Following Madhuri, a girl unfortunately destined to marry her first love and Arjun, a boy hopelessly in love with his best friend Madhuri, it makes for a cute fake dating-to-actually dating love story. i wanted to love this book so much, i even forced myself to finish it in hopes that it would turn out to be good in the end. Both of them see their fates differently, Arjun using it to guide him and reading into this future and who it might be. It was really refreshing to read such clear and honest communication and to read characters who try their best to be as honest as they can with each other.

Madhuri gets her astrological chart read and finds out her year is going to suck, in all aspects of her life. Christina Lauren, New York Times bestselling authors of The UnhoneymoonersIn this charming YA debut, a girl who's determined to prove her star chart wrong ropes her longtime best friend into an experimental relationship-not knowing that he has been in love with her for years.

within 2 chapters we have arjun's astrology reading and madhuri's astrology reading, but also madhuri's family "curse" and madhuri's "kismat experiment" to combat the family curse. Desperation for control, fear of the future, the desire to be loved—themes that, once I read the first draft, made me feel seen in a way I wish I’d experienced much sooner in life.

Not just in the sense that it was beautifully written and filled with evocative images, but with the honest communication between characters. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In her free time, she can be found watching her favorite Bollywood movies or studying for yet another Anatomy exam. You get to see Madhuri's insecurity of where she comes from either crumble or succeed and how that kind of insecurity can create such a personal and internal disconnect in a person.I honestly had to force myself through this, because I was really bored, and Madhuri really pissed me off with the way she treated Arjun—and kind of everyone else, but especially him.

I really loved how the story progressed and would recommend this to anyone looking for a quick and sweet read. and i get that arjun sees madhuri's family as his own but i felt like he had a better relationship with madhuri's mother than madhuri herself. His astrological reading destines him for success, and he resolves to use his year of good luck to show Madhuri that they should be more than just childhood best friends.However, the cast members are a joy to spend time with, and the familial and romantic subplots intertwine beautifully. Her and her best friend Arjun will date the rest of their senior year and then breakup when they graduate. She also resents the prophecy that says the women in her family will marry the first person they fall in love with; to her, it feels like a curse stopping her from having casual fun with dating. But as their opposing prophecies slowly become true and real feelings begin to cloud their experiment, Madhuri will have to decide if charting her own destiny is worth breaking Arjun's heart -- and her own. We didn’t really get to see them grow their relationship, just them constantly having arguments about different things.

In this charming YA debut, a girl who’s determined to prove her star chart wrong ropes her longtime best friend into an experimental relationship–not knowing that he has been in love with her for years. Madhuri is constantly denying that she even likes him then like a switch she all of a sudden is in love with him. She really just used and abused* him the whole book, and he was this doting lovesick little puppy the whole time. Madhuri hatches an experiment about kismat, or fate: She and Arjun will date until June, proving Madhuri is in charge of her own destiny. Strongly portrayed family dynamics add depth and tension to Arjun and Madhuri’s romance, although the pace of this debut is at times too slow and characters’ feelings are often spelled out for readers with a heavy hand.There were so many enjoyable features of this novel, but my favorite was definitely the protagonist, Madhuri. I felt like we steamrolled through the plot of this book and actually would've done pretty well with some fillers to show their connection growing. Her stubbornness and the way she kept changing her mind about her relationship with Arjun was so annoying I honestly couldn't stand her most of the time. Authors, if you are a member of the Goodreads Author Program, you can edit information about your own books. Devarajan did a stunning job of combining some likeable characteristics with Madhuri’s more abrasive features.