Dating Dr. Dil (If Shakespeare was an Auntie #1)(98)

“Who says you have to help her out?” Prem asked. He was sipping from her drink. “You can always just tell Dadi where your sister is when she asks. Let Bindu figure it out later.”

Her gut reaction was to disagree with him. Of course, she’d cover for her sister. But then again, even though they’d made up after her engagement party, Bindu didn’t seem like she had changed all that much.

“You know what?” Kareena said. “You’re right. Why am I worried about it? Bindu’s life, Bindu’s problem.”

Prem leaned across the center console and began nibbling on her jaw. “We’ll deal with it in the morning.”

“We?”

Prem cupped the back of her neck and squeezed ever so gently. “We’re a team, Rina, honey. We have been from the start, but it just took us a bit of time to figure things out. Now we have a lifetime together.”





Epilogue




Indians Abroad News Dear Readers, I, as I’m sure all of you are, am keeping up with the fascinating love story between Dr. Dil, or Dr. Prem Verma, and Ms. Kareena Mann that began on the South Asians News Network during The Dr. Dil Show. The couple has announced their engagement, and I for one am incredibly happy for them. Their story teaches an important lesson. It’s better to take a chance on a match once in your life than never experience partnership at all. Because never can be too late.

Mrs. W. S. Gupta Columnist Avon, NJ





Prem & Rina’s Taylor Swift Playlist




22

Look What You Made Me Do

Blank Space

Delicate

I Knew You Were Trouble

New Romantics

Don’t Blame Me

I Know Places

Willow

Call It What You Want

Wildest Dreams

Cruel Summer

State of Grace

Cardigan

You Belong With Me





Acknowledgments




When I first conceived of the idea to write Shakespeare-inspired romances, I wanted to use Shakespeare’s plays as a vehicle to focus on the nuance in my American desi culture. What does arranged marriage mean to desis versus non-desis? Why are people my age embarrassed to talk about successful arranged marriages? And why is dating as an educated older South Asian woman STILL so difficult? As you can see, this is a tall order, and I honestly don’t know if I tackled it all in this one book, but I did learn something about myself.

That we all deserve the love we want.

This revelation would not have happened without the support I received from my agent, Joy Tutela at David Black Literary. I also have to thank the woman who has my back even though I’m a hot mess when she has to support me, Elle Keck. Your friendship means the world. Thank you also to the production team who worked so hard to get this book out on time! You have my eternal gratitude, Shelby Peak, Rachel Meyers, and Robin Barletta!

Thank you to my family, specifically to my sister Shikha Sharma, who always fights for me, even when I struggle to fight for myself. To my baby brother, Shiv Sharma, for buying my books even though the idea of his oldest sister writing romance weirds him out. To my friends Tracey Sumler and Smita Kurrumchand, who are always my hype girls. Thank you for literally listening to me reading this out loud to you and telling me that it’s not boring.

Thank you to my early readers, Tracey Livesey, Joanna Shupe, Dee Ernst, Megan Bannen, Nam Patel, and Andie Christopher. You all helped me get to the finish line! Thank you to my early morning writers crew that held me accountable, including Adriana Herrera and Alexis Daria. Thank you to Sierra Simone, whose advice about Shakespeare pulling punches was my guiding light throughout this entire novel.

I’m so glad I found my South Asian romance writers group. I love all of you so much, but I need to mention the ones that helped get me through this book. To Alisha Rai, Sona Charaipotra, and Falguni Kothari, thank you for letting me rant, or cry, or just sit in silence. More importantly, thank you for understanding me in ways that so few people have been able to.

And thanks to girl gang behind the Fated Mates podcast, Jen Prokop and Sarah MacLean, for releasing an episode (S03.27, 33:33) when I was a month into writing this book. I’m humbled that you had so much faith in me to say the words, “[The Taming of the Shrew] is not a great model for a modern romance, right? And I want to call out Nisha Sharma’s doing it right now. Her book Dating Dr. Dil is coming out . . . and I trust Nisha implicitly to pull this off, but I think it takes chops.” Jen and Sarah, you inspired me to write the best I could, and I’m forever grateful.





About the Author


NISHA SHARMA is the award-winning author of YA and contemporary romance. She grew up immersed in Bollywood movies, eighties pop culture,

and romance novels, so it comes as no surprise that her work features all three. She lives in Pennsylvania with her Alaskan-born

husband; her cat, Lizzie Bennett; and her dog, Nancey Drew.

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