The Shaadi Set-Up

This adult rom-com had the perfect amount of humor, heat, and sweetness. I loved the second-chance romance aspect, the forced proximity, the fact that a character gets wet in the rain and has to strip. It was so very well done. But also, these layered characters are three-dimensional, feel so real and have true depth.The voice, the setting, the dogs, the food, and the details about interior design and wood working... I just loved all of it. It was a beautiful read that was hard to put down—and yes, I shushed my children away more than a few times so I could keep turning the pages, but don't judge me.Side note: I loved Small Town Hearts, also by Vale, and cannot wait for more of her stories to come!

The Shaadi Set Up was a refreshing quick look into Indian romance culture. A culture where there's arranged marriages this book brought awareness while still giving a beautiful love story. Like Vale did a great job at sharing the love story of Milan and Rita high school sweethearts who lost their way but never lost their love for each other. A must read!

2021 has been an odd reading year for me. The birth of my 3rd child in January put me behind my typical reading schedule. I honestly just wasn't in the mood to read even when I normally would have tried to squeeze in time here or there. Add in our home renovation that started in April. So what books I have read up until now this year have been books for pleasure. The Shaadi Set-Up, I thought, would be the perfect mix of pleasure and "work" (for review). And it was.I did find the beginning of The Shaadi Set-Up slow. I haven't been giving books much of a chance to hook me before I've been putting them down to find something that does hook me. I kept pressing on with this one because of the building pressure I felt to finish some of my review books. And I would say somewhere between 20 and 30% I started feeling the desire to keep reading when I had to stop. By that point, I kind of got a feel for what direction this book was headed in and I was on board.The Shaadi Set-Up is a typical "the one who got away"/"still in love with each other" story. Rita and Milan dated for 6 years between high school and college. They were completely in love. Or so Rita thought. When Milan completely surprises her by breaking up with her, via voicemail, she does whatever it takes to move on. Six years after their break up, Rita is dating Neil but she's only interested in having fun. Neil is looking for long term but he has his own issues, such as letting his mother dictate much of his life. Rita doesn't feel like she can introduce Neil to her family because his father was once engaged to her mother. They had a bad break up. It doesn't matter anyway because Rita's mother is determined to try to mend fences between Rita and Milan.I really enjoyed The Shaadi Set-Up. I can see myself being just as stubborn as Rita. She refuses to let on to Milan how painful seeing him still is for her. She knows that they are different people than they were back then. Yet she knows that she needs closure. Working with him is difficult. Old patterns are hard to resist, and things she loved about him before are still the same even if they both have changed over the years. I loved seeing their relationship transform into each different stage. It was easy to see where they we headed and how things would end up.Since becoming a mother I find that I can't help but relate to any mother in a story. I particularly found myself feeling sad for Rita's mother. I think other mothers might enjoy the story between these two as an addition to the main storyline.I will say that the description, especially of the two houses that Rita and Milan worked on, really helped me picture everything as if I were there. Along the same lines, Lillie Vale must have some kind of special relationship with food since the sheer variety of dishes mentioned and described throughout was impressive.Overall, The Shaadi Set-Up gets 4 Stars. Have you read The Shaadi Set-Up? What did you think? Let me know!

Thank you to Putman for my gifted copy of The Shaadi Set-Up.Where are my Second-Chance-Romance Trope Lovers at?! The Shaadi Set-Up hit the shelves today, and you are going to need to treat yourself with a copy!Rita and Milan were each other's first loves. And then after years together, it fell apart the summer after their freshman year of college. Fast forward six years, and they are unexpectedly thrown together by their meddling families that think they know what is best for them... but not the real story of why they broke up in the first place. Or that Rita already has a secret boyfriend, Neil. When she tries to manipulate the system of a desi matchmaking website to make it look like she and Neil were a perfect match, it kind of blows up on her. In more ways than one. That mixed with the confusing feelings she's getting from spending so much time with Milan, have Rita all messed up...This is definitely a sloooow burn. The romance of it was drawn out a little more than I usually like, but I think it was necessary for the story. The payoff was worth it. I really liked both Rita and Milan as main characters. Neither of them was perfect, there were big misunderstandings, a lot of stubbornness to overcome, and they were each at fault in the end in their own way. And I loved how Vale brought it all together at the end.To finish off, I'll share a few of my favorite things:* the friendship between Rita and Raj* Rita's two dogs... Freddie and Harry stole the show!* I loved the home renovations aspect, Rita's furniture restoration was really fascinating to me. I feel a strong urge to snuggle in on the couch and watch an HGTV marathon!* The whole idea of the My Shaadi matchmaking site!Truth time... Second Chance Romance is not a trope I usually go for. But the synopsis and that adorable cover snagged me! I read this one with the gang over at Love ARCtually and I'm so glad that they influenced me to pick this one up. Also, our Zoom chat with Lillie Vale was so fun! I am looking forward to reading more from Lillie in the future.

I love this book!! The characters feel SO real. I fell in love with the MC's, Rita's, family and her dogs. The love interest is dreamy but also layered and believable. I ripped through this story - finishing in two days (over Easter, with two kids etc. - fast for me!), and the thing I loved most was that Rita is such a thoughtful character with so much agency. Everything I want in a romantic heroine. This is absolutely one to add to your TBR.