I really loved this book and I can't wait to read more from the author. I have to say the Desire line has my go to tropes, level of heat and enjoyable plotlines.

Heat Factor: Not super explicit
Character Chemistry: Instalove, but I bought it
Plot: Ethan crashes the wrong wedding, but the bride runs away with him anyways
Overall: Delightful

Running Away with the Bride is exactly the level of bonkers I was looking for. But given the bonkers set up (accidental bride stealing!!!!), the resolution is remarkably drama-free. And that, dear reader, is exactly the dynamic I want in my romance. Because it’s still a fantasy, but the characters act in reasonable ways given their ridiculous situation.

Ethan and Divya are both likable characters with a bit of baggage about their respective families. Ethan struggles with feeling unloved (a case of Bad Dad), and always cuts and runs before he can get hurt. Divya loves her family deeply, but also feels smothered by their expectations.

When Ethan crashes the wedding, Divya jumps at the opportunity to just run away - she doesn’t want to be getting married, but couldn’t quite figure out how to extricate herself. (This is the one bit that doesn’t quite jibe with later depictions of her character and her family, but we need that bonkers opening to get things going so just roll with it.) And she has a dream about signing at an open mic night at a specific club in New York, but it’s not like she has a wallet with her, so Ethan agrees to take her there. He failed at winning back his ex, after all, so what else is he going to do with that private jet he has ready and waiting? (Again, this may strain credulity a bit, but you just have to embrace the premise.)

Once Ethan and Divya start road-tripping around, there are two main parts to the action.
Bucket list bonding activities (ie, falling in love)
Meeting the parents

The main source of conflict here is cultural, to wit: can midwestern white-bread Ethan fit in with Divya’s Indian family. Her family certainly thinks not, and Divya also has her doubts. Her doubts are compounded by the fact that she and Ethan want different things; Divya wants to (finally) have some adventures, and Ethan is ready to settle down and have a family.

I do want to mention that Ethan is probably the most interesting Tech Bro CEO Billionaire I’ve ever read. He’s almost 40, and made his billions recently. Furthermore, he feels weird and guilty and uncomfortable about his wealth - he made a price-comparison app that blew up during the pandemic (this is a post-pandemic contemporary), so he feels that he just got really lucky. He keeps trying to buy his family fancy things, which they don’t want, which makes him feel like they’re rejecting him and his desire to care for the people he loves. In short, he has none of the hallmarks of a standard CEO Billionaire Hero except for his AmEx Black Card with no spending limit. No paternalistic nonsense here!

Anyways, the climactic drama occurs when Ethan returns Divya to her family. In a pretty hilarious scene, she coaches him on exactly the way he needs to act for her family to accept him. And, of course, he follows none of her advice because he wants them to accept them for who he is and recognize his love for Divya without a bunch of bullshit. Everything goes very very badly.

The resolution is perhaps a little bit abrupt, but I still enjoyed this book immensely. It was just light and fun and fluffy.

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. We disclose this in accordance with 16 CFR §255.

This review is also available at The Smut Report.

Thank you to the publisher and @netgalleh for a copy of this book. I love how the book started with Ethan crashing the wrong Indian wedding and the bride wanted to escape as well. I am not much fan of Insta love/connection and the author did a great job creating the connection. I love the banter between Divya and Ethan. Their adventures together was a lot of fun and was happy that Divya knew she needed to discover what she wanted before jumping into a relationship.

This is a fun, sexy, heartwarming story about love and family. Both Divya and Ethan come from close knit families and I really enjoyed the juxtaposition of how the Indian and American culture impacted and formed their families. The way that Ethan and Divya meet is one of my favorite meet cute moments in a book and it really set the tone for the adventures that awaited them. Ethan and Divya are attracted to each other but they really build a solid friendship and are completely open emotionally together which just solidified my connection to both of them. The pacing of this book is perfect and it allowed for a lot of quiet moments in between all the action. To me this worked really well because it made the sweeter moments more impactful and added a lot of credibility to the romance. My only critique of this story was that it is a contemporary romance that is set in a world where the pandemic happened and is now over. Reading is a source of escapism especially in these crazy times and I didn't like being reminded of what is going on the world when I was trying to get lost in a sweet and fun romance. Sasson is a great writer and I'm looking forward to reading her other works.

He planned to crash a wedding and ends up running away with the wrong bride. A pair of opposites gave way to the impulse of the moment and go on an adventure of discovery together. After enjoying Arjun’s story, I was glad to meet one of his siblings who is eager to taste life even while respecting family in a new entry in the series.
Review

Running Away with the Bride is a standalone second book in the Nights at the Mahal series featuring the Singh family.

Ethan Connors was an average working class guy until his tech and company was wildly successful and put him in the billionaire jet set. He’s still the same guy with a dream of having a close family of loving wife and kids. Unfortunately, the woman he thought he loved is marrying another and he’s just now stopped hesitating on asking her to marry him- on her wedding day. When he busts into a lavish Vegas Indian wedding, he is appalled to realize he got the wrong place. But then the bride stuns him by playing along and running off with him onto his plane and out of Vegas. Then the shocks keep coming when he decides to help her even after she closely examined his actions and gave him some home truths about his issues and why he keeps striking out with women. Meanwhile, he can’t believe how quickly he is over his ex-girlfriend and intrigued by Divya. She’s outspoken, confused about what she wants, and wants to honor family all at the same time. How could it ever work?

Divya has chafed at the restraints her parents have put on her life and their expectations for her future that do not coincide with her own. She’s got her legal degree and only gets to practice law in the family business and that is until she is married to a man arranged by her parents. She wants to do so many things- to live out in the world and see what there is to see- before she must conform to expectation. She thought she could marry Vivek until Ethan crashed her wedding and now insanely, she is ticking off her dreams with Ethan at her side and knowing that back in Vegas she left a shocked family. Will they still accept her as family? Can there ever be something with the attractive, supportive Ethan who has issue of his own from his past blocking his way to the altar?

Running Away with the Bride started on a hilarious and shocking bang. I had a good time being introduced to both characters in this way. The scene in Vegas was so vivid as were the consecutive scenes beginning with Divya singing at a NYC night club’s open mic. From the start this pair had an obvious connection even if they were total strangers. There is something to be said about the ease of confessing deep stuff to a stranger. The pair were exploring their issues with marriage and relationships, family, and their flaws and fears from the beginning. They struggled, but there is also an obvious supportiveness when they faced their personal issues and loyalty even in a new relationship like theirs that was satisfying.

As they spent Ethan’s ‘honeymoon’ and hers as well finding themselves and a new chance, it was reflective, conflicting, and sultry. They both had to decide who they were and what they really wanted. There is a twist and it was predictable once it happened, but I’ve been reading distracted lately so I only remembered the cues when it was upon me. I didn’t care that it was predictable because I was enjoying the story, setting, and their diverse backgrounds. As with Marriage By Arrangement, the author painted a lavish and colorful backdrop of modern Indian tradition that was the frosting on an already delicious story.

All in all, it read lightly and quickly though not lacking in sensual romance and plot. It was a luxurious world and I hope the author keeps going with more Singh family romances. Definitely recommend to those who want a diverse contemporary romance experience.

My thanks to Harlequin for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

When Ethan crashes a wedding in Las Vegas he has no idea it's the wrong one. He's hoping to win back his fiance Pooja, when he inadvertently crashes the wedding of Divya. Divya is so excited to get out of her marriage, she is quick to run away with Ethan without knowing a thing about him. Ethan comes to her rescue at the right time. They travel around the country for the next few days trying to decide what to do next. What will happen on this journey around the country? Will they find the things that they have been looking for or will they end up back in their old lives?

Thank you to Harlequin Desire and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I was able to read this book in one day. I was eager to find out what was going to happen between Ethan and Divya. I had no idea whether they would be friends or if this crazy encounter would turn into something more. Maybe they would go back to their old life and treat these few days as a memory. They each come from upstanding families and they both have their own money, but something is missing from their lives. So what is holding them back from being together? Divya is Indian and Ethan is from America and while their relationship isn't ideal in the eyes of some, could it work? Is each one of them willing to give up something in order to be together? Will their short courtship be enough for a long-lasting relationship?
The thing I liked best about this book was the adventure. You never knew what was going to happen next.
If you like romance books that will keep you wondering what is going to happen next then you need to read Running Away With the Bride.

I stumbled across this book and was very excited about reading it due to the heroine being of Indian descent. While I can't say that this book turned out to be as wonderful as I had hoped, I did still enjoy it. The story itself offers lots of tension, drama and emotional turmoil as it unfolds. I found Ethan and Divya to be fairly likable and I did like them as a couple. I thought that they each were really what the other needed, whether they knew it or not. I freely admit the fact that I do not know much at all about Indian culture and customs, so I found the many details included in this book informative and welcome. I do feel that I could have enjoyed this book more if the characters (At least one of them!) had shown a bit more maturity. Neither did though and that led me to having some issues with investing in this duo in the long term. The single biggest drawback for me though was the way Divya treated Ethan. AS I said previously, maturity was severely absent in these two and I constantly felt that Divya was talking down to Ethan because she was SO MUCH more clever and able to control her family and situations around her. HA!! Excuse me Miss! In case you failed to notice your life is a mess, you just ran away from your wedding with a stranger and you tell a whole lot of lies. I found that super annoying and I rolled my eyes at her antics so much I got a headache.

Running Away With the Bride is an entertaining opposites attract story with an intriguing premise. I've read a few break up the wedding stories, but I'm pretty sure this is the first break up the wrong wedding story I've come across. Ethan is pretty much everything Divya's parents don't want for her, so of course, he'll be exactly what she wants - probably wouldn't make for much of a story otherwise, right? Even with this one having a pretty original start, it's not without its predictability. That said, the story really didn't suffer any because of it. The book has a good pace, and it's a reasonably quick read, making it perfect for whiling away an afternoon. This is the second in a series, but it can easily be read as a standalone.

I wasn't sure what I felt about the first part of the book blurb, Ethan crashing his ex-wife's wedding so they could be together. I wanted to see this as a romantic action, but an ex is an ex.

I did enjoy book #1 in the series, Marriage by Arrangement. I was pleased to find Arjun, one of the main characters and "India's Hottest Hottie," as I now know him from that book, mentioned in this one. I liked him as a character.

Once Ethan knew he'd crashed the wrong wedding, the action EXPLODES on the page and does not let up. A private jet and luxury are things Ethan can afford as he's a billionaire. I did find him handsome and attentive.

The bride is the complete opposite to him and I loved the mystery and banter of this opposites attract romance.

The backstory for each character and the small details are always Sophia Singh Sasson's writing strength, I now realise after this second book. The bride's outfit was stunning.

I felt immersed in the wedding and in everything that happened in the book despite my initial thoughts. I was eager to get to the twist in the tale, and when I did, I was disappointed. It was predictable, but woven in well.

I won't spoil things, just suffice it to say that this is a great action-packed whirlwind of a book overall.

Another hit by Sophia Singh Sasson. I think it makes a good standalone novel, but if you want to read the whole series than the two books are a must.

Thanks to Sophia Singh Sasson and Harlequin Desire for my ARC in exchange for an honest and voluntary review.

4.5 stars

I loved Sasson’s first book in the Nights of the Mahal series and this second book is just as wonderful. Cross-cultural currents and interracial relationships are never easy. But in Sasson’s stories, under the seeming differences, people connect with universal commonalities that allows them to make sacrifices and compromises so they can have a life together. The maturity it takes in her protagonists to be able to navigate the shoals of familial expectations and ingrained cultural norms and values is a hallmark of Sasson’s writing.

Sasson’s narrative is rooted in the storytelling tradition of keeping the reader engrossed from the first cataclysmic event where the protagonists become aware of each other to the last cataclysmic event where they utterly trust that they belong together. Thus there is no confusion between the initial experience of “falling in love” and the now permanent state of “being in love.” Running Away with the Bride is a maze of events and emotions with tenderness and despair, belief and heartbreak, comfort and suspense, and ultimately, a satisfying forever love for the protagonists and the reader.

Full Review: https://frolic.media/book-of-the-week-running-away-with-the-bride-by-sophia-singh-sasson/