Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Boy Toy was a steamy, emotional, entertaining romance. The story follows 37-year-old Samira, who has been in LA for almost a decade. She gets a new job, and returns back home to Australia. She has a lot of mixed feelings, because she holds resentment towards her meddling Indian mother who arranged a marriage that didn't work out for Samira. But while she's there, a hot international fling might be just what she needs.

Then there's Rory, who can't refuse a job as a reality tv show host. The problem is, he has a stutter and needs a coach to help him out for his audition. But he's in disbelief when he realizes the coach is the same sexy woman who he just did a one night stand with.

There were many elements to this book that I adored. This story has al lot more depth than you'd expect, such as: speech issues, arranged marriage, family issues, infertility, shame of divorce, and self acceptance.

This story is STEAMY. There's a steamy scene within the first 10% of the book, and a few more to follow. It will have you heart fluttering. I loved the mixed race relationship, along with the age gap. It was nice to see the woman being the older one.

Overall, this was a really good read. I highly recommend it if you're a fan of romance. The Boy Toy is charming and fun, and deals with deep story-lines in a light-hearted way. So good!

Also, this book may make you hungry.

Sam and Rory were so cute! I loved the banter and story line of this book! It was adorable and I love rom coms where family is a big part of it. It was funny, quirky and had me rooting for Sam and her happily ever after from the beginning! I look forward to more from this author.

To the Man who wasn't a Boy Toy at all! It's really a situational romance I think insted of a romcom really. It was great and I hope that all of us receve a love of our own of we want that truly makes us happy....and have a lot of fun while falling and living in love.

The Boy Toy shows how sometimes tradition doesn’t always matter and that love truly conquers all.

Samira “Sam” Broderick, an Indian American physical therapist works hard for what she does and when she arrives to join her cousin for six months in Melbourne, her home before moving to LA, her mom pounces on her about her relationship. But Sam’s past relationship arranged by her mother went down in flames, pushing Sam to stray away from any longterm relationship. But, when she has a one night stand with Rory Radcliffe, a stunning stuttering hot man, whom she realizes is younger than him, things get a little mixed up when feelings are thrown into the mix.

I gave The Boy Toy five stars, absolutely loving and enjoying every second of what I was reading. I loved that Rory had a little stutter to his character as that is something you never see in books which makes him unique. This also relates back to Nicola Marsh also have a speech impediment which adds to the heart and soul and the connection that she put into this book, the tiny details we wouldn’t have thought about, she added. Rory was kind and understanding and cared a lot about Sam even though he tried hard not to fall for her because he knew that she was leaving after six months back to LA. Sam, who’s Indian American is also something I really enjoyed as I don’t especially see these two cultures intertwine often in books so I loved the diversity and Asian representation in this book.

From the very beginning, Sam’s mom wants to arrange her with Manish, a handsome Indian doctor, but Sam and Rory’s connection is strong and even though they have a ten year age gap, they both want each other and that makes their relationship strengthen over time. I think that these types of arranged marriages are something that are common throughout different cultures and it was a nice touch that was added to this book as many people in real life do have to face parents who do want them in arranged marriages. Both Rory and Sam have to face the fact that Sam’s mom is trying to set her up with another man when she is slowly falling for Rory.

Their relationship formed such a strong bond between each other even when they had to face complications, but they both fought through the differences and the complications. I fell in love with Sam and Rory’s relationship throughout this book and was cheering them on the whole time. This type of relationship, where there’s communication and understanding between the two couples makes it so much stronger the read and I enjoyed every single second of it.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

Samira has just moved back to Australia after spending years abroad to avoid her painful past and meddling mother. She is back now to help her cousin and things haven’t changed. Immediately her mother wants to set her up with an Indian doctor but Samira goes and has a one night stand with a hottie 10 years younger than her. Age is just a number anyway! He turns out to be her client and they both overcome a lot to realize they want to be together.

Consider me being really entertained and attached to the characters and the story.

Samira, is a 37 year old Indian-American Physical therapist who moved back to Australia from LA. She fled Melbourne after a fall out with her mom and ex husband. Rory, is a 27 year old Australian stuntman/tv personality who was described as a Chris Hemsworth look-alike. Did that fact make me swoon over Rory? Definitely yes! Chris is my absolute ultimate tv crush so that’s why his character is a total snatch!

First part in, you’ll be treated with some really steamy woop woop (romance) scene. Boy did this make me utterly dazed! I like that both our character’s background were not perfect. Their past experiences hinders in the way of them not falling irrevocably inlove with one another. And i like how that got resolved. There was also the relationship between Samira and her mom Kushi, Rory and his father Garth. The inclusion family dynamic makes this novel a complex read. I’m so elated with the multicultural romance and was pining for them to make the right choices.

Overall, i was glad to have read this one. It promised and touched on diversity,feminism, cultural expectations and speech problems. Thanks to Berkley and Netgalley for providing this e-galley.

Hot Aussie alert!

After a bitter divorce (her husband cheated on her and got the teenage mistress pregnant when she was struggling with her own infertility) Samira left Australia for L.A. and hasn't been back since with the exception for her dad's funeral. Now her cousin has convinced her to come back for 6 months to open help out when she opened her new practice. After heading to a bar one night she is saved from a weirdo by a cute boy much younger than her and Samira is for the surprise of a lifetime with her new Boy Toy.

Samira is a physical therapist who returns to Australia to help her cousin launch her business, a health center. She’d left and moved to LA twelve years earlier after a painful divorce that she partially blamed her meddlesome Indian mother for. As soon as she returns, her mother starts pushing her toward an Indian doctor. Now that her American-born father is dead, Samira has no one to run interference between her and her matchmaking mom.

Samira has what she thinks is going to be a one-night stand with an Australian man a decade younger than her who makes his living as a stunt man. Doing stunts means he doesn’t have to deliver any lines, and no one needs to know about all the hours Rory spent working with speech therapists to get his stutter under control.

There was one major thing you could foresee happening, and there could have been more tension, but I liked Samira and Rory and Samira’s mom. Most of the tension was actually between Samira and her cousin, and some between Samira and Rory that was cleared up fairly quickly. I liked that Samira being mistreated by her first Indian husband made it so falling in love did seem like a legitimate risk to her. Rory also had legitimate reasons for not getting serious.

Also, reading this really made me crave Indian food because Samira’s mom is always making lots of delicious dishes.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this novel, which RELEASES NOVEMBER 17, 2020.

REVIEW | The Boy Toy by Nicola Marsh, for release November 17
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When Samira, a successful 37 year old has a one night stand with young, sexy, Chris Hemsworth-like stuntman Rory, the last thing she expects is to run into him again at her cousin’s clinic.

This book tackled so many tough issues in a light, heartwarming way!

💕The depth and backstory for both Samira and Rory was well done. Their motivations were consistent and clear throughout. I really felt for Samira’s struggle as a woman of color between two identities, along with the shame of her divorce. I also really appreciated Rory’s journey with his speech therapy and finding self acceptance.

💕 Pia’s infertility side plot was heartbreaking and beautifully written. I truly felt for her.

💕I liked how this book broached the topic of mixed race relationships and the struggle over Sam’s mom and community accepting her choices.

💕The age gap angle was refreshing! It’s inspiring to read about women being desired and finding love at any age.

Massive thank you to Nicola Marsh, Berkley Romance, and Netgalley for this lovely ARC!

Samira has been busting her butt to become one of the best in her field (physical therapy and dialect coaching) in LA but her drive is also an excuse to stay away from Australia and her mother. The last time her mother set her up Samira ended up marrying the guy and to put it nicely he ended up being a cheating pile of scum.
When an opportunity arises in Australia that includes Samira's best friend (like a sister) she realizes that she is going to have to try to make amends with her mother...meddling and all. A chance encounter at a bar introduces Samira to Rory, a gorgeous stuntman, and they end up spending then night together. Fast forward a couple weeks and Rory walks into Samira's office to get help with a stutter, in order to get a chance to make some serious money and a name for himself that doesn't involve jumping off buildings. Samira and Rory continue to grow closer and soon Samira has to confront the fact that this one off (10 years her junior) might just be the one for her.
This book reeled me in quickly and I couldn't put it down; fell in love with Samira and Rory...can't wait to check out more from Nicola Marsh.

This was a different read for me. And it was refreshing!
37-year-old Samira Broderick is divorced and back home with her strict and old school Indian mom. She feels she does nothing right in her mom's eyes. She wants her married to an Indian man and having grandchildren asap. Samira is a career women who has baggage thanks to a cheating ex husband and her rebellious attitude towards her mom's ways.
Samira meets Rory, a younger man who starts outs a one night stand, and leads to more. Much more.

This book has a little of everything. Customs, traditions, romance, family. It was a nice change of pace for me.

I gave it 3.75 stars

Loved this story! Samira was so relatable. I loved her mother, aunties, cousin, and the inside look at Indian family culture. Rory was also very likable. Even at his young age I was rooting for him and their relationship the entire time.

This was a super cute and engaging read.. I enjoyed the in-depth look at the effects of cultural and traditions; pressure on Sam and on their relationship. The first couple sex scenes were also deliciously steamy.

Thirty-seven-year-old Samira has moved back to Melbourne after years of living her own life in LA, following a painful divorce that left her reeling from the lack of support from her local Indian community.
It didn't help that she herself was a product of a mixed marriage, with an Indian mother and an American father.
Fast forward over a decade, and she's back, on the pretext of helping her cousin, Pia, out with her new business.
What she didn't count on was meeting a young Aussie hunk on pretty much the first night she's back in town.
It's not often I come across a novel that leaves me nodding my head in agreement to much of it, but as a British born Indian, I related to a lot of scenarios covered in The Boy Toy.
I wasn't only nodding my head, but laughing aloud, in parts, as I recalled going through similar events.
The Boy Toy covers some big issues, in an extremely light-hearted way, an easy read, with the chance of being educational to those Westerners who aren't familiar with the Indian culture, bar eating curry at the local Indian restaurant!
Mixed race relationships and marriage, infertility, pregnancy out of wedlock, and dealing with a verbal disability, a stutter, all feature in this book.
And reading the taster of a Man Ban, and finding out that a certain, rather tasty Doctor from this book is featuring, I am sure I'll be reading that too!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for an Arc, in exchange for an honest review.

My main problem with this book is that despite being a romance novel, there is very little romance. The two characters spend 85% of their time together simply having sex. That last 15% of the time is spent between flirting and texting and getting to know the most basic information about each other. They know nothing substantial of the other. Their entire relationship is based on mutual, purely physical attraction. And that would honestly be fine, except that the novel tries to tell us that they are in love and I don't buy it!

Another problem I had was that the book felt dramatic for the sake of drama.  It was a romance novel where romance the very back seat to a lot of family and community drama. A lot of the drama is related to pregnancy which bothered me because I don't like it when pregnancy causes and solves all the problems in a story. Stories like that sort of imply that to be complete and to be happy as a woman you must have a child.

One random issue I had was with the author's word choice. It's like she was writing with a thesaurus on her lap and was adding a bunch of odd words that sounded smart but felt forced and awkward and completely took me out of the story. 

Characterwise, Samira is ok. Rory was fine. I don't for a second believe that he was in love, but I already talked about that.  His stutter was made out to seem as though it was a problem but the boy stuttered like twice in the entire novel and no one noticed it. His fear of talking on TV was also glossed over and easily overcome. And yes, I know that he struggled with stuttering as a kid and that it certainly affected him on a deep emotional level. But we don't actively see him struggle, w are just told that he does. We weren't even shown his progression with the dialect coach, we were just told that it happens. This lack of show wouldn't even be an issue if a part of the plot, in the form of his development, and apprehension when it came to relationships, didn't stem from how he felt about his stuttering.

This was a cute read but not really my cup of coffee lol it definitely dug into the characters nationality , it was funny and light hearted and a cute story! It's definitely worth reading just not my top favorite! Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for sharing this book with me!

Pros: Diverse cast, some valid relationship growth while acknowledging characters' careers and goals, getting to know an Australian city, recognition of speech impediments as a valid psychological and physical hindrance to a character (though ... the missing parent having run away from home over it, and this history hidden from one of the protagonists, seemed over the top).
Cons: There were some character inconsistencies (from the 'villains' -- a dismissive father and a slimy ex-husband -- as well as allies of the main characters) that threw me out of the story, repeatedly. I felt like those villains didn't earn the forgiveness they seemed to be granted. The ex-husband, in particular, starts off a "let's wrap up this leftover trauma" scene with outright creeper behavior and then abruptly apologizes as the protagonist decides to dismiss him. I also liked, but couldn't find supportive, the flirty doctor friend who keeps saying he's not going to flirt or lead the main character's mother on about being a suitor, but keeps doing it.
I'm also not a huge fan of a HEA that pivots on making a baby as validation of the protagonist's womanhood. This perspective is overtly addressed as a hardship that the protagonist and her bestie cousin grapple with, within their Indian community and their personal lives, but it appears to be taken as a given rather than actually rejected. Not my cup of tea.

This book started as one thing and turned into something else half way through. I felt it devolved into melodrama and this juxtaposition was confusing. This could also do with some more editing. There were phrases that kept repeating throughout the novel. It was jarring and pulled me out of the story. Also, the author had some strange word choices. For example, I know the female protagonist was a doctor, but using trapezius during a heated scene was laughable.

While the story was, in its way, compelling, the writing was very basic, with no real narrative tone except occasional overblown drama for dramas sake. Perhaps that's the style preferred for this type of romance, I don't often read romance, though I have read ones I've liked, and this one doesn't quite make that cut. However, I did enjoy the setting and characters, enough to get me through finishing the book.

37 year old Samira returns to Melbourne after a decade in the States. She’s a successful physical therapist who is helping her cousin get her medical practice off the ground. Her traditional, Indian, mother wants to arrange a marriage with an Indian doctor but Samira ends up hooking up with an Australian stuntman, Rory. As many barriers to happiness as you can imagine are in their way. If you are triggered by fertility or pregnancy struggles then this maybe isn’t for you. There were a couple bits that seemed implausible. But overall a quick read that tackles some serious issues, but has a happy ending. I enjoyed it and would recommend to readers of contemporary romance.