ARC Review of Say You'll Be Mine by Naina Kumar
Rating: 4/5
Heat Level: 2.5/5
Publication Date: January 16th
After Meghna Raman's friend and long-time crush Seth announces his engagement, Meghna agrees to her parents' request to look for potential arranged marriage candidates. She does not hit it off with Karthik Murthy, but finds herself agreeing to a fake engagement anyway so she can bring him as a date to her friend's wedding, and he looks more promotion-ready to his bosses.
This is the most honest portrayal of modern Indian arranged marriages I've ever read. What a lot of people don't understand about arranged marriages nowadays, particularly in diaspora communities, is that it doesn't mean you are being forced into marriage against your will; it's more like a series of arranged dates with pre-screened candidates that are partially supervised by your families. It's like any set-up, except you're dating with the intention of getting married. This is also the first time I've read South Indian characters in a romance novel so I was very very happy. Karthik is from a Tamil background, while Meghna's dad is Tamil and her mom is North Indian (they had their own cute Chetan Bhagat Two States-esque love story back in the day, which is why Meghna wants a love match too).
There's no insta-attraction between Karthik and Meghna. She wants love (but is open to finding that through an arranged marriage) while Karthik does not want to marry at all because he fears he's turning into his shitty dad and will inadvertently emulate his parents' marriage. Pretty classic as far as romantic conflict goes, with a side of grumpy/sunshine. Where Meghna and Karthik really shined was during their moments of emotional vulnerability and how they were there for each other. I'm suuuuch a sucker for a man who cries in a romance novel and Karthik delivered when he broke down in Meghna's arms in a middle school parking lot. And on his side, Karthik ends up being Meghna's biggest advocate and supports her career aspirations (which is especially gratifying because her typical desi parents don't entirely understand her career path) and helps her realize Seth is taking advantage of her.
Sidenote: Seth is the kind of white boy that makes your stomach crawl; he's seemingly innocent, but the more you read about him, you realize the extent to which he's using Meghna on an emotional level knowing she has feelings for him, all while never respecting her culture enough to even try and pronounce her name correctly.
The one thing I disliked about the book was the Fawad Khan facecast for Karthik in-text. I personally do not like when authors name a specific celebrity likeness for their character and would much rather they describe the character well enough so I get a sense of how they look and then fill in the blanks with my own imagination. Also, Fawad Khan in Khoobsurat (2014) specifically? Come on, there's nothing about that man that screams Socially Awkward Indian-American Engineer.
There are a couple makeout scenes (my favorite was when they're all in denial like "do friends kiss?" but go for it anyway).
The one full-on sex scene isn't closed door, per say, but as Karthik and Meghna venture past foreplay, the writing focuses more on the emotions than any explicit description of what's going on physically. Also, there is an over-the-clothes orgasm moment which I liked.
This is probably the second time in my life I've felt this *seen* by a romance novel as an Indian-American woman, but I'd honestly recommend it to anyone looking for a low-heat romance that deals with the cultural nuances of the Indian-American community and arranged marriages while delivering a solid romance.
Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review.
