Carole´s Monday: Marriage by Arrangement

 

Author: Sophia Singh Sasson

Narrator: Sharmila Devar
Title: Marriage by Arrangement

Series: (Nights at the Mahal, Book 1)

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Format: Audiobook
Published:  August 1, 2020
Where I Got It: My shelf (Audible) 

Summary: 

When a business proposal turns

very personal…

Rule #1: Don’t fall for the client.

Because he’ll rock your world…

Architect Rani Gupta will never let a man compromise her career or freedom again. Which is a problem now that her newest client is irresistible hotelier Arjun Singh—aka the sexiest bachelor in India. A little fling with this gorgeous man would be scandal enough. But a fake engagement might just be more trouble than they bargained for—especially if Arjun has a prior arrangement!

Review:

Randomly stumbled upon this while looking for something else. Yayyyyy! And it fits a challenge? Even better. 

Here we have Rani and Arjun. Rani is an architect, and Arjun needs a firm to help build his newest hotel. There are sparks immediately, but that can never be. Rani will never let a man and his family compromise her career or freedom EVER again. Arjun is supposed to marry a childhood friend, but neither of them wants it, and neither of them can find the courage to tell their families. Nothing can happen between them....nothing at all, but the universe has other plans. 

This was a lot of fun. I liked Rani and Arjun a lot. I loved watching them get to know each other and eventually fall into lust and then love. It was sweet. I did hate that Arjun didn't tell her of his engagement, BUT 1) Arjun and his "fiancé" made a pact they can date whomever and eventually they'll break it off or delay it for as long as they can, and 2) it was just a fling. He should've mentioned it, though, but I get why he didn't. 

I hated their families. Yes, yes, traditional values and etc, but GAH. I wanted to hit them all. They all eventually see the errors of their ways, but man, it killed me seeing Rani and Arjun treated like that. :/ I was very annoyed that there wasn't more resolution and more time for them to try and make it up to them. There needed to be more apologies and more conversation. It didn't sit well with me how quickly that was wrapped up and put to the side. 

The narration was lovely. Great voices and accents. 

All-in-all, I did like this one. It was not your A-typical boy-meets-girls and etc. It had a lot of differences and depth. Lots of twists and turns. 4 stars from me. 

 

Reading Challenges

- Audiobook #15

- Reading Romance Challenge #12 (Office romance)