The Shaadi Set-Up
Reviews
BOOK REVIEW
The Shaadi Set-Up / Lillie Vale
Rating ⭐️⭐️
I had pretty high hopes for this one and sadly it didn’t meet expectations for me. It’s a second chance romance, which I usually love, but I absolutely cannot stand when the reason a couple originally broke up was due to a HUGE miscommunication.
skip forward to present day and they main characters are still incapable of communicating???? I have never felt so frustrated with a book character as much as I was with Rita. she was extremely immature and her internal monologue was irritating.
the main love interest, Milan, is also super plain. I didn’t find anything about his character interesting. the main thing I wanted to find out about was the cause for their original break up, that by the time they sorted out their issues, I really didn’t care anymore about what happened.
Raj, Rita’s best friend, was described as gender fluid and queer and used she/he/they pronouns, but the entire book was only ever referred to with she pronouns. this really bothered me, because it felt as though her being gender fluid was only added to tick a criteria checkbox 🙃
ALSO, poor Neil.
the beginning of the book had a lot of potential, but it fell flat for me. All the characters seemed to be immature and ultimately it had more of a young adult feel. the only thing I really enjoyed in this and was the reason I gave it 2 stars, was the home renovations that were happening - cos I love the idea of up cycling furniture and renovating a house.
I'm such a sucker for second chance romance and that part of this book was really good. The tension between the two characters was well done and carried throughout the book. The main character, Rita was a little annoying with her “quirks” but not anything I couldn't look past. The best friend, Rajvee is non binary but Rita only ever uses she/her pronouns for them so that kind of feels like, diversity win! Overall, not bad and I got all my second chance romance feels from this but not something I'll be rereading
I feel torn. I liked the authors writing well enough and might pick up another by her before I make a judgement but I think this just wasn’t for me. I found it hard to buy that the MC is trying so hard to force this online match with Neil when she obviously barely can stand his existence. The main romance was cute enough, but again I’m not sure that second chance romances are really my thing. Also, the best friend is clearly explained to be gender fluid and uses she/he/they pronouns and switching between the femme Rajvee and masc Raj, while the author switches the name back and forth they only use she pronouns which just struck me as a bit bizarre. Like she spends time explaining to us, the reader, how to refer to this character and then proceeds to not do it? Idk rubbed me weird lol
The adorableness of this cover! This is a tropey and cute book, full of second chance high school sweethearts and a bit of forced proximity, though not everything worked out for me. “There’s something about old things, right? Comforting favorites. A place in time you want to return to, revisit, like an old friend.” Rita and Milan have dated since they were fifteen, and now, after Milan’s first year of college, they’re finally getting to see each other again on their much anticipated summer trip to Paris. And then he dumps her via voicemail while she’s waiting in the airport. Six years later, Rita’s over it (or so she says) but it’s still a shock when her mother surprises her by inviting him to a family lunch. Milan’s a hotshot real estate agent who’s having problems selling a very unique house, and her family thinks Rita’s eye for design will help sell it. Unwilling to let him see how much being around him still affects her, she goes all in on decorating the house – and on her current relationship with her boyfriend who won’t even introduce her to his parents. Rita’s bright idea? Her and her boyfriend will register for MyShaadi, the premier Desi dating app, and when they inevitably match, that’ll be Rita’s in with his parents. Except instead of her boyfriend, she matches with Milan. “It’s a little broken down, sure, but isn’t it worth putting it back together? Giving it another chance? Restoring it to how it used to be?” I move to the door, putting my hand on the knob. Twist, release. “Maybe,” I admit. “Or maybe it’s better not to pin your hopes on lost causes.” I’ll get what I didn’t like out of the way first. Rita spends a good chunk of the beginning of the book with another guy. She keeps trying to convince herself that he’s almost perfect, but, yeah, no. And, yes, it’s that relationship that leads them both to register for MyShaadi and for Rita to reconsider her current and past relationships, but she hung in there way too long with that guy. Which, honestly, it sort of Rita’s M.O. at the beginning of the book: she’s treading water with her business, afraid of expanding out, afraid of rocking the boat too much with her boyfriend or with her family. “I’m scared to be the one who cares more, who cares too much. I might have been a girl who waited, but he can’t know that a part of me is waiting still.” I thought the romance between Rita and Milan was excellent. It’s very slow-burn, as it takes a while for them to develop any sort of trust between them. While it seems they’d both like to pretend they’re over it, it’s obvious that both of them are stilling hurting. There’s a lot of navel-gazing on Rita’s part about the problems they had the first time around (hello, communication) and her frustration with the fact that Milan seems to just want to pick up where they left off. But that was six years ago and they’re both (hopefully) different people. But there’s still enough history (and attraction) between them for them to give friendship a try, and later a relationship. The secondary characters are fun as well. I loved Rita’s two dogs and their hilariously different personalities. Rita’s relationship with her family (especially her mom) plays a big part in the book, and I thought it was lovely how all their conflicts were worked out. Plus, Aji was hilarious! Rita’s friend Raj was also amazing. Overall, while the book has lots of that second-chance tropey goodness, there’s enough uneven parts that I’d give this 3.5 stars. I’ll be keeping an eye to see where this author goes next! I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Content notes: (view spoiler)[depression, fatmisia, alcohol (hide spoiler)]
something fun for the kids !!
4 stars, rtc.
It's hard to forgive someone when they betray you. I know Rita is taking it even harder because Milan was her first and true love. That's why she is determined not to fall for him again because he returns back into town. It does not help when her mother gets involved. Her mother means well. She just wants Rita to be happy in personal and professional life. It does not mean that Rita has to like it. She is in control of her life. She can make any decisions. She just needs to be sure what she wants. No one will be ashamed if she wants to take a second chance with Milan. It's just going to be work if she does. Second chances are rare.
Highlights
The straight, perfect nose and the thin lips curved into a one-sided, dimpled I-have-a-secret smile. A small cleft in his chin, like a Desi Henry Cavill. Sienna eyes, bright and mischievous like a copper penny. Milan Rao. Real estate agent for High Castle Realty. My fingers tighten around the steering wheel. This isn’t just any handsome face. It’s my ex-boyfriend’s heartbreaking, promise-breaking face.
My mumma's a boy here 💀💀💀💀
“Me? Tell my Indian ma to quit interfering in my love life?” His eyebrows shoot up in mock horror. “You must be joking.” I put on a wide jack-o’-lantern grin. “So sneaking around for the rest of our lives it is!” His eyes gleam as he walks over to the kitchen table. “Rest of our lives, huh?” He pulls me up midway through a gulp of coffee and a sputter. “So you and me are a forever deal?” Ajsdfhjfajfdsjf. My top-shelf sarcasm is clearly lost on him, but I’ll play along. I tap my finger to my chin, thinking about it. “I don’t remember saying that.” “Hmm, no. I definitely heard it.” He tucks my hair behind my ear, rolling his thumb over the curl of cartilage that sends shivers down my spine. It’s teasing and not fair at all when he has to leave for work right about—well, ten minutes ago.
I can’t for the life of me ship them.
“Rita, you’re literally the only Indian I know who can’t stand the heat.” “You let your mama hear you stereotyping with that mouth?” I brush my hand through his straight black hair like I’m smoothing it down, when really I’m messing it up just a little.
1) I too can’t stand the heat?? I love for cold weather periodt. 2) Mums live stereotyping unless they’re in public 💀
My rule of thumb? If I don’t remember planting them, they’re weeds.
If I was for that, my entire front and back yard would be weed💀✋
Maybe I should have trusted in historical precedents instead of fresh starts.
They stand next to each other, just like that, Mom passing him a tortilla from the packet while he turns it side to side over the burner. Two people doing the job of one. Mom puts her right arm around his waist, tips of her fingers tucked into his front pocket. It’s a quiet gesture, so soft and so intimate that it could easily have gone unnoticed. See? says Aji’s lofted eyebrows and pointed stare. Is this not love also?
“And ... it sucked when you told me stories or talked about people I didn’t know. I didn’t want to get recaps for every story; I wanted to just know it, because I’d lived it with you.”
“ ... Oh, and the pretzels you like. Hearts, not sticks.” Hearts, not sticks.
There’s a yearning on his face that arrows straight into my heart, lodging deep. It’s not for the food, but for the museum of memories he’s being led through, gazing upon each one with wonder, but never able to stay in one long enough to experience it before it’s time to move on. We can’t re-create the past. We can only visit it.
But he can’t ever know that I’m still hunting for that closure. I’m scared to be the one who cares more, who cares too much. I might have been a girl who waited, but he can’t know that a part of me is waiting still.
“There’s no reality in which I wouldn’t want you, Rita,” he interrupts. I’m rooted to the spot, throat too fuzzy to speak. “ - to design my house,” he concludes. My lips part in surprise. That’s … not where I thought he was going. That feeling in my gut isn’t disappointment. It’s not.
He’s stalling, I realize. He wants to linger here, in this safe space that has nothing to do with our past, nothing to do with each other. All those things we’ve never said, the closure we’ve never had… We can fill this space with everything left unspoken. Unload everything in my truck and make this concrete block of a house into a home. Like the one we should have had.
When will I stop thinking about all the Ritas I used to be?
Because when a bone breaks, it can be set, mended good as new. Hearts? Not so much.
My heart rattles and doesn’t stop until I’m in my parents’ driveway. Once, my heart sped up for him. Now it races for a different reason. Running from the memory of a boy that I used to run to.
I used up all my firsts on him. My first kiss. My first boyfriend. The first person to steal my breath and the first to give it back.
In my mind, he’s always twenty. We both are. And somehow, being twenty again - and nineteen and eighteen and seventeen and sixteen and fifteen, all the ages that I loved him - feels more real to me than the present.
"Vah re vah, kai good boy ahes tu," says Aji, sneering so he knows it's not a compliment.
Just getting into this one. I will say that I wish the Hindi phrases were translated (integrated into the narrative) in English. I can figure out basically what was said by the context but I like to know the exact words lol. Luckily my fiance speaks Urdu and can translate for me. Anyway just a small pet peeve of mine lol.
This book appears on the shelf Contemporary
This book appears on the shelf 21st century
This book appears on the shelf Owned
