I expected Much Ado About Nada to be on the lines of Sonali Dev books but it wasn't, sadly. Some aspects stopped me from giving it a higher rating. 

This is said to be a retelling of Jane Austen's Persuasion. I have never read Persuasion so I can't comment on that part. Much Ado About Nada is a common Desi story about a girl stuck in her past, her family and relationships, and a lifelong dream she had. Nada is an engineer stuck in a job she doesn't love after her dream to launch her startup app failed six years ago because of a family friend's betrayal. At present, her best friend Haleema drags her to a Muslim convention in the hope of her meeting some 'eligible bachelors', after years of pestering from Haleema and her mother. But who she was avoiding all those years finally come face to face and she is forced to confront her past and to retrospect her choices. 

The Muslim representation is quite good. I don't identify as one, but I have gathered this through various reviews and my reading experience. The way the whole Muslim community was described- their food, their clothes, their traditions, and the whole Muslim convention setup - was quite impressive. The mention of familiar foods made me hungry. 

Then we have the whole Desi family setup with which we all Desis are accustomed. Nada's parent doesn't want their children to move out of their home ever. Even the siblings want to, they don't want to hurt their feelings. The parental love and its bargains and pressures, the family that sticks together- all was quite relatable. 

The first 60% of the story, however, felt like nothing much is happening. There is a back-and-forth narrative and at times it took my interest away from the story because it wasn't handled in the best way. Then there is the romance part. I couldn't love Baz the way I love most of the love interests in romance. The romance part was quite underdeveloped. I couldn't vibe with it at all. There was this whole tension going on between the leads till 90% and then it was suddenly resolved? It was too sudden. I think it would have been better if all the backstory was covered in two-three chapters instead of dragging it through the end. 

My thoughts about this book are still over the place. I enjoyed some aspects of it more than the others. Would I recommend it? Yes, for a one-time enjoyable read for sure. You might enjoy it more than me especially if you are not looking for the romance aspect that much and are more interested in the Muslim and Desi aspects of it, which actually is done pretty well.