This book was not a true genre romance, pacing wise or story wise. We don’t even meet the FMC until a third of the way in and even that’s for a split second until shes back on the page. This is a story about Arjun and his life and journey which isn’t what I thought I was getting. It follows Arjun and strictly his POV and the romance is a tiny side plot.

DNF

I enjoyed this sweet and light romance and the insights into how marriages are arranged in the Indian diaspora in the U.S. Arjun has a great job and a large apartment but he is 30 and longs for romance. He wants to hear the patter of little feet, as well. He is tired of dating and recovering from a broken heart so when his mother suggests an arranged marriage, he finally accepts the idea. The problem is that he has to share an office in the basement with Nisha, and he finds himself very attracted to her.

Arjun and Nisha were engaging and likeable characters and I also liked reading about Arjun’s amusing experiences in India.

I received tbis free ebook from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Sonali Mishra is a new author for me. I enjoyed this book very much. My 2 complaints are that there were a few typos. Also, in the beginning of the story, Arjun says he's out of sparkling water and if his Mom would like tap water. On the next page, it says she sipped her sparkling water. I was a little worried, but I continue reading. I'm glad I did. Nisha and Arjun are likeable characters. I loved that the story takes place in San Francisco. I would read more books by this author.

A cute and light read. I like the premise of an Indian man overseas and his search for his partner. The storyline around him wanting to get married seeing his friends getting hitched, ticking clocks, family pressure and wanting to settle down is shown quite well.

Ready for your next romance novel? Pick up The Arrangement by Sonali Mishra. You won’t be disappointed.

Just as Arjun has agreed to an arranged marriage he meets Nisha. They become friends as she doesn't want to get married again, but will she change her mind? A great read.

While I appreciated the attempt this book made, it was not captivating. The plot of an arranged marriage sounds intriguing as someone who has not experienced that but I felt like it was an asynchronous episode where we just cut and pasted to different parts of Arjun’s life. I find myself forgetting parts of it mere days after reading.

This book was SO GOOD!!! It was sweet and racy and dreamy and dripping with story butter. Truly a must read!!

The Cover. The title. The story . The Arrangement was a rom com present wrapped between the pages..... swoon swoon swoon ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Arjun is turning 30 and his mom appears, asking him if it's okay for her to arrange his marriage. This book was an alright, kind of cute story about Arjun and his search for a partner. It took a while for the plot to pick up and at times was boring and quite put downable.

A cute and light read. I like the premise of an Indian man overseas and his search for his partner. The storyline around him wanting to get married seeing his friends getting hitched, ticking clocks, family pressure and wanting to settle down is shown quite well.

I also liked that his work and social life is given prominence too. The book is a bit of a slowburn but is a light and fun romantic read.

Harbor Lane Books and NetGalley for this e-arc in exchange of my unbiased review.

2.5 ⭐️

Firstly, I need to point out that the synopsis of the book is completely misleading.
It implies this is the love story of Arjun and Nisha. However, this was really like 20% of the entire plot. The actual storyline is following Arjun on his path to find a wife because he really wants to be married and start a family.

So when I put the written synopsis out of my mind and just followed Arjun's journey as he navigated his adult life, I was able to follow and enjoy the story more.

If the synopsis were to remain unchanged, I think the story needs a lot of editing down, and maybe adding more relationship building between the main characters.

With that being said, I feel really neutral about this book; I did not love it, but I did not hate it either. It was just a book that I read.

Give it a try if you're interested in an Indian MMC who wants a relationship, marriage and kids, but do keep in mind that the book focuses solely on Arjun's story and his journey to find a wife.

Arjun is 30, single and feeling the pressure to get married, buy a house and have 2.5 kids. He's resisted an arranged marriage so far, but with his best friends getting hitched soon he's feeling pretty lonely. Even a spark with a green-eyed local Indian girl isn't enough to get him engaged. Arjun finally agrees for his mother to arrange a marriage - but will any of them be the one?

This book could have done with some ruthless editing. It takes FOREVER for anything to happen, and there's a fair few things that don't add anything to the plot line. I don't find Arjun's business trip to be relevant, nor is his boss' somewhat insensitive behaviour. Did I honestly care about how many choc chip scones he bought? No.

Is being beautiful a criteria when finding a new partner? Sure, if it's an arranged marriage you hope they're attractive, but it's not a given! Arjun is also described in multiple places as being handsome. What about the rest of us? Considering that the theme of the book is that an arranged marriage can still work and possibly build a more solid love story than a spontaneous spark, the ending is quite disappointing.

Was going to a divorce party at a gay bar necessary? A secondary character can be useful, but honestly the poor guy seemed like just a way for Arjun to show some character growth. Don't judge people based on what they look like... 

Dude! What's with wanting to be married? Isn't a committed relationship sufficient? This isn't 20 years ago where you couldn't cohabitate and you couldn't have kids. Yes, I get that culturally it might be a bit of a problem, but it doesn't seem like Arjun has a problem with it personally (given we understand he's had sex before, and otherwise he's a hypocrite). Marriage isn't forever anymore.

So, after all those complaints, I did finish the book. I vaguely hoped that Arjun would realise that it was super rude of him either way he chose and maybe spend some more time thinking about what he wanted. He needed to use his words a bit more! ASK her, don't assume things. 3 stars from me.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harbor Lane Books, and Sonali Mishra for this ARC!

I really enjoyed this one! Arjun is a fun character and watching him navigate the ins and outs of finding love as a 30 year old Indian male in San Francisco was joyful. After trying to find love the “American way”, Arjun finally agrees to an arranged marriage. But, as he’s meeting with potential women/families in the process, he begins building a friendship with Nisha.

This story was sweet - and fully of beautiful lessons about love, life, and our expectations of both. I loved watching and learning more about the process of arranged marriage. It was so interesting to read a book that was only from the MMC’s perspective focused on love, marriage, and the want for parenthood. I really enjoyed it! I hope others will too!!

“But, I wondered, is that anything upon which to base the Great Love Story of my life? Then, I had a realization. All great love stories begin that way: briefly, unremarkably. All great loves are, at first, strangers.”

2.5🌟
This book. I don't know what happened. It was interesting and then after a second, it got boring.
The premise sounded really fun and as an indian i loved seeing this, considering how the idea of arranged marriage is so common here and i was enjoying it till like 19 or 20% and then i stopped caring.
The fact that we got till 25% of the book and nothing happened at all was probably what led me down. I get that we need to set up the book, know about the character, but still.
Although i did like that it was told from Male perspective and a male that actually really wanted relationships and kids and a good family.

you should read this book if you like:

And if these tropes excite you,
✍🏻 Unexpected Love
✍🏻 Enemies to Lovers
✍🏻 Second Chance at Love
✍🏻 Indian Main characters
✍🏻 Arranged marriage
✍🏻 Workplace Romance
✍🏻 Indian matchmaking

though sadly this book wasn't for me, since it was written in 3rd person POV it took a long while to connect to the characters. Not only that but that fact that the MMC though fictional was made too good to be true which somewhere down the line lost the authenticity .

It is a fun book otherwise.

I thought The Arrangement was a cute story. I thought it was interesting that we get a point of view from the man’s perspective in arranging a marriage.

Arjun is pretty relatable. For the most part he has his life together but feels like something is missing. He’s thirty and most of his friends are settling down, getting married and having kids. Arjun has a great job and a nice place to live but still feels adrift so he decides to get an arranged marriage to help him feel anchored.

I know in some cultures arranged marriages are the norm so I really enjoyed the exposure to something I know little about. And I’m sure not every matchmaker/family works the same way but I liked that Arjun and prospective wives still had a say whether to continue, it wasn’t only up to the parents to set up the match. I also liked Arjun having mixed feelings about his choice to pursue this avenue for marriage, it really made him feel more human and even a few of the prospects he spent more time with also shared similar feelings.

Having grown up in the San Francisco Bay Area, I always get excited to read books based here. The mentions of SF landmarks made me smile, and the author’s knowledge of the diverse culture and surroundings was refreshing to read.

The story felt a bit choppy and discombobulated in the beginning, with the start of a chapter jumping to a whole new topic, leaving you wondering what happened where the previous chapter left off. I’m not sure if this was done intentionally, or things got removed during editing.

That being said, the storyline was an enemies-to-friends-to-lovers, forced proximity, with a side of prospective arranged marriage meetings sprinkled in. What started as a heated confrontation between strangers over scones became a slow burn friendship to romance. The MMC is ready to settle down, and he believes an arranged marriage is the best course of action. What he doesn’t realize is, his perfect match has been within arm’s reach the entire time.

Many thanks to NetGalley and BookBuzz.net for giving me an ARC of this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Harbor Lane Books for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

As an American-born Indian myself, I was really excited to read this. Right away, I was surprised the book was from Arjun’s perspective. I’ve rarely read anything with male narrators. And I was once again surprised to see Arjun’s view on love and life: he wants a natural “true love,” with whom he’d want to get married, have kids, and live a happy life. I feel like this is such a hopeless romantic perspective we primarily see with women. Despite Arjun’s efforts, he is 30 and single. His mother is pushing him towards an arranged marriage, which he hates because he thinks he should love the person he marries. But eventually, he gives up and agrees to an arranged marriage. And that’s exactly when he meets Nisha Nandan, a divorcee and failed novelist.

Throughout the book, Arjun is in a constant battle of whether to follow his heart or not. He can’t see himself building a real connection with any of his arranged marriage prospects, but he doesn’t know if his feelings for Nisha are enough to give up the stability and certainty provided by an arranged marriage. Most of the book involves this battle: what should Arjun choose? At the very end of the book, he makes his choice. Although I liked following Arjun’s journey, I wish the ending had been longer. There’s so many questions left after the epilogue that takes place 2 years later. Like, how did Arjun resolve his relationship with the side he didn’t choose? How did his family react to his decision?

I loved the characters in this book. Arjun is smart and capable, yet he always overthinks and second guesses himself. His best friends Dan and Erica are supportive, and Erica, especially, gives the best advice. Arjun’s colleagues are great, too. My favorite character is Nisha; I love her strong personality. She’s been through a lot: she thought she’d earned her happily ever after, but ended up getting divorced. She used to have so much passion for writing novels, but all the inspiration has fizzled out after the divorce. She’s in a low place herself, but as a friend to Arjun, she’s constantly supportive and pushes him towards his dreams.

I find Arjun’s personality very relatable, personally. I, too, am the type of person to overthink everything and perceive myself as being much less capable than I actually am. Arjun is a bright person; he graduated from Yale, got his MBA from Stanford, and works as an executive. At thirty years old. He is so, so impressive. Yet, he finds himself lacking. Throughout the book, I loved seeing Arjun’s ups and downs in his life as he worked toward his dreams.

I also appreciated how through Arjun, Sonali Mishra explored the difference between falling in love before and after marriage. Arranged marriages are so common in India, and although not all couples live happily, many are able to fall in love as wife and husband. In the past, parents/families were the sole decision makers, but nowadays, the future couple can meet and spend time together before deciding if they want to get married. I see it as the opposite of normal dating, where the couple would tell their families after choosing one another. Here, the families approve of each other first, and then the couple decides if they want to be together. The order is reversed, but the end result is the same.

Overall, I enjoyed this book, but there were a few things I wanted to nitpick. One, the representation of Indians in the US. Arjun himself is really impressive, but all of his marriage prospects (all Indian) were the same. First, we have a rich family from Hyderabad, in Jubilee Hills of all places. Then, we have an anesthesiologist and a professor at Stanford. And all of these people graduated from the best schools. I love that for these characters, but not every Indian in the US is so accomplished. I am in university at my state school. Most of my Indian classmates went to mid/high tier schools (and we went to a good high school), but none were at Ivy Leagues, Stanford, etc. I honestly felt intimidated by the crazy backgrounds of all these people. And the second thing I wanted to mention is how cliche the plot is. Other than the fact that this book is set in the US, it doesn’t deviate much from the popular Indian romcom movies. Replace Arjun with a woman, and his love interest with a man (a much more persistent man), and you have an Indian romcom. The plot is almost identical: a main character falls in love with one person, but their family wants them to marry someone else. After lots of contemplation, they choose one over the other.

Taking these ideas into consideration, would I still recommend this book? Yes, because despite being cliche, it’s well done, and I enjoyed it.

This was fast paced enemies to lovers read! It was such a change to have it from man POV. The characters were described so well it was like I knew them.