This laugh-out-loud debut romance introduces perfectly imperfect Payal Desai, whose plan to get her long-time crush to finally notice her is destined for success, but only if she ignores her budding feelings for her archnemesis...

Payal Desai has had a crush on popular, athletic, all-around perfect Jonathan Slate ever since he smiled at her in freshman year Spanish class. At a party during the spring break of her junior year, Payal finally works up the courage to ask John to hang out. However, her romantic plans are derailed when he vomits on her Keds. Twice. But when John offers to take her out to lunch as an apology, Payal is convinced this is the start of their love story. 

Over chalupas and burritos at Taco Bell, Payal's best jokes are landing perfectly. John is basically choking on his coke—and then it happens. "Do you have a boyfriend?" Payal is (finally) about to get the guy. And then he tries to set her up with his Indian friend. Best friends Neil Patel and Divya Bhatt are just as mad about the microagression as Payal is but they think she’s a little too hung up on him. 

Determined to teach John a lesson by making him fall for her, Payal ropes in her archnemesis Philip Kim to help by ceding creative control over their psych project. It’s the perfect plan. Minus Philip’s snarky, annoying quips and lack of faith in its success. But as Payal lies to the people she loves, hides the too-Indian parts of herself in front of her crush, and learns that maybe Philip isn't the worst, she starts to wonder if what she's been looking for has been scowling at her all along...