Accidentally Engaged by Farah Heron

5*

Reena, a middle-child in a traditional Muslim Indian family, is sandwiched between an older brother who has done everything right and a younger sister who is self-absorbed, somewhat passive aggressive and obsessed with healthy eating, to the point that she destroyed her sister’s side business blogging food and chance at a cookbook deal when she posts a diatribe on food bloggers pushing fattening foods. She has very low self-esteem and sees herself as a failure at everything, but especially relationships (12 in 13 years) and jobs (one layoff after another due to downsizing). She’s stuck in finance because she doesn’t want to work for the family development firm, but also doesn’t see a way to turn her passion for artisanal bread baking into a viable career.

Added to all of this are Indian Muslim parents who emigrated to Toronto from Tanzania who are pushing eligible, but totally unappealing men at her in the hopes she’ll marry someone of her kind and pump out some babies. Then Nadim moves in across the hall, a sexy “brown Captain America” with a swoonworthy smirk and British accent. Before she even has a chance to learn more than his name, he reveals that he’s her dad’s new employee and arranged marriage prospect thanks to a business deal between their fathers.

So what’s a girl to do? In her case, she’s pushed into entering a televised cooking contest where she needs a fiancé. Turns out that Nadim is the perfect and willing candidate to fake it. When their drunken audition video lands them a spot, they become fast friends, agreeing to an “unengagement” and fighting an attraction because there’s no way Reena will give her parents the satisfaction of falling for one of their chosen marriage prospects, no matter how appealing.

This story proved to be so much more than a lightweight rom-com. Although there’s humor, chemistry (of both the physical and kitchen variety), and family drama, there are also some heavy topics. When a family that thrives on gossip (while keeping their own secrets) and long-time rivalries starts coming apart at the seams, issues such as eating disorders, depression, and bad decisions threaten to tear them apart. However, the author treats our MCs with compassion and proves that with a little faith, emotional support (from each other and a couple of LGBTQ friends and relatives), and killer sourdough, mistakes of the past can be overcome and the patriarchical nature of their community can be overcome. Highly recommend.

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Forever Publishing through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

The Dating Plan by Sara Desai

5*


Trigger warning: Child and spousal abuse

Don’t be fooled into thinking this is a run-of-the-mill enemies-to-lovers romance. This one throws an emotional punch and then some. Yes, the set-up is that Liam Murphy broke Daisy Patel’s heart when he stood her up for her senior prom and then left town without a word. He was her brother’s best friend and a part of her family, so the devastation was worse because he not only rejected her, but her father and brother as well. When she accidentally runs into him 10 years later, she soundly rejects his friendly overture; that is, until he proposes a fake engagement. For him, it’s a way to save his family’s distillery and, for her, it means getting her well-meaning matchmaking aunties off her back and finding a way to save the start-up organic feminine products company she’s come to care about. However, as so often happens, the emotions become real and someone’s going to get hurt.

Where this diverges from the normal trope is in the story of their childhood traumas. Desai spares nothing in her descriptions of the damage caused by Liam’s abusive father and Daisy’s casually cruel mother who abandoned her at age 7. They’re both suffering under the mistaken belief that they’re not worthy of love, and it’ll take a near-tragedy and some painful confessions before they can have a chance of absolving themselves and each other.

Ultimately, this is a story of redemption, forgiveness, and the power of love and family to right the wrongs of the past. It’s also a steamy romance between a sexy math nerd who doesn’t see how powerful she can be and a broken man who has achieved professional success, in large part to spite the father who made it his life’s mission to pound any self-worth out of him. The juxtaposition of Daisy’s meddling, but loving Indian-American family against Liam’s emotionally-distant, alcohol-abusing Irish one feeds into negative stereotypes, but it’s integral to the story and not gratuitous or ill-intended. Desai does a commendable job of defining her characters and readers can’t help but root for these damaged souls to find love and contentment with each other. Highly recommended.

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Berkley Publishing through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.