Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
How Simi Got Her Groom Back by Sonali Dev Narrator: Soneela Nankani, Natasha Chandel
Published by Brilliance Audio on March 3, 2026
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Length: 11 hours, 25 minute
Format: Audiobook
Source: NetGalley
Goodreads
Amazon, Audible
Two sisters. One fake marriage. Zero chance of keeping the truth hidden.
The Naik sisters escaped their traumatic past in Mumbai to come to the States, but their journeys have been vastly different. Simi is working toward a bright future as a pediatric nurse in a small town in Kentucky when Rupi shows up at her door in distress, on the run, and as always, dragging trouble in her wake.
With Rupi’s safety in jeopardy, the sisters hatch a desperate plan to keep her in the country: Rupi must get married—and fast—even if it means Simi recruiting the man she’s been secretly dating as her sister’s groom. A perfect plan? Not quite. But there aren’t many alternatives.
As the big day inches closer, Simi and Rupi face a storm of wedding shenanigans and romantic surprises, not to mention sisterly jealousies. As the stakes and tensions rise, will their secrets tear them apart or will they find a way to risk everything for love?
When your sister basically says, I need to borrow your boyfriend for a few years to stay in the county, most normal people say, no. But, you wouldn’t have this story if that happened and most sisters have not lived the lives that Simi and Rupi have. For their own reasons, both seem to pull Prem into a badly hatched and crazy plan that puts him in love with one sister and engaged to the other in How Simi Got Her Groom Back.
Told from the dual PoVs of Simi and Rupi we see two sisters that have grown apart in the last few years, but who where once inseparable. Basically forgotten or an afterthought of their mother, Rupi raised Simi and made sure she was on a path to get out of Mumbi and set up a life in America. There are secrets in their past that have driven a wedge between them in their present and slowly the author teases out some of the details to build their story. Both Simi and Rupi are broken and will need time and the love of a new family, Prem’s family, to help them heal.
Prem’s family is the highlight of this book. I loved them and some of their crazy antics from the start. Prem’s mother trying so hard to be a modern Indian woman in America while still holding to her values. Prem’s siblings who have married but either live with or are around the family house so often it is like they live there or they do live there. The family and how they embraced this unconventional bride their son showed up with, was really the best part of the book for me.
The ending was fitting and I am satisfied (mostly) with the conclusion of the story. I think this is being promoted like it is a romance. However, with the heavier subject matter and the focus on the story being the sister’s relationship that is a bit misleading. The romantic lead would sometimes be gone for chapters and there was a long stretch of time when he and Simi didn’t even seem to be talking to one another. There is also Raj, part of Prem’s family and an immigration lawyer that develops the hint of a possible relationship with Rupi. The romance never seemed the focus of the story. I’d classify this more in the vein of contemporary fiction.
A few warnings. If you have strong opinions on immigration or are triggered by parental neglect or mentions of human trafficking this could be triggering for you. I struggled with the first half of the book because I didn’t like Rupi and hated how Simi wouldn’t stand up for herself with her sister and a few other characters. Rupi’s character had been on the run for so long and in a space of living off chaos she was a bit like an addict in her thought processes. She came across as selfish, manipulative and a little mean. While Simi was a doormat in the wake of her sister and also manipulative to get Prem, her secret boyfriend of a year, to agree to marry Rupi so she could stay in the country and get a green card. I did like the people their characters became in the end, but it took time to get there. Wonderful growth though to a Bollywood type ending.
Narration:
Performance: ★★★★
Character Separation: ★★★
Diction: ★★★★
Pacing/Flow: ★★★★
Sound Effects: None
I appreciate using multiple narrators for the Dual PoV of the story. Each sisters voice and PoV came across as distinctive. Natasha Chandel is a new to me narrator and only has a few performances to her name. She did a very good job with Simi’s character. I did find a few of the moments in dialog didn’t separate out as well for me as other narrators but it was minor. Soneela Nankini is a narrator with a prolific catalog of audios under her belt. She has a smooth and pleasant voice that performed the story well. I was able to tell the characters apart and her narration choices show Rupi’s exhaustion with the life she has lived along with some of the regret she has for stealing the life her sister was building with Prem. I was able to listen to both narrators at my usual 1.5x speed.
Listen to a clip: HERE
About Soneela Nankani
Soneela Nankani is a classically trained Brooklyn-based actress. She has performed at many prestigious theaters and is an ensemble member of the award-winning Sojourn Theatre. In addition, Soneela has worked in film and television and has narrated over 60 audiobooks. Soneela holds an MFA in Acting from Columbia University.
Award-winning Audiobook Narrator with 250+ titles / Consultant in Arts + Social Justice / Ensemble Member. In June 2021, Soneela Nankani was inducted as a Golden Voice, AudioFile’s lifetime achievement honor for audiobook narrators.
About Sonali Dev
Sonali Dev’s first literary work was a play about mistaken identities performed at her neighborhood Diwali extravaganza in Mumbai. She was eight years old. Despite this early success, Sonali spent the next few decades getting degrees in architecture and written communication, migrating across the globe, and starting a family while writing for magazines and websites. With the advent of her first gray hair her mad love for telling stories returned full force, and she now combines it with her insights into Indian culture to conjure up stories that make a mad tangle with her life as supermom, domestic goddess, and world traveler.
Sonali lives in the Chicago suburbs with her very patient and often amused husband and two teens who demand both patience and humor, and the world’s most perfect dog.
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That’s an interesting premise, and not one I had come across before. I wondered, when I started reading your review, whether Prem would end up with Rupi, but I gather he and Simi survive the upheaval of the fake engagement. I like the sound of the extended family, too.
Well…I don’t think that is a spoiler since the title implied she got her groom back.
I just think if you go in for the romance aspect alone you’ll be disappointed. The sister relationship was really the meat of the story. The romance felt more like a subplot.
Hmm, sounds like a good read, although you had some issues with it maybe? Thanks for sharing, I’ll keep this one on the list of maybes. Great review!
I think if my expectations were different going in I would have relaxed and enjoyed it more. But I was so ready for a great romance.
TBH – I could see this being a good book for book club.
Yes!!! I agree. There were a lot of talking points on family, culture shifts once you come to America, immigration, how far would you go for someone you loved etc.
I could see this being great for a buddy read or book club read.