This book was so cute. I would like to thank NetGalley for providing me a e-ARC of this book. Maya is someone that I identify with because if I’m told that I’m cursed then that becomes my entire narrative. This book is one that was a cozy romance that put me in a good mood.

Maya's a dating disaster with a quirky set of "laws" to explain her bad luck. A trip to Pakistan for an arranged marriage takes a detour when she meets the grumpy-yet-dreamy Sarfaraz. Enemies-to-lovers sparks fly as they navigate vibrant culture, family ties, and unexpected connections.
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This book is pure joy! Think enemies-to-lovers romance with a hilarious twist, set against the backdrop of a vibrant Pakistani adventure.Seriously, Maya's dating mishaps are SO relatable, but her "Laws" to explain them were hilarious!
This book is more than just a rom-com though. It's a beautiful exploration of family, tradition, and finding your own happily ever after (even if it looks a little different than you planned).

Obviously I am white and not a Muslim so take my opinion with a grain of salt. The romance was cute and I liked it but parts of the book felt weird to me. I don't understand why you would talk about the rules of the religion if you were just going to have her break them. I got it at the beginning when they thought they were going to die and when she needed a place to stay. It made sense why they touched then. But I didn't understand why they touched when they were sightseeing. I get it because it's to move the romance along but why say that they are both Muslim if they are just going to break the rules the whole time?

I went back and forth on how to write this review for a long time, mostly because I still am not sure exactly how to give it a numerical rating. As a Muslim who was raised on old Bollywood films in the 90s and 00s, I was thrilled at the idea of the cultural representation this book could provide, in seeing a Pakistani young woman on a whirlwind “accidental” romance on route to her arranged wedding, all while navigating through faith, issues of self-esteem, and learning to trust other people. On paper, the bones of this novel were perfect, and I was so excited to start it.

However, in beginning to read it, I found myself continually putting it off, picking up other books instead of this one. Though it was a decently quick novel in totality, I ended up taking almost a month to finish it, which for me, is a long time! I found the second half to be much stronger than the first, and that helped propel me to the end, as I grew more invested in Maya and Sarfaraz’s story. The problem was that I really struggled with the pacing of the novel’s first half, which I felt kept on drawing out negative aspects of Maya’s inner monologue and life in general, with little energy paid towards her growth. The latter portion of the book certainly turned it around, and watching her character grow, and Sarfaraz’s support of that, was so nice! I just wish more time was dedicated to that part instead of to the repetition that she believed she was cursed and trusted no one, which began to feel slightly redundant.

I did especially want to shout out the references and parallels to both Bollywood and K-dramas, both of which I adore, and I think the book’s epilogue was something extremely special and warm and healing. Overall, I give this a 3.25⭐, rounded to 3 on Goodreads.

*Thank you again to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

Maya believes marrying her fiancé who she doesn’t have a deep connection with will be as good as gets for her. On the flight to her wedding in Pakistan Maya meets Sarfaraz. He is gruff and doesn’t talk a lot, unlike spirited Maya. When their plane gets delayed in Switzerland Maya and Sarfaraz end up partnering up to make the most of the unexpected detour and slowly learn about each other. Maya can’t deny the connection she has with Sarfaraz, leading her to make the tough decision on whether to follow through with her wedding or follow her heart and disappoint her family.

Not only does the story cover religious issues and expectations, but familial relationships as well. Having Maya look deep within herself to find her true happiness her own way is something all of us can connect with and appreciate.

Thank you to Harlequin for sending me an early copy of this book. Here’s my honest review!!

I truly adored this book. It was chaotic, messy, sweet, and lovely all at once. I was truly so into this book from the start to the finish. I wish it was longer so I could spend more time with these characters.

I loved the slow burn?? in this book. It’s felt like a slow burn because it took the whole book for them to get together, but it only spanned about a week and a half give or take a few days. Relatively fast compared to other books, but still managed to feel like a slow burn LOL. IT WAS GREAT!!

Maya is so precious to me. I loved spending time with her and watching her journey and growth throughout this book. It was truly so moving. I just loved her so much.

I loved reading this book mostly because I got to learn about a culture and religion that is different than mine. A part of the joy of reading is learning, and I learned while reading this book.

I would absolutely recommend this book, and will potentially read it again in the future. 🫶🏼

ARC Review

Maya's Laws of Love by Alina Khawaja
Published March 26, 2024

Maya is convinced she's cursed and unlucky in love. She headed to Pakistan for her wedding after agreeing to marry a successful doctor. While her soon to be husband checks all the boxes, Maya is not in love, and she's trying to please her mom.

En route to Pakistan, there are several bumps in the road. She winds up meeting Sarfaraz, who is sort of a cynical lawyer. The pair become travel companions when a storm forces their plane to land in Switzerland. A few entertaining, unexpected situations later and Maya feels like she finally met her right match. The only problem... it's a few days before her wedding.

I thought this was such a cute, fun read! I loved both of the characters and enjoyed reading as their relationship developed. I found the discussion around Pakistani traditions to be fascinating. Specifically, Maya balancing her cultural and familial expectations. While reading, I felt like I was taken on the journey of Maya's self-discovery and it felt sweet and genuine.

One thing to note about this one (and I want to be careful here not to speak for the author so please do not take it as me doing so). This book is not explicitly halal and I do not think the author has marketed this book herself as being "Muslim rep" or "Hala rep" even though it has Muslim Pakistani characters. I've spent some time on her Instagram digesting her comment section on and can appreciate her thoughts/opinions surrounding this and encourage you to do the same. She even rec's books that are Pakistani halal romance if you are looking for them.

Thank you so much @netgalley, @HTPbooks, and Alina Khawaja for a free arc of this book!

#Mayaslawsoflove #netgalley #netgalleyreview #arcreview #Alinakhawaja #HarlequinTradePublishing #HTPbooks #romancebook #multiculturalloveinterest

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Maya’s Laws of Love was a throughly enjoyable romance. Maya had always considered herself cursed in life and in love, which led her to an engagement with a match that was arranged so she could gain the freedom to explore the world outside of her mother’s house. After an extended engagement when the time comes to finally travel to Pakistan for her wedding she encounters every possible travel mishap, and ends up traveling side by side with the man who she next to on the plane. Cue the butterflies and sparks that her hopelessly romantic heart believed in, but never thought could be hers.

Maya and Sarfaraz were both stressed coming into their respective trips, and that was before all of the various travel delays. Even with everything going on they were able to be honest and open with each other, thinking that this was a temporary acquaintance they would likely never see again. The plot points and twists aren’t exactly surprising, but it was still an enjoyable journey.

Maya’s Laws of Love is a romance novel with a couple modern twists. Maya is a Muslim woman and is quite conservative, however she goes to a therapist. The therapist seemed extremely credible and loving. Maya is sweet, but in a pickle. She wants a family, the clock is ticking. So she decides to marry a friend. So the story begins.
This book is nicely paced, well written with good character development.
It would have been even better if it was available in an audio book. Reading on an iPhone was quite difficult.

Tropes:
Enemies to Lovers
Grumpy/Sunshine
Forced Proximity

I absolutely loved this story! I feel like this really talks to new adults who are still out there exploring life and unsure about love. Maya tells her life to her therapist in the beginning and I feel like this is a new take on learning how to share your feelings outside of your family and friends. She is about to embark on her last trip on her own; to her fiancé. But when she comes into trouble on her plane ride, she finds an unlikely helper in her grumpy passenger who almost made her miss her plane. When Sarfaraz keeps turning up every time it’s obviously a sign that it was meant to be; except Pakistani Muslims are very serious about their arranged marriages. So when Maya finally arrives to marry her fiancé, he is who she isn’t wanting to walk down the aisle to. The crazy situations in this novel felt needed to really embrace the romcom of finding your happily ever after.

This was such a heartwarming and romantic read. I really enjoyed Maya's growth and her realizing the strength she had and how she finally realized it. In standard romcom fashion, there were a lot of laughs and surprising moments. I especially love how going to therapy is normalized and not villianized, like in some stories. And that the characters represent their culture unapologelically. The author kept me engaged from beginning to end and I could not put it down until I was finished, then had to sleep on it so could let the story marinate in my thoughts. This author is now on my radar and I will be looking for more works from her in the future.

Any book that makes me cry like that gets 5 stars and a spot on my bookshelf for all time. Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC.

Oh where do I begin? I adored this book, for many reasons. I was also confused by this book, for many reasons. I'll start with what confused me, while also acknowledging that I understand why this book has received some harsh criticism and ratings.

This is a desi romance with heavy Pakistani influence. Pretty much all the characters are Pakistani, a portion of the book takes place in Pakistan, and Pakistani/desi culture's influence is heavy throughout the book. Even though Islam is not mentioned in the description, almost 97% of Pakistanis are Muslim, so it felt pretty safe to assume that almost all if not all the main characters would be Muslim, and they were. A lot of the most critical reviews of this book that I saw were that while this was definitely a Muslim book, the storyline was not halal, and they're completely correct. I'm not Muslim myself, but I have Muslim friends and coworkers, and as a result am at least somewhat familiar with what is halal and haram. Needless to say, my eyebrows raised many times throughout the book - not in disapproval, but mostly in complete surprise. Maya's attitude around LGBTQ issues, her casual physical (non-sexual) contact with a man, the clothes she wore at certain points were all very much so *not* halal. So I understand why Muslim readers would be upset if they thought they were going into a halal romance and instead got a haram one. I also understand how they felt their religion was disrespected. As a Jew, if I read an Orthodox Jewish romance where the FMC was violating tznius (modest dress), negiah (no physical touch of any kind with the opposite sex before marriage) I'd be a little surprised as you just wouldn't find an Orthodox Jew doing such things. Reform or even some Conservative, yes, but not Orthodox. So in a small way, I get it. And before non-Muslim or non-Jewish readers come for me, I am totally for LGTBQ rights, but it doesn't change the fact that some religions still aren't ok with that, and that fact is well known, so Maya and everyone else's immediate and casual acceptance was a slight surprise. So while there was Muslim representation in this book, it didn't feel representative of the Muslim faith itself, or at least the Muslim faith I am familiar with. At the same time, the author herself is a Canadian-Pakistani woman, like Maya the FMC, and as a non-Muslim I'm certainly not about to tell a Muslim how Muslim-representation should look in a story. I just wanted to start with this disclaimer because I've seen several non-Muslim readers attacked for saying that this book taught them a lot about Muslim and Pakistani culture. I understand that this book is not fully representative of Muslim culture, or Islam as a religion. But I would say I did love learning a lot more about Pakistani culture specifically - I found myself stopping every few pages to look up the different clothing pieces and other cultural references Alina Khawaja shared throughout the book.

Whew. What fun times we live in. A book I genuinely loved but am also scared to leave a review for.

Because I did love this book. As someone who grew up in a religiously restrictive home (though not quite as restrictive as Maya's), I could identify with Maya's struggle for independence and her search for identity. Her loyalty to her family whom she genuinely loves, and who love her, and her faith that is such an important and defining part of who she is, all at odds with what she wants her life to look like. This book is about Maya finding her place in a world where it seems she's being pulled in several different directions. I loved the conversations she and Sarfaraz had about the younger vs older generations' influence on a faith and culture, and what that clash can sometimes look like. A lot of difficult topics were discussed with a lot of compassion and empathy, which I appreciated. So while I understand the criticisms Muslim readers have of this book, I also understand where Maya is coming from in several moments of the book. Would I have made the same decisions she did in several key moments? Probably not, but I get it. That girl went *through* it in this book - hell she was robbed at gunpoint in the midde-of-nowhere Pakistan in the middle of hte night. That would have been my final straw lol. She is much stronger than I ever could be, and in many ways I admire her just as much as I relate to her.

I also loved the dynamic between her and Sarfaraz. Their chemistry was almost immediate, the banter was top-notch, and the angst was exactly the kind of thing I look for in romance books. Oh I was sobbing by the end. Even Imtiaz was so sweet and genuine and I was rooting for him and his happiness as well. Each and everyone one of Maya's family members was a joy to get to know, and I especially loved how the author explored the dynamic relationship between Maya and her mother. I loved how Maya and Sarfaraz talked about their faith and the influence it had on their lives and their families' lives. I loved that the cynic (Sarfaraz) fell for the hopeless romantic (Maya). I also loved how this book was, in a way, a form of Crash Landing on You fanfic, and an ode to k-dramas, because it's been 5 years and I am STILL not over that show and how much I loved it. I squealed when Maya first mentioned it, and again when part of the story took place in the very part of Switzerland where the show was filmed. Ugh, I loved it all.

So yes, very complicated feelings about this book, and while reading this book. I'm grateful I had a chance to read this book, and learn more about Maya and Alina's culture and faith, and I hope to pick up many more of Alina's books in the future. I've got several more desi and Muslim romances on my TBR, and this book made me even more excited to pick them up. Instant 5 star-read, and instant auto-buy author.

Overall: 4
Spice: 1

Seat mates are forced to become friends due to weather causing a delay in their travel. What they don't know is they are headed to the same place for two different reasons. Along this journey they discover the true meaning of friendship and love. You'll get some witty banter and hilarious awkward moments as we explore the FMC "laws" which basically are just common-sense events.

I loved this one. Maya believes that she’s cursed. And honestly, I can’t blame her 😂 On her way to her wedding if something can go wrong, it does. But is it so bad if everything goes wrong with the right guy?

blurb:

Maya Mirza is so convinced she’s unlucky in love that she’s come up with a list of laws to explain it. Most importantly…
Maya’s Law #1: Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

But that’s about to change. Maya’s headed to Pakistan for an arranged marriage with a handsome, successful doctor who ticks all the right boxes. First comes marriage, then comes love—she’s sure of it. Except…
Law #4: When you think you’re lucky, think again.

From the start, Maya's journey is riddled with disaster, and the cynical lawyer seated next to her on the plane isn’t helping. When a storm leaves them stranded in Switzerland, she and Sarfaraz become unlikely travel companions through bus breakdowns and missed connections.
Law #6: Trips are never smooth sailing.

And before long, Maya’s wondering whether she’s just experienced the ultimate in misfortune—finally meeting the right man a few days before she marries someone else. And Maya might just be the worst person to keep a secret.
Law #18: If you’re overtired, you’ll always spill your guts.

But maybe, if she’s willing to bend some laws, this detour could take her somewhere totally—and wonderfully—unexpected.

I loved this book! The writing style was beautiful, and the pacing flowed perfectly. Maya was such a great main character, and I loved being a part of her story.

I really enjoyed Maya’s Laws of Love by Alina Khawaja! Maya believes that she is cursed in life, and especially in her love life. So she’s created some laws to protect herself. But aren’t some laws made to be broken?

Why I loved it:

💞 A great look inside Pakistani and Muslim culture and how culture can inform our life choices and trajectory.

💞 It got deep addressing how childhood trauma can manifest in adulthood and how to grow past the defenses you put up to keep yourself safe.

💞 It gave us a young woman growing into herself and finally learning to choose herself over pleasing others.

💞 Many of the scenarios seemed a little unrealistic, but it really made it fun to read and I couldn’t put it down!

Solid 3.5, rounding up.

I had to sit with this book for awhile before deciding how to review it. I loved the way that Khawaja laid out and developed these characters. Maya, a guarded, self-proclaimed feminist living in the constraints of a Desi family, developed into a more open woman. Sarfaraz, a successful lawyer whose past trauma has made him close off to new relationships, finds a kindred soul in Maya. Watching their walls break down once they bond over their failed relationships was rewarding.

Despite my love for the characters, I found myself struggling through this one and waiting for it to be done. Reflecting upon why, I have a few thoughts.

This book was VERY detailed. There were multiple pages describing settings and clothing styles. I feel that the author was trying to help us non-Desi readers to understand cultural traditions, but at the same times there were many (many!) instances were Pakistani words and terms were used without explanation. I found myself using my Kindle dictionary to help with understanding the context. I think that when the book went through edits it could have been cut down a bit to keep the story moving, and provide some context clues to help readers who are unfamiliar with the culture.

I also craved more of Maya and Sarfaraz's story. Because she was engaged to someone else, their own love story got a bit lost in the narrative. Once we had our HEA I wanted more!

Overall, a solid debut from an author I would read again.

This book was the perfect blend of so many things. Sweet, moving, culturally rich, hilarious, and relevant. There were so many tropes but they all felt well-inserted in the story and like a natural flow of the plot. Grumpy/sunshine, one bed, forced proximity, and others that I can't quite leave here. It was also very clean and wholesome.

I'm not a fan of the 'feminist' movement taking over EVERY book, so I didn't give it a full rating. But beyond that. It was great!

Bottom line, this book is so great! Go read it!

4.5 Stars! **Spoiler Free**

Phenomenal read from Alina Khawaja! I absolutely love when I can thoroughly enjoy a book but also learn new things in the process! The novel focuses on Maya – the walking embodiment of Murphy’s law – as she travels to Pakistan for her wedding to a partner arranged by her mother. As she travels, Murphy’s law strikes in every way imaginable, and Maya provides comical insight to her own laws that she’s crafted to cope with both her romantic and overall chaos. Khawaja’s humor was tangible and left me laughing out loud on multiple occasions throughout the novel. Her female main character Maya is very well developed. If anything, I would’ve loved a bit more depth to the male main character, but since the novel was told exclusively from Maya’s perspective I was happy enough with the development given. As someone colloquially familiar with the Muslim religion and family practices, the majority of the novel was not brand new information to me but I do feel like I still learned a lot and gained great insight into the religion as well as to Pakistani culture and the love that Alina Khawaja has for the people she’s representing in her novel. I think it was a fantastic debut, and look forward to reading anything else that she may publish in the future!

I loved reading this, though it was difficult to justify the cheating. I would’ve preferred for Maya to be traveling to a relative’s wedding than her own, however it did add a lot of stress and tension to the plot. The epilogue was perfect. I really appreciated Maya’s reflection on what she learned about herself.