The Marriage Game

            

Title: The Marriage Game

Series: Marriage Game #1

Author: Sara Desai

Publisher: Berkley, June 9, 2020

Pages: 350

Genre: Contemporary Romance

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.

There is a lot going on here. I have 22 highlights in this book. Like that is quite a lot of thoughts to feel strongly enough about and make note of. It was very compelling, the chemistry between Layla and Sam. But individually, phew, they had a lot of growing to do!

Layla moves back to San Francisco feeling like she's hit rock bottom. When she finds out that her father is searching for a husband for her, things get even more dire. Especially because she's in an all out war with Sam Mehta, the CEO of the new company that has moved into her family's office. The very office that her father promised to her to help her kick her new business off on the right foot. 

Sam has his own demons he's fighting though. One of them being the culture of arranged marriages, and he has one of the biggest hero complexes ever, rivaled only by his own guilt complex. So when one of Layla's husband prospects comes into the office, he just can't stand by while she gets to know him. What if he took advantage of her in the board room, 10 feet away from him and her cousin, and one floor away from her family's restaurant?! He couldn't possibly stand by while that happens! 

So the game. They go on Layla's dates with the marriage prospects together, and if Layla finds a husband, Sam gets the office to himself. If Layla doesn't get married, she gets the office. Hilarity ensues. Truly, they are so ridiculous. 

But the growth was really good. I actually had to put this book down right before the third act breakup because it was so well written that it was making me physically uncomfortable. It's been awhile since I didn't want to zoom through a third act breakup to get to the good part! So huge ups for that!

Ratings

Stars: 4/5