I have loved the movements of seeing more Indian Romance novels hitting our shelves.

This book was so clever and such a binge worthy read! Desai sure has a way of having you fall in love with her characters.

The Dating Plan is the second novel by author of The Marriage Game, Sara Desai, while I did not read The Marriage Game I definite will now. While the two stories are connected to one another as the main character of The Dating Plan, Daisy Patel, is the cousin and best friend of the female lead of The Marriage Game, Layla. So, if you want to see more of that world, definitely check out The Dating Plan, but even if you haven’t this is a great introduction to Sara Desai’s writing.
Daisy is a successful software engineer, but in her family that doesn’t matter because she is still single and doesn’t want to change that. The Patel family refuses to take her wanting to be single as a choice so they have taken it upon themselves to matchmake. Whether it’s ambushing her with friends’ single sons or trolling matchmaking websites they are determined to find a nice man for Daisy to marry, and soon. But Daisy doesn’t want anything to do with marriage or her family’s many attempts at match making.
Liam Murphy had a rough childhood, and his two solaces growing up were his grandfather’s distillery that he visited in the summer and hiding out at his best friend Sanjay Patel’s house, even if that meant having to deal with Sanjay’s annoying little sister, Daisy, and her crush on him. When something happened the night Liam was supposed to take Daisy to her senior prom and he stands her up, he leaves San Francisco for 9 years. Liam is back in San Francisco as a successful venture capitalist for his grandfather’s funeral, and he finds out that he was left the family distillery, skipping over his older brother as tradition mandated. As happy as Liam is to be able to save the family business from his brother wanting to sell it, there is a BIG catch, he has to be married by his next birthday, in two months, and he has to stay married for a year for him to be able to keep the business.
When Liam and Daisy ran into one another by chance at a work event, Daisy doesn’t hide how much she hates him for the what he did all those years ago. Liam hates that Daisy hates him, but he soon sees a benefit to Daisy’s feelings of hatred towards him, she can marry him without feelings getting in the way. At this proposal Daisy initially thinks that Liam has gone crazy, until he lays out the benefits, her family will stop trying to matchmake, and he’ll help the company she works for find funding to stay open. As their fake engagement goes on the feelings that they both had when they were young begin to resurface. Will this fake engagement turn into a real relationship and marriage?

The Dating Plan was an enjoyable read! I loved the vivid portrayals of Daisy's and Liam's extended families, as well as all the detailed descriptions of delicious Indian food. Some of the plot points required a bit of suspension of disbelief, but none so much that they pulled me out of the story. I finished this book and immediately placed a hold on the previous one by the author.

I really loved The Marriage Game so I was excited to give this a try. It was a flop almost right from the beginning. Daisy is a smart and independent woman. There was no way I could believe that she would still be both heartbroken and still lusting after the young man that ditched her at the prom. I LOVE fake relationship but this one felt overly contrived and made zero sense. The weird hoops that Liam was going to have to go through in order to retain the family business was bizarre. I DNFed.

The story itself was light and easy to read but I struggled to make a connection with the characters as the writing felt too much on the surface level.

Desai is quickly becoming one of my favorite contemporary romance authors. I love the way she writes her heroines to be strong and not pushovers.

Was a fun, laugh out loud, action packed adventure filled with witty and engaging charters, emotional twists and exciting turns. An edge of your seat and highly entertaining journey from beginning to end.

Daisy Patel plans everything and Liam Murphy is not in her plans. Liam, the best friend of her older brother, the one who ghosted her on prom night and disappeared from their lives Liam. That Liam Murphy is definitely not in her plans, except he makes a good fake fiancé to keep the aunty's off her back for a while and he needs a wife to claim his inheritance - so maybe there is a plan for Liam Murphy.

I loved this sweet, funny, quirky rom-com! It was the perfect read for right now and I think a lot more people like me, who are heavily involved in start-up culture, will love it too.

This was a DNF for me. I couldn't really connect with the characters. Nothing wrong per say about the book I just couldn't get into the story.

I finally got around to reading this and I’m so glad I did! This was so cute and helped me out of a slump, which is a big feat. The dating plan has all the things I love in a romance: Fake dating, second chance romance, and funny banter. I loved Daisy because she kind of reminded me of myself. I like the progression of Daisy and Liams relationship and overall had fun reading this. There were some things that had me slightly annoyed but over a quick and fun romance!

Sarah Desai’s The Dating Plan is one enjoyable read in the fake dating, fake fiancée, and second chance at love trope that I really do personally enjoy in the romcom genre. The characters were great especially our main lead, Daisy Patel. At a conference, Daisy meets Liam, her childhood crush, who was also the same guy who stood her up on her senior prom night. They both have something to gain by pursuing their fake relationship – Liam can secure his inheritance and Daisy can get her meddling aunties off her back. I found the story absolutely adorable and a true joy to read. I was swooning right from the start for Daisy and Liam’s obvious chemistry and attraction. I love the STEM representation as well as multiracial couple, and I can totally relate with the meddling family members. I have not read Sarah’s previous book, and now I am certainly a huge fan so I can't wait to read another one! What a fun and entertaining book I quite enjoyed.

The Dating plan is a sweet, funny, romance from Sara Desai.
Daisy Patel is software designer with a life plan. Liam Murphy is a venture capitalist that needs to be married by his next birthday if he wants to save the family business. Together, Daisy and Liam may be able to pull it off byu pretending to be engaged.

As far as rom- coms go, this one was not my cup of tea. While I enjoyed the plot & the characters and the representation, it was a bit slow in some parts for me & I became uninterested.it was enjoyable but could have benefitted from playing less into stereotypes & being a tad less dramatic at some points.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I might have enjoyed this more if I hadn't been reading so many romantic comedies lately. The Dating Game was fine but didn't hit the mark quite as well as some other books I've read this year. That being said, it was fun, sexy, and heartfelt so if this does spark your interest then definitely give it a go!

Love a good enemies to lovers! Also a fake relationship! I was into the story the whole time - loved the banter (I don’t know that I would hate someone after 10 years - I mean don’t get me wrong my date to the senior prom was terrible but if I saw him I wouldn’t be like OMG I HATE YoU haha 🤷🏼‍♀️) but anyways, a book that references hockey also gets brownie points - even if it’s not my team but I can still appreciate hockey in general. It always makes me smile when hockey is involved.
Overall a great read! Definitely would recommend!

I was super excited for this book because I really enjoyed The Marriage Game. I was ready for Daisy’s book because I absolutely loved her.

The Dating Plan has both fake relationship and second chance romance tropes. Both of which I really enjoy.

I thought this book was super cute and I liked it more than The Marriage Game.
Like the first book my favorite part of Sara Desai’s books is the culture! I always end up hungry for Indian food.

I also really loved all the characters in this book. I loved Liam and his story.

Be prepared for some serious steam!

If you enjoy romcoms with some diversity I highly recommend this!

This was a cute romcom. I've been reading a lot of romances so it was very predictable but still lighthearted and fun. I'd read other books by Sara Desai!

My Rating: 3.5 Stars

While the fake dating trope is usually a favorite of mine, I found myself a bit let down by this book. The premise was fantastic and I enjoyed Daisy's family dynamic, but I didn't feel particularly connected to Daisy or Liam. The two characters were lacking the emotional depth that I look for in romance books and while I wanted to love the book because of the premise, it wasn't quite what I was looking for.

That being said, I do enjoy Sara Desai's writing style and the book definitely made me smile as I read it. I will absolutely try other books by this author.

Recheado de bons clichês “The Dating Plan” é aquele livro perfeito para curar você de uma ressaca literária caso curta romances. Sara Desai trabalha muito bem o romance fofo cheio de referências culturais indianas e nos apresenta personagens que nos apaixonamos fácil, fácil.

Apesar de ser um livro fofo, vale o aviso de gatilho para relacionamento abusivo (parental) e alcoolismo. Os temas foram abordados com cuidado e bastante leveza.

Eu amo clichês, e ao longo da jornada da Daisy e do Liam a leitura é daquelas que você apenas deseja que nunca acabe. De início eles tem algo que os trava um pouco devido ao seus históricos, pois se conhecem desde muito novos. Só que Liam precisa resolver um problema: precisa se casar e não tem nenhuma pretendente. Já Para a Daisy, a proposta vira um escape. Mas quem os conhece realmente consegue levar esse casal a sério? Eles planejam enganar a todos e obviamente não imaginavam que estariam enganando a si mesmos quando se dão essa chance. Existe muito mais que um namoro de fachada bem planejado para que eles façam dar certo. Eles precisam revisitar o passado e momentos dolorosos de suas famílias, mas juntos, vão descobrir que conseguem ser muito fortes e resolver o que os incomoda para seguir em frente.

Mesmo o foco sendo o romance, como disse, é muito gostoso conhecer mais da cultura indiana e também a carga que os personagens carregam por conta de seus familiares, e a necessidade de honrar as traduções. Se você gosta de temas como fake dating e friends to lovers, esse livro é para você.