Bibi Hossain was supposed to get her first kiss this summer.

Too bad her father finds out and grounds her for breaking his most arcane rule: No boys until your sister gets married.

Just when Bibi thinks she’ll be stuck helping him at their popular fried chicken chain until school reopens, her oh-so-perfect older sister Halima drops a bombshell: she’s marrying the heir of a princely estate turned tea garden in Bangladesh. Soon, Bibi is hopping on the next flight to Sylhet for Halima’s Big Fat Bengali Wedding, hoping Abbu might even rethink the dating ban while they’re there.

Unfortunately, the stuffy Rahmans are a nightmare—especially Sohel, the groom’s younger brother. The only thing they can agree on is that their siblings are not a good match. But as the two scheme to break their siblings up, Bibi finds it impossible to stay away from the infuriatingly handsome boy.

Could her own happily ever after be brewing even as she stirs up trouble for her sister’s engagement—or is there more steeping at the tea estate than Bibi knows?

The blurb says this is a bit of Clueless, and you can see what Taslim is going for as Bibi has the bubbly heart of Emma Woodhouse, trying her best to help her sister see that she deserves so much better than a doormat fiancé who allows his family to belittle her. And her attempts to obstruct the engagement and make her sister see the light are not thought-out at all, especially within the cultural context of crazy rich Bangladeshi families. Also, she’s bit spoiled as she’s more concerned about her summer and her love life.

Yet that what makes her lovable. Plus it makes for a nice author stand-in as Bibi’s Americanness means she isn’t privy to the nuances of Bangladeshi cultural norms (like the thumbs up is equivalent to the finger in one mortifying scene) or history of colonialism and classism, so readers learn organically with Bibi.

Speaking of colonialism and classism, most of the story takes place at the Rahmans tea estate, using indigenous people for menial labor. These scenes are what most reminded me of P&P Darcy as Sohel’s ideas in order to improve the lives of the laborers, rectify the mistakes of his ancestors, and the workers praising Sohel to Bibi was like when Darcy’s servants tell Lizzy how he’s such a kind master, and she sees that he’s not a wealthy, pompous ass. Same realization here, Sohel isn’t just a privileged heir, but he actually cares about the people who are so-called below him, and treats them as equals. And yes, it does work in making Sohel more attractive.

It helps that Sohel and Bibi share common ground in being second-borns to seemingly perfect older siblings that can do no wrong. But while Bibi loves her sister, Sohel resents how his parents will let his brother get away with anything or make excuses for him, and that he’ll get to be heir to the tea estate when he doesn’t care about it. Sohel cares, yet his parents just want to send him away to boarding school. So yes, Sohel and Bibi got each other underneath the bickering over spoiled American princess/spoiled Bangladeshi prince impressions.

I also enjoyed how the culture clash between new American-Bangladeshi money and old money builds the tension between the families. On paper, they say they’re progressive because they’re not arranging their children’s marriages anymore, but all the concerns over the right family line, over the right family money coming into the family still applies as well as some antiquated ideas of females having to cut off from their family/careers to help their future husbands. It was done in a nuanced way, I think, in showing the importance of tradition, but how some traditions need to bend to become part of the now.

This was a great book, but at nearly 400 pages, it does compete with other characters/plots like Bibi going on a few dates with the red herring love interest that we know isn’t going to last, Bibi subtly trying to matchmake new friends which is so in the background it felt nonessential, and finally the third act break-up. It goes on way too long. Bibi realizes her feelings and Sohel says it won’t work because they’re too different, Sohel gets angry that Bibi doesn’t want to break up their siblings’ engagement, and he continues to refuse her despite Bibi pointing out it can work out, that dragged on way too long.

I mean, it came with an explosive and rather satisfying family airing out of secrets and calling out the elder aunties, but at some point I felt Bibi deserved better than this guy who refused her like three times. It almost cancelled out all the good times they shared, and I wanted her to find someone else. The apology was good, I guess, but it did drag it down.

Still, it was an entertaining book with a new setting, and culture that was fun to learn. Plus the characters were never boring.

4 stars.