By Naina Kumar
Star rating: ★★★☆☆
Blurb
In this utterly charming debut romance, a teacher with big dreams joins forces with a no-nonsense engineer to survive an ex's wedding and escape matchmaking pressure from their Indian families. Their plan? Faking an engagement, of course.
Meghna Raman’s parents wanted her to be an engineer, but instead she’s followed her passion, becoming a theater teacher and aspiring playwright. But when she discovers that her beloved writing partner, best friend, and secret crush, Seth, is suddenly engaged—and not to her—she realizes he’s about to become the one-that-got-away. Even worse, he’s asked her to be his best man. And worse than that, she’s agreed. Determined to try and move on and relieve a bit of the pressure she feels, Meghna agrees to let her parents introduce her to a potential match. Maybe she’ll even find the engineer her family wishes she became. . . .
Grumpy, handsome engineer Karthik Murthy has seen enough of his parents’ marriage to know that it isn’t for him. He only agreed to his mother’s matchmaking attempts to make her happy, never dreaming he would meet someone as vibrant as Meghna. Though he can’t offer her a real marriage, a fake engagement could help Meghna soothe the sting of planning Seth’s wedding festivities and Karthik avoid the absurd number of set-ups his mother has planned for the next year.
But as they find common ground, grow protective of one another’s hearts, and learn to fall for the flaws they thought they hated, an undeniable chemistry takes shape. Soon, Meghna and Karthik’s expectations and insecurities threaten to risk something that’s become a lot more real than they hoped.
Say You’ll Be Mine is a delightful trip back to the heyday of swoony romantic comedies from the nineties, but with a deep and poignant look at the effects of culture and family in our most intimate relationships.
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Read if you Like:
🩷 Arranged marriage
🩷 Fake engagement
🩷 Long distance
🩷 Indian hero and heroine
My Thoughts:
I picked Say You'll Be Mine because I really enjoy fake dating and arranged marriage books! I liked the characters a lot in this one but the romance didn't totally work for me.
I thought this story was well-written and the characters were interesting. I sympathized with Karthik's family situation and was interested in Meghna's relationship with Seth. Unfortunately, I wasn't super invested in Meghna and Karthik's relationship. I liked that they treated each other well but I felt like that was what bonded them. They were nice to each other and they hadn't experienced that much in relationships. I was happy for them but not super invested.
Interestingly, I was much more interested in the side relationship between Meghna's best friend and brother. I wish we had gotten their POV as well or that had been a sequel! It wasn't written in a way that led me to believe it would be though.
Overall, I liked this story but didn't love it. I won't reread it but it may just not have been meant for me.
Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for providing me with this arc. All opinions are my own.
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