ARC Review: The Arrangement

Title: The Arrangement
Author: Sonya Lalli
Published: 10th August 2017
My Rating: 5/5
Recommend: YES!
Synopsis:

You can't choose who you fall for...but it helps if there's a list

Raina, twenty-nine, is still unmarried much to the dismay of her family who think that by now she should have been married in a dream Indian wedding. The pressure to settle down reaches new heights when her grandmother, Nani, decides to play matchmaker in order to find her the perfect man.

Eager not to disappoint her family, Raina goes along with the plan but when the love of her life returns - ex-boyfriend Dev - she's forced to confront her true feelings and decide what she really wants.

Funny, feelgood and heart-warming, The Arrangement shines a light on being single in your twenties, societal and cultural expectation of women, and modern day arranged marriages. Perfect summer read for fans of Ayisha Malik's Sofia Khan is Not Obliged and Aziz Ansari's Master of None. 

Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review, thank you to Orion Books

When I first heard about this book I was a little sceptical, I thought this would be one of those plots with a insta love kind of story. But I am so happy to be wrong. This book is so full of surprises you will be spitting out anything you eat/drink.

Where should my love for this begin and where should it end??

The characters are totally loveable, funny, you will be catching yourself saying O-M-G RAINA NO WAY!!!!! so many times you will lose count. 

The plot I will admit is a little typical cliché, you know parents or in this particular case a grandmother wanting to set her daughter for marriage which she thinks is best for her. I like that everyone had someone's best interest at heart yet the person who needs to know what makes them happy is YOU. Nobody can make that decision for you. 

Raina is a 30 year old Indian woman who works in the banking industry but yet is to find a suitable husband according to her Nani. Her mum who we come to know as Manavi comes and goes as she pleases so really her only role model is her Nani who she is extremely close with. 

At this point in the story, I am intrigued to know what happened to her mom? Why does she end up like this? She had Raina when she was 16 and is quite fair for an Indian. We never get to know her father or about her Nana as he unfortunately passes away, we are not told when.

Nani has made it her life mission to get Raina married, with help of her best friend Shay and Auntie Sarla she comes up with several proposals for Raina to choose from, unfortunately for her Raina is too picky in her opinion; she always finds a fault. We are told that Raina's Nani has become very acceptive and broad minded of westernised culture since she came to live in Canada.

Shay's mum, Auntie Sarla is sooo annoying in this book, I suppose we all have this one person in every family who thinks very traditionally and has a problem when the status quo is challenged or changed. She always criticises Raina for every little thing, constantly comparing her to Shay sometimes in the book I really wanted to give her a slap.

Asher, although he does not have a long role in this book is a sweetheart, he is your typical traveller, adventurer and giving back to society kind of person. Plus he is hot which is always a plus ;)

The plot is what I loved most about this book, apart from Nani's antics there were many times in the book when the past would be told and I wanted to know more, for instance, Nani was hard with her upbringing on her daughter Manavi, we are shown times when Raina was born and she wanted to pick her daughter up but her mom was in my opinion was acting callous and always hard on her with endless lists of have you done this yet? She also has the same notion of wanting to get her kids married which is why they never come home, I can understand this. With someone always telling you get married or with the idea you need a partner and have kids to be a complete woman is really frustrating. Coming from an Asian family myself, it is really depressing to see parents be so harsh with their daughters to even suggest a woman's worth only comes from a man. I really hate this, it is self deprecating to your own self worth. I really sympathised with Raina on this one and struggled. But I don't agree with how Raina decides to get out of this situation, she ends up making more of a mess. It was nice to see a gay character introduced, it really showed how the norm can be broken with a little open mind.

Until next time guys! :)

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