Sister of the Bride: A diverse fiction read, great for book clubs from the creator of the brown Bridget Jones

Halima Khatun

Jan 2025 · Diverse romcom Book 1 · Hayat House

About this ebook

Sibling rivalry, cultural clashes and a lot of what ifs. This is the side of the story you never got to hear...  

“Honestly, you’d think she was the only one to ever be getting married, the way she’s acting all Bridezilla-like,” Forida, Bridezilla’s older sister.    

You’ve read the story about the Bengali Bridezilla, but what about the debris of disgruntled family members left in her wake?

Now it’s the turn of the big sister to tell her story…

“By an accident of birth, and being born in the wrong order, the Bridezilla, a.k.a my younger sister, Helena, has it much easier than I ever did. If only she knew…

“Yes, I’ve got three cute kids, an adoring husband and more sarees than I can wear. But sometimes, just sometimes, I wonder if there is more to life than this.”

Tropes: Diverse romcom - sibling rivalry - perimenopause - stories of a different culture - closed door romance - own voice - non spicy - clean romcom - family drama - romantic comedy

Halima Khatun’s Sister of the Bride is set during the wedding planning of Helena, the protagonist in the The Secret Diary of a Bengali Bridezilla. It’s a story about sisters, friendship, family and love and will make you laugh, smile and maybe shed a tear.

Reader reviews:

‘It might just be my favourite book in the series so far!’

‘It was so fun to get the perspectives of Big Sis and all the family members as Helena is going through the bridezilla months. 'Great character development- I feel like I know each person!'

'I loved the educational narrative of Bengali culture. So many interesting and universal issues- shopping, marriage prep, importance of making a good impression, difficult relatives, women doing the work and giving their husbands a pass, perimenopause, in-laws- so may issues I could relate to (as a non-Bengali).’

Ratings and reviews

I felt it ended a bit soon as I had just woken up in the middle of the night and thought let's continue to read,and before i knew it, i was already at the end. EI enjoyreading it. Some of the elder sister stuff i related to, other times she just seemed way too alien. I enjoyed how Helena would appear horrible. When reading, the secret diary of a pregnant bengali, i always thought Helena was so kind, so perceptive and the older sis just seemed so mean. halima did a really Good job on writing the book from the different perspectives of different family members. Anyone interested in family dynamics and healing work can see how same events can be perceived by different people and perhaps would allow us to give each other more grace and empathy. I was happy to read thmafuz (elder sis hubby) was a nice guy. What a fresh perspective than the typical guys from back home are horrible, unkind or, abusive. This man was nothing but kind and loved his wife truly

What an interesting version of events from a different point of view. My view of Forida (big sis) has changed since reading this book, she has become a bit more human now that her version of the truth has been explored. Although, I'm not sure I like that Helena is depicted as a bit of a monster in this book - Forida's view, I guess. It was lovely to read that Mafuz is actually a doting husband and father, not the traditional unavailable man that Helena portrays him as. And it was also rather nice that Forida eventually challenged her own self-inflicted ideas of acceptable friendships and activities. Overall a good read!

Sister of the Bride was eye opening. After six books in the 'secret of' series we are totally connected with our heroine. This book gives a completely different viewpoint, from the older sister's. You get to understand her, feel sorry for her and sympathize with her circumstances, in a way you never did with the series. In fact, it even makes our herorine from the original series appear selfish and unkind. Halima has done an amazing job in changing my perceptions.

About the author

About the author

Halima Khatun is a former journalist (having worked for ITV and the BBC), writer and PR consultant.

Since she was a child, she knew that words would be her thing. With a lifelong passion for writing, Halima wrote her first novel - a coming-of-age children’s story - at the age of 12. It was politely turned down by all the major publishing houses. However, proving that writing was indeed her forte, Halima went on to study English and Journalism and was one of just four people in the UK to be granted a BBC scholarship during her postgraduate studies.

She has since written for a number of publications including the HuffPost and Yahoo! Style, and has been featured in the Express, Metro and other national publications. Halima also updates on her novels on halimakhatun.co.uk