A Convenient Marriage by Jeevani Charika
Cultural expectations can play a huge part in how people live their lives...or don’t live their lives. Wanting to please family, even if it means ultimately hurting oneself, is so ingrained from birth that it often can harm the person who lives a lie or gives up the person they love. In this story Gimhana is hiding who he truly is and playing a part and Chaya is afraid to be with the person that probably could have made her whole and the person she was meant to be.
Gimhana and Chaya think they have the perfect solution that will allow them friendship, someone to come home to and also provide stability and normalcy. What is the solution? Why, get married...though just a marriage of convenience. By marrying “suitable” partners they will also manage to get their families off their backs and stop all of the nagging they hear about getting married. And, though again living a lie, though a different one, they do seem to be getting along okay...at least for awhile.
This book had me hoping that Gim and Chaya would eventually find a way to live with the people that truly made them happy. They went through so much for so many years that I was sure they deserved some true happiness. Their lives do eventually turn out okay but they have some tough times before they achieve the HEA they deserve.
Well written and thought provoking I found myself wondering how difficult it would be to give up so much to please parents. Having lived in countries where homosexuality is still a crime I felt for Gimhana in ways I might not otherwise have. I know people that have given up the “love of their life” because of parental pressure and remembering them also came to mind as I read. So, definitely a book that made me think and care and hope the two would find peace after so many years of just existing.
Thank you to NetGalley and Hera for the ARC – This is my honest review.
It was the perfect marriage… until they fell in love.
Chaya is a young woman torn between her duty to family and her life in the UK. While her traditional Sri Lankan parents want her to settle down into marriage, what they don’t know is that Chaya has turned away the one true love of her life, Noah, terrified of their disapproval.
Gimhana is hiding his sexuality from his family. It’s easy enough to pretend he’s straight when he lives half a world away in the UK. But it’s getting harder and harder to turn down the potential brides his parents keep finding for him.
When Chaya and Gimhana meet, a marriage of convenience seems like the perfect solution to their problems. Together they have everything - friendship, stability and their parents’ approval. But when both Chaya and Gimhana find themselves falling in love outside of their marriage, they’re left with an impossible decision – risk everything they’ve built together, or finally follow their heart?
Will they choose love, or carry on living a lie?
Jeevani* writes multicultural women’s fiction. She was born in the South of England, but spent much of her childhood in Sri Lanka, with short forays to Nigeria and Micronesia, before returning to settle in Yorkshire. She studied Biochemistry and Microbiology at Oxford and ended up working in university technology transfer. All of this, it turned out, was excellent preparation for becoming a novelist.
She also writes romantic comedies under the name Rhoda Baxter. Her books have been shortlisted for the RoNA awards, the Love Stories awards and the Joan Hessayon award. She is a member of the UK Romantic Novelists’ Association and the Society of Authors.
Jeevani loves all things science geeky. She also loves cake, crochet and playing with Lego. You can find out more about her (and get a free book by signing up to her newsletter) on her website. www.jeevanicharika.com
(*Jeevani is pronounced ‘Jeev-uh-nee’. Or just call her Jeev)
Website: http://www.jeevanicharika.com
Twitter: @rhodabaxter and @jeevanicharika
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