This book was a nice read. I did enjoy the whole colorful, vibrant Bombay setting. I also liked the fact that Zoya was not your typical, fair, slim Bombay beauty. The book did confront many of the issues facing women in a conservative patriarchal society. What I wish there was more of was the actual romance. That part of the book felt lacking which was disappointing. Thanks NetGalley and the publishers for my ARC of this book.

I thought this book was so funny. It was a really refreshing read to sink into and just enjoy the experience. I think that this book would be great to read straight after an in- depth book or a long series (a good palate cleanser). I don't really have anything negative about the book. Is it my favourite? No. But is it a really nice read? Heck yea!

If you're sensitive about any fatphobic talk, don't read this book. Zoya is fat, and the mean things people say to her are appalling. She, in turn, will have mean thoughts about skinny people. This is toxic, but as other problems were explored in the book, I could ignore the fatphobia. And I'm speaking as a chubby person.

Zoya has to deal with being too dark, too fat, and too old in modern-day India. She's fine, but her society is too mean to leave her alone. It's painful to read the way people put her down. After a pregnancy scare, she decides to be a good daughter and say yes to the first man who asks her hand in marriage. Even though she's entered into a loveless engagement, she still is pursuing her career. Her society is sexist, and she's scared to hurt her family to go against it. At the same time, she doesn't want to give up on her dreams.

The plotline is fun, and the romance is cute.

This review is based on an advanced reader copy provided through Netgalley for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publishers and the author for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Yeesh - I hope I can see through my emotional tears to write this review!
Firstly let me say, this is a really funny book. It starts off with Zoya, a slightly overweight, nearly too-old-to-be-marriageable young woman attending her cousin's pre-wedding ceremony and lamenting the fact that every relative there seems to be focussed on her age and her weight. But Zoya is bright and talented and made for bigger things. The story then progresses with the push-me, pull-you of a lot of Indian rom-coms when the modern woman juggles with feeling obligated to conform and striving for independence.
But this book is a little different. I do love the romance, which unfolds beautifully, but I adored the characters and the empathy with which the author writes them. This story is about so much more than falling in love with a man. No matter what your ethnic background you will enjoy the way this book explores the meaning of being utterly yourself.
I really cannot wait to read more from this author.

I really really enjoyed this book.

Zoya is a square in a world that demands circles. She is too much of this, too much of that, and she is almost too old to make a respectable marriage match.

As someone who only has a light, surface knowledge of Indian culture I found the immersion to be an interesting and eye opening experience (and also cements my desire to visit one day, once the world is a bit safer).

My heart broke for Zoya as she was pushed and pulled and pressured by relatives: lose weight, marry this boy who is suitable and so on. While to me, she didn't seem quite as strong as the blurb had suggested, I try to look at in the context that her defiance was a true show of strength. I have never had such pressures in my own life, so I can't judge hers.

I really have to mention the food descriptions in this book. My mouth was watering the entire time. And I loved that Zoya unashamedly loved food.

Thanks to Alcove Press and Penguin Random House for sending me an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a contemporary romance about an Indian plus size main character, Zoya, as she agrees to an arranged marriage but then has to deal with the offer of a potential new job in New York.

I was really looking forward to this, but I can't in good faith recommend it to other readers when there are so many issues. There are fatphobic comments in every chapter and none of them are fully challenged. Some comments are directed at the main character by others and some are directed at others by the main character.

Zoya describes her aunt Sheila Bua as a 'tent', 'fleshy' and mentions 'her humongous body' many times throughout the story. We never really get an instance where Zoya objectively describes her aunt's appearance; these comments are repeatedly framed in a negative manner with judgment and stigma attached each time.

As well as fat-shaming her aunt and other characters, Zoya thin-shames her cousin multiple times and makes jokes about EDs, which felt very insensitive and incredibly uncomfortable to read. Zoya and Tanya also bullied each other relentlessly throughout the story, and I really didn't enjoy the girl-on-girl hate for the sake of it.

There are also microaggressions towards Muslims, transphobic and misogynistic comments, and moments of slut-shaming, which go unchallenged throughout the novel. There were times when I felt so uncomfortable reading this that I had to skim sections or put the book down for a while. I persevered with it because I hoped that the story would improve and the characters would grow and develop, and have candid conversations about the harmful stereotypes and ideas they were perpetuating. Unfortunately, this never happened.

I also thought the narrative was going to discuss marriage, gender, and job roles in Indian society, since these topics were brought up at the beginning when Zoya felt she had to choose between a marriage that would make her family happy and a job that would make her happy. I was interested in this discussion, but any commentary got lost in the mire of harmful stigma.

Sadly, I can't recommend this because there are so many toxic attitudes and prejudiced comments throughout the novel that have the potential to hurt a lot of readers. I really hope the publisher will consider taking a second look at this book before it's published.

Trigger warnings for fatphobia, transphobia, thin-shaming, slut-shaming, Islamophobic comments, terminal illness, misogynistic comments, and bullying.

I had such high hopes for this book. Unfortunately, there's far too many fat phobic comments for my taste. In 2021, we should be past that. All it does is take away from beautiful stories. With a but of editing and thought, this could be great. As for now, it's a huge DNF for me.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I missed this book. Now I feel soooooo bad. But kinda relief too. Because I'm really not up for a book that involved an Indian background. Sorry.

I was expecting more. I loved the cover and was very intrigued by the synopsis, but I didn't love it. It was good. I loved the how everything was portrayed and it was very interesting to read.

Horrible book. None of my expectations were met and I disliked all the fatphobic comments and description as well as the judgemental views of the characters.
I wanted something body-positive and uplifting. I got none of that.
I can't recommend this book.

The synopsis here was what attracted me to this book. I love exploring debut authors and so dived into this read which seemed so promising highghting all the important facets of the millennial asian experience within the conflict of traditional rituals vs modern times. However it has let me down terribly.

The narrator, who can be perfectly moral or flawed too, still does not do justice to the premise. She is written very poorly, being hypocritical, extremely judgemental, and at times hurtful and delusional even, ending up in making the reading experience bitter. There is a difference between standing up for yourself among bullies and doing the same as them to further take away the cause of body positivity. That has not even been touched upon at all. Forget body positivity, the alleged 'victim' here belittles people just as much as she claims she has suffered because them herself.

The plot focuses on the traditional regressive practices in the asian society especially when it comes to arranged marriage. However, there is no middle ground or solution provided by the author about how to tackle this problem except simply flee. We see several examples around us today of millennials taking this tradition and modernizing it in their own way to be better prepared, for example, by getting to know the individual more before tying the knot like modern dating, this has been completely excluded. Our protagonist, despite being showcased as a modern, excelling proffessional with a mind of her own does nothing of the sort which is disappointing and conflicting with the way the character is written in the first place.

All in all, the writing could have been much better. I wish the author would have carefully thought out what she wants to achieve by telling this story. Writing flawed characters also is an art and there is a lot of justification needed which is missing here. It is a breezy quick read and feels more like watching a masala Bollywood movie than reading a good book (which may or may not have been the intention, who knows).

This book was read of my own free will in exchange for an honest review for NetGalley. I loved this book and the MC so much! Zoya is a good Indian daughter who does what any good daughter should- she agrees to an arranged marriage. However, her potential matches leave quite a bit to be desired. Finally, she is matched to (what seems to be) the perfect man, and finds the characteristics she thought would be in her perfect man aren’t in him. They are in her boss though... will Zoya find happiness? Read this book! You won’t be disappointed!

It’s always so nice to see different cultural representations in romance books.

If someone is unaware of the Indian culture, this book pretty much sums it up. Especially the marriage process and the hardships one can face because of this. It provides interesting insight on subjects that aren’t usually discussed in the Indiana culture, especially with the older traditions in place. And to have a plus sized Main character, it provides that extra sense of how society shapes young girls to become what it wants rather than being who they are and staying true to that.

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove press for the earc in return for an honest review.

Synopsis: Zoya Sahni has a great education, a fulfilling job, and a loving family (for the most part). But she is not the perfect Indian girl. She's overweight, spunky, and dark-skinned in a world that prizes the slim, obedient and fair. At 26 she is hurtling toward her expiration date in Mumbai's arranged marriage super-mart, but when her aunties' matchmaking radars hones in on the Holy Grail of suitors--just as Zoya gets a dream job offer in New York City--the girl who once accepted her path as almost option-less must now make a choice of a lifetime.

Big-hearted with piercing social commentary, The Rules of Arrangement tells a powerful, irresistibly charming and oh-so relatable tale of a progressive life that won't be hemmed in by outdated rules. But not without a few cultural casualties, and of course, an accidental love story along the way.

Review: Accidental love stories are the best, and this cultural adventure is no less than the rest. Zoya is everything we want our feminine heroines to be, and her story is interesting especially against the background of her culture. This book is full of highs and lows just like any romance and it'll definitely give you all the feels without leaving you wanting for more.

GENRE: women fiction( with some side romance plot)
TROPES & THEMES: arranged marriage, workplace romance, family dynamics, society expectations
TRIGGER WARNINGS: fatphobia, misogyny, cancer, microaggressions
RATING: 1,5 ⭐
RELEASE DATE: July 13th, 2021

This book is set in Mumbai, India, where our main protagonist, 26-year-old Zoya, deals with her family bent on arranging a marriage for her. She, on the other hand, is focused on her marketing career and working hard to secure a promotion that will allow her to work in New York. While marriage is on the horizon with one man, Zoya gets close to another. There are a plethora of side characters from family members, friends to work colleagues.

In the end, this was more about Zoya's personal journey than the romance. Sure, we have a romantic interest and somewhat a happy for now situation. However, I would categorize this as more of a women's fiction book than contemporary romance.

What really bothers me was the fatphobia and judgemental way the majority of characters displayed in the dialogue and the heroine in her inner monologue. She is shamed for being overweight by her family members, other side characters, and cousin. But she also shames them. Is that her coping mechanism when dealing with harsh comments? Absolutely. But she also is shaming her cousin for being skinny. There is a paragraph dedicated to her cousin "finally eating food". Okay, we can all agree that this is something that happens in real life. But did the author went anywhere with this narrative? In my opinion, no. It wasn't resolved in any positive way. Dialogue is filled with microaggressions.

The premise of the book was the reason I requested this book. Breaking the social and cultural norms is an interesting storyline. How one deals in situations when they are faced with wanting different things from the life their parents and family want is universal and understandable. However, the execution of the story is very poorly done. Zoya with all her imperfections was supposed to be a character I should relate to. But I found her to be a very hard person to root for.

I liked how the story ended and I liked the character of her aunt. In my eyes, she had the best growth and complexity out of all other characters. Also what a beautiful cover.

Would I recommend this book and to whom?
Probably. But it is not a book for everyone, for sure. It is very rare for me to say to other readers not to read a book. Maybe in this case I would just advise that you rather expect a social commentary fiction novel more than anything else. But keep in mind there are a lot of problematic comments and stereotypes that will upset some readers.

*ARC received through NetGalley for an honest review. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the copy of the book.

This book stars Zoya, a plus-size twenty-six year old in Mumbai, India. She has a strong education, a full-time job, and is single, which can only mean one thing: everyone and their aunt is trying to set up a marriage for her. Her aunt, Shelia Bua, takes the helm of her matchmaking process, despite Zoya’s reluctance. In addition to trying to get engaged, Zoya is also offered an opportunity to apply for a job in New York, which would be a way to leave her life - and her troubles - behind. Which path will she choose, and how will family secrets she discovers along the way affect her decision?

Going into this story, I did not expect the amount of fatphobia present, especially in the first half of the book. The thoughts and negative self-talk this character displayed were jaw-dropping, and were even worse than the comments of people around her. There was no voice of reason amongst the crowd at all in this regard, so it was pretty much a dump of hateful comments. This fact alone made me almost DNF the book, it was so bad. Furthermore, this entire thing had a resolution in the end of about two sentences, which did not make up for the amount of negative comments in the front half. I’d like to have seen some balance somewhere - maybe have Zoya fight the comments inside her head, or have a relative try to be a voice of reason. Something - anything - to lend credence to the fact that there’s another way.

Even though I almost put the book down, I’m glad I didn’t; the last half of the story was a great one! Even though I was not shipping the love interest at first, by the time the ending came around I was rooting for them. In addition, I enjoyed the family dynamics and how they played out to help the story progress. I especially loved Shelia Bua‘s story, probably even more so than Zoya’s. There were some good moments when the author compares engagement in India to engagement in the US, which was a nice detail to me, as it helped me understand that element a bit better. The setting of Mumbai was a good choice, especially all the food descriptions - YUM!

Overall, I found this book hard to rate. The first half is two stars at best, because it almost made me put the book down. The last half is pretty good - probably four stars. However I wouldn’t have gotten to the good stuff without having to wade through the first half, so I averaged it out to 3 stars. Given that this is a newer author, I would definitely pick up another book from them in the future; they have good ideas, even if they weren’t necessarily executed to the best extent in this case.

This book was more of a women's fiction novel than a romance, as that's not the primary storyline of our heroine Zoya. It was a bit slow to start and it seems just alright. It's a quick read and is well-written and compelling, but something just seems missing and falls flat to me that makes it just okay. Perfectly fine and insightful to look into the Indian culture of arranged marriages.

First of all, let me tell you that, while this book is marketed as a romance, I’d consider it women’s fiction for sure. It’s about the journey of a woman who learns to accept that she is different from most women in her family and society, and that that’s okay. We also see pieces of the story of her aunt and how similar they are. The romances are just in the background in my opinion, a small part of a bigger story. This all sounds like women’s fiction to me.

There were many problematic elements in this book, and I admit that this did not entirely surprised me, given that it was centered on Indian tradition and arranged marriages, and most books about these topics tend to have mysoginistic and patriarchal tendencies. What rubbed me the wrong way though was the heavy fatphobia. This was not just manifested through the characters’ comments regarding the heroine, but mostly through the way certain things were written. (like when describing a part of the heroine’s body “moving her giant x with difficulty”) Also, sometimes the heroine responded to being fatshamed with thinshaming. Not cool at all.

Another thing I didn’t like was the “big reveal” at the end about the other couple: it was so obvious from the beginning!!

Having said all that, I do think there are positive aspects of this book:
-the writing: except for the fatphobic tendencies present throughout all the book (which could have been intentional), the writing was good, and I kept wanting to read the book even if I didn’t really like what I was reading (if that makes sense);
-Sheila Bua: her character’s redeeming story was interesting and the only slightly feminist element present in this book;
-the ending: although kind of predictable, I liked how the story was wrapped.

I wouldn’t reread this and honestly wouldn’t recommend it to everyone, but I understand why people would like it. It’s an interesting depiction of Indian society and we don’t have a lot of that in the romance genre. Maybe I’ll try another book from this author, who knows. This one was definitely not for me.

I tried really hard to appreciate this one, but it just wasn't for me. I couldn't get past the unchallenged, constant fatphobia, and it felt more like I was reading a rambling diary than an actual narrative that I could follow. This made it really hard to connect with/care about the narrator and characters.

Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for this arc!! I was holding off reading this for the right time but I am glad I waited. The cover caught my eye and although the story felt more like fiction than romance, I appreciated my experience. Our main character Zoya is an Indian woman who is contemplating an arranged marriage which is what her family wants or a new job in New York City which is what she wants. This book deals with body image and how outside influences can play a part in how we view ourselves. Zoya's family reinforces Zoya's negative body images constantly and I really wanted to love this but the constant negative body comments and negative dialogue between Zoya and her cousin were a turn off. I did enjoy the imagery of Mumbai and being transported to the city of dreams. Themes include: society, culture, family, relationships and personal vs others view of yourself and struggle to embrace yourself.