Sunshine and Spice

By: Aurora Palit

Narrated by: Soneela Nankani, Imran Sheikh

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.

©2024 Aurora Palit (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“Aurora Palit delivers hilarity, heat, and intricately woven South Asian family dynamics in Sunshine and Spice, a story about not just discovering where you belong, but wholeheartedly embracing your place within it. Naomi’s sunshine personality perfectly balanced Dev’s grumpy shell, and watching her melt him from the inside out was utter romance perfection. I’ll read anything Aurora writes!” —Jessica Joyce, USA Today bestselling author of You, With a View

"Packed with hilarity, charming banter, and the most memorable, and meddling, side characters, Sunshine and Spice is a slow simmering rom-com packed with chemistry and heat. But what really shines in this book is watching each character navigate the good and the challenging aspects of their shared Bengali-Canadian heritage. I was rooting for Naomi and Dev as they learned to love their culture as much as each other … and I wanted all the South Asian delicacies that Aurora Palit lovingly described. Sunshine and Spice is a fantastic debut! —Farah Heron, author of Jana Goes Wild and Accidentally Engaged

"In Aurora Palit's Sunshine and Spice, hearts sizzle and cultures collide as a woman cut off from her Bengali culture has to fake it for the opportunity of a lifetime. A delicious fake dating escapade follows, brimming with family antics, irresistible chemistry, and mouth-watering Gulab jamun. Palit's debut is sexy, witty, and warm, and you’ll cozy right up to her grumpy hero with a gooey center!" —Nikki Payne, author of Pride and Protest and Sex, Lies and Sensibility

A charming debut!

A charming story with likable characters (especially the FMC!), an engrossing storyline, and swoon worthy moments! Highly recommend!