Accidentally Engaged by Farah Heron

Accidentally Engaged by Farah Heron is a reality show cooking competition romantic comedy.  Let's see how it shook out for me. 

Reena is in a rough state. She's been laid off for the third time, she has had a series of boyfriends and no relationships that last, but the last straw is when she learns that her parents are trying to arrange a marriage for her with the son of her father's business partner. It doesn't hurt that Nadim is attractive and has helped her out with an entry in a cooking competition, but she really doesn't want to just fall in line with what her parents want. She loves cooking and baking and wants to win this competition, but she and Nadim are going to have to pretend to be a couple to continue on.

Interesting characters: Hm. I am torn. On one hand, Reena and Nadim seem like absolutely normal twentysomethings going about their lives, dealing with work and family stress, and that's fine. But I sort of think that the Muslim representation here is problematic. We have pre-marital sex, drinking alcohol, gambling, and still we're expected to believe these are families in high standing in the Muslim community? Maybe that's right. But if I were a Muslim who was pretty stringent and I was looking for a romance novel that showed me that representation, this book would not do. 

Maybe it's fine that this book shares more about the culture of food and expectations of parents in MENA communities. But I think there are readers out there who were sorely disappointed and I get it. I am still on the lookout for a decent romance novel about practicing Muslims.  

Believable conflict: JUST TALK TO EACH OTHER FOR FUCK'S SAKE. I just...I can't handle it. It's not even miscommunication - it's just complete avoidance of huge topics, including family and WHAT YOU DID BEFORE YOU MOVED TO THIS COUNTRY. 

(Sidenote: I loved Toronto as a setting and wish Heron had done more with it.)

Emotional tension: I mean, they basically fell into bed right away, so there wasn't a lot of lead up. Since they refused to actually have a meaningful conversation, I thought the tension was inflated, but not for a good reason. 

Happily ever after: I was a tiny bit surprised by the end, to be honest. That's really hard to do in a romance novel, so good on Heron for that.  

There's a lot to like about this book. There's a character who has an interesting hobby (cooking/baking) and that actually comes through. The writing is easy, breezy and just what I want in a romance novel. Unfortunately for me, the bad outweighs the good in this one and I can't really recommend it. 

2.5/5 stars

Lines of notes:

Reena had endured much in her thirty-one years on the planet. As a short, middle-born, socially awkward visible minority, she'd had birthdays forgotten, been bullied at school, been dumped on the subway, and even once had an ex-boyfriend post a picture of her sated, after-sex face on social media - with a self-congratulating caption. (page 84)

This is not great writing. Just writing this out in a list form without showing any of these things just didn't work for me.

But if Reena was good at anything, it was ignoring the voices in her head that told her the path she was on was covered with snakes that would bite her in the ass one day. (page 239)

But then this writing shows up and it's so wonderful and precise.  Heron is a contradiction.

Things I looked up:

Boulangerie (page 3) - Bakery.