This is a story about falling in love during a period of your life when it seems that the pressure of the world is closing in on you. Reena tries to compartmentalize her life to maintain her sanity. Her parents are always trying to match her up with someone, and when they're not doing that, they're pressuring her to climb the corporate ladder in a career she cares little for. It seems like the universe is smiling down on her when she meets her new neighbor, Nadim who lives across the way. It's a pretty awesome meet-cute. Then the universe laughs at her because it turns out that Nadim's her father's newest employee AND he's supposedly her prospective husband. Can a girl catch a break?

When Reena learns of this she's determined to draw strict boundary lines. She has no interest in obliging her parents or any of their machinations. She and Nadim will simply be acquaintances and neighbors. Obviously none of it goes to plan. One thing leads to another and suddenly they're pretending to be a couple on a reality cooking show so that Reena can win the big prize of going to culinary school. This is her ultimate dream and signals the kind of career freedom she desires. The unexpected revelation is that she and Nadim have this off the charts chemistry on screen that cannot be ignored.

There were several things I enjoyed about Accidentally Engaged. I liked how Reena and Nadim first met because that automatically made things interesting. And then finding out that he’s in the country to work for her dad and also possibly to marry her? Awkward! And also a buzzkill when the guy is a dreamboat with a British accent and you're determined to do the exact opposite of what your parents expect. Reena’s joy of baking and cooking is contagious. She hates her career but baking on her own time centers her and brings her peace. Saira, her younger sister is a hoot! At first you’re not sure what to think of her because through Reena’s perspective she comes off as manipulative and inconsiderate. But Saira grows on you and the strange, unexpected and roundabout way she and Reena repair their relationship is one of my favorite things in this story. Saira is kind of the diamond in the rough here. She comes up with all these wild things and she brings some comic relief when needed. Honestly, she’s my favorite person in this book. The cooking show contest is fun and with a broader, more inclusive concept, it allows for lots of creativity from its contestants. Meaning there were lots of delicious meals happening.

Heron showcases so well how children of immigrants adapt and assimilate. Reena embraces all her cultural heritages - her South Asian/East African and her Canadian side. It echoed my own upbringing of melding cultures. There's a different worldview that comes with it and like Reena, I found a balance that worked for me, that is me.

At the other end there are several simultaneous subplots which made it feel as if the walls were closing in around Reena, and by extension, me. There's arranged marriage, meddlesome parents, several family secrets, competitive siblings, job layoffs, job hunting, mental health concerns, scandals, gossip, business deal disasters, a reality show competition, fetishes... it was overwhelming. My preference would've been to pare down the number of subplots.

I did enjoy Accidentally Engaged quite a bit. I think Reena's relationship with her parents is probably the hardest part of the story because they're so disconnected from each other. Reena wanting to live her own life versus her parents constantly measuring her success and insistence on what's best for her -- it's a tangible struggle in many South Asian families. But Reena and her parents come to an understanding eventually. On a personal note - I do love that Reena has natural curly hair and that it's such a highlighted feature of hers. I didn’t learn to appreciate my own curly hair until I was much older so I like reading characters who have that feature and are so proud if it. I also liked the recipes included at the end because how fun is that to try some of the mouthwatering dishes mentioned in the story?

Accidentally Engaged is a great read if you're looking for a story that takes a different path to romance, or you're wanting a bit of cultural immersion.

~ Bel

I flew through this book in one night not only because it was entertaining and I really wanted to know how things would wrap up - but also it was just a bright light in my day.

The characters were charming and beautifully developed ...and the bread...yes, like every other review you might read, bread is a big part of this plotline which added such an entertaining and unique element. 
Reena is an East African Indian Muslim woman who one day bumps into her hot new neighbor in her apartment building...who just happens to be now working for her dad...aaaaand who her father thinks would make the perfect Muslim husband. Reena is 100% against an arranged marriage especially one set up by her parents (even though he has a killer British accent and biceps for days) but she agrees to be friends. Until she realizes she actually needs him as her fiance to help win a couple's cooking contest...which means a lot of one-on-one time together. 

This book has it all....a cast of supportive, funny and slightly crazy family members, lots of secrets, lots of drama, cooking, flirting, losing a job, mental illness, lies, betrayal and a super sweet fake engagement that starts to feel a little too real. Their friendship/romance is sweet and genuine and their connection is steamy (but closed door).
This book just put me in a good mood and I loved reading it. I enjoyed the plot, the characters were all so likable and even though there were a lot of little storylines and movement- it all worked!  

Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing/ Forever for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

"Accidentally Engaged" by Farah Heron
Release Date: 3.2.2021

Reena Manji, a 31 year old woman, and her new neighbor, Nadim, hit it off, even making a couple's audition video for a chance to win a culinary school scholarship. They are accepted and will be on the show! Of course, now they need to pretend to be an actual couple. Then, Reena finds out her father is setting her up with Nadim for an arranged marriage!

Reema is fun and sweet; Nadim is loveable but mysterious. I loved the chemistry between the two characters; there was no pretending between the two of them. I enjoyed learning about the family dynamics of both Reena and Nadim, seeing Reena's struggles with her family and her personal growth throughout the store. Plus, who doesn't love food??

It was fabulous! I love reading stories about other cultures and this is a favourite.
I loved Neema and her strength to try to be herself in a family full of tradition. I adored Nadim...he was so sweet and I just wanted to gobble him up.

This story is full of family (those you are born into and the one you make), friends, cooking/baking, learning to be yourself, a fake relationship, humour and more.

I also loved seeing a place near where I grew up mentioned in a book.

A couple of chapters into this book, I quickly realized that it was maybe not a great idea to read this book on an empty stomach. So if you’re reading this review and contemplating reading this book (which you absolutely should read, btw), then consider this your first and only warning. Of the 38 chapters in this book, 30 of them mention food in some context, either just in passing or because the heroine is cooking it. I decided to track this via a Twitter thread so if you’re truly curious about all the food mentioned in this book, I have recorded it for your convenience.

Gastronomical elements aside, I found this book to be utterly charming and delightful but also surprisingly heavy. Reena, the best friend of the heroine from Farah Heron’s debut, The Chai Factor, is struggling to find her place in this world. Stuck in a career she doesn’t particularly love and continually frustrated by her overbearing and manipulative parents, she finds solace in baking, her ultimate dream to attend culinary school. It’s an interesting book to read in the midst of a seemingly interminable pandemic because there is a strong underlying theme of loneliness and isolation in this book that I imagine a great many people could relate to. Also, the baking: if there is one single thing that has metaphorically brought us all together in the past year, it’s our communal love of freshly baked bread and the consumption of it. I cannot overstate the number of social media posts that were simply about fresh homemade bread. So I find it interesting that in the era of COVID, this book manages to circumvent the whole pandemic issue but also somehow pay homage to it through the themes of loneliness and bread baking.

In fact, Reena has so much love for baking, she is nurturing two sourdough starters and has named them. Some people have cats, Reena has Brian (the Rye), her temperamental sourdough starter who is fussy and needs spring water, and Sue, her other starter who always behaved with little to no fuss. One of the best lines of the book is when Reena is frustrated by Brian’s capricious nature.

"Her first mistake had been naming the starter after a man. After a dozen failed relationships, Reena felt confident that she knew next to nothing about the male segment of the species, except maybe that they often needed some tender coaxing to get them to behave. But she didn’t have the time or energy to coddle Brian through his histrionics now."

Apart from her two pets, er, sourdough starters, Reena has her aforementioned family, two incredibly controlling parents and a younger sister, none of whom she’s particularly all that close to and yet, cannot begin to distance herself from. I know many readers will wonder why Reena doesn’t just cut off her toxic family but given that her family is East African Indian Muslim Canadian, that is just not done. As Reena reminds herself,

"And when it came to her family, free will was nothing but a convenient illusion Reena created for her own sanity."

Enter the hero, Nadim. Nadim has moved to Canada from Tanzania in order to work for Reena’s father’s company….and because his father and Reena’s father have decreed that the two shall be married. While Nadim seems on board with that plan. Reena is less than willing and flat out declines. But when Reena loses her job and comes across a cooking competition that awards the winner a scholarship to an elite culinary school, she reluctantly agrees to partner with Nadim in order to finally make her lifelong dreams a reality.

Aside from loneliness, one of the other key themes in this book is secrets. Everyone in this book seems to have some big secret (that ultimately is revealed). Reena’s parents have secrets, her sister has secrets, and Reena spends much of the book and her life, keeping secrets, secrets about who she really is, what she really wants, and even who she really loves. Reena is convinced that exposing her true self will drive away all the people in her life and one of the loveliest parts of this book is watching Reena’s journey unfold, as she begins to like herself and finally accept that she’s worthy of love and care.

If Reena and her journey are the highlights, then Nadim and his secrets are the low point. When his secrets are revealed, they are done so by a third party. So I’m not fully convinced that Nadim would have ever come clean about his past had his secrets not been outed for him. And once they are all exposed, I could identify with Reena, unable to fully place my trust in him. Obviously, since this is a romance and a HEA is kind of the main point, Reena does forgive him and find a way to trust in him but as a reader and a general observer, I find it much harder to so quickly forget and forgive Nadim. Part of the problem lies in the fact that the secret is revealed SO late in the book that there is barely any time for the two to work out their issues before they find their HEA. It feels rushed and slightly sloppy given how much care is given to the rest of the book and the development of the other characters. When they do get together, I get the sense that Reena has finally come to the conclusion that while she is heartbroken by Nadim’s secrets, she can survive without him…she just doesn’t want to, whereas Nadim truly feels desolate.

Overall, I really did enjoy the book. I wish Nadim had been written a little stronger, with a character arc that was more deserving of the heroine. But Reena is the real star of the book (or maybe her baked goods are). Her character arc is so well-defined and nuanced and beautifully plotted, from mental health issues to learning to love herself to the realization that she is strong and capable. While this is definitely a romance, the true highlight for me was about the journey Reena went on to find her true self.

CW for mental health rep, including depression and unspecified eating disorder;

This book, guys, the absolute BEST!!

Warnings: It will make you want to bake bread, it might make you then eat half the loaf of bread, and it will have you laughing and smiling throughout!

Farah Heron's story was delightful! Reena is 31, working in finance, a foodie with a passion for bread baking, who is being set up (yet again) by her parents. Her father has hired another Muslim bachelor for her; this one is Nadim. He moves in across the hall from Reena and instantly falls for the smell of all that bread baking. (I can attest, our place smelled AMAZING while I was baking bread for a bookstagram picture. If I could bottle that smell and release it daily, I would!)

Reena tells Nadim right away that she'll never marry him. What starts as a friendship turns into a fake engagement so that Reena can enter an online cooking competition to get into culinary school; what could go wrong?! Filled with secrets, humor, characters, growth, intense family dynamics, and love, this book gets ALL THE STARS! If you love rom-coms, this one is seriously a must. I know it's going to be one of my favorites of the year!

I'm a graduate student & I'm always reading such dense books. This one was EXACTLY what I needed for a mental break. Such a touching storyline filled with twists & turns I can say I didn't see coming.

10/10 recommend, especially to a hopeless romantic!

I am thankful every time I read a novel that openly discusses mental health and the importance thereof. In Accidentally Engaged, Heron details Reena and Saira’s depression, its impact, and their medication/therapy. As someone who has battled with depression and is healthy now, I can fully relate to Reena’s emotions and moods throughout the book, and I was SO. DANG. PROUD. when she started to fully acknowledge it. This novel is sure to draw readers in based upon its cute cover and synopsis, but I know that it has the potential to allow someone to identify that they need help and it seek it out, making it so powerful. One of my favorite quotes from the book centers around the fact that while she (Reena) felt okay today, there was nothing to say what tomorrow would bring, and she needed to ensure that she could continue to deploy the coping skills she learned. I know how important those coping mechanisms are, even as a now-healthy individual.

Personal impact aside, Heron’s voice is so fresh and is exactly what we need in 2021. I absolutely adored Reena and Nadim’s romance. I learned so much about the East African/Indian/Muslim culture, and I loved Reena’s commitment to sharing food true to their heritage vs. the “fusion” food popular for mainstream culture. I am so excited to try the naan recipe that came with the book with my mom this weekend. A massive thank you to Forever Pub for a complimentary copy of this beautiful OwnVoices novel in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This book was SO SWEET!

I adore our couple, and the enemies to lovers feel of the story. I also adore the nods to their culture, and the family dynamics that surface because of it.

I had a great time reading this, and intend to read more by this author, as well as revisit this one from time to time.

Let me start off by saying I usually am really critical of books with Indian representation and Indian characters, but Accidentally Engaged may be my favorite one so far! I usually hate arranged marriage plots because EVERY book with an Indian character has one but this one was tastefully done and still painted a holistic picture of Indian culture and the unique challenges of growing up in an Indian household. I especially liked that the book featured characters of Indian descent who also have ties to Tanzania and have also lived in the UK before moving to Canada. That in and of itself led to interesting plot points that I haven't read about in other books. Needless to say, the representation in this book was fantastic, which earns MAJOR points form me.

Accidentally Engaged reads like a sitcom - to the point where I started casting the characters in my head! My ideal casting: Tiya Sircar (Vicky from The Good Place) as Reena and Sendhil Ramamurthy (the dad from Never Have I Ever 😍) as Nadim. SOMEONE MAKE IT HAPPEN. @netflix @hulu I'm looking at you!!

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It probably would have been bingeable if I had been in the right mindset, but regardless, it was a good pandemic distraction read! Accidentally Engaged is a solid romance with strong Indian representation and substance aside from the romantic story, but it's not going to change your life.

WARNING: have plenty of food (specifically bread) on hand while reading this book. There are SO many food scenes in this book and they will all leave you craving the food being described on the page.

Accidentally Engaged has earned it's place among the list of books I would recommend this book to most people, especially if someone asked me for a romance recommendation. I would be particularly inclined to recommend this book to my foodie friends and anyone looking to diversify their reads. If you're a fan of Jasmine Guillory's novels, I have a feeling this one would be right up your alley!

Thank you to @readforeverpub for my gifted ARC in exchange for an honest review. Accidentally Engaged is on shelves on March 2nd.

The concept of this romance really drew me to the book. Fake romance meets competitive cooking contest? Yes please!

Unfortunately for me, the overall execution did not meet expectations.

Best bits
- Ah the food, so many descriptions of mouth-watering yummy things. This was a real strength.
- I enjoyed the glimpse into Reena’s Indian Muslim family. The author brought this community to life.

Howevers
- Way too many things happening - so many plot threads that they couldn’t possibly be developed or attended to in a satisfying way.
- Something about the writing felt flat, more telling than showing.
- I am by no means a widely read romance reader, but I didn’t find the sex scenes to be confidently written, there was an awkwardness to them.
- Considering Nadim was pretty critical to the success of the story, I found him to be underdeveloped.

I am interested to read more Own Voices reviews of this title since some of the reviews I’ve read find the way that some characters’ relationship with alcohol is represented throughout the book to be problematic. A head’s up for that.

Thank you to Netgalley and Grand Central for the review copy of this book.

I've seen SO many pictures this week of this book next to sourdough bread, and I'm happy to join the club! I could not resist picking up a loaf of sourdough to enjoy while I read this book. It was delicious!!! I also made french toast with it for my kids and they loved it too :) 

As for the book itself, I highly recommend it! Nadim and Reena were such fun characters and I enjoyed their fake engagement on a TV cooking show as well as all of the hilarity (and frustrations!) associated with their traditional Indian families. There were a lot of funny moments in the book and a lot of cute romantic moments too. Reena had wonderful friends, Nadim was sweet and adorable, and the recipes scattered throughout the book were mouth-watering. I now officially need to go back and read Amira's book, The Chai Factor!! Highly recommend for fans of multicultural romance - i.e. Crazy Rich Asians with a bit less drama!!

Reena Manji would do whatever she could to avoid being wrapped up in another one of her family’s plots- even if that meant working a job she hated and only finding dates on Tinder. But when her father moves in a hot Captain-American-like man next door to her apartment, she can’t help but be intrigued by him. That is, until he tells her she’s supposed to be his promised wife.
Now, she’s even more determined to remain friends only, but that all goes down the drain when she enters a cooking competition that requires a fiancé. Together, they agree to fake it- capturing the hearts of many with their chemistry, and the hearts of each other.

From the very first page I knew I was going to adore this book. Reena was immediately introduced as a funny and snarky woman, who just so happened to have a way with bread and a curse with men. I literally laughed at loud at the way her mind worked, and how she would always find ways to relate the world to her beloved bread.
Nadim was a hoot too- funny, encouraging, great charisma- he’s everything to match Reena... if her parents were involved.

This story was literally so amazing: you’ve got the perfect amount of steam, complex characters with nosy family members, character development, AND just enough secrets that you wonder how everything is going to go down.
On top of that; food is the main subject and your mouth can’t help but water at every meal that is described. (I’m literally writing down ingredients so I ca try and make something soon- that’s how intrigued I was by it all)

If you’re looking for a funny rom-com, characters with substance, a fake dating trope, and meddling families- then I highly recommend you fall in love with this book!

((Thank you Netgalley and Grand Central Publishing for an ARC copy in return of an honest review

Solid romance for sure. I really enjoyed the dynamic of the family and the story of Nadim and Reena. It was a very fast read once I got into the story. I did struggle with the beginning because I found it a little slow, but in the end I enjoyed it a lot.

Accidentally Engaged 💍🍞

This beautiful book was published yesterday and I have so many good things to say about it!!
Thank you to @readforeverpub for the finished copy #partner

If you have been loving YA romances that are foodie based like I have (ex Tweet Cute, Cuban Girls Guide to Tea and Tomorrow, Happily Ever Afters), than this is the adult version you have been desperately waiting for!!
This book had me searching the internet for a bread maker, it had all the aspects of a fake relationship trope that I love, I felt like I learned so much about another culture outside of my own, and it was just all around swoon worthy in the end.
How he keeps her sour dough starters and learns to make bread?? I mean come on 😍

Compared to my usual romance reads, this one is definitely less steam then I usually like but the build up in this book was done so well it let your imagination run wild in the best of ways.
Thank you again to Forever for a copy!

Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Steam: 🔥🔥

Reena Manji, the middle child in a successful real estate development Muslim family, hates her job and gets annoyed with her parents’ unending parade of eligible Muslim men for her to marry. She’s mad at her younger sister who ruined her popular food blog and sits in the shadow of her highly successful older brother. Her true passion is baking bread, and she would love to attend a prestigious culinary school in Toronto.

When Nadim moves in across the hall, Reena tries to avoid him since he is an employee of her father and yet another man her parents want her to consider marrying. Yet, the pair hits it off and enjoys hanging out. One night after a few drinks, they make a video to enter a FoodTV cooking show contest for couples and make it past the first round. Seeing this as a way to get into her dream school, Reena and Nadim continue the charade while trying to hide their budding friendship from her family.

Accidentally Engaged is a wonderful, touching romance that hits all the right notes. Fake relationships are my catnip, and Ms. Heron pens her own unique and riotous take. Reena feels like a failure and doesn’t know exactly how to find a way out of her own life. The pressures of family expectations and to succeed are overwhelming, and the ways Reena finds to deal with it aren’t always healthy. She hides the truth from most, yet with Nadim, she finds solace and can be herself. She admits she likes him, but doesn’t love her parents’ interfering. She wants to find true and real love, but believes it can’t happen if she’s set up by her family or friends, so Nadim must stay in the friend zone.

The more time they banter and flirt, the closer they become, and Reena finally gives into desire. However, the emotional weight from the intimacy of filming as a couple confuses Reena. She may be falling in love but isn’t sure and doesn’t want to risk her heart. Since the reader is only ever privy to Reena’s POV and doesn’t experience Nadim’s, I was equally as nervous as Reena as she explored her feelings. I adored that their love of their mutual culture brings them together and gives them common ground.

With so much baggage hanging around both characters, there are many bumps on their journey to HEA. Accidentally Engaged explores all of Reena’s dark corners, allowing Reena to face her fears, learn, and grow. I enjoyed her journey of self-discovery and growth as much as watching her budding romance unfurl. Accidentally Engaged is a beautiful story about breaking through expectations and lies to grow and find love.

My Rating: A- Enjoyed it a lot

I was extremely excited to read Accidentally Engaged from the moment I heard about it. I love cooking and food and fake relationships—especially when it’s South Asian characters—so this book was right up my ally. Reena and I have our share of differences but there were so many moments where I felt like I was reading about myself. And I loved the relationship between Nadim and Reena too!

I know that we have had a lot of conversations in the community about representation and who can write what. There was something magical for me about reading Accidentally Engaged that I don't think I could've gotten from a book written by someone who wasn't from the culture. It was the little moments that really changed it for me. For example, Reena made a random comment about how her father was taller than the standard and even had a full head of hair in his 50s which I thought was hilarious. No, neither of the topics are that deep but it’s the subtlety that I love.

I wanted to talk for a moment about how much I loved the infusion of food on this book. I don’t think people think enough about how important food can be in a culture. I am Indian and one of the biggest ways we show our love is through food. Not just the process of making the food but feeding people the food. Our cuisine is not the easiest to master and it is quite literally a labor of love. I’m not Indian Tanzanian so it was incredible to see how Indian and Tanzanian cultures infused in this book. I will admit that I did not expect to love bread so much while reading this book. I mean, I like bread, but there is a level of bread love in this book that made me truly appreciate the art. Now, I just want to bake all the sourdough bread and name my starter Nadim. This is also very random and a little bit minuscule but I loved learning that maani was another name for rotis!

The family dynamics in this book also made me feel seen in such a big way. I don’t have the best relationship with my parents and I don’t always get along with my siblings. My older sister and I have had our moments of arguments and not getting along. I really appreciate the fact that the family dynamics in this book are not perfect. Even as adults we have to work through our relationships and through our issues. The struggle between wanting to be your truest self but also wanting to respect your family is one that I know all too well and one that was portrayed so well in this book.

Now that I’ve talked about all of the representation I loved, let me take a moment to talk about how much I also loved the relationship. I truly felt that Nadim and Reena became friends before anything romantic happened between them. It’s awkward at times, and maybe even a little but uncomfortable but it felt real all the same. Plus, I love nothing more than two people falling in love while cooking! Nadim also surprised me with how sweet he was. I didn’t actually expect him to be such a cinnamon roll and to love him from the beginning.

This is so a fun romance! It follows Reena whose parents set her up with a potential husband named Nadim. She doesn’t plan on marrying him but she can pretend to be engaged to him so you can win a couples cooking contest. The two main characters chemistry is off the charts from the start and I love the way they banter with each other. And oh my gosh the food! I had serious food envy while reading it and wanted some of everything they were making from the curries, to the naan, to fougasse. I suddenly want to become a bread baker! I also loved the serious discussions and lessons learned in this book from the importance of prioritizing your mental health, especially in communities where it’s stigmatized, to self love, to embracing your culture wholeheartedly, to chasing after your dreams no matter the risk, and finally, choosing what’s best for your life yourself not just to satisfy someone else. Please check out this wonderful book! Now that I’ve read this I’m off to find some good bread to eat,

This entire book just felt like a warm embrace. It just made me feel so happy and comforted. It's not something I can fully explain but it fully felt like when you wrap yourself up in your favorite blanket just to feel enveloped.

I don't make bread, I'm not a kitchen person at all, but Reena just felt so relatable to me. I think just generally as a woman in her early 30s, but also, just as someone that maybe doesn't have it all figured out. She's strong and independent, but she's also a bit of a mess and I loved her. Nadim? I don't even want to talk about Nadim. He's just the biggest sweetheart. He's one of those guys that you don't think is a cinnamon roll, cause he's strong and tough and he has a past, but he's 1000% a cinnamon roll with Reena. He's just so adorable.

Their fake relationship, their real relationship, all of it just did it for me. I loved navigating the cooking show with them, I would absolutely adore seeing this made into a movie or show just to watch them at the farm. IYKYK. I also loved that we really dive into Reena's relationship with her family and her relationship with her profession. None of that is glossed over and I definitely appreciated all of it.

Come for the baking, stay for the undeniable chemistry and just general adorableness.

Accidentally Engaged is the perfect romance read to finish in a single sitting. It also really got me in the mood for some good sourdough bread but I had to settle for some cookies instead. This book ticked off a lot of boxes for me: Indian protagonist, check, involving cooking, check, British accent, double check.

There is a lot to love about this book from the interactions between Reena and Nadim to the family relationships that develop throughout the book.

I loved reading a romance book that focuses on South Asian main characters being Sri Lankan myself. I will definitely be picking up a physical copy of this book from my local bookstore to add to my collection.