Stevie‘s review of The Matchmaker’s List by Sonya Lalli
Contemporary Multicultural Romance published by Berkley 05 Feb 19
One of the joys for me in reading about characters from other cultures and of different nationalities is about spotting the familiar as well as all the details that could potentially set us apart. When I read the list that opens this book, I knew instantly that I was in for a treat when the list maker commented that one of the boys was Bengali and so might be too short. One of my work colleagues is always making similar remarks, although she does note that the same applies to her. The rest of the list gives us a good picture of its author, so now we’re all set up to meet both her and the person she had in mind when making the list (incidentally, this is one of the rare occasions when I prefer the book’s US and Canadian title to that it was given in the UK, The Arrangement, since the list is what both drives the story and holds its various strings together).
Canadian investment banker Raina Anand visits her grandmother on the occasion of her twenty-ninth birthday, knowing already that Nani has invited a surprise extra guest to their celebratory lunch: a potential husband for Raina. Brought up by her Indian grandparents, with her mother only occasionally around and no information as to the identity of her white father, Raina has previously agreed to consider a match with a man of Nani’s choosing, if she hasn’t found someone to marry by the age of thirty. Discovering that her grandmother has already made a list a whole year before the deadline, Raina reluctantly offers to meet with the other men on it.
Meanwhile, preparations for the wedding of Raina’s best friend are in full swing, and Raina finds herself being potentially set up with one of the groomsmen, Asher, a white man who has been travelling for the past ten years but has now returned to teach at Raina’s old school. Of course, what Raina really wants is to be reunited with the colleague she was involved with while on secondment to her employer’s London offices, Dev Singh. Dev hasn’t contacted Raina since before she returned to Toronto, and so she continues going on dates with men from her grandmother’s list, all the while comparing them unfavourably to her memories of Dev.
Things don’t go well when Raina finally meets Asher either. They both make wildly inaccurate assumptions about each other based on first impressions, and their animosity threatens to disrupt the wedding plans. Then Dev gets transferred to the Toronto office and Raina’s life becomes even more complicated. Unwilling to tell her friends or Nani that she’s seeing Dev again – after all the work they put in consoling her the last time – she continues to receive messages from an increasing number of potential suitors. Her attempts to get out of these new dates without mentioning Dev backfire on her. Soon Nani has fallen out with her best friend, and Raina is on the verge of losing hers as well.
This was a fun, if very busy, book, although the resolution to Raina’s problems comes from a rather too predictable source as romantic comedy tropes go. Most of the dates were so bad as to be hilarious, and I enjoyed the friendships between Raina and the various lesbian and gay characters in both her community and her workplace. I’m going to look out for more books from this author.
Grade: B
Summary:
One devoted modern girl + a meddlesome, traditional grandmother = a heartwarming multicultural romantic comedy about finding love where you least expect it
Raina Anand may have finally given in to family pressure and agreed to let her grandmother play matchmaker, but that doesn’t mean she has to like it–or that she has to play by the rules. Nani always took Raina’s side when she tried to push past the traditional expectations of their tight-knit Indian-immigrant community, but now she’s ambushing Raina with a list of suitable bachelors. Is it too much to ask for a little space? Besides, what Nani doesn’t know won’t hurt her…
As Raina’s life spirals into a parade of Nani-approved bachelors and disastrous blind dates, she must find a way out of this modern-day arranged-marriage trap without shattering her beloved grandmother’s dreams.
Read an excerpt.
