Review with Author Interview: Always Be My Bibi by Priyanka Taslim

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Always Be My Bibi by Priyanka Taslim
Published by Salaam Reads / Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers on June 10, 2025
Genres: YA Contemporary Romance
Pages: 368
Source: the publisher
Format: Hardcover
Goodreads
Buy on Amazon, Buy on Barnes & Noble
Also by this author: The Love Match
My Rating:

Blurb:

Clueless meets Jenna Evans Welch in this young adult rom-com about a spoiled American teenager who faces some major culture shock—and potential romance—when she jets off to Bangladesh for her sister’s wedding.

Bibi Hossain was supposed to get her first kiss this summer.

Too bad her father finds out and grounds her for breaking his most arcane rule: No boys until your sister gets married.

Just when Bibi thinks she’ll be stuck helping him at their popular fried chicken chain until school reopens, her oh-so-perfect older sister Halima drops a bombshell: she’s marrying the heir of a princely estate turned tea garden in Bangladesh. Soon, Bibi is hopping on the next flight to Sylhet for Halima’s Big Fat Bengali Wedding, hoping Abbu might even rethink the dating ban while they’re there.

Unfortunately, the stuffy Rahmans are a nightmare—especially Sohel, the groom’s younger brother. The only thing they can agree on is that their siblings are not a good match. But as the two scheme to break their siblings up, Bibi finds it impossible to stay away from the infuriatingly handsome boy.

Could her own happily ever after be brewing even as she stirs up trouble for her sister’s engagement—or is there more steeping at the tea estate than Bibi knows?

My Review

I really enjoyed the first book by this author, The Love Match, and when I heard about this one, I was so excited to get an advanced copy to read! I was not let down either, as this had so much fun, family, and new culture for me to learn. Like I didn’t even know that tea was brought to the area, and that originally they drank coffee! I also once again have so many new foods that I want to try. And I wish we had a Royal Fried Chicken restaurant to eat at as well.

I have to say that like the author says in her acknowledgement section at the end, I can’t necessarily relate to Bibi as I am also the older, responsible daughter/sister in the family. However it was easy to fall in love with Bibi, and unlike in other stories where the character like that might annoy me, I totally still understood all the things she was feeling. I mean kind of. Bibi had to deal with the cultural aspect of parents who wouldn’t even let her date until her older sister got married, which gets the story started off, because she is currently grounded and having to work the summer at her father’s restaurant because she got caught trying to meet up with a boy. Nothing salacious, she just wanted to get her first kiss, and even just spend time with the cute boy she had a crush on, who also seemed to like her back.

But then, surprise surprise, her sister shows up and guess what, she’s getting married! Of course this thrills Bibi, knowing that hopefully she’ll get to start dating soon. This wedding is going to happen quickly though, and they even are going to fly almost right away to Bangladesh, their families’ home country. And while Bibi thinks it will just be a big vacation, nope, that’s not what happens.

First she runs into a surly boy who says he works on the tea garden, only to show up at the dinner that night and find out he is her future brother-in-law’s younger brother. Her future in-laws are not very nice. They are very wealthy, old money, and they are very snooty and look down on Bibi and her family, and even let rude, cutting remarks slip around her sister. Then, because Sunny, her sister’s fiance, is now coming home to learn how to run the tea garden/estate, both Bibi and her sister Halima are told they need to learn how the estate runs as well. So now Bibi is still working, and this is a lot of outdoor work, and Bibi, sooooo not an outdoorsy girl. She’s really into fashion, which of course her thoughts on a gap year to travel and then going to fashion school also do not endear her or her family to the Rahmans.

But, after hearing she can now date, all of a sudden all the aunties and people in the family have a book full of eligible bachelors, or the Big Book of Biodata as they call it. She goes out on a few dates. The first one being with a really rich boy that she of course develops a crush on. And also as you might expect, he isn’t about calling/texting her right back or setting up another date right away. He is a cousin of Sohel and Sunny, and Sohel does not like him, says he is a player and Bibi shouldn’t date him. And it does turn out to be true, although not quite in the way I expected!

Sohel, the younger son, really is the one who has always wanted to run the estate, to take it over, so he has a bit of anger issues with his brother now coming back and seeming to take away what he’d thought could be his. Not in a bad way though, just that he had been the one who wanted it, and his brother was only coming back because his family told him if he did come back to take over, they would approve of this marriage. Sohel has so many changes he wants to make in this still colonialist type of world. He already makes sure the people working there are getting paid better and that they are treated fairly. He is friends with the people from the villages around, and they all appreciate what he does.

Of course being in another country and dealing with all of the family drama, the wedding, suddenly/finally getting to date, Bibi has all sorts of chances to get into trouble/cause more drama. Not that she’s trying to, it just follows her as she is someone who stands up for those around her and doesn’t let people talk to her unfairly. I love the way this author can keep me hanging to see what is actually going to happen. How things will be solved in the end, as well as what types of obstacles might pop up that are unexpected, or if expected – still so different from the norm. And I also loved all the cultural aspects of the story, learning so much that I didn’t know.

This is another book that I can’t wait to share with my students next school year, and I am definitely highly recommending it to everyone else as well!

Author Interview

1.  What does your writing process look like? Do you know the whole story when you start?  Or do you just start writing and go with it (seat of the pants writing)?  If you plan it out, how do you do that?  Outline, notecards, post-it-notes, etc.? 

I usually get the seed of an idea to begin with, typically related to the setting. For The Love Match, it was a tea shop. For Always Be My Bibi, my editor asked about potentially writing a travel romance in Bangladesh, and I thought, why not continue the tea theme by setting it in a tea garden?

But until the characters become more real to me, I can’t actually start writing. I prefer character driven stories best. I can forgive some weaknesses in plot or world-building, as a reader, if the characters win me over, so my own characters have to do the same. With Always Be My Bibi, Bibi’s idiosyncrasies became concrete to me as soon as I decided she’d be a classic romcom heroine in the vein of Cher Horowitz and Elle Woods.

Once I have the main characters pinned down, I tend to be a pretty straightforward plotter. I go in chronological order, listing the book out chapter by chapter. I don’t always know everything, especially in the middle, but I often have very clear visions of the beginning and the end. I’ll use tools like beat sheets to help me as I plot, but I try not to be too precious about things, because I often find that I’ll get better ideas as I go along. So I’m very much a plotter in the traditional sense, but I sometimes pants the middle or am open to changing my mind. I’ll leave myself a note like “in this chapter, they do an activity to get to know each other better,” but the activity won’t make itself known to me until I’m closer to writing the chapter, rather than being set in stone. One time, for a fantasy novel I probably won’t go on sub with for ages, I wrote down “maybe they have a picnic,” when instead they ended up fighting monsters together. Organized chaos!

2. Do you edit as you go, or wait till you’re finished before you edit?  How many times would you say you go over it yourself before having another set of eyes look it over?

I actually DO edit as I go. I know that a lot of authors advise against it, but I find myself getting stuck in my own head if I know there’s something wrong with what I’ve written and I haven’t fixed it. I also like re-orienting myself in a draft before I keep working, so it helps to go over a previous chapter or two at the beginning of any writing session. If I’ve spent too long away from a draft, then I often end up rereading everything I have so far to ground myself in the voice and world again. Because of this, I generally have pretty clean first drafts, at least as far as spelling, grammar and punctuation.

This does NOT mean I won’t do big revisions later, but it at least allows me to have a relatively solid early draft to send to my agent, editors, and/or critique partners. I probably give it only one once over before sending it to them because I draft so cleanly. The exception would be if there’s something big I KNOW I need to change, in which case I’d rather get their feedback once that element is incorporated, so I revise and send it. I do, however, need a draft to be complete before I get eyes on it. Sharing a few early chapters for feedback is fine, but I get a little itchy if I share partial drafts otherwise. I’d rather share my outline with people and get their early opinions that way than sharing my work chapter by chapter until I’m done, because I hyper-focus while drafting and don’t want too much distracting outside noise that might accidentally diminish my motivation.

3.  Are you part of a writer’s group that gets together and helps each other with their writing?

I actually am! My friends Adiba, Tammi and I have a little Bangladeshi diaspora writers group. This isn’t to say we don’t talk about anything and everything, but we’re also there to support each other through the trials and tribulations of publishing, and we offer one another feedback for our books, particularly when it comes to double checking something about Bangla or Bengali culture within them.

Beyond that, some of my other best friends in the world are my Magic Sprinting Squad. We started out as total strangers who did writing sprints together online, but grew so close as time passed. We cheer each other on and keep each other accountable.

Both of those groups are more than just critique partners for me. By now, we’ve known one another for nearly a decade. I think this sort of relationship is critical for writers, not just because you need trusted critique partners, but because the work that we do can be so lonely and isolating, and the industry is so hard. You need people who get it to be there to celebrate your highs and comfort you through the lows. It’s not something your non-writer loved ones can understand, no matter how supportive they may be.

4.  How do you come up with your ideas for your stories?

The most random things inspire me! That’s why, if someone has a creative block, I think just taking some time to rest and refill the creative well can help.

The Love Match was inspired by a trip to a tea shop, a rewatch of Pride and Prejudice 2005, and my desire to write a book about growing up in Paterson’s Bangladeshi community.

Always Be My Bibi was inspired by my last trip to Bangladesh, during which I got to explore one of its biggest tea plantations—but also, as I said, movies like Clueless and Legally Blonde (and Crazy Rich Asians too).

I get inspiration from not just my own life but books, movies, shows, even video games sometimes.

5.  This is being compared to Clueless, so is that your favorite teen rom-com movie, or what are some other favorites?

I’m such a huge fan of teen romcoms! I feel like I was lucky to be a preteen/teen myself during their heyday.

Clueless is absolutely one of my favorites, but I also love 10 Things I Hate About You, The Princess Diaries, 13 Going On Thirty, She’s the Man, Easy A—clearly, as an English teacher, modern reimaginings of classics will always have my heart! Some more recent teen romcoms that are spectacular are To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, The Half of It, Rye Lane, Love, Simon and XO, Kitty. I’m so glad we’re getting more diverse romcoms now, but I think we can always have more, because the world could always use more fun, joy, humor and happy endings.

6.  What are your favorite:

Books: Such a tough question! Some of my favorites are TJ Powar Has Something to Prove, Hani & Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating, A Little Bit Country, XOXO, Firekeeper’s Daughter, An Ember in the Ashes, Beloved, and… Last one… Maybe The Song of Achilles.

Authors: I’ll just pick one here, the wonderful Sabaa Tahir.

Genres: Romance and fantasy are both my favorites! I love horrors, mysteries and thrillers now and then too, and of course as an English teacher, a good literary novel is always enjoyable, but I find myself most drawn to romance and fantasy. A book with a good balance of both is perfect, though sometimes I crave a contemporary or a fantastical setting more.

Movies/TV Shows: Another hard one! I always feel like I forget the second I’m asked about my favorite books, movies and shows. The To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before trilogy is great in film and book format. Abbott Elementary is hilariously on point to me, as a teacher of color myself. I was recently obsessed with the Kdrama Tale of the Nine Tailed. I’m very eclectic in my tastes when it comes to media, so I watch lots of stuff, including non-English series. I’ll leave it here so I’m not trying to remember everything I liked or I could go on forever.

Music: I like pop, but especially if it’s a little melancholy. It’s funny because I’ll be writing a humorous, upbeat book like ABMB and listening to breakup or otherwise sad music. However, that just doesn’t match the tone, so my playlist for the book is actually filled with a lot of classic, modern pop artists like Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, Charli xcx, Billie Eilish (that’s where some of that moody pop comes back in), Dua Lipa, Ariana Grande, etc. I also have to give a shout out to the legend, Ms. Mariah Carey, for inspiring the title of the book.

Food/Writing snack: I don’t necessarily need a specific food, but I have to have a cup of tea (or a substitute like coffee) before I start writing. That’s partly why it always features heavily in my plots, I’m a saa girl through and through. I feel like for Bengali people, a good amount of the blood running through our veins is probably tea instead.

About the Author

Priyanka Taslim is a Bangladeshi American writer, educator, and lifelong New Jersey resident. Having grown up in a bustling Bangladeshi diaspora community, surrounded by her mother’s entire clan and many aunties of no relation, her writing often features families, communities, and all the drama therein. Currently, Priyanka teaches English by day and tells all kinds of stories about Bengali characters by night. Her writing usually stars spunky heroines finding their place in the world…and a little swoony romance, too. She is also the author of The Love Match.You can connect with her on X, TikTok, and Instagram and check out her website, PriyankaTaslim.com. 

Related Posts