Thanks to NetGalley for making an eARC copy of this book available to me.

Layla was a good protagonist: comfortable in her own body, capable and willing to fight her own battles, standing up for herself/friends/family, and a good sense of humor. The descriptions of the food and cooking were quite yummy. A very nice first book by this author, and I'll be looking forward to more from her in the future.

I had just finished reading a monotonous novel that I thought would be great and downloaded Sara Desai's The Marriage Game as my next novel to read and review. I had no intention of starting it immediately, but I happened to read the first page and knew I had to continue. There's so much story in just that first page; why is Layla Patel's father sending out a marriage resume? What is a marriage resume? The Spice Mil Restaurant and San Francisco sound like great settings and yikes, daughter doesn't know about Dad's rogue emails? Readers are in for a treat with this one! This family-oriented and love-filled novel has moments that will make you laugh, gasp, and run to your refrigerator! If you're a fan of Mindy Kaling's latest Netflix show, Never Have I Ever, you'll see parallels between the women in each! I'll definitely be recommending Desai's novel to readers who enjoy foodie novels and workplace romances as well.

This was a fun, sexy rom-com! I loved the banter and antics between Sam and Layla—they reminded me a bit of one of my favorite books, The Hating Game. I also enjoyed Layla’s family dynamics and cultural details in the story, as they added a good amount of depth and made the characters feel more real. Looking forward to more from this author in the future!

3.5 Stars
Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishers for the E-Arc in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book. The characters where witty and the conflict and struggles were interesting and kept me reading. My main issue was that I never felt fully invested in the characters and I can't exactly put my finger on why. I don't feel like we truly got into their individual emotions and it all stayed a little service level but for a romance I managed to read in the course of an afternoon it was entertaining.

The Marriage Game is Sara Desai’s debut novel, and what a delight it is! I had so much fun reading this book.

Layla comes back home to California from NYC after her current relationship ends and she loses her job. She’s in her mid twenties and starting fresh again. She’s ready for a new job and a new start, and her father is ready for her to find a husband. He sets up an on-line dating profile for her and picks 10 guys for her to meet. 

S

am is renting the office above Layla’s family’s restaurant, and Layla is also planning on using the space to start her new business. These two are not a good match, and couldn’t be more different, but with time, they start to grow on each other. Sam even insists on coming on Layla’s blind dates. These were some of my favorite scenes of the book.

Sam and Layla’s banter was so much fun. I loved watching them go on the ‘dates’ together. Layla was independent and fiery and I loved her character. Sam was great… for most of the book. I also adored so many of the side characters. Layla’s dad was my absolute favorite. I also loved Sam’s sister, friend John, and Layla’s cousin, Daisy.

Honestly, I loved the first 75% of this book so much. I had such a huge smile on my face and the banter and storytelling was fantastic. The last 25% though… there were some parts I didn’t love. The very end was great, but getting there was rough for me. Overall, this was good for me and I will definitely be reading more from this author in the future.

If you’re looking for a sweet and fun rom-com that’s a good time, pick up The Marriage Game!

This Was a very cute cultural romantic comedy. I loved the humor and quirkiness. Layla and Sam had me rooting for them from the beginning. This is one of my favorite tropes! I really liked the culture the humor in the family dynamic. A must read

3.5 stars

This agreeable rom-com features two desi (families from India) characters who both respect tradition and are hampered by it. Sam has rejected his parents after his sister's arranged marriage goes hideously wrong and leaves her injured after enduring a relationship with an abusive husband. Layla has returned home after the latest in a long series of meaningless and humiliating relationships goes viral on You Tube.

Layla's father secretly posts her marriage resume on an online dating site for those looking for traditional wives. He has also sublet the office upstairs to Sam, but also promised it to Layla to start her own business.

Things don't go well from the start. Sam and Layla make a wager having to do with her find a successful match and then vacating the office. But they can't predict the attraction they soon feel for each other. Lots of fireworks, banter, humor, over the top situations with a loving but intrusive family and misunderstandings.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I love the premise of the story which was one of the reasons why I chose to review it.

One of the cool things about this story is that we get a lot of East Indian culture. The descriptions and detail of foods, clothing, and mannerisms is quite complex. You can almost smell the cooking as you’re reading.

Because of that detail of cultural influence we also get a high number of characters in the story that can sometimes be tough to keep up with. Plus, we have a high strung main character who’s mannerisms and characteristics in the story was a bit much for me.

This book was a reminiscent of a young adult story where there is tons of bantering and excessive chaos. At one point, it was a bit much for me and I had to take a break.

The story itself is high energy, quirky and fun to read. There’s some very humorous parts and the author does a beautiful job keeping the flow of the story moving forward at a nice pace.

I love the connection between Sam and Layla but the constant conversation and constant bantering got to me, especially during some heated moments.

The Marriage Game is fun and delightful story that will be hard to top. Quirky, crazy, and sexy too. It’s a cultural experience with a happily ever after you can hardly wait to get to.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!

Available June 9th 2020

What a fun, sexy and addicting read! I couldn't put down Sara Desai's The Marriage Game, the irrepressible romance between lovelorn Layla Patel and the solemn manly Sam Mehta. When Layla moves back to her family home, she discovers her father has put her bio on "desilovematch.com". Lucky for her, her new office partner, the handsome Sam Mehta, is willing to help her, for a price of course. And so unfolds a story of Bollywood-like epicness in its ever expanding roll of comedic caricatures including a pop punk social media detective cousin, a CIA agent and a movie loving gangster, an endless delicious Indian cuisine and witty banter. I don't think I've laughed this much in a while.

While this had all the makings of a good romcom, it was kind of forgettable. I adore hate to love romance and this premise was similar to one of my favorite reads last year, Ten Blind Dates. However, the characters weren't strong enough for me. I didn't connect to them in a way I had hoped. I think this is a cute and well put together read but it's just not something I would go out of my way to read. It was still a cute, diverse read.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book from Berkley through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.*

If you are a fan of rom-coms and the hate to love you trope this may be for you. Personally,I like romances that have less of a lusty, sexual feel to them but I can definitely picture myself recommending this to some friends that like their romance with more sex than I do. I thinks there is good charcacter development. I found myself getting so angry with some characters I wanted to yell at them. That's good right? It means you are invested in them. If I was to do a book talk on rom-coms to add to your TBR list for 20202 this title would be included on that list.

This was such a cute romantic comedy! It had so many great aspects that I really love to see in a romance novel. It had humor, culture, quirky characters, a little bit of a hate-to-love romance, and a whole lot of family.

I don't know if I'm the only person that enjoys seeing family relationships in my romances, but it's one of my favorite things to read. I have a really close relationship with my family, so I think I feel more connected to the story when I see the main characters interacting with their families. I feel like a lot of romances focus solely on the main character and their love interest, and the rest of the world is put on the back burner. But that is just not realistic. In real life we have families and jobs and social lives. I enjoy seeing all that in a romance novel. This one definitely hit the mark on realism.

A huge part of this book is the family and the culture. The main characters are desi. Which means they are of Indian, Pakistani, or Bangladeshi origins. They have huge families that are always around and in each others business. But they are also fiercely protective and supportive of each other. This culture still does arranged marriages today, but it works a bit differently. They put a marriage resume online and match their sons and daughters up with potential suitors who they then meet and see if there is a good match between them. I found it very interesting to read about and I loved learning about their culture and all the different foods and drinks they enjoyed.

Aside from the complex families we also get some very complex, but adorable, characters. Layla has been through so many boyfriends that never worked out she is willing to try an arranged marriage to possibly find someone to create a life with, even if she doesn't love them. But when she meets Sam who has seen what arranged marriages can do to a family things start to change for both of them. They are accidentally forced to share an office space and initially hate each other. But after spending a bit of time together they decide to strike a deal. If Sam will be her chaperone on some blind dates set by her father, she will let him have the office. As you can guess, things get crazy from then on. These characters go through a lot of self discovery, and really learn to help each other along the way. They have to deal with things from their past that aren't easy, as well as their growing feelings for each other. I really enjoyed the characters and the romance in this book.

Another thing I enjoyed was the banter and the humor. This is a romantic comedy all the way. The characters back and forth banter is hilarious. I caught myself laughing many times and rereading scenes just to enjoy it all again. The characters are witty and sarcastic and I really enjoyed reading their story.

The one single thing I didn't absolutely love about this book was the main conflict. I felt like it was a bit forced and the resolution wasn't my favorite. I would have liked to see it happen a bit differently, but the ending was still very cute and I enjoyed it immensely.

I would highly recommend this book to any fans of romantic comedies, or just cute romances in general. If you enjoy witty characters, self discovery, and huge families, then this books is for you!

I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars.

Layla Patel has just moved home to San Fransisco after leaving New York in semi-disgrace. She caught her social media star boyfriend in bed with two models and went into a blazing rage. Unfortunately, it was caught on film and went viral on the internet causing her to lose her job at a recruitment agency.

Layla’s parents own a Michelin star Indian restaurant. They’ve been struggling a bit financially and Layla’s father has rented out the upstairs office space to Sam, who runs a corporate downsizing agency. When Layla tells her father that she plans to start her own recruitment agency business, he promises to break the new lease and give Layla the upstairs office space for free. But then Layla’s father has a heart attack before he has a chance to speak with Sam.

While Layla’s father is in the hospital she moves into the office space and finds out that her father had set up a marriage profile for her online and had picked out ten men for her to meet and consider for marriage. Sam sees this as the perfect opportunity to get Layla married and out of the office space he has just leased. They end up striking a deal - he will be her male chaperone on the ten blind dates if she agrees to vacate the office when she finds her match. But if she doesn’t find her match after ten blind dates, Sam agrees to find a new office space.

I really enjoyed this book, it was very well written. It can be too easy to write the characters as total assholes when doing the enemies to lovers trope, but while frustrating at times, all of the characters were essentially good people that you wanted to root for. Also, Sam and Layla had great chemistry. I also especially loved the underlying theme of the importance of family throughout the entire book. All in all, this was a delightfully funny romantic comedy and definitely worth a read.

Thank you to NetGalley, the Berkley Publishing Group, and Sara Desai for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

#NetGalley #TheMarriageGame

I loved the hook of this story! The family dynamics and the secrets between the main characters were wonderful. Also appreciated the cultural specificities around each character. This was such a wonderful, dynamic read that I needed right now!

I started out 2020 reading an explosion of books. And then this global pandemic hit and I simply stopped. I couldn't seem to pick up a book and when I did, I couldn't seem to focus on it. But then I started reading The Marriage Game by Sara Desai just a couple of short days ago and I'm already finished! That right there should tell you just how captivating this sweet (and spicy!) RomCom is. The premise of the book is Layla, the prodigal daughter returned home, to find love and marriage with the help of a dating app and profile her father put up for her. The process she goes through is hysterical, especially since it hits so close to the mark! The banter between Layla and all the characters is delightful and charming, especially with Sam, and had me laughing out loud often! And an added bonus for me was learning more about desi (Indian) culture, terms, food and more. This book was a true escape and I want to thank Berkeley Publishing for giving me and advanced copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Pub Date: 09 Jun 2020
#TheMarriageGame #NetGalley

I really liked the descriptions of food and the family dynamics in this book. Layla and Sam had some witty back-and-forth, and the dates with the suitors were funny as well (if a little over the top). I thought Sam and Layla had decent chemistry on the surface but not that much in the plot to back it up, and I found their lack of communication to be pretty frustrating at times. The ending was really cute, and it wrapped up the different threads of the book pretty nicely.

This is the first book that I have read by author Sara Desai and I loved it.

This book is HILARIOUS!! I was literally LOL-ing throughout the entirety of this novel. Desai gives many witty repartees and it’s just perfect. Layla is such an incredibly relatable character, because I mean honestly who doesn’t drown their sorrows and stress in food. Her chemistry with Sam was very well portrayed as well.

The biggest issue I had with the novel is just how it ended, it was very anticlimactic. It felt stilted and forced at the end. But overall it was a book that I enjoyed reading

I adored Layla and Sam. Their dynamic was so fresh and fun. Their interactions seemed authentic with each other and those around them. Reading The Marriage Game you felt like part of their world and included in all the family and food.

I enjoyed every one of Layla’s blind dates. Sam’s commentary while chaperoning these dates created genuine laugh out loud moments. The date with the “spy” was my favorite. Even the date in which Sam was just in her head was funny. As they begin to fall in love, these dates get more amusing and more sexually charged.

The premise of why they are thrown together and why they continue sharing their office seems valid and well thought through. Their past hurts, disappointments and guilt are relatable.

From what I can tell, this is a debut novel. It was impressive. I look forward to more from Sara Desai.


Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the ARC

This is an absolutely amazing romance! I felt like they were being absolutely unnecessarily stubborn at times, and their love was passionate and sweet but, it works. I'm looking forward to adding this author to my list anticipated reads.

Good chemistry between the main characters, but the rest of the story didn't feel strong enough to support them. I didn't ever feel sympathetic towards each characters' conflicts and Sam's backstory seemed the weaker of the two. Nevertheless, it was interesting peek into the culture and the food descriptions were amazing: definitely get some cookbooks ordered from the library after this read.