Zara does not need, or want love in her life. She is happy to be forever at the singles table. Meanwhile Jay is fully immersed in growing his company and doesn’t have time to date. When his mom begs, he finally decides to allow Zara to get to know him so she can find his match, and in return he will introduce her to his celebrity clients. When their meetings become sexually charged, both agree this is just fun for now. Or is it?

After loving The Dating Plan, I needed to read Sara Desai’s latest book! Both Jay and Zara were lovable while also being infuriating at times. I just wanted to lock them in a room together until they realized they belonged together! That would make for a pretty boring book though! Much like The Dating Plan, I also loved the multicultural aspect of this book, it adds another layer that makes the book that much more intriguing. If you read and loved The Dating Plan, you need to get this one added to your tbr!

Oh gods, I hate to say it but DNF at 27%. I've read Sara Desai's previous two books and I think I just don't jive with her writing style at all. I kept hoping it would get better after every book but it just doesn't. Maybe I'll revisit this closer to release day.

This one was the perfect weekend romance to binge!

I was reading a dark academia Murder mystery earlier and just needed love and happiness (and lots of laughs and dramatics) and The Singles stable was all of that.

I really enjoyed The Marriage Game and The Dating Plan and this was another great addition to the series 💓 Zara and Jay had such great love-to-hate-each-other banter and chemistry!! They both worked through a lot of personal and situational challenges that had me really rooting for their happily ever after.

Read this if you like:
💐 perpetually single people finding love
💐 a good desi love story
💐 opposites attract
💐 I wouldn’t say this is 100% enemies-to-lovers or grumpy/sunshine but it’s definitely those tropes adjacent

Check out this book when it publishes next month on November 18th!

Thank you @berkleyromance and @netgalley for the free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

IG link: https://www.instagram.com/p/CU-Tpvzr5dy/?utm_medium=copy_link
GR link: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4046109040

I loved the main characters in this book and was whole-heartedly cheering for them. Sara Desai's books are great additions to any public library collection.

Sara Desai writes the cutest characters.
After reading The Dating Plan, I could not wait to read her next book. It did not disappoint!
Zara Patel is lawyer by day and match maker by night. She loves weddings but especially the singles table. She loves the challenge of setting someone up and has never met someone she couldn't help find love. Then she meets Jay Donovan a man with no interest in being set up. He's sexy, focused and driven. They are night and day and yet have to work together for wedding season. They Strike a deal. Jay agrees to introduce her to his celeb clients and she will find him the perfect girl. The Singles Table is hilarious, fun and sexy! The witty banter was on point and the storyline was adorable! I love that she writes such strong female characters and the men are always so tough, with a sensitive side. I loved every second of these two sunshine meets Mr. Grump.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. .

3.5 stars. This book was cute but didn't quite have the chemistry that the other books I have read by Ms Desai have had. The aunties were great and the family dynamics perfect and it would have been nice to get more of that. The final conflict felt a little forced and the resolution too easy.

Zara Patel is match maker. She loves weddings but especially the singles table. She loves the challenge of setting someone up and has never met someone she couldn't help fine love. Then she meets Jay Donovan a man with no interest in being set up. He's sexy, focused and driven. They are nothing alike and worse they have to work together for wedding season. They decide to make a deal. Jay agrees to introduce her to his celeb clients and she will find him the perfect girl. The Singles Table is hilarious, fun and sexy! I loved every second of these two grumping at each other. Fans of enemies to lovers will adore this book. It gets bonus points for Jay being a lovable grump.

I don't know how I ended up reading a few romances with Indian women and white guys, but this was on of the better ones. I liked the rom com interactions between Zara and Jay at the paintball game and all the pre-wedding ceremonies. The grumpy dude and sunshine-y girl pairing is so funny and cute!

<i>*This book was given to me by NetGalley in return for an honest review*</i>

This enemies to lovers, grumpy-sunshine story will deliver for a lot of readers. I struggled a bit connecting to the main characters but enjoyed the banter. Some parts of the plot felt flat and predictable but overall it's a cute and easy-to-read rom-com.

Jay and Zara were Incredibly adorable. I enjoyed the banter in this story and how well matched they were. I loved the connection they shared and how their banter was just perfection. *chef's kiss*

Overall, I thought the pacing was great and enjoyed the progression of the story. This author is truly fabulous and this story is another feather in her cap!

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book for an honest review ! 4 stars! ~Ratula

This is a great rom-com story featuring acceptance of oneself; as well as a reference for PTSD.
I enjoyed the first half of the book more than the second half as the impetus of the story seemed to slow. Despite this, I enjoyed both the story and the characters.

This book had a lot of potential. However, it just fell flat for me. There were so many opportunities for it to be better, and then it just... wasn't. I thought Zara was going to be so fun and relatable, and at the beginning she was, but then I felt as if she kept getting in her own way and that was really annoying. There were not any real obstacles to the couple getting together. She likes him too much? He likes her but he needs to not have any feelings ever? Why?! There was a sort of fake dating set up, but it wasn't fleshed out enough. I was so confused at this half baked attempt at fake dating, and I LOVE fake dating in any form. I got so frustrated with this book that I had to stop multiple times and take deep breaths. Honestly, it could have ended 50 pages earlier or a real conflict could have been added. The main characters had undeniable chemistry and the beginning was so, so good. The tension was incredible, and the descriptions of their outfits and expressions was amazing. Loved the characters, hated the plot, because, what plot?

I honestly was conflicted about what I should rate this book because it’s not like I hated it but I didn’t love it either. So I settled with 4 because I didn’t want to put the book down, but at the same time to me Zara got a little frustrating at times and the plot was (just) good.

In the beginning I didn’t like Jay, he had some thoughts about the way Zara dressed but when he was “into” her, it made her hot. But that being said, he did have good development. He has a way with words which I wasn’t honestly expecting much because he was such a grump. Zara on the other hand, is your sunshine. I loved her bold and bubbly personality she reminded me of Geet from Jab We Met a little honestly! I loved the chemistry between Zara and Jay and how relatable the book is as a brown person. The banter between the two *chefs kiss*. Jay was so smooth in the book, he had me catching feels for him.

If you like books with slow burn romance, grump x sunshine, spice, desi representation, guy falling first, women in law, this is for you!

I read The Marriage Game, and immediately couldn't wait to get my hands on more Sara Desai! Fortunately, her new book, The Singles Table, is a fantastic read that I would recommend to any lover of contemporary romance.

Zara is a young lawyer who turned away from a potentially more fashionable corporate career to work for a smaller firm. She still wants to attract high-profile clients, but she hasn't got an avenue to pursue that. Instead, Zara's numerous aunties hand out her business cards to anyone they can press them on. Resigned to auntie-dom despite her youth, Zara prides herself on making good matches, and when she meets Jay, she offers him a deal.

Jay is in security, and his work brings him into contact with the kind of contacts Zara needs to solidify her position at her firm. Despite a bad first, second, and third impression, Zara talks Jay into introducing her around in exchange for her help finding his perfect match. The wedding season is trying, and Zara has a lot on her plate, so an inconvenient attraction to Jay, a man she detests, is frustrating. Jay is equally frustrated by his desire for Zara, a woman as close to his opposite as possible.

I love a good vulnerable lead, and both Jay and Zara have a lot of emotional baggage. Jay working through his issues is great, and Zara figuring out her priorities is just *chef's kiss.* I love to see characters work on their issues and let people in emotionally! The secondary characters are also really solid, the parents in particular. It's tricky to set up a whole cast of characters without having them blend together, but Desai is very deft with her characterization. The chemistry between the leads really sells the story, but all of the moving parts really make this book an A+. The tropes at work here are enemies-to-lovers and sunshine and grump, two of my very favorites. I think Desai's work is only getting better, and I can't wait to see what's next from her.

The Singles Table by Sara Desai is an energetic (and sometimes frenetic) romantic comedy novel that highlights diversity in a wonderful way. Zara is like a spark of electricity, and Jay is the epitome of serenity. Their combination was fun to read about, and the ways they affected each other was really sweet. Overall, a fun and entertaining story!

Thanks to Berkley Publishing for my advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Sara Desai writes the cutest characters.
After reading The Dating Plan, I could not wait to read her next book. It did not disappoint! The witty banter was on point and the storyline was adorable! I love that she writes such strong female characters and the men are always so tough, with a sensitive side. I am celebrity obsessed, o I related a lot to Zara and I was a little jealous!! This was such a cute love story and I really loved it!

So far my favorite Desai book. I loved the romance, the steaminess and the characters so much. I could read about Zara & Jay all day; their chemistry was amazing and I was there for it!

this was a very plain, one dimensional romance. It featured the grumpy-sunshine trope but it was so flat and boring i could not muster any level of investment in wither of the main characters.

one aspect i enjoyed was the desi/desi wedding culture sprinkled throughout the book.

unfortunately, I can't imagine myself recommending this book to anyone.

I'm a sucker for a grumpy sunshine story! This was such a delight to read. It was ridiculously funny, featured a diverse range of characters, and had such a good story. I felt like these characters were extremely realistic and nuanced--something that makes the story *that* much more intriguing. This is my first Sara Desai novel, so I will most definitely be going back to read the others in the series:)

Special thanks to @netgalley and @berkleypub for the E-ARC in exchange for my honest review. I will forever be a fan of the enemies-to-lovers trope! This book sucked me in from the very first page and I couldn’t get enough. Zara’s bubbly energy and fun-loving personality was so endearing and I instantly fell in love with her. And then there’s Jay 🔥 Hot, moody, but so incredibly sweet on the inside. This book had me laughing one minute and swooning the next! If you need out of your reading slump, then this is definitely the book for you! I’ll be grabbing a physical copy the second it hits shelves in November!