The Marriage Game
Ratings23
Average rating3.4
I enjoyed this more than I was expecting. It was a fun rom-con with a super fun group of side characters.
I have very mixed feelings about The Marriage Game. Ultimately, I liked the ending. The problem for me is that it took over a month to read the book because I was so annoyed by the main characters for 85% of the book.
Here's one of my notes from while I was reading: Sam is sexist martyr wallowing in his man pain.
That sums up a lot of the plot, and most of my issues with the book: Sam was a melodramatic asshole.
Here are some of my favorite Sam moments:
“Hassan was checking out your ass when I walked in. What would you have done if I wasn't there?”
“How could he dance when Nisha would never dance again?”
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I'm hedging between a 2 and a 2.5.
There were times it was fun but from the beginning, it just wasn't what I expected. However, I also can't specifically articulate why I didn't like it. I skim read parts of it because I was bored and but wanted to finish because I don't like DNFng desi romances.
I revived this book from NetGalley in return for my honest opinion
Actual rating: 3,5 stars
I liked the book, but I feel like I missed a lot of good things because I didn't understand the culture fully. I did like Sam and Layla, they were Rey cute, but I need to say that I expected some more depth into their romance dialogue. I liked the idea of a marriage game. It was fun to see Layla go on a ‘date' with all the suitors. (Except a few). I need to say that the book had a lot of quirky and funny Layla one-liners.
This was a rough read. It's a new release yet the hero could have been from a 90's romance novel. I thought we moved passed this? Very paternalistic man who doesn't let the women in his life have any agency. I hated it. Again, this is NOT my cup of tea when it comes to romance.
I've been doing so good with reading romance that is fun without having to sacrifice female agency or success and this one was not it.
I do agree with the other reviews that the other reviews that her family and the side characters were very enjoyable.
I was prepared to love this book but early on, Sam exhibited something jerk-ish behavior and after reading a review that confirmed he got much worse around the 75% mark, I decided to abandon this book. Right now I need something warm and light and a hero who's a jerk will just make me angry as opposed to happy. Might return when I'm in a different mood but I probably won't.