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A review by laura_cs
The Marriage Game by Sara Desai
5.0
I received an ARC of this title from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Layla Patel's life is a garbage fire of a wreck right now. She is coming home to San Fransisco in total disgrace: dumped cheating boyfriend, fired from her job, evicted from her apartment, and a viral video she does not want to talk about. At least she's used to the chaos, between her own personality, sense of style, and huge Desi family. Her father offers her the use of the office space above the family's restaurant, and she intends to use it to start her own job recruitment agency. There's only one problem...
Sam Mehta. Organized, analytical, and focused on the goal of fixing a past mistake that hurt his family deeply, Sam is the CEO of a company that evaluates other companies for redundancies. In other words, he's the guy who says "You're fired". He's taken a lease out on the apartment above an Indian restaurant--not that he plans to eat there; he's cut all ties with his culture as part of his self-imposed pittance--and is stunned to find a woman occupying the space, claiming the office as hers.
But both of them are in for a huge surprise when men start showing up at the office... applying to become Layla's husband! Layla decides to take the opportunity for the chance to find Mr. Right; Sam thinks she's crazy, as he distrusts arranged marriages. However, the two decide to turn meeting Layla's suitors into a game; together, they'll pass judgement on these 10 poor souls. If Layla finds a husband out of all of them, Sam gets the office; if Layla doesn't, she gets the office. Who will win the Marriage Game?
This is easily the most hilarious rom-com I have ever read. I died laughing so many times. Seriously, I had to stop highlighting passages at one point because so much of the eARC would just be yellow. Layla and Sam both live and breath snark, and the added wackiness of the Patel family (So. Many. Aunties.), the ridiculousness of each and every suitor (oh, man, the suitors!), and the crazy situations these two find themselves in!
But, as funny as this book is, it's also a hard-hitting book. Layla is chaos incarnate, but she's hard-working, devoted to her family, and in many ways still figuring out what she wants in life. She's trying to heal, trying to become her own person, but has some serious self-doubts--especially in regards to her previous history with men. And then there's Sam. Sam, who blames himself for a family tragedy, who is striving so hard to make things right, who is still so hurt that he has cut away so many parts of himself just to fulfill his goal. He hasn't known how to be happy in a long time, and has denied himself that happiness for so long that he doesn't quite know what to do when he finds himself happy. They're so well written, I just love them both so much...
In short, I loved this book to death, prepare to laugh and laugh hard, and I can't wait to see what Desai will follow it up with!
Layla Patel's life is a garbage fire of a wreck right now. She is coming home to San Fransisco in total disgrace: dumped cheating boyfriend, fired from her job, evicted from her apartment, and a viral video she does not want to talk about. At least she's used to the chaos, between her own personality, sense of style, and huge Desi family. Her father offers her the use of the office space above the family's restaurant, and she intends to use it to start her own job recruitment agency. There's only one problem...
Sam Mehta. Organized, analytical, and focused on the goal of fixing a past mistake that hurt his family deeply, Sam is the CEO of a company that evaluates other companies for redundancies. In other words, he's the guy who says "You're fired". He's taken a lease out on the apartment above an Indian restaurant--not that he plans to eat there; he's cut all ties with his culture as part of his self-imposed pittance--and is stunned to find a woman occupying the space, claiming the office as hers.
But both of them are in for a huge surprise when men start showing up at the office... applying to become Layla's husband! Layla decides to take the opportunity for the chance to find Mr. Right; Sam thinks she's crazy, as he distrusts arranged marriages. However, the two decide to turn meeting Layla's suitors into a game; together, they'll pass judgement on these 10 poor souls. If Layla finds a husband out of all of them, Sam gets the office; if Layla doesn't, she gets the office. Who will win the Marriage Game?
This is easily the most hilarious rom-com I have ever read. I died laughing so many times. Seriously, I had to stop highlighting passages at one point because so much of the eARC would just be yellow. Layla and Sam both live and breath snark, and the added wackiness of the Patel family (So. Many. Aunties.), the ridiculousness of each and every suitor (oh, man, the suitors!), and the crazy situations these two find themselves in!
But, as funny as this book is, it's also a hard-hitting book. Layla is chaos incarnate, but she's hard-working, devoted to her family, and in many ways still figuring out what she wants in life. She's trying to heal, trying to become her own person, but has some serious self-doubts--especially in regards to her previous history with men. And then there's Sam. Sam, who blames himself for a family tragedy, who is striving so hard to make things right, who is still so hurt that he has cut away so many parts of himself just to fulfill his goal. He hasn't known how to be happy in a long time, and has denied himself that happiness for so long that he doesn't quite know what to do when he finds himself happy. They're so well written, I just love them both so much...
In short, I loved this book to death, prepare to laugh and laugh hard, and I can't wait to see what Desai will follow it up with!