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NetGalley Review of Say You’ll Be Mine

Posted on September 12, 2023September 13, 2023 by caritagardiner
Screenshot 2023-09-10 at 8.51.30 PM

title: Say You'll Be Mine

author: Naina Kumar

publisher: Dell

publication date: January 16, 2024

pages: 336

peppers: 2 (on this scale)

warnings: none

summary: Karthik's mother has brought him to meet eight potential brides, two every weekend for a month. She has plans to keep up this pace for a year, so when he's intrigued by Meghna, he proposes a fake engagement to appease his mother. Meghna's long-time crush is getting married, and she sees Karthik as a perfect plus-one for the wedding.

tropes:

  • fake engagement
  • one bed
  • friend's wedding
  • unrequited love
  • arranged marriage
  • scared to become my horrible father
  • parental expectations
  • best friend has perfect/not perfect engagement

what I liked: The main characters both have good reasons to feel what they feel and to misinterpret the other's feelings; good scenes with best friends and family

what I didn’t like: nothing

overall rating: 5 (of 5 stars)

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WHAT I DO

I serve as a class dean and teach English to high schoolers at a boarding school in Connecticut. I’ve earned a Bachelor of Arts (Amherst College), an Education Master in Learning and Teaching (Harvard University Graduate School of Education), a Master of Arts in English (Bread Loaf School of English), and most recently a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing with a certificate in the online teaching of writing (Southern New Hampshire University).

As a writer, I hope to capture the complexity and joy of life in the New England boarding school world. On this site, I share what I know about trying to write fiction while deaning, teaching English, coaching, and doing the other tasks associated with helping to raise over six hundred other people’s children.

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