In Accidentally Engaged, Farah Heron sets up vivid characters, sibling conflict, a hot neighbor, delivers some funny lines, and introduces a realist MC who calls it like she sees it. Accidentally Engaged bursts with personality and is uplifting without being treacly.
Although I’m not South Asian, this feels like a more modern, or maybe just more fleshed out, representation of family dynamics than we’ve seen in other stories. (I’ll be looking to see if #ownvoices reviews confirm that). Sure, Reena’s parents are still focused on getting their kids married off, but they’re also looking the other way on a lot about how the kids are living their lives.
Like Farrah Rochon’s The Boyfriend Project, I’d call this one romantic women’s fiction. Reena’s fake engagement to Nadim is absolutely central to the story, but she’s also contending with losing her finance job, following her dreams to win a scholarship to culinary school, and dealing with family drama. In fact, I actually found myself way more interested in the family / community drama than the FoodTV contest Reena and Nadim enter (which is weird, since I’m super into food and cooking).
There is one interaction between Reena and Nadim early on that had me going, ew, what? There is NO universe in which that is sexy. It’s not about kink-shaming or anything like that, you’ll know it when you get to it.
Overall, I loved Accidentally Engaged. It’s a really satisfying read that delivers HEAs in multiple dimensions. And Reena? Well, she’s one of my favorite main characters of the year.
5 stars
P.S. While bread baking is Reena’s main passion, the book also includes a couple of Indian recipes at the end: Nadim’s Zanzibar egg curry and Reena’s plain parathas. I can vouch for the curry. Very tasty. (And I’m totally digging this recipe trend!)
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