My Rating: 3/5 Stars

Title: Accidentally Engaged

Author: Farah Heron

Format: eBook (borrowed)

Pages: 357

Publication Date: 3/2/21

Publisher: Forever

Categories: Romance, Cooking, Family, Fake-Dating, Muslim/Indian Representation, Contemporary

Reena Manji doesn’t love her career, her single status, and most of all, her family inserting themselves into every detail of her life. But when caring for her precious sourdough starters, Reena can drown it all out. At least until her father moves his newest employee across the hall–with hopes that Reena will marry him.

But Nadim’s not like the other Muslim bachelors-du-jour that her parents have dug up. If the Captain America body and the British accent weren’t enough, the man appears to love eating her bread creations as much as she loves making them. She sure as hell would never marry a man who works for her father, but friendship with a neighbor is okay, right? And when Reena’s career takes a nosedive, Nadim happily agrees to fake an engagement so they can enter a couples video cooking contest to win the artisan bread course of her dreams.

As cooking at home together brings them closer, things turn physical, but Reena isn’t worried. She knows Nadim is keeping secrets, but it’s fine— secrets are always on the menu where her family is concerned. And her heart is protected… she’s not marrying the man. But even secrets kept for self preservation have a way of getting out, especially when meddling parents and gossiping families are involved.

First off I liked that this book had characters that are Muslim and Indian, but Indians who have “double” immigrated, as Nadim in the book pointed out to Reena. Their parents left India, move to Tanzania and then to Canada. In Nadim’s case he triple immigrated because he also went to boarding school in London. So it was very eye opening for me to learn about Tanzania, even though this story is set in Canada.

Learning about the culture also means getting to read about the foods these characters were always eating. Reena is obsessed with making sourdough, it’s her greatest passion right now and she needs a passion when she finds her job as an accountant so dull. Outside of the sourdough though, Reena and her mom is constantly making Indian food, some with a Tanzanian twist because of Nadim – but yes I loved all the foodie content in this story. Yum! But yes, Reena enters this cooking contest (where she needs a partner), because she wants to win and go to a cooking school – it’s where the magic between her and Nadim happen.

Reena is Indian and her family is very involved in her life, there is so much pressure to be successful which in her parents minds means married and with a good job. They try to set her up with Nadim, but Reena isn’t down with her parents finding her a husband. There is also a lot of family drama with Reena’s sister – the two had some issues in the past and haven’t resolved them yet. For parents that are very involved in their children’s lives, there are a lot of secrets in this family and they only get closer as a family once the truth is out.

The romance between Nadim and Reena goes from fake-dating to casual dating to happily ever after. Nadim is very charming, sweet, and so easy going. Reena is the same as well so their relationship always felt light and not too stressful even when a secret about Nadim is revealed. They made a cute couple that seemed to get along well and bonded over food and understanding family drama.

Triggers: family pressure

I don’t know the Islam religion very well but there were a few things in the story that made me pause and think…oh okay – so this family doesn’t follow strict rules? Or is this normal? I’m not sure because I’m not Muslim. After I read the book, I read some reviews on it and at least on Goodreads, I saw many Muslim readers who did not approve of how they were portrayed. I understand no one is perfect and these characters are portrayed as being very real, imperfect people – but I did need a little clarity on that and glad those readers spoke out in their reviews.

The beginning was a little slow, I think it picked up when secrets started being revealed but before that, it seemed just light and easy going.

Maybe a little spoiler? But there a lice situation and maybe a foot fetish on Nadim’s part? For me it was weird and awkward haha – I think it was supposed to be funny lice? No…not sexy! You know Nadim is charming, very flirty but I just felt like I couldn’t trust him even by the end of the story. Maybe because the romance never got super deep for either of them and the secrets of course.

Some mental health issues are mentioned in the book but super quick. Would have like to learn more about that.

I definitely enjoyed all the mentions of food and cooking scenes. Also learning about Indians from Tanzania was eye-opening! Getting to know Reena and her family was interesting and her friends are great. I think the romance in this is cute and light but I felt like it was missing some spark. Overall it was just an okay read for me.

📚~ Yolanda