Instagram story viewer> @annikasharma> Posts

Annika Sharma

@annikasharma

5.6K

followers

2322

following

Romance author.👇🏾THE FLAVOR OF YOU - July 13, 2027.
PR/media strategy director.
Founded That Desi Spark (sold).
Social justice nerd.
🇮🇳🇺🇸 + Telugu mama.

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Title: Decided and announcing soon 👀 Cover: Being finalized and I'M IN LOVE with the concepts! @titbits_of_art and @sourcebookscasa CRUSHED it. Publishing date: ONE YEAR FROM TODAY! 🎉
Two books down. One more to go!

If you've been with me since Love, Chai, and Other Four-Letter Words you know this series was never JUST about the meet-cutes. It's about the CMC crew: found family, big feelings, and friendships that are a character in and of themselves.

Love, Chai gave you Kiran: the good daughter, keeping herself twice as careful after her sister's marriage nearly broke her family, until the one man she never planned for moved into her building.

Sugar, Spice gave you Payal: building the fashion career of her dreams, until her parents handed her a choice: watch everything collapse, or an arranged marriage to save their business…to a man who she’s had a one night stand with and hates.

Book 3 belongs to Akash, the book boyfriend readers loved.

Akash and Rhea had something real once. It took years to get over. Now she's back in his life, forcing him to find out if twelve years and one goodbye was ever actually enough to get past the first love that never left you.

Buckle up!

#bookstagram #newrelease #romancebookstagram by @annikasharma

165

74

3 months ago

TITLE REVEAL: THE FLAVOR OF YOU, the third and final book in the Chai Masala Club series, comes out July 13, 2027! The cover is BEAUTIFUL and COMING SOON! 
Akash has it all figured out: a career he loves, family close by, and the Chai Masala Club, his found family of friends, just minutes away in NYC. He never looks back. Well, almost never. There's still the girl from college who loved him and then vanished without a word nearly ten years ago.

Rhea never wanted the big-city life. But she made a promise to the best friend she lost, and that promise has her fighting to keep her restaurant alive in the same city that pulled her and Akash apart. 
Then Akash agrees to help with his sister's nonprofit gala, which turns into the biggest catering contract of Rhea's career. Now they're working side by side, and realizing maybe first loves deserve a second chance after all.

🔥 Second-chance romance 🫶 Found family 🍛 A restaurant fighting to survive 💔 A first love who left without explaining 
And if you’re a reader interested in a cover reveal and ARC…let’s chat.

#southasian #romancereads #bookstagram
[romance reads, romance readers, book releases, South Asian authors, South Asian romance, diverse books] by @annikasharma

155

49

19 days ago

149

27

a month ago

Politics decide what our children learn, what they can control about their bodies, who they can go to for support, how their identities are expressed, what rights they have, and what they read...and the effects of this deliberate attempt to control people are here.

34% of students across party lines have used state politics to decide whether they'll consider a college. It's particularly concerning for the states that ban books, control reproductive rights, eliminate DEI, redraw districts, and allow all the -isms to pervade their education systems because these children are raised in bubbles that don't expose them to people and situations different than their own. The political system is designed to keep them "in line" and higher education is then inherently political too, seen as an "us or them," rather than an opportunity to expand a world view.

The effects are global - and they make us less competitive, with a younger generation less capable of thinking critically, arguing logically, and adapting to a connected world outside of their own. It's jarring at best, and harmful at worst.

Are there any states you'd ask your kids not to go to school in? And...do they lean left or right?

#college #community #politics #education by @annikasharma

27

6

6 days ago

Cinnamon roll? Or born killer?
Our readers could probably guess - but can you?

Tropes that we can absolutely live up to.
•looks like a cinnamon roll, could kill you: @lavanya.lakshmi.writes and @monashroffauthor
•looks like she could kill you, is a cinnamon roll: @authoravarani
•looks like a cinnamon roll, IS a cinnamon roll: @nkumarwrites @suleenabibra @blth0ta and ME!
•looks like they could kill you, could kill you: @namratapatelauthor @nishawrites

#romancebookstagram #southasian #bookstagram #romance #tropes [South Asian authors, romance authors, romance writers, diverse books] by @annikasharma

80

12

11 days ago

People have lots of questions about becoming a published writer - and because it's generally an isolated activity, my advice always includes that you have to find your people. Your colleagues WILL be your most real conversations, your hype girls, your cheerleaders, the conscience on your shoulder, the voice telling you to keep going, and the reasonable truth teller who will ask you what the fuck you were thinking, and the people you can be vulnerable with around some sensitive things only they'll understand.

In marginalized group, sometimes this takes time. It takes sidestepping the idea of competition with your own. It takes trust. But it's possible...and I know that because this immense, powerful, funny, ride-or-die crew are most of my people. This year's writing retreat was a good one.

PC: @sonali.dev

We missed you @saradesaiwrites @neelyalexanderwrites @alisharaiwrites @nishajtwrites! And thank you @spicewalla for keeping us caffeinated and happy with solid chai!

#southasian #southasianauthors #romancebookstagram [romance reads, romance writers, South Asian writers] by @annikasharma

64

17

14 days ago

I've been raw dogging these walks to work 😆 no headphones or phone calls (maybe a voice note to a friend, but that's it!) and the sounds of my breath as I climb the hill that tries to kill me every day...Since moving back to PA for NYC, the lack of urgency has been pretty uncomfortable and it's taken me a long time to realize we just aren't used to slowing down or building relationships or setting aside inconvenience anymore. It's weird.

Anyway, maybe it's time we claim our time back. I miss connection, creativity, and the ease of community.

#fallvibes by @annikasharma

38

5

25 days ago

5 years ago today, on National Chai Day, LOVE, CHAI, and OTHER FOUR-LETTER WORDS came out. If you've read Love, Chai, bought it, shared it, sent it to loved ones, reviewed it, borrowed it from the library, or made it a feature in your book clubs...my god. My GOD. Thank you. You changed my life. You supported by work - taught me what I could do better - and showered me and my stories in love.

Book 3, starring Akash, comes out July 13, 2027, closing out this journey with the CMC. I can't wait and I hope you're excited too.

love, chai was my re-debut (my first book came out in 2015 but I pulled the rights so this was my redo!). It took 3 rewrites but @editorchrista and @staceydonaghy believed in this book, its characters, and its trajectory in a series - and @sourcebookscasa did a beautiful job with its release.

Today and every day, thank you - I get to live my dream because of you.

Romance reader, romance reads, #romancebookstagram #romancebookrecs #romance #nationalchaiday #southasian by @annikasharma

104

18

a month ago

The year is 2006 - I'd just turned 20. @pennstateghaam has taken @raaschaos by storm thanks to the leadership of @jonathanboscojb and now we're headed to Chicago to compete at @bestofthebestdancecomp (little did I know I would meet so many of these dancers again at various points of my life, including BOB founder @palakpalooza through mental health work). We took 1st in the raas category, and 2nd overall, supported by our Penn State friends who literally chartered a bus to come support us.

20 years later, the experiences of countless millennial South Asian dance teams is coming to @netflix - and I for one can't wait. I can remember the dance by heart but I'd probably throw up if I had to perform it. One of my best friends, a bridesmaid for my wedding, was a teammate. Many of us continued to dance. Some didn't. But now, all the fun, wild, drunken, ridiculous moments are going to be captured for the world to see.

Imagine telling all of us that 20 years ago when we were practicing a 4 AM at the HUB at @pennstate! by @annikasharma

177

16

a month ago

I thought our reunion - 5 cousins who went to @pennstate over 10 years - would be the core memory. But watching our little ones (and our very amused spouses who go along with our crazy), the next generation, love campus and football as much as we did hit us much deeper. Giving them such an important part of our history and having them become a part of it was magical.

Missed you @sari427!

#weare #pennstate #pennstatefootball taken in Penn State University by @annikasharma

92

8

a month ago

A little life lately: backyard play in sunshine, football games and victory dances, a new preschool for A and Jaanu (including A's first time away from us!) and thoughts from Thriends. by @annikasharma

144

2

a month ago

Today I made my last student loan payment. $81,021.39 became $98,929.09 with interest. I'll give myself a high five for doing it in 7 years instead of the 20 I signed the loan for - but at what cost?

I had privileges most people don't: a low but still six-figure income for a couple years, a partner, family who could help with living situations, good enough credit to refinance when the terms stopped working. And it still took burnout, sacrifice, moving to my hometown from NYC to afford childcare, sometimes worked 3 jobs at once, and days I genuinely prayed we wouldn't take one more hit (including a layoff when I was pregnant and neither of us had jobs). If I, as someone relatively privileged, am exhausted, someone with less is barely hanging on.

Twenty years into repayment, the median Black borrower still owes 95% of what they originally borrowed. The median white borrower has almost paid theirs off completely.

Within 20 years, half of Black borrowers and 40% of Hispanic and Latino borrowers have defaulted. Less than a third of white borrowers have.

Over 80% of Black and Hispanic borrowers are first-generation students, meaning nobody in their family could warn them what this would actually cost.

Hard work is not the deciding factor. Access is. The system is broken, and something needs to change.

#studentdebt #southasian #gradschool by @annikasharma

131

22

a month ago