Zara was “loud, unruly, wild, and totally out of control”



Sara Desai gives her readers a wonderfully entertaining and heartwarming romantic comedy with The Singles Table. Zara Patel and Jay Dayal are two very different people by all appearances. Zara is a flamboyant, accident prone, nonstop talking attorney from an extensively intertwined and involved Indian family. Zay is former military and co-owner of a security company, extremely aloof and guarded, with no family other than his mother. Their only similarity is their aversion to a committed relationship as the result of a traumatic psychological event. A bridal party paintball event, where they end up on the same team, ignites an attraction that is hard to resist as they are continually thrown together with all the eligible singles during the busy wedding season.


Zara and Jay literally hit the ground running in my head with their comedy of errors paintball battle meeting. Zara’s unfettered brashness and verbal upchucking totally unbalance Jay from the get go while igniting in him a passion he hadn’t realized he had so thoroughly suppressed. Yet, it is his stoic confidence that continues to attract Zara and calm her wild insecurities. I loved this combination and the way Sara connects and grows their attraction to each other as it forces them to confront the unresolved issues in their own lives. The physical attraction, which is steamy, is what first breaks through their fortified defenses with an intensity that surprises them both. While it leaves them initially disconcerted it also reveals an undeniable deeper connection that makes them unable to stay away from each other. Sara writes these budding relationship dynamics so well that you easily become lost in the thoughts and emotions driving The Singles Table.


I probably would have given The Singles Table a 4.5 star rating but was disappointed with the extent to which Zara continues to metaphorically “run” from her feelings and the inevitable “event” that disrupts their relationship. It was both frustrating and predictable, especially after connecting with a story that was so appealing because of its magnetic attraction and unique unfolding. However, the book recovers with a wonderfully satisfying ending that has enticed me to look into reading the other two stories in the Marriage Game series. Overall, Sara does a great job balancing Jay and Zara’s deep emotional and physical relationship with the hilarious aunties’ matchmaking competition and Zara’s unofficial attempts to surpass their numbers with her own lovebird connections. This makes The Singles Table a wonderfully appealing and entertaining romantic comedy you won’t want to miss.

This book had a lot of good things going for it. The writing is really good, I definitely felt I was living the wedding season with the characters, and you do end up really rooting for the romance. For me the negatives were really personal things that aren’t for me, but that most people wouldn’t care about. The male lead is former military and that is written as the reason behind every move he makes, I thought that was a little over the top. The female lead felt a little “not like other girls” through a portion of the book, but ultimately I did end up liking her. I actually really thought the side characters were solid. All in all not mad I read it, and if you are a romance fan you should pick this one up! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me a DRC of The Singles Table via NetGalley. This was an entertaining read - Zara as a character had a really fun and exuberant personality and her energy brightens up the book. It took me a little longer to get Jay and understand him, but I think he and Zara have a great chemistry.

I'd say I'd give this book about 3 stars because it was a little difficult to start and get into, and some of the plot points seemed really unbelievable.

The Singles Table follows newly single. lawyer Zara Patel who ends up at the singles table at her friends wedding when she meets Jay Donovan. They're stuck together for the entire wedding season so they decide to help each other out. Zara will help Jay find his perfect match if he introduces her to his celebrity clients. But as they spend a lot of time together they begin to fall for each other.

This is a swoon worthy, laugh out loud, opposites attract, romcom that will put a huge smile on your face! I definitely recommend.

I have read the other books in the series and I really enjoy Sara Desai as an author. This has probably been my least favourite book in the series, but I did grow to enjoy it as the book continued.

The book centres around Jay and Zara, two people always relegated to the "Singles Table" at the many weddings they are attending. The two of them start off hating each other, but they make a mutually beneficial deal that brings them closer together. But can Zara open up her heart again?

As the two characters grew closer together I became more invested in their story and I wanted to see where they would end up. As sometimes happens with Romance novels I didn't love the problem that came up right before the end, but I was rooting for Jay and Zara the whole time and overall enjoyed the story.

Well written and enthralling, The Singles Table was an enjoyable read that kept me entertained. My only complaint is that it has heavy references to another title by Sara Desai, so I had to find that book and read sections for context. All in all, I definitely look forward to reading more titles by her.

My favorite part(s) was definitely the paintball scenes. The mental imagery there cracked me up.

My thanks to NetGalley for making an eARC of this book available to me.

I've enjoyed the other books in this series, and this one is no exception. It's a bit more than a typical "opposites attract" book, but for me more of a "their strengths complement each other's weaknesses". I found both main characters to be fun and interesting, and appreciated the good focus on the details of each of their back stories.

Another great story by Sara Desai! I love the family of characters she has created and was elated to see the return of the aunties! I've always loved a good enemies to lovers story, but my other favorite trope is the grump and the sunshine. Here we have that in spades and its so well done. I also love that the drama that comes in her romances are realistic and never contrived. I raced through this book and loved every moment of it!

The book was entertaining, but the writing was average. It felt like Desai was catering to a white audience. There was some chemistry but overall the book was sort of forgettable. The characters also felt over the top.

This book felt just like the first book, only the gender roles were reversed. I was hoping for something fresh and different in this story.

Earlier in the year I had the pleasure of reading The Dating Plan, which is the second book in The Marriage Game series, and I loved it! I was so excited when Berkley approved me for an advanced copy of the continuation, The Single’s Table. Made infinitely more excited by the fact that one of the MC’s is ex-Air Force (though I’m still waiting for someone to write one where the female MC is a veteran, so if you have recommendations, drop them in the comment please…).

I’m not going to lie, I struggled to get into this one. In fact, I debated DNF-ing on multiple occasions. The first several chapters felt like they weren’t flowing well and the dialogue felt incredibly choppy. The spark between the main characters was there – ridiculously sun-shiny Zara and her complete opposite, grumpy as heck Jay. It took a good 20 - 30% of the book for me to really get lost in the story.

However, something clicked a little ways into it and from there, it became much more enjoyable. Zara is on a mission to become the best matchmaker in the family and her target for the season is Jay, who is looking to settle down to appease his mother. As they work together and spend some time getting to know each other, sparks begin to fly and the relationship deepens. Zara is over the top, full of passion, and not afraid to go after what she wants. Jay is a bit on the grumpy side but comes to appreciate all the joy that Zara brings to the world and their relationship progression is really cute.

Aside from the rocky start, The Single’s Table was quite enjoyable and I can’t wait to see what Desai comes up with next.

Having enjoyed the author's previous books, it was a no brainer for me to pick this one right away. I look forward to Indian representation in her romcoms and love most of her characters. I like the way she brings in our culture in these mainstream books. I waited for Zara and Jay to come together to start reading the fun part of the book. This one has my favorite enemies-to-lovers trope and it was super entertaining from the start. It starts off as slow-burn but once they get together, it is amazingly steamy!

The Singles Table, the third book in Sara Desai’s Marriage Game series, is charming and fun, but a bit slow to get started. Jay and Zara meet at a co-ed paintball bachelor party where they have an immediate dislike for each other based on their paintball technique. Jay runs a security firm and Zara is a lawyer who loves to matchmake during the wedding season. When Zara learns that Jay is looking for somebody to date to placate his mother, she trades her matchmaking services for some introductions to celebrities that Jay meets through his job. And unless you’ve never read a romance novel, I’m sure you can guess how it progresses from there.

When we first meet them, Jay and Zara seem to embody the grumpy/sunshine tropes, but as the book progresses we see that there is more to each of them than just their superficial first impressions. Jay and Zara have very enemies to lovers energy, and their chemistry sparks on the page. I loved their dialogue and getting to watch them learn about each other over the course of the book. I especially liked Zara – she’s out there living her best life, having fun, and she’s also smart and practical. The scene of her in the courtroom didn’t quite feel like it could happen in real life, but it still made Zara seem like an amazingly clever lawyer, and I love it when we get to see romance heroines being awesome at their jobs.

My main complaint about The Singles Table is that I felt the main story was a little slow to get started. The best parts of the book are when Jay and Zara are together, obviously, and it felt (to me) like it took a while for them to get back on the page together after the first meeting. This could also be attributed to me being in a bit of a reading slump when I started this book, so take this with a grain of salt, I suppose. Additionally, I felt there were some sections with a level of detail that wasn’t really necessary for the story. For example, Jay is raising funding for his company to expand internationally, and that felt like it took up too much page time (especially involving the banker’s daughter who I felt was totally unnecessary).

But overall, I think after a bit of a rocky start, the book really does a good job of pulling it together and convincing the reader that Jay and Zara are perfect for each other. Both Jay and Zara have “a-ha” moments where they realize they need to work on something about themselves (for Zara, it was her fear of love, and for Jay, it was for his mental health) and then they actually take steps to address their issues.

I’ve read all three books in this series, and I definitely think you can go into The Singles Table even if you haven’t read either of the first two books. I’ll be honest and say I only noticed a few character overlaps, and whether that’s because of my bad memory (possible) or because The Singles Table doesn’t rely on events in the previous books, I believe it would be easy to read as a standalone.

The Singles Table is a solid installment in the Marriage Game series, a very enjoyable read that’s both funny and sincere, with great dialogue and characters.

This is the third book in the Marriage Game series but you can read them out of order as each story centers on different characters. I have enjoyed each book better than the one before and this one is by far my favorite but I have really enjoyed all three. The Singles Table has my favorite trope and it just worked so well for me! This story follows Zara who is a lawyer but doesn’t fit the traditional mold and Jay who owns a security company. Their meet cute is one of my favorites and I laughed out loud reading it! The two do not get along at first but soon the two can’t keep away from each other. I think Zara is one of my favorite characters I have read this year! She knows herself and stays true even when expectations are against this. Jay also goes on a journey in learning to deal with his ptsd from his time in the military! I highly recommend this book and series if you want some fun and steamy romances! Thank you Berkley and Social Butterfly PR for my gifted copy!

I love love looooove Sara’s books, and THE SINGLES TABLE is no exception. I could relate so much to Zara, and her big, loud personality. I, too, have been told that I am “too much” - too loud, too big, too boisterous. Zara’s journey is a reminder that we should never muffle ourselves for the comfort of others. It is a celebration of the women who are “too much,” and the people who love them just as they are.

And also it’s a super swoony, steamy, adorable rom-com that had me gasping with laughter. Sara Desai has definitely earned auto-buy status with me.

Sara Desai has gifted us another wonderful romantic comedy! It’s a grumpy/sunshine trope full of weddings, incredible food and meddling aunties within the Indian culture. Zara and Jay had an absolutely hilarious first meet at a bachelor/bachelorette party. They definitely get off on the wrong foot. But, as they keep meeting at the singles table at various weddings, they come up with a wager. She will find him a love match and he will introduce her to his celebrity clients.

Jay is a buttoned up workaholic. He has always been so focused on work that he’s forgotten about everything else in life. He doesn’t have any fun in his life. Enter Zara. She is like a tornado. She is clumsy, awkward and talks way too much. But, you can’t help but love her. She is so funny and incredibly entertaining. There are so many awkward yet completely amusing situations. The chemistry and banter between them was so good. The writing and pace were impeccable as always with this author. It’s another charming, entertaining, opposites attract rom-com and I would definitely recommend it!

Thank you Berkley Romance for gifting my a digital copy of The Singles Table by Sara Desai. This is the third book in this "series", but each can be read as a standalone. Out of the three books, The Marriage Game (the first one) still remains my favorite out of the three. In The Singles Table, we meet Jay and Zara, two people who could not be more different if they tried. Jay likes being in control and he likes things neat and buttoned up. Zara is the complete opposite- she is loud and calls it like she sees it, and is often the life of the party, doing beer funnels and sharing her stories of wild hook ups and fun times. When their friends' wedding brings the two of them together, they start off as enemies but pretty soon they will realize they have more in common than they think. There were scenes that I thought were really funny, for example, the beginning paintball scene, the zombie part scene, and when Zara sees Lin Manuel Miranda, and there were plenty of moments that were emotional. This is a slooooowwwwww burn; I think it is a little more than halfway before the two of them finally hook up, and while the steam is then on from there, I wish there would have been some more before this point in the story. Perhaps this is because a lot of the books I have been reading lately have been slow burn romances, but I found myself getting a little frustrated with Jay and Zara. As the reader, we know how the two of them feel about each other, but in the story to each other, they keep acting like they are only friends with no chemistry. Also, I wish more Jay's anxiety/PTSD would have been more of the story. It is so sweet when Zara takes care of him, but I think the topic of anxiety is more associated with women, although men suffer from it as well. I was excited to see Desai incorporate this into the story, but like I said, I just wish it would have been incorporated more. I would give this one 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 on Goodreads.

Highly entertaining and sweetly sexy journey. Was a fun, laugh out loud, action packed adventure filled with witty and engaging charters, emotional twists and exciting turns.

I loved this grumpy/sunshine book so much! Zara and Jay are such opposites, but they go so well together. I was immediately pulled in to their shenanigans and was completely immersed in this story. I had a smile on my face the whole time. 4.5 stars

Ahhh, another enjoyable series I’d recommend if you’re looking for a contemporary romance series with some love, laughter, and steam😍🤣🥵

I learned a lot more about Indian culture, more specifically dating and marriage traditions, and drooled reading and listening to all of the recipes and foods in the books 🤤

I wasn’t planning on reading this series in order but my audiobook holds came in at a convenient time, but you can definitely read it out of order (although reading in order will give you the background on secondary characters mentioned, etc.) The first and second, THE MARRIAGE GAME (enemies-to-lovers) and THE DATING PLAN (fake relationship meets second-chance) are probably tied for my fave in the series. The third, THE SINGLES TABLE felt less structured than the first two, but still an enjoyable enemies-to-lovers trope!

Thank you for a copy of my book (and to BookSparks too) in exchange for my honest review!