The Dating Plan by Sara Desai

* * * *

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.

Source: NetGalley; ARC generoulsy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review

The Dating Plan presents a slightly different take on the fake relationship with Daisy and Liam already having some history and them being somewhat familiar with each other's families. 

Daisy just wants her family to back off and stop all attempts to marry her off. She's content with her life at the moment and has no interest in shaking things up. At one of her conferences, she runs in to Liam and it goes off with a bang! Liam, the teenage heartbreaker and enemy number one since he was a no-show as her prom date years ago. Seeing him again at that very moment is seriously awkward on so many levels but also good timing. Their fortuitous encounter not only reunites them but also allows them to call in a favor: appear to be in a serious relationship with each other in order to appease their families. It's so wacky and honestly, there's no way it's going to work out as easily as they think. But it's fun them reconnect and handle Daisy's overbearing but well-meaning extensive family network. His family is just as wild, too.

Daisy is such a lively personality. She's a nerd, a stickler for organization and a MCU fanatic, and it all translates in to her own cute aesthetic that she owns completely and effortlessly. I liked that she broke some stereotypes. As for Liam? I dug him from the beginning. Sure, he has a bit of attitude but there's a super nice guy that comes forth and he's just so freaking charming. While the two have concocted this crazy idea to throw their families of their scent, so to speak, Daisy does have some reservations. Liam's unexplained absence from her life makes her explore her own issues with abandonment and how it affects her views of relationships and being reliant on someone else. Liam's own negative experiences have also colored his perspective though it's not so clear cut around Daisy. Having known her family from before and feeling the nostalgia of their closeness and hospitality, he falls back into her world so easily. Her family was his safe haven from his messed up one and Daisy was always so kind and accepting of him. Then he screwed it up and now he's working hard to earn her forgiveness. Let me tell you, he's hard to say no to, though Daisy does make him work to earn her trust again. 

As with most contemporary Desi romances I've been reading, family plays a hugely important part in everyday life. Daisy's is no exception. I will say for me, it tends to be a bit overwhelming as I didn't have a large family surrounding me when I was growing up, so to me all of Daisy's uncles and aunties coming at her from all directions was intense. But at the heart of it is love and togetherness, and some of the aunties, even with their melodramatic tendencies, are entertaining. 

I quite enjoyed reading The Dating Plan. I laughed out loud when Daisy and Liam had their run in - that was only the first chapter - and the amusement continued on from there. This second chance romance will sprinkle joy and laughter in your little reading corner so definitely check it out!

~ Bel

Content warning/triggers:

- mention of alcoholism and physical abuse (Liam's memory of his father towards him and his mother)

- abandonment issue (Daisy's memory of her mother who left their family when she was younger; she and her dad discuss it briefly later in the book)

The Marriage Game by Sara Desai

* * * *

A high stakes wager pits an aspiring entrepreneur against a ruthless CEO in this sexy romantic comedy.

After her life falls apart, recruitment consultant Layla Patel returns home to her family in San Francisco. But in the eyes of her father, who runs a Michelin starred restaurant, she can do no wrong. He would do anything to see her smile again. With the best intentions in mind, he offers her the office upstairs to start her new business and creates a profile on an online dating site to find her a man. She doesn’t know he’s arranged a series of blind dates until the first one comes knocking on her door…

As CEO of a corporate downsizing company Sam Mehta is more used to conflict than calm. In search of a quiet new office, he finds the perfect space above a cozy Indian restaurant that smells like home. But when communication goes awry, he's forced to share his space with the owner's beautiful yet infuriating daughter Layla, her crazy family, and a parade of hopeful suitors, all of whom threaten to disrupt his carefully ordered life.

As they face off in close quarters, the sarcasm and sparks fly. But when the battle for the office becomes a battle of the heart, Sam and Layla have to decide if this is love or just a game.

Source: ARC provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review

I wanted humour and witty repartee and it was all here in The Marriage Game. This opposites-attract, forced-proximity romance pits Layla, a whirlwind of a personality HR recruiter against Sam, a disciplined CEO. They are like fire and water but the attractive kind that you can't help to tear your eyes away from. Returning home to San Francisco after she discovered her reality tv boyfriend was cheating on her, Layla has to restart her life and her career. Her father offers her the office space above their restaurant with the intent to renege on the lease that he had agreed to with Sam. Due to unforeseen circumstances, Sam doesn't get the message so his and Layla's first meeting does not go off well. Both are insistent on the right to be there and boy do they butt heads! When a stranger shows up responding to her dad's ad, Layla thinks it's the perfect opportunity to take the guessing game out of dating and go on these dates to eventually find someone to marry. Sam thinks it's the worst idea ever but because her father is unavailable, he agrees to chaperone these dates. They have an agreement regarding the office that is dependent on the result of these dates. Shenanigans ensue.

Layla and Sam can deny up and down in front of everyone how much they detest each other but the truth is that they're not only intrigued but rather in lust. There's so much self-sabotaging of dates and crazy run ins that I was eager for the next mess they'd land in. I truly got a kick out of Sam's reactions to her dates. He had the best zingers and comebacks that I fell a little for him. Layla, though could not be suppressed. Not only did she trudge through the dates, she actually enjoyed giving Sam grief. It's been a while since I've felt two characters challenge each other the way they did and I was so into them. Honestly, these dates just gave them an excuse to be nearby but it proves to become a conundrum for Sam who's bent on achieving his own agenda which is to exact revenge on someone who hurt his family. It's an incident that's part of his past that he has purposeful left behind but continues to haunt him. Being around Layla is a reprieve from his guilt. But when the borders he's built to separate his worlds start to break down, so does he.

The only thing that's iffy to me about The Marriage Game is the initial set up where Layla wants to oust Sam from an office space that's legally his. That scenario is flimsy and let's be reasonable, rude. Anyway, it can be easily discarded as Layla and Sam's interactions pick up steam and become this ridiculous crazy train of blind dates, meddling but well-meaning aunties and constant ribbing. I live for this stuff and The Marriage Game delivers all that and the laughs brilliantly!

~ Bel