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Fiction. Literature. Romance. HTML: Named one of Pop Sugar's Best Books to Put in your Beachbag this summer and one of the best books of July. A Booktrib "Romance to get you in the swing for Wedding Season" of 2019 A Book Riot "Five New Diverse Romantic Comedies" Bustle's "21 new summer novels to spice up your summer reading" To Leila Abid's traditional Indian parents, finding a husband is as easy as match, meet, marry. Yes, she wants to marry, but after 26 years of singledom, even Leila is starting to get nervous. And to make matters worse, her parents are panicking, the neighbors are talking, and she's wondering, are her expectations just too high? But for Leila, a marriage of arrangement clashes with her lifelong dreams of a Bollywood romance, where real love happens before marriage, not the other way around. So she decides it's time to stop dreaming and start dating. It's an impossible mission of satisfying her parents' expectations, while also fulfilling her own western ideals of love. But after a series of speed dates, blind dates, online dates and even ambush dates, the sparks just don't fly! Now, with the marriage clock ticking, and her 3-month deadline looming in the horizon, Leila must face the consequences of what might happen if she doesn't find "the one...".… (more)
User reviews
Synopsis: Leila is a Muslim-American girl whose parents want her to get married ASAP. She makes an agreement with them that if she can't find a husband in three months she will accept a marriage they arrange for her.
My rating:
4/5
The vast majority of this book is Leila going on
Aside from the hilarious dates, I also got to learn about Muslim culture which was interesting. I enjoyed the window into a different culture and how that culture affected relationships. Leila has a friend who is a divorced Muslim woman and it was neat to see how that affected her.
Overall, I had a really good time with this book and enjoyed reading it.
I did have some issues with the ending. I felt the way the book ended invalidated the rest of the book. I think a lot of other people will really love the ending. It just wasn't one I appreciated.
I would recommend this book to those looking for chick-lit as it is stylistically similar. This book is not a romance and I would have been up for a lot more romance than was had on those crazy dates.
I absolutely adored this book. Who doesn't stress about finding the right guy? Now throw in being in a culture where your parents can arrange your marriage, and it might be a little more stressful. But don't worry...they give you three
This book brings so much charm and perspective, and honestly was a breath of fresh air. It was a fun and smile worthy book that packs a lot of culture and hilarity into what can be the most stressful time of someone's life. Friendship, family, culture, and the dating game are all on display in this book.
I cannot hype this book up enough. It's a unique rom-com that will make you laugh, potentially cry, and grimace at how brutal dating can be (oh those bad dates... we've all had one).
Four out of five stars.
As a 3rd generation Canadian of Indian descent, I think this book would have been great if released decades ago. But, the so-called "solution" at
This is the sort of book that has the potential to be misidentified as revolutionary by a few people (probably those who either don't fully understand the cultural complexity or are still struggling to stick up for themselves in a challenging cultural setting) and then go on to gas-light and convince others to put up with abuse and toxicity. No is a sentence. Once someone has said they do not wish to get married yet or ever, that should be the end of that conversation. Women should no longer have to put up with people constantly bringing that topic up. "Just" because the so-called parents don't plan to actively arrange the protagonist's marriage at the end is not justification for planning to bring it up before she does.
I noticed a lot of issues with the book, such as the protagonist's extreme judgementalism, but I will limit myself to what I've written so far.
I really hope no one reads this and sees the protagonist as a modern and relevant idol.