇 Tastes Like Shakkar Book Review 🦇

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

❝ "As a wedding planner, I have learned to appreciate blunt honesty. I mean, what's sexier than that? Being completely transparent and straight with another person takes a kind of fearlessness, doesn't it?" ❞

❓ #QOTD What's your favorite Shakespeare play (or retelling)? ❓ 🦇 Bobbi Kaur is eager to plan a blow-out, unforgettable wedding for her best friend. Unfortunately, she's paired with Benjamin “Bunty” Padda to complete the task; the groom's best friend and man who derailed her career as a wedding planner. After Bunty refuses to cater a previous wedding for her, Bobbi's boss and uncle loses his faith in her ability to one day manage the business. The Kareena Mann and Prem Verma (#Vermann) wedding could be her chance to prove herself and win an account with one of the biggest venues around. To make matters worse, someone is trying to sabotage the wedding. Despite their constant bickering and the shaadi saboteur's best efforts, can Bobbi and Bunty call a truce and (with the help of a few sleuthing, meddling aunties) turn the Vermann wedding into a happily ever after?

💜 How do I bottle up all my love for Nisha Sharma, Bobbi, and Bunty in a concise review? Oh, let me count the ways... (whoops, wrong play). "There's a skirmish of wit between them" is far more accurate. Tastes Like Shakkar picks up from the scene we missed in Dating Dr. Dil, when Bobbi and Bunty speak alone at Kareena's birthday party. A moment of misunderstanding flares into hostility, even though Bobbi and Bunty have more in common than they realize. Sharma does a stunning job of pulling from Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing while staying true to her Punjabi-American characters. So many books are categorized as romcom more for the situational comedy than actual laugh-aloud moments, which Sharma brings in spades. Bobbi and Bunty have all the wit and sass of their Shakespearian counterparts, but they bring the heat, too. This sweet, sassy story has a flare of spice that's bound to get your blood pumping. Whether Bunty is cooking up a storm in the kitchen or not, there are plenty of mouthwatering moments to spare.

💜 Bobbi's independence and ferocity are inspiring, while Bunty's foodie notes, text, and willingness to SHOW he's falling first are heartwarming. The layers of similarity between them—taking on familial obligations while trying to prove themselves—bring Bobbi and Bunty together when internal and external forces try to drag them apart. The aunties are, as always, a hoot, and Bobbi's curvy representation (and better yet, PRIDE) warmed my heart.

🦇 As much as I loved the story's mystery element, I pegged the shaadi saboteur the moment Bobbi chooses her first suspect. Sharma leaves plenty of little breadcrumbs for readers to follow. Though there's a TON of sizzle and spice (I'm fanning myself at the thought of that throne scene), I do think it was rushed, almost entirely resolving the animosity between them with smut.

🦇 Recommended for fans of Shakespeare retellings, @sonali.dev / Sonali Dev's The Rajes series, or @saradesaiwrites / Sara Desai's The Marriage Game series! Any rom-com lover is bound to fall in love with Bobbi and Bunty!

✨ The Vibes ��� 💞 Enemies to Lovers 🤏🏽 Forced Proximity 📜 Shakespeare Inspired 🔍 A Dash of Mystery 🪷 Desi/Punjabi RomCom 💐 Chef x Wedding Planner 👗 Plus-Sized Female Lead 📚 Second in a Series 💜 Contemporary Romance 😂 Banter & Humor

❝ "My body says 'let's go on an expedition!' while my brain is shouting 'evacuate mission!'" ❞

🦇 Major thanks to the author Nisha Sharma and publisher Avon Books/ Harper Voyager US for providing an ARC of this book via Netgalley. 🥰 This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

[zozosnothere]

★ 𝙒𝙀𝙇𝘾𝙊𝙈𝙀 𝙏𝙊 𝙈𝙔 𝘽𝙇𝙊𝙂. ★

𝙈𝙀.

zoe, british-pakistani reader and writer, massive english fanatic, kenji kishimoto irl, alina azlan khan's #1 supporter, zoha khan's second mother, shatter me enthusiast, sun tower series lover, computer science nerd, a love for coding and photography, passion for lemon cake, strawberries, purple.

𝘽𝙊𝙊𝙆𝙎.

faves: sun tower series, shatter me series. (the owner of @cast7le)

others i've read: twisted series, girl in pieces, dating dr dil, tastes like shakkar, inheritance games (first book).

𝙈𝙐𝙎𝙄𝘾.

massive chase atlantic fan, the weeknd, bollywood songs, badshah, dilwale soundtrack, ae dil hai mushkil soundtrack, and more (i can't remember)

𝙒𝘼𝙏𝘾𝙃𝙀𝘿:

tdlosk + tdlosk:r, mha (idc i still enjoy it.) dilwale, k3g, housefull 3, golmaal again, bajrangi bhaijaan, kkhh, ddlj, any srkajol movie, romantic killer, tangled, namaste england, mainly bollywood movies tbh

tags will be under zozowashere, zozosrants, zozosdrabbles, zozosideas, or anything else i think of in the moment.

[mermaidsirennikita]

Sorry if I missed it, but do you have any recs for diverse body types? Like either the hero, heroine, or both who are fat or chubby? Thank you!

Yes!

Historical:

Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean. A classic! Callie is canonically fat, ends up pursuing the nine things she's always wanted to do before committing to spinsterhood, and the local rake ends up getting entangled in her adventures. One of my favorite moments in this book is when she tries to disguise herself as a man by wearing trousers during a fencing moment, and he sees her ass and is like "that is NOT a man".

A Rogue By Any Other Name by Sarah MacLean. It isn't as obvious in this book, but I think it's pretty clear that Penelope is more full-figured, and boy is Bourne about it.

Brazen and the Beast by Sarah MacLean. Hattie is fat, and this is one of the only historicals that actually has a plus-size model on the cover and the stepback. She's gorgeous, yay! (And it's such a great stepback.)

Knockout by Sarah MacLean. Another one where the model actually is a legit plus-size model, and a lot of the book is kind of like... big girl wish fulfillment in a great way, imo? It's very touching in a manner I don't think people will get if they haven't been there. Imogen doesn't have all this "I'm fat" angst, she's confident, but her sore point is being made to feel that she's too much in every way? Like, she's too brash, she's too bold, and her big personality on top of a bigger body just makes her too much. Like she should shrink in some way to balance it out. And Tommy is like, carrying her around, protecting her, adoring her. Ugh, it's a lOT.

The Truth About Cads and Dukes by Elisa Braden. Jane is fat, and she considers herself plain. What she doesn't realize, after she enters into a marriage of convenience with local icy duke Harrison, is that he is like. Physically. OBSESSED. He doesn't know much about her personality lmao, but he is BARELY holding it together whenever she does one of her innocent double entendres. (In like, the scene where he's trying to propose a fix it marriage, she's all "and you wouldn't know what's inside my mind unless you'd been inside ME" and he's like, desperately coughing to keep himself together while she has noooo idea why he's so upset lmao.)

Contemporary:

The Brown Sisters trilogy by Talia Hibbert. All three heroines are plus size. There are other cool aspects of rep Talia addresses as well--Chloe Brown has chronic pain, Dani Brown is bi, Eve Brown is autistic (and so is her hero). These are really fun, really good, really sexy books. I think Act Your Age, Eve Brown may be my favorite, though.

The Princess Trap by Talia Hibbert. This is another Talia book with a fat Black heroine who is totally aware of her own appeal and confident as hell. She ends up in a fake engagement situation with a prince (who is, I should add, in trouble because a tape leaked of him and his previous girlfriend getting up to Certain Things That Some Unjustly Consider Abnormal, and also mentioning his bisexuality) and it all goes from there. He has an oral fixation, btw.

Tastes Like Shakkar by Nisha Sharma. This is recent and so cute! It's a Much Ado About Nothing retelling wherein the hero and heroine, of course, hate each other, but have to work together because she's planning her bestie's wedding and he is the chef (and also best friends with the groom). And someone's trying to sabotage the wedding, so that's also an issue. He ALSO has a particular interest that I really appreciate seeing in books with fat heroines, personally.

A Merry Little Meet Cute by Sierra Simone and Julie Murphy. Christmasy, but works all year round imo. The heroine is a plus sized adult film star with a super popular OF-style account, but she wants to break into mainstream. So she gets this opportunity to fill in for an actress on a Hallmark-style Christmas movie, and jumps in. Except oops, the hero, who's a fallen boy bander, is VERY familiar with her work... Super body positive and hot, love it.

Possession by Adriana Anders. Omg love this book. The heroine is a rising actress, and she's in a totally platonic, PR marriage of convenience with this A-list, "sexiest man alive" type star. Then he gets caught on tape doing Stuff and Things with a woman who looks super similar to her. Obviously, they're not really together, but it looks like cheating, so he rans off to a camp to... be himself. She chases him down, and it's super super hot and emotional and there's consensual kidnapping!

Gothic-y Paranormal-y:

The Thornchapel Series by Sierra Simone has six leads (five of whom have POVs). One of the POV characters is a plus size model who's just acknowledged as like, the hottest person around. TW for a million things, but this heroine does have a strong recovery from a past sexual assault ARC.

There are romance novels with fat heroes, obviously, but they are much fewer and further between, and if I'm super real, I've yet to read one wherein the focus wasn't like "the hero and heroine are both fat and the main thing they talk about is being fat", which is not something I personally like to read. It's not that I don't want to read about two fat people falling in love--I do. But I don't like it when that's like... the main point of the story aside from the romance.

[the-book-queen]

Ooooh, you can grab TASTES LIKE SHAKKAR by Nisha Sharma for only $1.99! I loved this book. Fun and sexy, highly recommend, especially at this steal!

Go get it now 👉 https://amzn.to/4dncuMd

[bookclub4m]

Episode 189 - Romantic Comedies & Humorous Romance

This episode we’re discussing the fiction genre of Romantic Comedies! We talk about the difference between “fun” and “funny,” crossover romance genres, cataloguing romance fiction, and more!

You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast delivery system.

In this episode

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Jam Edwards

Things We Read (or tried to…)

The House Witch by Delemhach

A Witch's Guide to Fake Dating a Demon by Sarah Hawley

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston 

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes

Delilah Green Doesn't Care by Ashley Herring Blake

Take Me Home by Lorelie Brown 

I Kissed a Girl by Jennet Alexander 

The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams

Other Media We Mentioned

When Harry Met Sally… (Wikipedia)

The Bear (Wikipedia)

Nominated for Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy

The Martian (Wikipedia)

Golden Globes change comedy rules after controversial win for The Martian

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Beetlejuice (Wikipedia)

The Wallflower Wager by Tessa Dare

A Week to be Wicked by Tessa Dare

You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Judgment (video game)

Bridgertons Series by Julia Quinn

Crazy Stupid Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams

A Very Merry Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams

The Duke Who Didn’t by Courtney Milan

Cats (2019 film) (Wikipedia)

Links, Articles, and Things

Episode 119: Regency Romance

What does a happily ever after look like? (romance novel covers)

Sensible Chuckle (Know Your Meme)

There Is Only One Bed (TV Tropes)

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!

Does the Dog Die?

20 Humorous Romance by BIPOC Authors

Every month Book Club for Masochists: A Readers’ Advisory Podcasts chooses a genre at random and we read and discuss books from that genre. We also put together book lists for each episode/genre that feature works by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) authors. All of the lists can be found here.

Courting Samira by Amal Awad

The Wildest Ride by Marcella Bell

A Proposal They Can't Refuse by Natalie Caña

Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband? by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn

Rent a Boyfriend by Gloria Chao

How to Find a Princess by Alyssa Cole

You Had Me at Hola by Alexis Daria

Game On by Seressia Glass

Manhattan Dreaming by Anita Heiss

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

A Dash of Salt and Pepper by Kosoko Jackson

Much Ado about Nada by Uzma Jalaluddin

Serena Singh Flips the Script by Sonya Lalli

The Stand-Up Groomsman by Jackie Lau

Booked on a Feeling by Jayci Lee 

The Secret to a Southern Wedding by Synithia Williams

Pride and Protest by Nikki Payne

Tastes Like Shakkar by Nisha Sharma

The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa

The Donut Trap by Julie Tieu 

Give us feedback!

Fill out the form to ask for a recommendation or suggest a genre or title for us to read!

Check out our Tumblr, follow us on Instagram, join our Facebook Group, or send us an email!

Join us again on Tuesday, February 20th we’ll be talking about our reading resolutions for 2024! 

Then on Tuesday, March 5th we’ll be discussing the genre of Dark Fantasy!

[cecexwrites]

To Do 10/9

Work 15 Titles IIIII IIIII IIIII

Writing 3k POW Day 1 prompt-oween Day 2 Prompt-oween (?)

Errands Dollar Tree

Home Clean off bed

Read Update Reading Journal Tastes like Shakkar

Other Fill out/send Face up Form

[triviareads]

I found out a month ago that my mom had read some of the Ravenel books and her key takeaway was that Pandora Ravenel was a very enterprising young lady and more HR heroines should be like her instead of going to balls and tea parties and whatever.

[princessofbookaholics]

Wedding prep took over my life this month and I was too stressed out to read! We've finalized a lot of things and I'm feeling relaxed as well as anxious, i really don't know what to feel. On the reading side it was really scarce with no 5 stars but King of Wrath came pretty close. Here's the wrap up:

Tastes Like Shakkar (ARC) ⭐⭐⭐

None of This is True ⭐⭐⭐

You Can Trust Me ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Last Chance Library ⭐⭐⭐

The List ⭐⭐⭐

Everyone Here is Lying ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Trap ⭐⭐⭐

King of Wrath ⭐⭐⭐⭐

[verityreadsbooks]

Books Incoming: Mid August

Well, another fun month. I know this looks a lot, but six of these are that order from Words and Kisses closing down sale, two were preorders (The Cuban Heiress and Tastes Like Shakkar) and the final one was an impulse purchase when I saw it second hand. Now I just need to work my way down the backlog… Have a great weekend!

[amarachireads]

New Release Tuesday!

Happy release day to these two amazing books. They are available wherever you buy books and your local libraries. Tastes Like Shakkar by Nisha Sharma Read if you like: ✨Enemies to lovers ✨South Asian main characters ✨Wedding planning ✨Chef mmc ✨Mystery plot ✨Much ado about nothing based ✨Plus size rep ✨Close knit friend group Spicy 🌶️ 🌶️🌶️ Buy a copy Change Of Plans by Dylan…

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

🦇 Good morning and happy Monday, bookish bats! I have no idea where the weekend went, but I hope you enjoyed every second! How did you spend your weekend? Is the Barbie song stuck in your head? It's stuck in mine!

💜 There are so many amazing books coming out in the next few weeks, but I wanted to highlight (hehe, see what I did there?) one by a favorite author of mine: Nisha Sharma, author of Dating Dr. Dil and Tastes Like Shakkar. Inspired by Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, Tastes Like Shakkar follows Bobbi and Bunty in a fun, spicy-sweet rom-com retelling! Though it comes out next Tuesday, I wanted to stir up your interest with a few of my favorite quotes (potential spoilers ahead)!

❓ #QOTD Have you read Dating Dr. Dil, and are you excited for the story to continue with Bobbi and Bunty?

OR ❓ What do you think of the new annotations format? I'm still experimenting.

[bookishbethanyerin]

• ARC Review: Tastes Like Shakkar •

If you’ve eve thought to yourself, “You know what would improve Much Ado About Nothing? Spicy scenes.” then Tastes Like Shakkar is extremely for you!

The second book in Nisha Sharma’s If Shakespeare Was An Auntie series of interconnected standalones (you don’t have to have read the first book, Dating Dr. Dil, which is a reimagining of The Taming of the Shrew, but it helps a bit with establishing some of the minor characters), this story follows Bobbi, an in-demand wedding planner, and Benjamin, a popular chef, who run in the same friend group and *cannot* stand each other in the most electric way, but who have to work together to plan their mutual best friends’ wedding.

In true Beatrice and Benedick fashion, the tension between these two basically lights the pages on fire as you read, but there are also big emotional arcs here that center around family, career, and how to balance everything when love is in the mix.

Here’s what else to expect:

🔥intense dislike to lovers

👩‍❤️‍👨 characters in their 30s

💋 curvy FMC

✈️ some angst

🪢 ropes

💒 a wedding mystery

All in all, Tastes Like Shakkar is a fun, fast, and spicy read – I has a great time with it, and am looking very forward to the next installment in the series!

3.75🌟

3🌶️

👑A huge thank you to Avon Books for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy! Tastes Like Shakkar releases on August 1st!🌶️