I was so excited to get my hands on this, and I've actually already ordered the paperback! But when I saw a preview available I knew I had to snap it up. My only gripe is not living some of the side characters, but their involvement is minimal enough that I don't think that will be a problem going forward.

I really enjoy the cultural references and how the author doesn't pander or dumb them down to appeal to the reader, it really feels smart and dynamic.

I loved the food tie ins, I felt they added great dimension and really helped illustrate the world of the characters. Can't wait for my hard copy to arrive!

Thank you Netgalley for a chance to preview the first 4 chapters of this rom com novel. At first I wasn't sure if this was going to be my kind of read, when I got to the first few pages of when Reena first meets Nadim. Their interaction went from obsessively checking out the hot neighbor to instant flirting without even knowing Reena's name.

I do appreciate where the author is trying to go with the story, but everything that happened so far, although fiction, does seem a bit far fetched and definitely not the beginnings of romance. I could however relate to Reena and her complicated relationship with her parents forcibly pushing her towards a future she doesn't see for herself.

While I only had access to the first 4 chapters, I was intrigued to see what would happen between Nadim and Reena---and if her parent's crazy interference finally pays off for once.

I have read the first 4 chapters of the book Accidentally Engaged by Farah Heron and I am totally hooked. The way food is discribed by Reena is making me hungry and the passion she has for food is clear to me. I love food and that is one of the reasons I would like to read the book.

From what I read the romance in this book will be sizzling and I am curious to read how it will develop further. I think the book will also be about family. How Reena will find her own way in life and a balance with her family. In my opinion her family is inserting themself a bit to much in her life. To me Reena wants to live her life but also wants to please her parents and it is difficult for her to do both.

I think that I am going to love this book and the characters. I cannot wait to read the whole book and not just the chapter sampler.

I received an ARC of this book and am leaving a review voluntarily.

Accidentally Engaged, the sneak preview led me to wanting 3 things: a full copy of the book, to start baking bread and cooking Indian food again and scarily enough, to start a new career! Though I may have been looking to do the last prior to reading the preview, reading it sure enticed me more! Talk about a great read!

These few short chapters truly give you a feel for the characters, the family and the deep storyline. It also gives you a warm fuzzy feeling and taste for the culture and food which we are bound to explore throughout this book. I truly cannot wait to pick up the full novel and read it. And come the weekend I intend to pick up some chicken and veggies, pull out my spices and get to work making some vindaloo and curry. And hopefully some delicious breads to accompany it. *That is my current skill set but I shall practice more after reading this storyline!

I received a free eARC from NetGalley for the purposes of writing this review.

While this book was only a preview of the book as a whole, the beginning of the book is well represented here and the setup of the story was compelling. The characters felt alive and interesting, with hints at complex relationships that made me interested to read more to see how they develop and change.

Farah Heron shows even in the first few chapters of this novel that she has a firm grasp on how to create a fascinating story and how to draw readers in from the first page. Even having just read the beginning, I would highly recommend this book to all kinds of readers in search of a good story.

This book sounds very promising! I've never read anything from this author but these few chapters make me really excited to read more from her.

I enjoyed the author's writing style and the main character seems very likeable. Also, that meet Cute with the love interest was so good

I love this preview and I just found my next fluffy and light read. looking forward to reading the whole book. Perfect!

Four chapters and I am in. It is always interesting to read about different cultures and families and how they differ from my own. Reena loves to bake bread and has the opportunity to enter a completion. But doing so will mean she has to pretend she is engaged to a gentleman her family has picked for her. She refuses to date anyone her family chooses, but she does not want to miss this opportunity. don't want to give to much away just go read this wonderful book.

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!

Aaah, I had to immediately order a copy of the finished book after reading this sampler — the MC and love interest captured me right away, and I’m very intrigued by the cooking show development.
Between the arranged marriage and cooking show prerequisites, I can tell this is moving towards fake dating, which is one of my favorite tropes in romance because it tends to set the stage for some really sweet and awkward moments.
I usually prefer the dialogue to be a bit sharper, but all these elements make up for that.
Also, Reena is a really relatable, sympathetic, slightly grumpy MC; I already really like her and want to see where her story goes!

I read the preview of the first four chapters of the book and honestly, I am hooked. I loves good Fake dating / marriage premise and Reena is a perfect female lead for this book. Also, the food in this book is making me drool!

From what I read of this preview, I think this would be the perfect light and fluffy read that you shouldn't take too seriously. Great for a quick read by the pool or on the beach. The main love interests both seem likable and our female MC is relatable. However, I found her friends to be slightly annoying, and there was a borderline-predatory comment made by one of them- "I like them fresh out of school, so pure…" ??? That took me out of the reading experience for sure. Other than that though, I don't have many complaints. The plot is interesting, and I really like the addition of the baking competition. The writing is somewhat bland, but easy to fly through. Overall, 3 lighthearted stars!

Imperfectly perfect!

That’s the theme of this book. From the hero to the heroine, to her friends and family, these very human characters take you on a roller coaster ride. Reena is basically surviving from day to day until she meets the hot new neighbor with a British accent, Nadim.. Right away he flirts with the goddess of bare feet and baking bread...only to realize she’s actually his boss’s daughter and his intended. Fed up with her family’s meddling, Reena tells him right away and everyday after that she won’t marry him. That is until she has to pretend to be engaged in order to enter an online cooking contest for FoodTV. Sparks fly, and chemistry crackles between them on screen and off. This was a great story about the secrets people keep from each other and family members and how the truth sets you free...to love!

I enjoyed this 4-chapter preview and I definitely want to read more! I love a good arranged marriage / fake relationship trope and I would love to see how this plays out. There was already a lot to like in just these 4 chapters. Reena is 31 years old, living on her own, working a job in Finance that she hates but enjoying her bread-making / booking / baking passion during her evenings and weekends. Her parents continue to try to set her up with men and want her to get married. The latest setup happens to be Nadim, her new neighbor, and they are supposed to get married. What I really loved about this so far was that Reena knows her boundaries and knows how much of her family she can tolerate. During her brunch with her family, I loved that she knew exactly when to leave to avoid the kind of family drama I’m used to reading when a character has a controlling family. I absolutely love that she has boundaries! Another thing I really loved so far was Reena’s friends. I really enjoyed her interactions with them! They’re on her side but also challenge her to go outside her comfort zone, and their conversations were really entertaining! I also liked Nadim so far. I didn’t love the scene where they met (I thought Reena’s objectification of him, though understandable, took a little bit too much time on the page and felt a little gratuitous), their subsequent interaction in chapter 4 was really nice and I would love to see where the story goes from there! Another thing I really loved was the glimpses into a culture that isn’t mine. Overall, this was a great preview and it definitely makes me want to continue with the story!

It is good! I wish I could have read more, can’t really say a lot with such limited pages but it was promising!

Im so thankful that there was a preview for this book. Accidentally Engaged was one of my highly anticipated reads for the year but after hearing some of the other reviews for it I was very unsure if it would be the book for me. Unfortunately I don't think this book is going to be one for me. It's was good, but it mostly felt like a really average read and one that I would probably end up either annoyed with or just taking a while to get through. I thought it was really weird that the male love interest hit on her before he knew who she was knowing that he was to be set up with his bosses daughter. It just seemed like an awful set up. I will definitely still give this author a chance in the future as the writing was decent. I just didn't really care for the main character or love interest.

What a comical trope! This is such a fun, light-hearted romcom and I cannot wait to read the whole thing! I was offered a preview of the book and anxiously wait to pick up the whole book soon! Thanks for the preview - you got me hooked on Reena's story!

5 stars!

This preview enclosed a great start of 4 solid chapters to the beginning of an intriguing book. Reena, the protagonist, has me so curious about her love for baking bread and her complicated past with her sister. I am also super interested to see what develops between her and Nadim! They, thus far, have some pretty electric chemistry, and I am definitely off to purchase the book to see what happens next!

This was such a great preview! I love Reena, her gorgeous neighbor and their blooming friendship/relationship, and all of the wonderful descriptions of the characters and most importantly, the bread.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with a preview of this novel!

I bet I'm going to love this book while reading because the first reason is that Reena named her sourdough starter a man's name, A MANNN'SS NAMMMEEE, how cool is that because rather than having boy-friends and failed relationships she would have a sourdough starter with a Man's name. And the fact that Puri, spices, chai everything made my mouth water because being an Indian Puri is my fav dish!. And her independency and baking skills, yumm!!