The Marriage Game

April 1, 2020

DEBUT Layla Patel has recently moved back home after hitting rock bottom in both her professional and her personal life. As she starts her own business in the office above her parents' restaurant, she finds that her father has already leased it to someone else. Layla gets another surprise when she learns that her father has also created an online dating profile for her in hopes of finding her someone special. To start over and avoid making the same mistakes from her past relationships, Layla agrees to meet each of the men on her father's list. Sam Mehta has recently relocated his redundancy business to the office above the restaurant that Layla's family owns. At first, Sam and Layla are at odds with each other, but that changes when Sam agrees to be a chaperone with Layla's ten suitors. What starts as a tumultuous cohabitation of the office turns into the possibility of much more. VERDICT This witty and delightful story about family, forgiveness, and letting go is utterly satisfying. Desai's first book will be a hit with fans of Sonya Lalli's The Matchmaker's List.--Ashli Wells, Vanderbilt Univ. Law Lib., Nashville

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Starred review from April 6, 2020
Desai’s delightful debut is a playful take on enemies-to-lovers and arranged marriage tropes starring two headstrong Desi-American protagonists. Layla Patel returns home to San Francisco from New York City after losing her job, her boyfriend, and her self-respect. Her father, determined to fix her life, offers her the office space above his restaurant (which he neglects to tell Sam Mehta, the current tenant), and makes her a profile on an Indian dating site (which he neglects to tell Layla). Sam refuses to vacate the office space, but Layla sets up shop there anyway. The pair instantly clash, but when suitors from the dating website show up at the office hoping to woo Layla, Sam feels oddly protective. They strike a bet: if Layla finds a husband among the blind dates her father set up, she has to surrender the office to Sam, if she doesn’t, then Sam must leave the office. As part of their deal, Sam will chaperone her dates to protect her from the judgement of her hypertraditional suitors. It’s a blast to witness Sam and Layla exchange flirtatious barbs as their snarky chemistry blossoms into something real over the course of Layla’s hilariously disastrous dates. Rom-com fans should take note of this fresh, fun offering. Agent: Laura Bradford, Bradford Literary.

May 1, 2020
A down-on-her-luck Indian American human resources professional locks horns with an Indian American corporate downsizer while also trying to find a suitable bridegroom. Layla Patel returns to San Francisco after undergoing a public breakup with her social media-star boyfriend and getting fired from her job in New York. She's immediately plunged into a chaotic life with her extended clan while she tries to start her own HR firm. At the same time she's helping her family's restaurant stay afloat after her father has a health crisis, she has another item to tackle: evaluating the potential grooms he had selected for her from a matrimony website. To complicate matters further, Sam Mehta, an uptight corporate executive, has rented the space above the restaurant and refuses to give up his lease. Desai, who has previously published as Sarah Castille, now mixes up ingredients for a South Asian rom-com khichdi, with meddling aunties, a mishmash of Indian foods, references to movie songs, and a string of marriage candidates. Layla and Sam's chemistry channels the drama of Indian cinema. There are many humorous moments of banter and slapstick between them and a notable attempt to immerse the reader in South Asian Americanness. But the novel shows a poor understanding of the sociopolitical dynamics within Indian communities (including in the diaspora). Desai seems unaware that names signal a person's region and religion, so there are seemingly northwest Indian characters specializing in southern Indian vegetarian food, which sidelines their own staple cuisine. Similarly, Layla's marriage candidates span a pan-Indian, pan-religious roster, a misleading representation of the reality of religious biases that impact Indian minorities. A subplot about domestic violence also teeters on the edge of representing people with disabilities as supporting characters who only serve to shape others' stories. A comic, potentially multicultural romance conflates India's many identities into a misleading package for easy consumption.

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May 15, 2020
After a disastrous breakup, chaotic and passionate Layla Patel moves back home and starts her own recruitment agency in the office above her parents' restaurant. Then her father has a heart attack before he is able to terminate the existing lease on Layla's new office space. He also doesn't have a chance to tell her that he posted her marriage r�sum� on a dating website and selected 10 candidates for her to meet. Due to the circumstances, orderly and controlled Sam Mehta decides to share the office space with his recuperating landlord's daughter and, when the suitors show up, acts as her chaperone with one condition: if she finds a husband, he gets the office to himself. Surely their intense mutual dislike means they'll have no feelings for each other. Debut novelist Desai creates a believable and irresistible enemies-to-lovers story filled with flirty banter firmly rooted in her characters' backstories, inspiring readers to root for them to find not only love, but also peace and acceptance within their families. Keep an eye on this promising romance writer.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)