Kismat Connection is a story that asks us about fate and how we let it control us. I loved this dual POV contemporary which made me feel some big feelings. Keep reading this book review for my full thoughts.
Summary
Madhuri Iyer is doomed. Doomed for her upcoming senior year to be a total failure, according to her astrology-obsessed mother, and doomed to a happily ever after with her first boyfriend, according to her family curse.
Determined to prove the existence of her free will, Madhuri devises an experimental relationship with the one boy she knows she’ll never fall for: her childhood best friend, Arjun Mehta. But Arjun’s feelings for her are a variable she didn’t account for.
As Madhuri starts to fall for her experimental boyfriend, she’ll have to decide if charting her own destiny is worth breaking Arjun’s heart—and her own.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
Kismat Connection is a YA contemporary story devoted to exploring fate and influence. For Madhuri and Arjun they have fates in the works. Prophecies about their lives. Both of them see their fates differently, Arjun using it to guide him and reading into this future and who it might be. But for Madhuri, she’s convinced to not let it have power over her leading her to this fake dating situation to defy her fate. But throughout this ‘experiment’ will Madhuri and Arjun learn more about fate than they thought?
I could not help but immediately fall in love with Arjun. The ways it is so clear he loves Madhuri, but doesn’t want to lose their friendship. Or the ways in which when we have a prophecy we think we might know who it is or what might happen, but it’s never entirely that simple. At the same time, Madhuri instantly stole my heart. My heart broke for the ways the bullying convinced her to internalize their racism and change her own passions. Kismat Connection exploring Madjuri’s struggles with her dancing and her own heritage got my heart in knots.
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This YA Contemporary was a precious story about love and friendship. It’s a testament to not letting prophecies control us or dictate what we don’t do. About not allowing people’s ignorance change our passions, our loves, and our pride in who we are. In Kismat Connection childhood friends to lovers, secret crushes, and fake dating will get me all the time. Find Kismat Connection on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop.org, & Blackwells.