Book Review: "The Marriage Game" by Sara Desai
“The Marriage Game” by Sara Desai
Synopsis: After her life falls apart, recruitment consultant Layla Patel returns home to her family in San Francisco. But in the eyes of her father, who runs a Michelin starred restaurant, she can do no wrong. He would do anything to see her smile again. With the best intentions in mind, he offers her the office upstairs to start her new business and creates a profile on an online dating site to find her a man. She doesn't know he's arranged a series of blind dates until the first one comes knocking on her door...
As CEO of a corporate downsizing company Sam Mehta is more used to conflict than calm. In search of a quiet new office, he finds the perfect space above a cozy Indian restaurant that smells like home. But when communication goes awry, he's forced to share his space with the owner's beautiful yet infuriating daughter Layla, her crazy family, and a parade of hopeful suitors, all of whom threaten to disrupt his carefully ordered life.
As they face off in close quarters, the sarcasm and sparks fly. But when the battle for the office becomes a battle of the heart, Sam and Layla have to decide if this is love or just a game. - Berkley Books
Rating: 3.75
Review: I have referenced that I am only reading books with happy endings right now (the world is hard enough, and honestly, “The End of October” was scarring), but I am trying to at least broaden my horizons by reading romances that are different than my lived experience. Enter “The Marriage Game,” a love story set in and around an Indian restaurant. Layla, recently (and virally) dumped is returning home to California, where her parents own an Indian restaurant — and her entire extended family live in the immediate vicinity. Obviously, they want her to be married — and soon!
Enter the Marriage Game. Duh.
Layla’s quest to find a groom is interrupted by her maddening — and maddeningly attractive — accidental office mate, Sam. How they came to share space is a good meet-cute, and how they dealt with that is the stuff of a good romantic comedy.* Is the premise of how they fell in lust, and ultimately in love, feasible? Not really. Do I care? Not one bit. They were both charming characters and had incredible chemistry.
I haven’t watched “Indian Matchmaking” (yet), but I did see “Bend it Like Beckham” about a million times in my youth, so the family relationship and the emphasis on marriage were a little familiar to me (I’m also from the Deep South, so I feel that family pressure bit sometimes…), and I loved how overbearing everyone in Layla’s life was. It was also such a fun show of support and love and genuine care for her well-being, and honestly, who doesn’t want a well-meaning aunt?
I liked Layla and Sam’s story, but what I almost enjoyed more was the neighborhood they lived in, and the extended universe that Sara Desai created. The side characters were so richly drawn, and everything about the obstacles in Layla and Sam’s way felt believable. I can’t decide what my favorite part of the book was, but honestly, everything about this book took me out of a bad mood and drastically improved my afternoon.
Final warning: do not read this book when you are hungry. I ended up actually changing my dinner plans (which were good - pizza Saturday is maybe the best part of quarantine) to order a ridiculous amount of Indian food. I have no regrets, and clearly, no willpower.
*Obviously, this is said with high respect.
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