Publisher: Berkley

When two complete opposites agree to fake date in order to solve their cultural dilemmas, they find the only force more powerful than an immigrant mother’s matchmaking schemes might just be true love.

Naomi Kelly will do anything to make her new brand consulting business a success. When she lands a career saving contract to rebrand the Mukherjee family’s failing local bazaar, she knows there can be no mistakes. But as the “oops” baby of a free-spirited Bengali mother, Naomi’s lack of connection to her roots represents everything Gia Mukherjee disdains.

Enter, Dev Mukherjee.

Dev knows everything his mother wants…including her wish for him to get married, like, yesterday. When Gia hires a matchmaker (without, you know, asking him), Dev vows to do whatever it takes to avoid ending up in a cold, loveless marriage. When a potential match assumes Naomi is his girlfriend, the solution to both their problems becomes clear: Naomi will pretend to date Dev in order to sabotage his mother’s matchmaking efforts in exchange for lessons in Bengali culture. Flawless plan, right?

But as Naomi and Dev bond over awful dancing at Garba, couples cooking classes, and tackling the rebrand as a team, they start to realize while their relationship may be fake, their feelings for each other are starting to become very real. As the line between reality and rumor blurs, Naomi and Dev must confront what it means to fit the mold, and decide how much they’re willing to risk for love.

Review:

Sassy, emotive, and sweetly romantic!

Sunshine and Spice is a fresh, heartwarming tale that transports you to Kelowna, British Columbia, and into the lives of Naomi Kelly, a struggling brand consultant who feels left out and disconnected from her South Asian roots, and Dev Mukherjee, a handsome accountant who takes his family obligations seriously but is entirely uninterested in any of his mother’s persistent matchmaking activities.

The writing is heartfelt and light. The characters are intelligent, stubborn, vulnerable, and endearing. And the plot is a push-pull tale full of familial responsibility, tender moments, witty banter, goals, expectations, friendship, community, culture, optimism, chemistry, traditions, and love.

Overall, Sunshine and Spice is a sexy, sweet, uplifting tale by Palit with a whole cast of characters I couldn’t help but be intrigued with, a diverse storyline that kept me engaged from start to finish, and a happy-ever-after ending that left me satisfied.

This novel is available now.

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