Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Shaadi Set-Up by Lillie Vale

2 reviews

blackveilbeccy's review

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emotional hopeful lighthearted slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This was so slow. I really wanted to get into it but it never quite sucked me in, either on a plot or character level. It was solid with a happy ever after but not a stand out. 

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azrah786's review

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4.25

[This full review can also be found on my BLOG]

**I was provided with an ARC through Netgalley for a blog tour with Lonely Pages Book Tours in exchange for an honest review**

CW: toxic relationship, moderate sexual content, alcohol

The Shaadi Set-Up is one wholesome second-chance, desi romance that you’re not going to be able to put down!

Rita Chitniss is happily living her mid-twenties with an up-and-coming small furniture designing business, her two doggos, and a steady relationship with her boyfriend Neil. Bad blood between Neil and her family means she has to keep him a secret though which isn’t always easy in a desi family at an age when everyone’s badgering you to settle down and get married. Neil on the other hand is trying to get her to fess up to their parents which Rita just isn’t ready for yet. Then things takes an unsolicited turn when Rita’s mum wanting to play match maker, signs her up to lend her design expertise to her high school sweetheart and ex, Milan.

Hence Rita turns to MyShaadi.com, a desi matchmaking site, to be her ally and convince the world that Neil is her Mr Right. However, the universe has other ideas when her profile keeps matching her with Milan instead.

Lillie Vale’s adult romance debut is an absolute delight. Think meddling desi parents/grandparents à la When Dimple Met Rishi but with six times the sexual tension, messiness and yearning of two exes being nudged towards a second-chance romance. The “set-up” itself with Rita stepping in to help Milan revamp a property the realty firm he works for is struggling to sell, provided such a perfect close proximity situation! And their chemistry and banter hit off straight away so I was immediately rooting for them.

Rita is such a fun, determined and relatable character. I loved how passionate she was about her work and as a design student/graduate myself seeing a main character and a brown girl at that excelling in a design career (and the added full support from her parents) made me so so happy!

Vale’s writing sets the scene with beautiful clarity, bringing all of Rita’s design compositions to life and even sparked some inspiration in me to pick up a pencil and get creative. The true highlight though were the food descriptions, trust me this book will make you hungry! (Especially for that Masala Mac 🤤)

Now romance isn’t my go to genre so I’ve only really read a handful of adult romance books but what I found quite refreshing about this story was how realistic the development of the relationships and romance felt - there was never any overzealous drama for dramas sake, a trope that a lot of desi serials and romance stories tend to fall upon. Furthermore alongside Rita and Milan’s reintroduction setting into motion a great slow burn romance, it was more so about the two characters relearning how they each have changed as they have grown. Particularly when it came to Rita, it felt like a journey of coming to terms with what she wanted in life and from a relationship.

One issue that did effect my overall enjoyment of the book though was that around the halfway point I feel like it started to get a tad tedious and lost some of its flow. The slowing down resulted in the last 15-20% of the book having a lot going on with a lot of things being resolved at once which made the ending feel quite rushed.

All the same, I really really enjoyed this book and now have a big craving for more desi contemporary romance stories (so anybody reading this feel free to send me recs 👀). And I am definitely looking forward to seeing what Vale puts out next!
Final Rating – 4.25/5 Stars 

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