4/5 ⭐️
Thanks to Netgalley for this copy in exchange for a honest review
This was really enjoyable! I loved the HP references from Z and her funny sense of humor. I am curious tho about arranges marriages in India and how many woman have to suffer them.

3.5 stars

This is a lighthearted story about living your dream and not letting your families choices become your choices. The main character Zoya is a plus size heroine and I've been loving the plus size love.

She is a 27 year old girl who according to her family is reaching spinster age. Enter arranged marriage. The story takes place over a span of a few months where she is trust into the dating/marriage word to do the right thing in her family eyes.

While also trying to climb the work latter and trying for maybe her dream job in New York.

I listen to the audio and the narrator was funny and brought out that funny side of Zoya along with the sassy. I love how this story is more than a love story but a coming of age story. It was also neat to read about different cultures and what the expectations are and just how rough it can be.

I love how she respects her family and traditions while also being true to herself and her dream


Thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape for the audio ARC of this in exchange for my honest review

I listened to this and it was a bit of a slow start for me, but soon enough I was hooked. I loved learning about the customs of a different culture especially regarding arranged marriages. Zoya is a successful, smart 26-year old destined for the life of an old maid if she doesn't get married soon. Or so her family thinks!

This was the perfect mixture of romance, family drama, & cultural expectations all while Zoya is on a journey to discovering what matters most to her.

Life is short! Go for your dreams!

p.s. I would love a sequel!!!

This romance was way outside my normal scope and I felt like it taught me a lot about a culture I wasn’t super familiar with in such a witty wonderful way. The story focuses on Zoya who is 26 and has a family dreaming of her getting married while she wants this too she is also passionate about her job and wants to find love in her own way. Based in Bombay Zoya has to cope with scheming aunties, suitors, and job offers all at the same time!
I really loved how this book focused on Zoya making her own way in the world and being willing, hesitant, but willing to shaking things up a bit. The family dynamic is charming and powerful and shows a lot of culture guidelines. Additionally, the narration was wonderful Shazia Nicholls really brought Zoya to life and the witty one liners from the novel translated so well into the audiobook.

3 stars

The Rules of Arrangement is an intriguing journey through the world of Mumbai's arranged marriage-mart from the perspective of a woman who has never quite fit the mold. I personally know very little about marriage in Indian culture and I did appreciate the care that Bhatia took in bringing that world to life. The descriptions of the family dynamics, the city, and the food were just exquisite!

In terms of the actual story, I think that I went in with certain expectations based on the Goodreads and NetGalley descriptions that were just not met. What was described to me as a romantic comedy of manners in the vain of Crazy Rich Asians was more of a women's fiction novel about our main character Zoya as she discovers whether or not she wants to follow tradition or her heart. The romance was just one of many subplots that Bhatia was juggling and I felt like the blurb did not do the book justice by putting it in a place of prominence.

Beyond that, there were definitely some pacing issues that left me struggling to get through at times. I did end up enjoying the book overall, but it was definitely not what I initially expected.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review!

The Rules of Arrangement

When is a good time to bury your dreams? Before or after marriage? Zoya Sahni, a clever and educated young woman, struggles to balance all of the rules of an Indian arranged marriage. The cultural and familial expectations conflict with Zoya’s own identity and career goals and she must decide which path to take.

Set in Mumbai, the author writes with great imagery, allowing the reader to learn and appreciate the language, cuisine, and cultural garb. While Mumbai is depicted in a beautiful and exotic light, especially to a foreign reader, the author also reveals with bold honesty the cultural insensitivities of body shaming and colorism. As an American reader inexperienced with Indian culture, it was eye opening to see that we Americans share many of the same pressures and ignorance.

The pace of the novel was well timed and the story lines of the secondary characters completed the novel . I received this ARC via audiobook and enjoyed the narration and would be eager to read a part two!

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

3/5 ⭐️s

This book tried so hard to be a statement on Indian culture, but it came at the cost of the plot, the romance, and the characters.

Thought I’m not Indian myself, it was so easy to feel a part of that culture during this book. I could taste the food, hear the chattering of the relatives, picture the bustling of the city, and feel the heat of Bombay (Side Note: I googled the city to get a feel for the setting and saw it’s been Mumbai since 1995. Is there a reason the characters call it Bombay in the story?)

While I felt cultural elements on an organic level, I did not connect with these characters. Zoya, while relatable for being a plus size woman who wants to be independent, was an inconsistent main character. She felt dense and flighty at times and competent and confident at others.

The romance was…well, I can’t make up my mind on it. I love office romances, and I feel like the pieces of this couple I loved are all because of my bias towards this trope. Arnav was kind and thoughtful and absolutely undeserving of the “dragon” label Zoya placed on him. It was a part of his characterization that shouldn’t have been included. Since Zoya so often referred to him as a dragon, however, the fact that we never see that side of him made his character feel incomplete. Also, the way they came together felt forced. Why did he admire her? Where had that come from?

I’m not going to call this a love triangle because I don’t think it classifies as one, despite Zoya’s engagement. Neither she nor her fiancé ever intended on pushing through with that marriage, so I never felt the angst of “will they/won’t they.”

Now to my reason for requesting this book: the plus size representation. It wasn’t good. Perhaps the author is plus size herself and just needed an outlet to deal with harassment she’d received in her life because this book was one “fat cow” comment after another, and Zoya never really stood up for herself. Her fiancé and his family try to steer her into healthy eating and workouts; her cousin Tonya is a monster for every mean comment she makes in this story; even her mom and aunt try to wish away her fatness by bringing in her clothes (to the point that they cut of her breathing) and using pictures of her before she was fat. All of the hate is here, but there’s no balm to soothe that. I don’t recommend this to any plus size readers.

The Rules of Arrangement is a book that I was really excited about after reading the description. Zoya Sahni is successful in life. Her top-notch education, combined with her satisfying job, and her (generally) well-meaning family make her feel exceptionally lucky. Unfortunately for Zoya, her physical appearance, attitude, and age create a trifecta of stress for her matchmaking-obsessed family. Zoya takes the world that she lives in, one promoting and highlighting those who are skinny and fair-skinned, and works to shape it to fit her best.

In general, I felt a little let down by this book. I really enjoyed the overall commentary on what it's like to be a freer spirit living in a culture where the rules are everything. However, I think that this discussion could have been pushed just a bit farther. Additionally, there were really intense moments of fatphobia almost constantly as well as scenes featuring colorism. These are pretty much passed over without a second thought and the plot just moves forward. I have to say, I was hoping for a story with the main character as a darker-skinned and plus-sized (and comfortable being so) individual at the center of a story. I wanted this character to end up in love without too many trials or tribulations. I would definitely categorize this book in Domestic Fiction or General Fiction over placing it in the Romance genre. While romance is a factor in the plot, I don't feel like it's the strongest point in the overall story. I think Zoya's day-to-day was the most exciting part to listen to. Her job is one that closely aligns with one of my majors from undergrad, so I was really able to relate to Zoya's process. So, in general, I think this book had a great conception and beginning, but in actual practice, it fell flat, and (in some ways) it felt a bit harmful. I still recommend at least trying this book if you like General Fiction, and prior to reading, I would make sure to do into colorism, fatphobia, and transphobia just to make sure you're aware of any potential occurrences in the book and see the real-life implications of these attitudes.

Overall rating: 3/5

The Rules of Arrangement will be available for purchase on July 22nd. Be sure to add it to your Goodreads shelf and see where it's sold. Also, be sure to check out Anisha Bhatia’s website! As a side note, if you are buying this book outside of the US, the title will appear as What are We Doing about Zoya?.

I was lucky enough to be able to listen to this Advanced Reader's Copy through my partnership with NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

"Was his heart ever invested in us? Was mine?" -From The Rules of Arrangement

2 stars

warnings: colorism, cancer, fatphobia, misogyny, ED jokes and thin-shaming

A beautiful descriptive Mumbai is the setting for this toxic book. I thought I would adore this book. I thought it was a romace- but it really is more close to woman's fiction. The love is such an odd side story. I was so unprepared for all the toxic things the author manages to pour into this book. First, the fatphobia. Wow. Every single chapter, and it isn't just the family and friends to the MC- she also can only describe people with a nod to how outragously large (and gross) their bodies are. This trait never changes. The MC seems to grow only by the toxic comments she launches at other woman, either with how big they are, or in a stunning turn around, how thin they are. No bodies are alright apparently. The amount of woman on woman hate was horrible, and offputting. The MC is a bully to anyone different (or even the same!) as her. There are so many sterotypes that are never addressed from the MC only able to think about food really, to the health nut family eating just spoonfuls of boiled cabbage, to cultural sterotypes. That is one thing to bring it up to make a social commentary- but no meaningful discussion takes place. So many tropes I hate are included, the "scare" and people in relationships unable to communicate at all, I was so angry that she didn't tell her fiance she was breaking it off first. You are the one who decided to get with him after 90 minutes. I don't care what you think about his family, diet, or work outs; he deserves to know first. All her texts to her boss didn't seem "cute" when she was wearing a ring of someone else. Then she even ghosts her boss for no reason. The plot is 100% predictable.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Zoya is doing great in life but is not the perfect Indian girl. She’s overweight, spunky and dark-skinned and at 26 isn't married. To appease her family she agrees to an arranged marriage, but what will she do about her own dreams and desires.

I really wanted to like this book, it wasn't bad but sadly I was left disappointed. This book highlights many of the awful parts of the Indian culture such as misogyny, fatphobia and so many toxic attitudes and microaggressions. It was hard to overcome since there was no real voice of reason throughout the book.

The romance was sweet but I wasn't really into it and wasn't surprised at all. Zoya is what got me through the book and kept me interested. I was dedicated to seeing her drop tradition and do what makes her happy. It was a super-fast read, and I loved the lesson of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape for the audio ARC of this in exchange for my honest review

I thought this was a fun coming-of-age, realizing that you do not need to be who your family wants story. The narrator was really lovely to listen to. The fatphobia and preference for lightness, for women to be dutiful and malleable, was so hard to read, but made me root for the main character to realize that that wasn’t what was important about her. I loved the budding romance, but also liked that that wasn’t the be all end all of the story, her life and future was the important thing.

This was ok. All the popculture references were annoying (especially the Harry Potter ones). The main character was also kind if annoying. I don't understand why she agreed to marry a guy after their first meeting and it was obvious who was leaving her the presents. There were also a lot of fatphobic comments and comments about the main character's skin being "too dark" throughout the entire book, so if that's something that bothers you, then I wouldn't recommend this.

Lets be clear, advertising this as Crazy Rich Asians meets Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows is definitely not accurate. As you see in the links I really loved these books, and i think the only thing they really have in common is that they deal with weddings in Asia. However as funny as those books are, this book is more offensive and annoying. You don't get the colorful descriptions and characters that you have in Crazy Rich Asians, nor the depth of emotional development in Erotic Stories. There is no humor just really obnoxious traditional family and Zoya who really needs to get a clue and takes 6 hours of an audiobook to get it together, things that were fairly obvious. Having read so many wonderful stories set in India, especially this year, this one just feels stereotypical and contrived. If it wasn't for the fact that the ending redeems itself this would have been so bad. Also what is with all the fatphobia in the book? Having just finished the absolutely delightful The Fastest Way to Fall which is total body empowerment, the way this books speaks about women's bodies is so wrong and kind of sad that its written by a woman.

Zoya is a successful woman with her dream job, but she has a huge flaw according to her family: she's single. In a culture where arrange marriages are still common, Zoya's family embark in a quest to find her a husband while she tries to figure out what is it that she really wants in life.

This book is from an Own Voices author which makesnit even more easy to relate, the audiobook barrator also had an indian accent which made it more immersive.

It was hard to read this book due to the cultural shock, the anoint of inner racism, inner fatphobia, misogyny and patriarchy was so frustrating, although in a way it makes you realize what is that Indian women are going through. It was really eye opening and for that I'm grateful.

I did enjoy learning more about India, their customs and the characters were likeable. Zoya had a nice growth arc that helped her accept herself exactly as she is and so did her family.

Overall I recomnend this book, it was a cute light read and it was refreshing to read about a different country and culture.

A young woman, whose life is planned for her by societal norms and family pressures, is unsure about her upcoming nuptials but not ready to disappoint her family by becoming an independent woman.

I read the audiobook from NetGalley. The narrator is so compatible with Bhatia's writing that they must be related. I strongly recommend the audiobook (although I have not read ebook or physical so can't speak on that experience).

The aunt is hilarious. She is judgmental and domineering but her sharp tongue makes her a more palatable character. Zoya is "not like other girls." She is darker-skinned, full-figured, and reluctant to marry.

At first glance, this sounds like yet another book about an Indian girl being forced to marry. Before you reject this one and look for another read, I encourage you to pick it up. Bhatia's writing reads like stand-up comedy from an experienced comedian. You will be entertained even if the narrative is predictable.

The themes are pressures of being a single woman, standing up to your elder relatives, finding yourself while others try to tell you who your are. The plus-size rep is not as satisfying but the story is so good that I'm not complaining about it.

The discussions about single women and prejudices people have about them were interesting. The plus-size mentions felt pretentious and more like an announcement than a narrative. Zoya mostly kept stating that she was plus-size. Some of the other characters would make offensive statements about her weight that she did not have the confidence to correct.

This is a coming of age story about a young woman deciding whether to marry when she hasn't had life experience or embark on a career that could bring her the kind of satisfaction that being married would stifle. I loved this book and would recommend it.

I absolutely love the influx of fiction set in India or about Indian culture. This book was amazing. I think I definitely would've enjoyed it more if I was reading it as a physical copy but this book still had me laughing and sometimes wanting to cry. I need more from Anisha Bhatia. End of story.

I received an ARC of this audiobook to listen to through NetGalley. All opinions are my own. The Rules of Arrangement by Anisha Bhatia is a Women’s Fiction audiobook with romantic elements.
Zoya Sahni wants to be a good daughter, but fulfilling the dreams her parents have for her may mean letting go of her own dreams. At age 27, Zoya is close to being on the shelf, and her parents are getting desperate for her to get married. On the marriage mart, Zoya is considered to be too fat, too dark, and too old, but amazingly enough, Lalit Khurana asks her to marry him, and everyone appears to be happy except Zoya because she has dreams of working for a large advertising agency in New York, dreams that are not out of reach because her boss Arnav Bajaj has recommended her for a position and it’s just up to her to ace that interview. I enjoyed listening to this audiobook tremendously, and it had the perfect balance of humour and angst, a heroine who had you cheering for her, with a narrator that did an excellent job of bringing her to life, and wonderful secondary characters who added much to the story. I highly recommend this audiobook. Steam Level: Kissing Only Publishing Date: July 13, 2021. #TheRulesOfArrangement #AnishaBhatia #NetGalley #AlcovePress #WomensFictionNovel #ContemporaryWomensFiction #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #WomensFictionAudioBook

A great debut in the vein of Bridget Jones's Diary about Zoya, a 26 year old dark-skinned, overweight modern Indian woman struggling with family and societal expectations. Zoya has a successful career, loves the TV show Friends and occasionally indulging in pot brownies. She also has a family that has decided it's time for Zoya to get married and not wanting to rock the boat, Zoya agrees to enter an arranged marriage. The problem is the more Zoya tries to please her family, the less happy she becomes, especially when a chance to move to New York City for work arises and a secret admirer increasingly makes apparent just how ill-matched she and her new fiancé truly are. I loved being immersed into modern day Indian culture and the ways that traditions still play a big role in Indian women's lives. Zoya is an easy to love main character to cheer for and I would love another book about what happens in her life after this book leaves off. Great on audio and highly recommend for fans of diverse cultural stories. Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for my ALC.

DNF at 30%.

I went into this thinking that it was going to be a fun contemporary romance filled with complicated familial relationships and highlighting Desi culture.

Instead, I got a book that is chock full of fatphobia (there's literally fatphobic comments made each chapter without unpacking how dangerous it is), colorism (the MC's dark skin is a constant point of scrutiny and yes, skin bleaching is recommended), misogyny, and transphobia (several HP references as well as blatant transphobic passages on page).

I honestly don't know how anyone can make it through this without just feeling awful. This was a huge miss, and in good conscience, I literally can't recommend this book to anyone.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media for providing a review copy through NetGalley. This did not influence my review. All opinions are my own.