Another feel-good romance from the master of swoon-worthy YA. Menon is one of the authors at the top of my auto-buy list as I know her stories will give me brilliant characters and lots of reasons to smile.

Pinky was a great protagonist. She's so passionate and determined and unwilling to let anything stand in her way. But she's also insecure and sensitive and Menon gives a brilliant insight into her thoughts throughout. I think teenage readers will really warm to her, thanks to her desire to change the world and never let her age hold her back from challenging social injustice. I also loved her complicated relationship with her mum and her strong bond with her step-dad.

Samir was another brilliant character. I loved how kind and caring he was. He spends most of the novel making plans and preparations to help him feel in control (which I completely identified with as I'm definitely more of a Samir than a Pinky). But he also had moments of startling confidence and wasn't afraid to push himself out of his comfort zone to do what's right.

Their romance had all the trademark strength of a Menon story. She describes emotion so well and captures the excitement and insecurities of new love perfectly. While Pinky and Samir have their differences and argue plenty, their relationship is based firmly on mutual respect and trust.

The setting, in hot, summertime Ellingsworth with its secluded lake and butterfly habitat was another huge draw.

I hope a Dolly novel is coming next - she could definitely carry her own stand-alone story and I would love to see her having more luck in love than she does in this story.

10 Things I Hate About Pinky for me was a mixed bag. There was times when I loved it and other when it was just meh. My feelings for this book was so frustrating, especially as I adored When Dimple Met Rishi. Which is a part of this sort of series. I wanted those same feelings and I never really reached those levels.

For me I couldn't quite like Pinky, even when she was doing something that was kind or endearing. She was her own worse enemy. And seemed determined to make the worst of everything rather than the best. For about 99% of the book I was annoyed by Pinky. However, Samir was the opposite in every way.

Then there was the relationship between Pinky and her mother. Fraught and uneasy, their relationship doesn't seem to be one that is easily fixed. Added to that her mother doesn't seem to want Pinky to be herself. Every decision Pinky makes seems to aggravate her mother. I could understand the anguish but when I found out the reason why I was a bit frustrated.

There was laughs and witty moments. And moments where you are as emotionally involved as the characters. But I spent the majority of the book frustrated. Add to that that the climatic big moment of the book was rushed and you can understand my annoyance.

For me 10 Things I Hate About Pinky had elements of what made other Sandhya Menon books great.  I enjoyed the fake dating and the moments with the possum - DQ and all the sassy comments. But while this was an enjoyable read, this was not for me.

i am now pretty sure i am absolute trash for pinky and samir, and their angsty yet extremely passionate love story. i am in love with it, with every fiber of my body. i felt anger and love and sadness with the characters, and i have no words to express how much i enjoyed the pain.

obviously, i loved everything about this book, but here’s what stood out:
- the angst, GOD THE ANGST WAS UNBELIEVABLE. i have never felt so eager for two characters to kiss like i have felt it for these characters in such a long time. i have fought the urge to just push their heads together. their chemistry was just a+. they made me feel all kinds of intense feelings, from anger to joy to sadness, and i adored every second of it. also, the fake-dating trope? never disappoints.
- speaking of characters, they were not only adorable and precious, but also very passionate and flawed. oh so very flawed. and it’s what made them very human in my eyes. they were so annoyingly teenagers, and i was living for that. they also had great character development in my opinion, and i loved seeing them grow.
- sandhya menon’s writing improved yet again. after reading three of her books, i can safely say that i absolutely love how this author just keeps improving and giving us better and better content. the writing of 10 Things I Hate About Pinky was even better than her previous books in this series; it was so easy to get into, simple and effective, and i just loved it.
- i liked how the book actually handles its issues. in many books, issues are put out there but not really solved? and i just hate that. but 10 Things I Hate About Pinky finds a solution to every single one of them (at least there isn’t an unsolved issue in my memory).
it’s safe to say now that 10 Things I Hate About Pinky is now one of my favorite reads of the year. i have no words to express how in love i am with this story and its characters.

I was really excited to read this book as i lived ‘there’s something about sweetie’. This however fell short. It follows Pinky who is staying at her parents lake house for the summer. Great setting but seemed wasted. The story needs to take place here because of certain aspects that happen later in the book, but it could’ve been expanded on more. Then when the inevitable happens and the main characters start falling for each other, it just seemed too easy. One minute they’re both steadfast and set in their ways, the next suddenly they like each other. The practice kiss came out of nowhere and was completely out of character for Samir, which he does mention in the book, but there was no lead up to it, it just seemed to happen? This book series has been enjoyable because all the main female characters are loveable but also determined and headstrong. Pinky however just read as annoying and made me less engaged with her character. Also in the first few chapters it’s mentioned that Samir‘s mum is really worried and always wants him to check in. He does this a couple of times before he goes to stay with Pinky, then suddenly you don’t hear about the mum again for almost the entire book. There is basically no contact between Samir and his mum, not even a phone call, which was pretty confusing. All in all, it was a fun read, but not one I’d rush to read again.

Funny romantic and the perfect thing to while away the weekend! I love a good fake dating trope and relationships between mothers and daughters so this is Another cracking hit from Sandhya Menon, I love her writing

This is so good, yet again Sandhya menon blows me away with her realistic teenage characters with a cute romance that surprises everyone.

This is Pinky Kumar's book and I'm so glad we got to dive into her character more. She is so different to Sweetie and Dimple. She's outgoing, passionate, and not afraid to stand up for herself and others. Every year Pinky's family head to Cape Cod to stay in their summer home and meet up with family (Pinky's cousin Dolly). This time, after several arguments with her mother, Pinky lies and says she has a nice boyfriend that they will like. Enter Samir - remember him? His law internship has fallen through and he really doesn't want to go home. Pinky proposes they fake date so he can impress her Mom and intern with her, and so Pinky can show she can have a respectable boyfriend.

Samir is definitely a by-the-book kinda guy. He and Pinky and complete opposites. He wasn't particularly likeable in previous books but we really get to know his character and backstory here. Pinky learns there's a lot more to him that it seems, and the pair really begin to hit it off.

I felt like this book was a lot more full of angst than the others, and really homed in on the conflict between Pinky and her Mom. I love books that explore relationships with parents realistically. Pinky's cousin Dolly is also a fascinating character and I hope she can be the star of book 4, wouldn't that be great? Not with Cash though, he was awful.

Overall it's another hit from Sandhya Menon, who is definitely an insta-buy author for me at this point. Can't wait to read her adult book, and hope there is another in the Dimple and Rishi world.

These books are exactly what I need right now in these strange times; comforting, sweet, funny, romantic and safe - you know that nothing too bad will happen, and all problems will be resolved by the end! They're like the book version of the Gilmore Girls (as in they're hot chocolate for the soul, I don't mean storyline wise)! This might not be my favourite of the series but it still hits the spot.

I adore pretty much everything Sandhya Menon writes and 10 things I hate about Pinky is no exception. This is a cute fake dating/dislike to lovers romance that also addresses issues such as mother-daughter relationships and identity. The combination of lightheartedness and seriousness makes this a compelling read both for young adults and older people who still enjoy the genre. Pinky’s dawning understanding that the way she sees herself and has constructed her identity may be limiting her in her choices and that she is allowed to change is an important process that nearly everybody can relate to. On a less serious note, Samir is adorable and fits Pinky so well. I had been hoping for a novel about their relationship after reading there’s something about Sweety and have not been disappointed.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for granting me an earc of this title!

This book follows Pinky who is 17 and is wild and free, always getting on her parents last nerves and doing the complete opposite of what they would want from her. It all comes to a head one night when her mother accuses her of setting fire to the barn at there summer house. In a moment of heated passion Pinky declares that she isn't always the bad guy and she has actually been dating the exact type of boy they would want for her. Enter Samir hes predictable and the complete opposite of Pinky and after his summer internship falls through he impulsively decides to agree to Pinky's mad plot of fake dating to prove her parents wrong.
I had mixed feelings about this one, having read all of Sandhya Menon's other books I was a little disappointed in this one, I felt like it didn't quite live up to When Dimple met Rishi. I found that Pinky was naive and a bit irritating at times and Samir was just a cardboard cut out good boy with a troubled past. I just wanted a bit more from them. I did enjoy where the characters ended up in the book however I felt like everything sort of happened quite quickly in the end.
I did find that the book was incredibly fast paced when I was reading it however I was never desperate to pick it back up, however this might be a reflection on my reading mood at the moment and not an honest reflection on the book.
I loved the little nods and appearances to the characters from her other novels and did enjoy the romance throughout this one, even if it was a little bit predictable.
This was a fun book to pick up as a rom-com, it just wasn't everything I wanted it to be.

I love the Dimple and Rishi universe and will always pick up any titles featuring these characters as they always give me a warm fuzzy feeling.

10 Things I Hate About Pinky is definitely not my favourite of the series so far. Although I very much liked the plot and direction of the story, I didn't really feel like the characters I was reading about were the same characters that had appeared in previous books in this world.

I love a fake dating trope as much as the next person, but I genuinely didn't feel like Pinky and Samir would not work together.

Pinky was so hard headed and although this is something I usually love in a character, it did eventually start to get on my nerves.

Samir felt like he'd had a bit of a personality transplant from the previous book. He had been this socially awkward character but this seemed to have been lost in this latest book.

I've heard about the fake dating trope many times, but this is the first time I've actually read a book that uses that trope, and I absolutely loved it! Pinky is such a fiery and passionate character, I really enjoyed her antics and I wish I was a bit more like her. The relationships in this story are so well-written, and I felt so much empathy for Pinky and her mom, their relationship was so tempestuous and it was nice to see how things changed at the end. Dolly and Samir are wonderful characters and the way they were (almost) always there for Pinky was lovely. This was a pretty heartwarming story with a good amount of angst.

10 Things I Hate About Pinky is partially your typical frenemies to lovers story trope, with a fake boyfriend subplot thrown in for good measure, enveloped with a good dose of family drama. Pinky is a great main character, a feminist who doesn't care what anyone thinks of her, least of all her tightly-wound parents. She's a joy to read from, especially as you watch her romance with Sahir slowly blossom over the course of the book. Samir is a great love interest for her, and I think the growing attraction between them both was handled really well. There are other elements to the book as well, which makes the novel even more enjoyable to read, such as Pinky's relationship with her mother and her passion for social justice. Overall, this was a great read, and I only took issue with the use of miscommunication, again, which is a theme throughout Sandhya Menon's books. I thought these characters would be smart enough to not fall for that ploy, but alas, they did.

A sparky, fun summer romance novel. The classic enemies-to-lovers/opposites attract tropes are really well handled, as Pinky and Samir spark off one another and learn to appreciate what makes the other special. Having avoided what I’ll call “privileged rich kid YA” for a while now due to its general lack of diversity, it was actually super fun to read a book about privileged rich kids in a fancy summer house (but with diversity). Low stakes, escapist drama is just what readers need at the moment and 10 Things I Hate About Pinky offers it in spades.

Not really my sort of thing, the start is a bit gloomy. The cover is OK though, I like it! I just wish the book didn't start so gloomy.

This book was okay. I'll start with the things I liked
The writing style was good this is the first book I've read by Sandyha Menon and I'm impressed by her she knows how to keep you hooked throughout the story. The situation with pinky and her mum was well Done I'm glad there was a reason behind her mothers way to pinkys behaviour.
Things I didn't like was definitely the characters expect Polly were highly irritating and were too infuriating In their own way. Pinky annoyed me the whole way out with her constant need to argue over the smallest things and it got boring really quickly into the story. Sam was incredibly annoying I wish we knew more about his mother and him like how she reacted (if she did) too the news sam wasn't doing the internship and got this girlfriend and not telling her. Dolly needed more development and her parents seemed to strict and highly irritating. Cash was unnecessary such an idiot.
Honestly I didn't think to much of this book it was just there for me, I recommended for those looking for a quick summer read and that's got abit of a unique relationship.

The day I got approved for this on Netgalley, I started reading it straight away and finished it within 24 hours. I love Sandhya Menon's books as they are so addictive and this was no exception. The last book in the series, There's Something about Sweetie, was my favourite one so far so it was tough to beat that. Ultimately, this book didn't live up to the Sweetie hype but I still had a lot of fun. Enemies to lovers and fake dating? Two of the best romance tropes ever. My main issue was with Pinky as a character. I felt like she was horrible at times and there was never truly a changing moment for her. For example, Samir goes through a transformation at the end and adapts but she never does. She irritated me a lot throughout the entire book and hindered my enjoyment. I also felt like her problems with her mum were solved way too quickly and we didn't get full exploration of their dynamics. This book had great promise but some parts of the execution let it down.

I wanted to like this book so much.
I like YA. I like Romances. I like the enemies-to-friends trope. I like diverse storytelling.
But I didn't like this book. The writing wasn't very good - you can do informal, chatty, teenage speak but still make it good writing. I also found all the characters pretty unrealistic or contradictory. They behave and act in ways that contradict what they said and did literally a chapter ago, all in service of more tension and drama. Pinky's mother becomes a caricature of the disapproving, hated mother - and even her backstory doesn't humanise her. Cash is a complete caricature of a Douchy Guy. The characters' motivations and desires change so quickly I got whiplash. Pinky felt the most fleshed out and real but as a rich, privileged social justice warrior who doesn't really interrogate her privilege, she wasn't all that likeable. Overall, it was the writing that made me not enjoy this book. I physically cringed at certain sentences.

I'm giving it 2 stars because I did finish it (but mostly out of sheer stubbornness) and I did enjoy the tension and drama between Pinky and her mother.