Name: Katie's review of 10 Things I Hate About Pinky by Sandhya Menon
Item: 10 Things I Hate About Pinky
Rating: 4
Author: Katie

Sandhya Menon

Pinky Kumar wears the social justice warrior badge with pride. From raccoon hospitals to persecuted rockstars, no cause is too esoteric for her to champion. But a teeny tiny part of her also really enjoys making her conservative, buttoned-up corporate lawyer parents cringe. Samir Jha might have a few . . . quirks remaining from the time he had to take care of his sick mother, like the endless lists he makes in his planner and the way he schedules every minute of every day, but those are good things. They make life predictable and steady. Pinky loves lazy summers at her parents' Cape Cod lake house, but after listening to them harangue her about the poor decisions (aka boyfriends) she's made, she hatches a plan. Get her sorta-friend-sorta-enemy - who is a total Harvard-bound Mama's boy - to pose as her perfect boyfriend for the summer. When Samir's internship falls through, leaving him with an unplanned summer, he gets a text from Pinky asking if he'll be her fake boyfriend in exchange for a new internship. He jumps at the opportunity; Pinky's a freak, but he can survive a summer with her if there's light at the end of the tunnel. As they bicker their way through lighthouses and butterfly habitats, sparks fly, and they both realize this will be a summer they'll never forget.

From the bestselling author of When Dimple Met Rishi

10 Things I Hate About Pinky

Katie

The delightful follow-up to When Dimple Met Rishi and There’s Something about Sweetie, which follows Ashish’s friends Pinky and Samir as they pretend to date in order to achieve their individual goals, to disastrous and hilarious results. Pinky Kumar wears the social justice warrior badge with pride. From raccoon hospitals to persecuted rock stars, no cause is too esoteric for her to champion. But a teeny tiny part of her also really enjoys making her conservative, buttoned-up corporate lawyer parents cringe. Samir Jha might have a few…quirks remaining from the time he had to take care of his sick mother, like the endless lists he makes in his planner and the way he schedules every minute of every day, but those are good things. They make life predictable and steady. Pinky loves lazy summers at her parents’ Cape Cod lake house, but after listening to them harangue her about the poor decisions she’s made (a.k.a. boyfriends she’s had), she hatches a plan. Get her sorta-friend-sorta-enemy—who is a total Harvard-bound Mama’s boy—to pose as her perfect boyfriend for the summer. When Samir’s internship falls through, leaving him with an unplanned summer, he gets a text from Pinky asking if he’ll be her fake boyfriend in exchange for a new internship. He jumps at the opportunity; Pinky’s a weirdo, but he can survive a summer with her if there’s light at the end of the tunnel. As they bicker their way through lighthouses and butterfly habitats, sparks fly, and they both realize this will be a summer they'll never forget.

10 Things I Hate about Pinky

Sahi K

Probably more of a 3.5.

It’s been a while since I’ve read a book that was pure fun, so I finally decided to read this ARC because Sandhya’s books always make me smile. And this one didn’t disappoint.

The writing in the book is so easy to get involved in that I literally flew through the book. There are also many hilarious moments throughout which made me smile a lot. However, owing to the personalities of Pinky and her mom, there were a lot of arguments and confrontations which were interesting in the beginning, but got a bit repetitive soon (Also, I’m personally not a fan of confrontations, whether real or fictional). I also enjoyed the setting of the book at a lake house in summer, and I wish I could have read this while on a vacation, and not when we are all pretty much stuck at home. 

Pinky has a soft and vulnerable side to her, but it takes a while for us to get to know that. I think I really liked seeing her through Sam’s eyes, because his insights about her are deep and he understands her very well. I was feeling pretty indecisive about her for a good chunk of the book because, while I really sympathized with her frustrations about having to live up the standards set by her perfect cousin (too relatable to me), it took a long time for me to get used to her forceful personality. Samir on the other hand is like the perfect boy whom you want to introduce to your desi parents, which might make him seem a bit boring but I could see parts of my younger self in him which made me nostalgic. I personally found that it was easier to root for him because he is amiable, confident, maybe scared due to his past but doesn’t let anyone get away with bad behavior. 

However, I did have issues with how their arcs played out but I’m not sure if I can articulate them properly. The tension between Pinky and her mom is ever present, but the resolution was so quick that I was surprised. I liked what happened towards the end, but I guess I felt it deserved a bit more introspection and dialogue between the both of them. On the other hand, we see Samir interact with his mom probably twice in the whole book, which was unbelievable because we know since the previous book how overprotective she is of him. It almost felt like he forgot about her, but that’s just not him as a character. I also didn’t like the subplot with Cash and Dolly, because while I could empathize with her wanting to rebel, I really couldn’t see why she was tolerating such douchey behavior from him. The subplot of saving the butterfly habitat felt like a worthy cause, but it was another part which I thought resolved too easily. 

To conclude, it might seem like I’m criticizing this a lot but I actually did have a good time while reading it. It’s just that I went into this book with the expectation of finding joy (Sandhya’s books have always given me that feeling), but I found parts of it exasperating and the characters got on my nerves, and I wasn’t prepared for it. So this was definitely me reading the book at the wrong time. However, if you have previously enjoyed the author’s books, you’ll have fun reading this one too.

I think this is my favorite of Sandhya Menon's books to date.

It has my two favorite romance tropes--enemies to lovers AND fake dating trope--with a bit of "opposites attract" thrown in there as well. I knew as soon as these characters appeared in There's Something About Sweetie that they would have their own book, because their banter was too electric for them NOT to have one! Their relationship was just slow-burn enough to have me on the edge of my seat while I was reading, but not so much that I got bored.

I also really loved the side characters. Pinky's cousin, Dolly, was so fun and reminded me a lot of myself in high school. I don't know if Menon plans on having more books in this extended universe, but if she does, I'd love to see one about Dolly at some point. Menon also always has wonderful parents in her books who are fully fleshed out, which is something that I find lacking in some other YA books. Pinky's relationship with her mom was really complex and interesting to read about, especially after some things are revealed about her mom's past. One thing that confused me, though, was Samir's relationship with his mom. If you've read the previous book, you know that Samir's mom is a little overprotective, and Samir stretches the truth to her throughout this entire book, and yet there was no fallout from that? I thought his lying to her would be a major plot point, but I guess not. I definitely feel like that would have fleshed out his sections of the book just a bit more.

As always, I was happy to be with characters in this world again and follow along with their shenanigans. There aren't very many authors whose entire (or almost entire: I forgot about the novellas) body of work I have read, but I'm glad Sandhya Menon is one of them. I'm excited to see what she comes out with next!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an advanced copy free for review. All opinions are my own.

Jelke Lenaerts

God, I had such a hard time rating this. If I'm just talking romance, I didn't like this at all. I think Samir was pretty toxic towards Pinky. He kept minimazing her feelings and just meddled a lot with her isssues but got angry when Pinky was just trying to understand his. And that was while they were together. Before they got together Samir just kept insulting and provoking Pinky for no real reason and then was shocked when she got angry with him and stood up for herself. He kept calling her immature and irresponsible even though she kept showing him the opposite. The switch for him from I hate her to I love her just went a bit too quickly and wasn't developed well enough. It just felt like the flip of a switch. I just overall never felt the chemistry between the two and was very dissapointing to see them end up together. However, I absolutely LOVED Pinky's individual storyline. If this book was just that I would have absolutely adored this book. Pinky was an amazing main character. She cares so much about the people AND animals around her. Even though there are things about Samir that annoy her she puts in the effort to understand him and where those parts of him come from, in stead of just making assumptions and sticking to them even though they were proven wrong (like Samir). She got very passionate about helping people and animals out. I honestly don't get how her family saw her as a up to no good troublemaker when literally all she does is just fight for justice and save animals, while in the mean time they're praising Dolly for doing charity work the entire time. Overall, I did really like the family dynamics explored in this book. Sandhya Menon is really good at exploring difficult family relationships and this book was great at that as well. Finally, just the character developement Pinky went through is amazing. I was a bit scared for a while that the book was going to shame Pinky into toning down her passions and I was so glad when it didn't do that. So yeah, when it comes to Pinky this book is perfection. When it comes to Samir and the romance this book was mediocre, which was a shame as I really liked Samir in the previous book and novella and I was super excited for this romance as it falls into a lot of tropes I love.

Becca Futrell

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of 10 Things I Hate About Pinky in exchange for an honest review!

3.5 rounded up!

It's absolutely no secret. I am trash for the Dimple and Rishi universe. When I'm searching for some cute fluff -- I know exactly who to turn to: Sandhya Menon. 

Maybe it's been a while since I've read the other entries in this universe, but 10 Things I Hate About Pinky felt a lot angstier than the previous books. There's nothing wrong with that whatsoever, but I guess.. I might as well get the negative out of the way so I can gush about the rest. To begin with, Pinky has a lot of internal conflicts; of course, what teenager doesn't? She has some issues with her mother -- which gets real deep as the book continues and seems to get upset at the flick of a switch. This is her defense mechanism & that's all totally understanding & it's not even Pinky that I 100% have the issue with...

it's when the fake-dating turns real that I cringe. Things are real cute between Pinky and Samir... for about two seconds, until Pinky says something and the relationship burns up in a matter of seconds. This is probably just a me thing. The conflict felt like it happened so fast and out of nowhere. 

But even with that minor issue, I still thoroughly enjoyed 10 Things I Hate About Pinky. I absolutely love fake dating tropes. Pinky is such a fun character; even when she's being a pain, you can't help but cheer her on during her social justice pursuits. I loved the story of friendship between Pinky, Dolly and Samir and the conclusion was extremely satisfying. Also, there's a possum named Drama Queen who fake-dies every few minutes and that's absolutely adorable to me.

If you've been a fan of previous books in the Dimple and Rishi universe then I recommend continuing with 10 Things I Hate About Pinky. If you haven't read any, PLEASE CORRECT THAT! There's so much cute involved.

Geneviève Rouleau

That ending was everything I wanted, and more 💛💛💛

The Nature of Pages

A cute enemies-to-lovers YA contemporary with tons of re-read potential! Sandhya Menon outdoes herself again with 10 Things I Hate About Pinky, starring the passionate, fierce Pinky and the more self-controlled Samir. This book cameos from some of our favorite characters from the author's other books, as well as delightfully witty banter that has us rooting for the characters from page one!

Ocean

I've heard about the fake dating trope many times, but I think this is the first time I've actually read a book that uses that trope, and I absolutely loved it! Pinky is such a fiery and passionate character, I really enjoyed her antics and I wish I was a bit more like her. The relationships in this story are so well-written, and I felt so much empathy for Pinky and her mom, their relationship was so tempestuous and it was nice to see how things changed at the end. Dolly and Samir are wonderful characters and the way they were (almost) always there for Pinky was lovely. This was a pretty heartwarming story with a good amount of angst.

Kate

Sandhya Menon's books are a constant joy in my life and 10 Things I Hate About Pinky was no different. This book, like all Menon's others, is filled to the brim with heart, humour and hope. With a cast of loveable, headstrong and interesting characters, fake dating AND enemies-to-lovers, a freaking adorable opossum and so much more, this book was the easy, fun and uplifting read I needed.

Katie &
10 Things I Hate About Pinky by Sandhya Menon

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