Sari, Not Sari

I was looking for an easy listen recently and Sari, Not Sari fit the bill. Written by Canadian author Sonja Singh, this was a cute and entertaining romance that follows a young woman named Manny who is discovering her own identity and South Asian roots.

Manny's business (people hire her to break up their relationships) was an interesting and unique premise. I enjoyed listening to the humorous letters potential clients have sent in as they request Manny's help in breaking up with their partners. 

Narration: This audiobook was narrated by Avita Jay, but it wasn't a strong performance. I became distracted by mispronunciations of words (contributed - con-tri-buu-tid, nachos - nay-chos ..).

While Manny and Sammy's relationship had a strong Insta-Love vibe, overall, this was a cute story about family, connecting with your heritage and finding a place where you belong. 

My Rating: 3 stars

Author: Sonja Singh

Genre: RomCom, BIPOC author, Canadian

Type and Source: eAudio from public library

Narrator: Avita Jay

Run Time: 8 hrs, 24 min

Publisher: Simon and Schuster Audio

First Published: April 5, 2022

Book Description from GoodReads: This delightful debut rom-com follows the adventures of a woman trying to connect with her South Asian roots and introduces readers to a memorable cast of characters in a veritable feast of food, family traditions, and fun.

Manny Dogra is the beautiful young CEO of Breakup, a highly successful company that helps people manage their relationship breakups. As preoccupied as she is with her business, she’s also planning her wedding to handsome architect Adam Jamieson while dealing with the loss of her beloved parents.

For reasons Manny has never understood, her mother and father, who were both born in India, always wanted her to become an “All-American” girl. So that’s what she did. She knows next to nothing about her South Asian heritage, and that’s never been a problem—until her parents are no longer around, and an image of Manny that’s been Photoshopped to make her skin look more white appears on a major magazine cover. Suddenly, the woman who built an empire encouraging people to be true to themselves is having her own identity crisis.

But when an irritating client named Sammy Patel approaches Manny with an odd breakup request, the perfect solution presents itself: If they both agree to certain terms, he’ll give her a crash course in being “Indian” at his brother’s wedding.

What follows is days of dancing and dal, masala and mehndi as Manny meets the lovable, if endlessly interfering, aunties and uncles of the Patel family, and, along the way, discovers much more than she could ever have anticipated.