The Rules of Arrangement by Anisha Bhatia is a perfect fit for readers who delight in humorous, lighthearted stories with a strong sense of social commentary, and who will appreciate the relatable journey of a strong, progressive heroine as she navigates the complexities of cultural expectations and personal desires in a vibrant, modern India.

The Rules of Arrangement
by Anisha Bhatia

The synopsis of this book seemed like a good choice.

This story had great potential having a positive main character not quite the norm of an Indian young woman - well educated successful in what she does downside she’s 26 overweight breaking the mould of a marriage woman of Indian culture.

I had such hopes for this story but felt there was too much emphasis on weight and ultimately ‘fat shaming ‘ even if being the perfect shape and age for the marriage market is not Zoya. The ultimate choice for Zoya is the job of a lifetime or respecting her family and culture and enter into the appropriate arranged marriage. A few entertaining characters on Zoya’s journey but to say this is a romance is using the term very loosely in the story. The general family ethos was well done .

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

While I found this story relateable and fascinating to read, there was a lot of fat-phobia embedded in the story that was not challenged or addressed. However, getting to read about Bhatia's experiences and a culture different from my own made this story decent.

I was expecting (rightly or wrongly) for this to be a rom com but in actual fact I found the romance to take a backseat to the “self discovery”’ of the main character. This in itself wouldn’t have bothered me but where this book lost me was the fatphobia which was present from very early on. Not for me.

Way too much fatphobia for this to be an enjoyable read. I love books about other cultures, but one thing that isn't okay in any of them is being unkind to fat people.

Really enjoyed this book. It was amazing to experience a different culture and the ups and downs of dating and marriage.

I found the main character to be very relatable.

The publisher provided this ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

"Zoya Sahni has a great education, a fulfilling job and a loving family (for the most part). But she is not the perfect Indian girl. She’s overweight, spunky and dark-skinned in a world that prizes the slim, obedient and fair. At 26 she is hurtling toward her expiration date in Mumbai’s arranged marriage super-mart, but when her aunties’ matchmaking radars hones in on the Holy Grail of suitors—just as Zoya gets a dream job offer in New York City—the girl who once accepted her path as almost option-less must now make a choice of a lifetime."

Extremely disappointed and triggered by the fatphobia in this book. Honestly, I know I'll never read a book by this author ever again. I don't have much to say besides that the rep in this isn't positive. It' seems like it came directly from the 90s, where it still was okay to be a fatphobic a-hole.

Honestly I don’t have an interest in reading this book anymore and I want to be more selective with what I request.

This was definitely one of the best books I have read this year... I did managed to finish this book within a few hours. It was captivating and difficult to put down.
HIGHLY RECOMMEND

sadly, before i could download this title, netgalley took it off their catalog. that means i can’t review this one. HOWEVER, i will be checking in with my library to see if i can get a copy and review it that way

I would like to thank the publishers and NetGalley for giving me a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.


The representation in this book was a breath of fresh air. The book deals with topics like colorism, fatphobia, ageism, and Indian culture. I didn't enjoy the ending.

Zoya works for a marketing firm in Bombay, but according to her family, will soon be too old for a good match and there will only be the leftovers available. Her Aunt tries to arrange meet ups but Zoya is not enthusiastic. Although there is some romance involved, I loved the humorous situations that made me laugh out loud. When she does become engaged, Zoya is also offered the opportunity for a great job on New York, her dream, after being recommended by her boss, Arav, who appears to have more than a professional interest in Zoya. The extended Indian family provides much opportunity for a variety of themes, including bucking tradition and cultural mores to make your own choices. I recommend for readers who like books set in India, family stories and women’s fiction. Thanks to NetGalley for this enjoyable and entertaining book.

The Rules of Arrangement should've been right up my alley. It had all the makings of a great storyline.
The first couple pages drew me in, but soon I felt that the body shaming and fat comments were too much.
I think I finished with only half interest because the characters annoyed me.

I was expecting this to be your run-of-the-mill romance, but I was ecstatic to find that it was so much more than that! "The Rules of Arrangement" is a funny, delightful, and heartwarming story about a woman who won't let herself be caged in by tradition and chooses to forge her own path. I wanted to be Zoya's best friend from the very first chapter. Highly recommend.

3.5/5 stars! Many thanks to the publisher for the free review copy. 💜

Okay, so this book didn't turn out to be the way I expected it to be. I think I went into it with a lot of hope, because the story is based in a South-Asian household, and I'm Bangladeshi, so I guess I really wanted to enjoy it a little more. The drama surrounding the whole marriage scheme was on point though. It was very entertaining, and some of the wedding events were chapters I loved the most while reading The Rules of Arrangement. :')

I really liked getting to know Zoya, our protagonist! Her personal insights and thought processes regarding how Indian auties are obsessed with match-making made me laugh out loud uncountable times! I loved how the author portrayed the double-standard attitude towards brides and grooms - how a woman is expected to change her whole being just for finding a nice guy to settle down with; when the guy himself (in spite of not having a lot of loveable qualities) is considered highly important just for his gender. I guess what really bummed me out was how Zoya was obsessed with her weight? I mean she's a modern woman, so I was expecting her to not be so attached to stereotypes. I loved her character development throughout the book though. Her relationship with Sheila Bua was so heart-warming, I never expected their dynamic to take such a turn by the end!

The romance was really sweet. This book is more of a women's fiction than romance - but I wish the author delved into the romance a bit more since it was hinted all throughout the book. We got to see a glimpse in just the last few chapters. I loved how they supported each other though.

3.5 stars!

What are we doing about Zoya aka The Rules of Arrangement!

I don’t understand why this book is getting such lower ratings. I just finished reading the book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. As a Nepali woman who have similar cultures and traditions as of Indian women, I could understand and relate to Zoya’s life in many ways.

As women become of a certain age, there is a pressure of marriage not only from the parents but far relatives and people you don’t even know! The traditions, social beliefs, what will people say etc are so normal to this day and this book depicts it so well.

The writer has done a brilliant job in portraying how women in India are valued along with colorism, social status, body weights. As much as there is no similarities between Zoya’s personality with me I couldn’t help but see myself in her or my friends. This book is more than a romance for me. Everything related to marriage, family relations, culture and traditions were so familiar to me hence I couldn’t help but root Zoya to follow her dreams.

In this time where women are still meant to marry by a certain age, expect to leave their jobs when they get married - what’s the point of studying this hard and the achievements so far? And meant to keep quiet when we have opinions sounds absurd. However, when I know there are still women living like this ofcourse I feel for them and I wish the society and traditions change for them to live their life freely. At the same time, I am so thankful for my parents and my family who have always supported me to follow my dreams. This book has made me realise so much that words won’t suffice to describe the feelings.

The book revolves around the life of 26 years old Zoya whose family and relatives are arranging a marriage. There is also a bit of office romance involved. Thankyou Anisha Bhatia for this amazing book, Netgalley and Headline for the e-arc.

A good story about finding yourself and dealing with a meddling family.
THank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review.

Do not miss this book! Witty, clever, fun. Zoya is a fabulous heroine.

I adored this novel, set around a spunky heroine based in Mumbai. Zoya is a career gal who's somewhat traditional at heart and is trying to decide between her arranged marriage and pursuing her career dreams - including a possible dream job opportunity in New York.

The writing is witty and full of snark and I rooted for Zoya through every single life decision. Her interior monologue is laugh out funny, especially when she is thinking about her own body and how it relates to her marriage and the rest of her life.

Everything you'd want in a fun uplifting and escapist read. With a charming and often hysterically relatable main character in Zoya, who I rooted for through every single decision.

Move over Bridget Jones, Zoya is my new favorite heroine! You don’t want to miss this one!

While periodicals like Salon and The Atlantic sounded the death knell on chick lit back in the 2010s, I’ve been noticing a mild resurgence of the genre via reprints and new releases. The Rules of Arrangement is one of the latter, a modernized iteration of the classic formula of a young woman juggling familial expectations, romance and a social life while combatting traditional stereotypes and killing it at the office.

Like most young women in India, Zoya Sahni is surrounded by marriage-minded aunties. The upcoming nuptials of her younger cousin has reminded these fine ladies that Zoya has managed to slip under their matrimonial radar and evade being put on any of the websites where families look for potential brides. Sheila Bau, her father’s older sister and the most proficient (and determined) matchmaker of the clan, is determined to remedy this error and begins a blitz project of getting Zoya a husband. Zoya is not perfect Indian bride material, however. She’s aging – a whopping twenty-six in a matrimonial market designed for girls under twenty-five.  And “she’s overweight, spunky and dark-skinned in a world that prizes the slim, obedient and fair.” She does have some saleable attributes, though – she’s well educated, from a wealthy family, bright, articulate and successful

That last is especially relevant to our tale. Just as Sheila Bau is searching for a husband for her, Zoya receives a promotion at work and her boss, Arnav Bajaj, advises her that with luck she might just be able to get yet another boost upwards – a position at the holy grail of her industry, a slot at the New York City office of Bucklebee and Owens, one of the top advertising and marketing agencies in the world. She has to earn the chance to apply by getting a high engagement rate on her next ad campaign, but Zoya is determined to do just that. There’s nothing holding her back.  Zoya has had several initial meetings with prospective grooms but none of them have asked for a second date, so it’s not as though the husband hunt is going particularly well.

Until it is. Lalit Khurana, an old friend from her preschool days, and his family arrange to meet her and Zoya finds herself engaged quickly thereafter. She typically wouldn’t allow herself to cave to familial pressure regarding this issue, but she’d had a scare recently that had set her on the path of becoming a “Diamond Daughter”. After a particularly bad initial meeting with a potential mate, Zoya had an ill-advised hookup with an ex with whom she typically only shares “a joint and a snog” and a drink with. The resultant pregnancy panic sets her on the straight and narrow – and allows an actual friendship to bloom between her and her boss Arnav. The two had found themselves at the same pharmacy, Zoya trying to buy a pregnancy test from a judgmental clerk and Arnav looking for aspirin and he had come to her rescue by playing the role of her husband so she could make the purchase and by allowing her to take the test in the privacy of his apartment and dispose of all incriminating packaging in his bin. The test was negative, the crisis averted, but that fright made Zoya realize that she could destroy her family’s reputation with a single mistake. She has no intention of doing that to her loving parents, so off to the altar she goes. She continues to interview for the Bucklebee and Owens job, she just realizes her new in laws probably won’t let her take it. Still, a girl can dream, right?

If body positivity issues are important to you, this might not be your best reading option. Zoya receives a great deal of fat shaming, dishes it out herself to the aunties whose Rubenesque figures never keep them from shaming Zoya for hers, and she skinny shames her cousin  Tanya and reminds her she’s flat chested  (after said cousin endlessly fat shames Zoya). There is fitness shaming, food choice shaming, thinly veiled snark fests on having the right hair texture or skin color, comments on the importance of couples looking equal in terms of height and weight – I don’t think a chapter goes by when we aren’t made aware of some physical appearance issue. Part of this is social commentary. The author is highlighting how difficult it is for women in a country where marriages begin with a beautiful image on a website and brides are often treated like commodities rather than people. But if you are at all sensitive about this topic, it might not be easy to read this book.

The novel also offers social commentary on the whole idea of arranged marriages. There is the juxtaposition of the high level of education demanded of the modern bride and how she is to set that all aside once married.  It shows how even beautiful girls, perfect for the ‘market’ are damaged by the process, and how many of the relationships don’t work and are nothing more than unhappy, life long compromises. I’m not sure how accurate that is but the author does a great job of making her point.

Don’t get the idea that the story is just one long gripe-fest, though.  The novel is actually funny and charming and Zoya is a sweet, clever, self-depreciating heroine who, over the course of our tale, learns to love herself and realize her worth. She has had a mostly affectionate and supportive family (Cousin Tanya excepted), but Zoya had never internalized their love, listening to the negative voices in her life over the positive. That changes as the narrative progresses.

There are love interests here, obviously, in possible husband Lalit and boss rapidly- becoming- her- best-friend, the big hearted and charming Arnav. The romance is very much kept in the background until almost the end of the book, with the focus staying on Zoya and her journey of self-discovery. That odyssey includes some of the traditional chick lit features such as drinking with gal pals and buying stuff, though in Zoya’s case it is carb laden foods rather than designer shoes.

The setting here is amazing. The author captures the sights, sounds, culture, and people of Mumbai so beautifully.  I loved this scene from the beginning of the book, which depicts something so different than what you would see on a stormy day in the U.S.:

Ooh, the rains! Finally! The thick, angry droplets are greeted with yelps of joy on the street. Giant mango tress swish like drunks in the wind and stray dogs hide in muddy puddles under parked cars. I get gloriously drenched within seconds into my short walk home.

Beautiful writing, the gorgeously and lovingly depicted environment, and a heroine taking a terrific adventure of self-discovery reminded me of all the best reasons chick lit was once such a popular genre. While the obsession with looks, eating and fitness kept The Rules of Arrangement from being a perfect read, I would still recommend it to fans of women’s fiction who enjoy stories of women growing into their strongest selves.

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