DNF’ed at 46%

I really tried to like this book, but I am so over the overly sexual bad boy meets quirky straight-laced girl. There were so, so many instances where it felt like the plot was random thoughts and drama cobbled together. Also, I could not get a handle on who Daisy was - within pages she’s described as an introvert who hates people and then an extrovert? I couldn’t look past all of these things to get into the story.

Thank you to @berkleyromance and Sara Desai for my gifted e-arc of the Dating Plan! This adorable enemies to lovers and fake romance hybrid comes out on March 16th, but is a @BookoftheMonth pick now. Consider it as an add-on next month!

Synopsis (from Goodreads): Daisy Patel is a software engineer who understands lists and logic better than bosses and boyfriends. With her life all planned out, and no interest in love, the one thing she can't give her family is the marriage they expect. Left with few options, she asks her childhood crush to be her decoy fiance. Liam Murphy is a venture capitalist with something to prove. When he learns that his inheritance is contingent on being married, he realizes his best friend's little sister has the perfect solution to his problem. A marriage of convenience will get Daisy's matchmaking relatives off her back and fulfill the terms of his late grandfather's will. If only he hadn't broken her tender teenage heart nine years ago… Sparks fly when Daisy and Liam go on a series of dates to legitimize their fake relationship. Too late, they realize that very little is convenient about their arrangement. History and chemistry aren't about to follow the rules of this engagement.

First of all, I LOVED how Desai utilized several tropes in her book. I think it made the romance more exciting, and brought a touch of the real world into it. Plus, it makes the book more appealing to a wider audience, in my opinion.

Daisy is such a fun protagonist as well. She’s relatable, strong, and definitely someone I’d want to have as a friend in the real world. Her family was such a hoot too (and were all very well-written supporting characters). And Liam, oh my goodness! He really redeemed himself as the book went on, in my opinion. And the steam...if you know, you know!

I’ll be picking up Desai’s first book, The Marriage Game, soon! My expectations are high with how good this book was.

This was a very fun book. I’ve always liked books that revolve around a couple in a forced relationship and Daisy and Liam were a really fun couple. I liked that they both had deeper backstories than what is in a lot of romance books, and I loved all of Daisy’s family members that showed up throughout the book.

When I read The Marriage Game last year, I gave it five stars. When I saw that Sara Desai had a new book coming out, I immediately knew that I wanted to read it. If you remember Sam and Layla were the two main characters in The Marriage Game. The Dating Plan focuses on Layla's best friend, Daisy. Daisy is a software engineer whose parents are insistent upon her getting married. Like in The Marriage Game, there is a heavy focus on the main character's Indian culture and family's insistence to get married. Enter Liam Murphy, a venture capitalist, who also happens to be the former best friend of Daisy's older brother. Liam believes he can not only help out Daisy's company, but also help her out in her love life. Liam is set to inherit a distillery, but that inheritance is contingent upon his being married by his next birthday. The Dating Plan is set up- Daisy will pretend to be engaged to Liam so that Liam can inherit that distillery and Daisy's family will finally leave her alone about getting married. But of course, this plan isn't as simple as it seems, and things always get complicated in fake relationships. Overall, I thought that this was a pretty quick and enjoyable read. I enjoyed The Marriage Game a little more, but there were a lot of factors of this book that I also enjoyed. I liked that we got to see what Sam and Layla were up to, and Layla actually plays a rather significant role in this book as Daisy's best friend. It took awhile for the two characters to finally hook up, but once they finally did, the steam was perfect. Daisy and Liam were actually pretty cute, and it was entertaining to watch their plan unfold as they went on a series of fake dates. I am definitely looking forward to reading more books by Sara Desai! Thank you to the publisher for granting me an early copy of this book!

You guys! This book caught me by total surprise. This is an #OwnVoices book, following marvel loving coding super genius, Daisy, and the boy (now a man) Liam, that stood her up at her Prom and just waltzed back into her life ten years later. This book is set in the Bay Area of California and it made me so nostalgic! The San Jose Sharks games, the talk of Alcatraz, and basically every major attraction, I have been to and it made me feel so homesick.

ⓌⒽⒶⓉ Ⓘ ⓁⒾⓀⒺⒹ
+I absolutely loved the glimpse into an Indian family, their culture, and all of the meddling family members. My husband went to India on his deployment and the scarf and elephant are some of the gifts he brought back from his travels. I loved that although Daisy’s family was a little crazy, at the end of the day, they supported her and just wanted her to be happy.
+This book is a romantic comedy and it delivers on the laughs. I found myself laughing multiple times throughout this story.
+This book is an enemies to lovers/friends to lovers/marriage of convenience, that provides all the feelings. I’ll be honest, reading about Daisy being stood up at prom, reminded me so much of Drew Barrymore’s movie “Never Been Kissed” (I’m not Josie Grossy anymore!!! Anyone? Just me? Alright.) I was weary of Liam and his motorcycle leathers but he falls into the misunderstood bad boy role so easily, you can’t help but fall in love with him too.

ⓌⒽⒶⓉ Ⓘ ⒹⒾⒹⓃⓉ ⓁⒾⓀⒺ
+I truly don’t have anything negative to say about this story. I don’t see myself reading this book again, which ultimately lead to my give of 4.5/5 stars but I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a romantic comedy.

What a sweet and sexy story!! I loved being in this world: the delish food, the second chance romance, and the tension was just on point. The love interest and his motorcycle!! I’d read anything by this author, even her grocery list.

The Dating Plan was such a charming read. I very much enjoyed the chemistry between Daisy and Liam. The fake engagement trope was very well done and I thought it added sizzling tension. Daisy as a character is a strong, feminist lead who was easy to root for! Highly recommend.

4 stars!

I simply could not put this book down! It was laugh out loud funny, full of every romance trope possible and just a charming read.

Daisy is a no nonsense planner with abandonment issues from her mom. She jumps from job to job and doesn't want to get married. To which her entire family is baffled and constantly trying to set her up with someone. Liam is the bad boy (obviously) that was best friends with her older brother until he stood her up for her senior prom and simply VANISHED, breaking Daisy's teenage heart.

Now he's rich and back in town for his grandfather's funeral. With some incredible stipulation, he can only get the family distillery if he's married by his birthday and stays married for a year. (side note, any lawyers wanna tell me if that's possible?) His problem? He's got no one serious and a trail of exes. His solution? Propose to Daisy - SORRY - FAKE propose to Daisy so that he can get the distrilley and she can get her family off her back until their divorce a year later.

Obviously from there they fall madly in love. The end. The book is easy to read and the characters are fairly likeable and loveable. You can find yourself falling in love with Daisy's family structure and support system along with Liam ( or Limb ).

The only thing I didn't like about this book is that the author combined various different parts of different Indian cultures together. Patel (a traditional Gujarati last name) is typically from North Indian. Her calling her father Appa - an Urdu word would not make sense. Then the business with her and her cousin's fiancee's getting swords for the ceremony. That is another non Gujarati thing - typically only seen in Punjabis and Rajputs. It feels like a mismatch and ruined the authenticity of the book - much like the aunty's cooking.

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The ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I loved Sara Desai's first book, The Marriage Game, so I was very excited for The Dating Plan. For some reason this one did not work as well for me - it felt uneven and the pacing was a little off. Daisy is a software developer who prefers coding to people. She has a large, loving family trying to set her up with men they've found for her, but she isn't interested. Daisy is still traumatized by her mom leaving when she was young. (She works through that - kind of - through the book.) At a work conference she runs into Liam, her brother's best friend from high school and the guy who stood her up for prom. I think my issues with this book - which has my favorite tropes, enemies to lovers and fake dating - stemmed from Liam's character. Readers (though not Daisy) know that Liam had a good reason for standing her up, but we are told that as an adult he is a party boy venture capitalist. Yet we don't see that side of him, so he doesn't really evolve - it's like he sees Daisy again and matures instantly. I did like that he has to work through some family issues of his own. The other thing that drove me nuts is that Daisy and Liam enter a fake relationship so he can get an inheritance and to help her company, and they go around telling everyone it is fake. What's the point? This book has a lot to like - it's funny (Daisy's family is so great, as is Daisy) and I enjoyed reading it, but it just didn't completely work for me. A lot happens in this book, and I think it could have been plotted a little tighter. I do look forward to Sara Desai's next book, though, and if you enjoyed the first it's worth checking out this one.

I wanted to like this more because I'm over-the-moon about the plot. I really enjoyed the dialogue between the characters, and I think the lead couple have major chemistry. The narrative aspect is the part that I struggled with. I think this one would've worked much better in first person. Regardless, I had a lot of fun. This was my first Sara Desai book, and I'll certainly read her books in the future.

I was really not expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did. The cover and the description drew me in. I hadn't read the first book and felt physically disappointed that I hadn't when I finished The Dating Plan. The characters were well drawn. I really felt like I knew Daisy and what made her tick. Would my family ambush me with a prospective date at a convention? No, but they have at church. It's embarrassing no matter how you cut it. But Daisy, who doesn't admit to having many social skills, handles it. Not with ease. Especially since she's just seen her ex-boyfriend making out with her ex-boss in the bathroom. And what's worse is that she was thrown off by seeing her brother's childhood best friend at the conference. The same guy who stood her up for her senior prom. But that was ten years ago, so she's not bitter. Really. Oh heck, she sure is.
Liam Murphy is delighted to see Daisy again. Her family was warm and welcoming to him when his own was not. Surely she must be over the whole prom thing... oops. Even better, because when he needs to be married for a year in order to inherit his grandfather's business, who better than someone who hates him?

Four stars
Follows The Marriage Game
This book comes out March 16th
ARC kindly provided by Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Another enjoyable romance from Sara Desai. A warning though - don't read while hungry, as the food descriptions will make you want to eat just what the characters are. Fake relationship books don't always work for me, but this one made the premise easier to accept by the fact that they knew each other as teens, and this was more of a reconnection.

5 swooning stars!

The Dating Plan by Sara Desai is quite possibly even better than her first in this series, The Marriage Game. I really enjoyed that one, but this one I LOVE! I have to admit that I loved Liam and Daisy a little more than Layla and Sam. I rooted for them more, and was more eager to see their HEA.

This story is such a wonderful blend of open-door, steamy, snarky, laugh-out-loud, break-your-heart, second chance, fake engagement magic! The elements worked so well together and I didn't want their story to end (even though I inhaled each page)! There was high-speed adventure, detailed order, growling steam, tender heart-to-heart moments, and even some great feminist career tid-bits in there.

The Dating Plan had it all, and I'm in love with Sara Desai's writing! I will be recommending this to everyone, on repeat, all year.

Thanks so much to Berkley and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for the advance copy! The Dating Plan was quirky, fun, punchy, and romantic. Daisy and Liam’s set up for their fake relationship is original and engaging, though the depth of Liam’s family turmoil (especially his awful brother) was a tough pill to swallow. Daisy’s frank inner thoughts and no nonsense way of being was delightfully entertaining. Desai writes such original female leads, and I’m looking forward to what she gives us next!

Fun. Witty, Sexy. It's simply so easy and delicious to devour. I loved this book. It's sometimes is very cliche in terms of the romance, but its a good read overall.

I saw this book on NetGalley (obviously fell in love with the cover, too) and thought it sounded right up my alley in terms of romance stories. Turns out, I was right. Now I need to check out The Marriage Game by Sara Desai, because I loved her writing in this one so much!

Daisy is a woman who doesn’t need no man. Liam is a jackass from Daisy’s past who, while she was secretly-ish in love with him, stood her up on prom night, never to be heard from again. Until 10 years later when Daisy literally runs into him at a work conference.

Mixed feelings aside, Daisy needs to distract her family members from their attempts of setting her up with their definition of eligible suitors. So, her and Liam come up with a fake engagement plan.

Will Daisy and Liam be able to pull off this stunt? Will the past creep back into their relationship, either surviving who they are now, or breaking their hearts all over again?

This was an easy book to dive into and get hooked on. I loved it a lot! It was a nice read as a break in between thrillers!

Loved it! Sara Desai is a genius with words. I loved Daisy’s story and her leading man. It was refreshing, hilarious and sweet.

Such a fun and wonderful romance! Perfect to get lost in right now and just enjoy. I love a good fake dating/marriage plot, and this book hit all the tropes just right.

PUB DATE 3.16.21 or BOTM

I read Sara Desai's debut, THE MARRIAGE GAME, last year and it was easily a favorite romance of 2020. There is no sophomore slump because her follow up. THE DATING GAME, is just as entertaining.

This multicultural romance/rom-com had me laughing and swooning. When Daisy Patel finds herself face-to-face with the man who left her dateless on prom night ten years ago the only logical thing is to start a fake engagement. I mean what could go wrong? Or in this case- what could go so very right?

WHAT I LOVED:
WOC in STEM. Yes please.
Strong, independent & feisty heroine.
A hero that needs to redeem himself.
Angst. Gosh- I love me some angst.
Fast moving and well written.
Sexy, funny banter mixed with some real, raw moments. .
A strong supporting cast including a loud, loving set of Aunties.
Family dynamics that make the adventure even more colorful.
It has some serious chemistry and sizzle.

Daisy Patel is a software engineer who has no interest in marriage, yet her family is, after her to find a husband. Liam Murphy, a friend of her brother, will inherit from his family if he marries before his next birthday. He convinces Daisy to become his fake fiancé to satisfy both families. There are skeptics in both families, so the couple has to try extra hard to be convincing. While predictable, the story is highly entertaining.