The Marriage Game by Sara Desai Pages: 304
Published by Berkley on June 9, 2020
Genres: adult, contemporary, Romance
Source: eARC from Publisher
One of Oprah Magazine's Most Anticipated Romances of 2020
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.
The Marriage Game is an adult contemporary romance by Sara Desai. I loved this book so much! This is everything I want in a romance and then some! It made me smile, it made me feel all the emotions and it made me fall in love just like the two main characters did. If you are a fan of contemporary romance, then The Marriage Game is a must read book of 2020! The Marriage Game is an enemies to lovers romance that has so much heart that it is impossible not to fall in love with the characters. I need more books written by Sara Desai immediately because I can just tell from her writing style that she will make me fall in love with all of her books, stories and characters.
In The Marriage Game we meet Layla, who after a failed job and a failed relationship comes back home to live with her parents and start her own job placement company. We also meet Sam. Sam is co-owner in a successful downsizing company (they get to go into corporations and help them “trim the fat”. i.e. saving money and firing people.) Everything about Sam and Layla is complete opposites, right down to what they do for work. Layla is looking to find people jobs and Sam is a professional fire-er. They are both strong willed and stubborn in their own ways, and I loved watching them clash right from the very start. These two have such huge sparks that they lept off the page at their every interaction.
Sam rents an office space above Layla’s parents restaurant, and when Layla comes home her dad promises the office space to her so she can start her new business venture, but before he can tell Sam his lease is canceled, her dad has a heart attack and is in the hospital. So Sam and Layla share an office space, which turns into a bet between them. I loved how the plot continued to unfold in charming, bicker inducing and downright funny ways. What starts out as shared office space turns into Layla and Sam joining up to interview arranged marriage prospects for Layla. Let me back up…
Layla’s dad is the cutest. In fact, I loved Layla’s whole zany family, but her dad in particular won my heart. He hates seeing his daughter sad, so when he hears about her latest break up, he set up a profile on an Indian dating website used to help people with modern arranged marriages, and he vetted hundreds of guys for her. He sets up interviews with 10 guys he thinks his daughter would like, and when the first candidate comes to the office and completely surprises Layla she sets out to meet the others to honor all the hard work her dad put into the project. Sam wants Layla to find a guy and move out of the office and forget about her business so he joins in as an old school chaperone. What comes next is pure romantic comedy gold. This book made me forget about the world for a while. All that existed was Sam and Layla, and with everything going on right now that is no small feat. This was a fantastic read. I loved every page and every second of The Marriage Game. Sam and Layla have such combustible chemistry that it was a joy to read their enemies to lovers romance. I would love to see this book made into a movie. I think it would be perfect! I think this is a must read book of 2020. It is one of my favorites for sure.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2020 New Release Challenge
- Contemporary Romance Reading Challenge 2020
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