Saturday, February 09, 2013

Review- Arranged Love by Parul A. Mittal

Goodreads Summary:

Suhaani is enjoying her independent status in the US and her sexy Indian American boyfriend, when suddenly she loses her job to recession. And she's forced to move back to India where her father has selected a boy for her from his guitar class. 

Suhaani doesn1t know how to tell her Internet-savvy dad and Farmville-addict mother that she's not interested in an arranged match, especially to an IITian. She decides to dislike the guy. 

Except that he's not too thrilled about her either. 
Even when they end up working together, Suhaani decides she will not fall for this guy. 
But before she can turn him down, he rejects her!


REVIEW:

*NOTE: We (The Readdicts) received a copy of Arranged Love from author Parul A. Mittal in exchange for an honest review. We thank Parul for the book!

Arranged Love is author Parul A. Mittal's second novel. Her first book, Heartbreaks & Dreams! The Girls @ IIT was the story of Tanu, cousin sister of the protagonist in Arranged Love, Suhaani. I haven't read the author's first book yet, but after reading Arranged Love, I'm so eager to know more about the early days, the development and the dissolution of the unceasing relationship between Tanu and Rahul. 
Arranged Love was a very preppy and sweet read that made me laugh out loud and kept me entertained throughout. The summary of the book aptly describes everything that one needs to know about the story and it really makes no sense for me to put it all down again. 
The book tries to answer the question that all Indians love to ask- arranged marriage or love marriage? Suhaani is forced to come back to India when recession hits the US, leaving behind a hot American/Indian boyfriend, Jayant Guy and a blooming career. On her return to India, Suhaani encounters Deepak Goyal, a guy her dad has picked as a potential suitor for her. This is when Suhaani faces the dilemma between marrying the guy of her choice or the guy of her parents' choice. 
As a protagonist, Suhaani was alright. She was carefree and chilled out. Her confusion and concerns about marriage were understandable. Her family was really lovely. I loved her relation with her dad, which was more friendly rather than filial. Her mom's obsession with Facebook and Farmville was hilarious. Both her parents were worried about their daughter and it was so easy for me to relate to Suhaani's family life. Her cousin Tanu and her best friend Neha were also very important for her and it showed. 
As for the two guys, Jay's comments and comebacks were boisterous and made me laugh out loud. He was a great guy and I liked him. Deep, on the other hand, was the quintessential Indian man that every Indian girl would like to get to know. Suhaani's relation with both the guys was fun to read, albeit difficult to understand. 
Parul A. Mittal's Arranged Love is a very enjoyable and highly entertaining read. 
In spite of certain editorial mistakes, a few negative reviews that I previously read, the IIT set-up (which is so common in books by young Indian authors), the typical commonalities that it shares with other novels, and the happy yet rather abrupt ending, the book is really really very enjoyable. 
Of course nothing is perfect and neither is Arranged Love but whatever it is, it is really very good. 
People have said that the new generation will be able to relate to it. I don't know that if, as part of the "current or new generation", I can relate to it, but without doubt, I can say that it is a good book, and the IT, IIT , Facebook and Harry Potter references (which I was SO excited to see!) is something quite cool. 
I absolutely enjoyed reading Arranged Love. It was a fresh, fun and flirty read. 

RATING:



Sarika

7 comments:

  1. This sounds like a fun read, and I love all the facebook, gamer stuff

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  2. ooh this sounds definitely fun!! I can see many people would relate to it, esp in this generation! Great review dear!
    - Farah @ MajiBookshelf

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  3. I have read heartbreaks and Dreams and could totally relate! It was set in IIT but the end was refreshingly different.. It was pretty good for a first time writer.. So I think I will give this one a quick read too :) Vera

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    1. Oh, that's awesome, Vera! I hope I get to the first one soon and you get to the second one soon! :P

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