When English teacher Meghna's best friend/writing partner/ex-boyfriend she still can't get over invites her to be the best man at his wedding, she says yes...and then immediately regrets it, as she doesn't have a boyfriend to bring along. Enter Karthik, an engineer who is humoring his mother by agreeing to her traditional Indian matchmaking attempts, despite the fact that Karthik has no intention of ever getting married. When Karthik's mom arranges a meeting between the two, Karthik and Meghna agree to a fake engagement to placate Karthik's mom while making Meghna seem a bit less pathetic during her friend's wedding festivities. But this is a romance novel and fake dating never stays fake...
For a debut novel, this one is pretty darn good. I loved the characters and the representation, and I'd love to read more of Kumar's books in the future. The one thing that got to me was the long-distance element of the relationship. Karthik lives in New York, Meghna lives in Dallas, and they are constantly flying back and forth to visit each other (and to Miami for a bachelor party) for the sake of this fake relationship, with no financial hesitation. Who the heck has that kind of money?? Other than that though, I thought this was a charming novel.
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