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.

I don't know what it is, but this book and I just didn't like. I gave it a few days and I still don't know what it is about that just didn't click for me and I didn't love it. Like I thought the story was cute and I understood the reasoning why it took them so long to be together or why both characters were scared of crossing the friendship and being together. I was just not obsessed with them or this book. I thought the pacing was slow.

I got an e-arc of this book on NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

✨ARC Review ✨

⭐⭐⭐/5

The Arrangement by Sonali Mishra is a unique rom com that is written from the POV of thirty something Indian man.

So the good parts... Loved the idea of writing a rom com from a male POV, it definitely is unique considering its a rom com. The story was okay, typical dilemma for NRIs. And the best friends were the bestest part... I loved Dan and Erica... Maybe Kevin too. The Happily ever after the story delivered was really cute.  Even Nosha's character seemed really interesting.

Now for the not so good, and this might be longer than the good parts! I haven't wrote this many notes on a book ever, mainly because it was frustrating as hell. I don't think I have never felt more disconnected to a main character ever than I felt with Arjun. And I have felt like DNFing this book so many times, even thought about rating it one star and move on. Some points which irked me are
♦️the FMC haven't had much occurence than those two times up until 25% of the book.
♦️story written from third person POV, which irks me, even when I try to brush it off. But not as bad as the other faults.
♦️up to this, the book has been very doozy... no, it's not the storyline. I think it's the writing!
♦️have thought about DNFing multiple times. but I hate that, so struggling to continue.
♦️the author tried to make the protagonist too likable that, he somewhat ended up being an ideal man... not even a fictional man... and that somewhat reduced the authenticity of the story ...
And there are many more... So it was really a struggle read for me.

2.5/5 stars were my initial thoughts after much deliberation, because I hate rating books low. But the author somehow managed to make it interesting towards the end and because of that, it's a 3/5 stars for me.

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

Thank you Author Sonali Mishra, NetGalley, and Harbor Lane, LLC for sending me this ARC. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Arjun isn’t having any luck finding love. Reluctantly he decides to allow his mother to set up an arranged marriage for him. Then he meets Nisha. He is attracted to her but she told him that she never wants to get married again. Their friendship grows and he falls for her. But because of a bad past relationship, he doesn’t think that this is what he needs. He is convinced that what he needs is the arranged marriage. Even after Nisha confesses that she loves him, he still feels like things aren’t right.

This book was good. I enjoyed it a lot. It was told from Arjun’s perspective which I wasn’t sure I would like but ended up enjoying a lot.

The only thing I didn’t like was the ending. It was kinda abrupt in my opinion. The epilogue helped.

The choice of an author to create a male protagonist who longs for a relationship, marriage, and commitment. In romance novels, the roles are frequently reversed, with the female lead taking up our time while a male love interest is slowly revealed. However, I had hoped it would have lasted longer to give their relationship more complexity and angst. It was incredibly enjoyable and beautifully written. I actually really liked this book! I only wish there had been more of Nisha's point of view.

Thank you so much to Sonali Mishra & Harbor Lane Books, LLC for the eARC of this book.

At the beginning, I liked this book. It was a cute contemporary romance that was an easy read. Arjun was adorable even when he was being incredibly frustrating.

Towards the end though, it got very rom-com cliche. The girl that Arjun hits it off with in his arranged marriage set up starts out nice and cool but then becomes the controlling overbearing girlfriend immediately. Making him promise to not hang out with Nisha anymore, even going to the point of making him promise he wouldn't pursue his dream of opening a restaurant because it wouldn't be successful. The exact opposite of Nisha.

Overall, the biggest gripe for me was the pacing and timing. The beginning was so slow and then when Nisha and Arjun started hitting it off, they became best friends immediately with seemingly no time in-between. The timing was weird , with everything big that happened seeming to take place in a 2–3-month period. And how did Arjun get a cookbook together and published in a month or less when normally it takes years to get one together? Everything felt incredibly rushed.

If you are a fan of rom-coms, this is 100% for you. While I enjoy rom-coms, this was a bit too cliche and cookie-cutter for me.

I really enjoyed this book! The pacing was a bit off but the main couple were so sweet to each other and patient with one another. I wish it was longer and the conclusion was a little off for me but I still liked this book.

Thank you so much to Sonali Mishra and Harbor Lane Books, LLC for the eARC of this book. This was a great read. It was well- written but I personally thought the pace was a bit slow in the beginning. It did pick up the pace towards the middle.

I didn’t enjoy the book like I thought I would, because I do actually love desi novels, but this felt more like a netflix bollywood film (mostly because of how they try to cut costs and try to add everything to the mix).
It was in the POV of Arjun, our MMC, who is trying to navigate adulthood and all the responsibilities that come along with it, alongside dealing with the pressures of settling down with a partner.
This read like a wattpad book trying to take itself too seriously. I didn’t particularly enjoy it as much as I thought I would.


https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6752389305