Accidentally Engaged by Farah Heron

e-Audio, 11:08:12
Narrated by: Soneela Nankani 
Release Date: March 6, 2021
Published by: Hachette Book Group
Read from: May 26-29, 2021 & July 20, 2021
Stand-alone (Hints at being a companion novel!)
Source: Overdrive Audio
TW: 
For Readers Interested In: Contemporary Romance, Realistic Fiction, Rom Coms, Own Voices, Country other than USA, 1 on the Spice Scale, Adult

   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.

*MY THOUGHTS*

I’m not going to lie, when I heard about this, I wasn’t really like “LET ME ADD THIS TO MY TBR IMMEDIATELY!” I was more, oh the synopsis sounds cute. But then I saw the cover and THEN I was like let me add this immediately. I have a strange addiction to illustrated covers and I don’t care what anyone says lol

Reena’s life is all over the place. Her job isn’t promised, she’s single, her family has made her life THEIR life, and she’s doing all of this while trying to keep her sourdough alive. When she gets a hot new neighbor, she learns he works for her dad, AND her parents have set them up to be married. But when she loses her job, they work together to win a contest of something she really wants to do… And then things get physical between them. But can they keep it just at that? Because she knows she would never marry anyone her parents want her to…. Right?

This was super cute. I LOVE rom coms, and its rare that I find one that will make me really laugh out loud. And this was one of them. I find that usually when I love the humor as much as I did in this one, the spice scale isn’t that much. So basically, it was more fun/funny than romancey, and I’m ok with that. I think I read it more for the way they got together, not the way they ARE together. (I’m not sure that made as much sense as I’d like it to have made lmao)

The food tie in was another thing that made me fall for this. I LOVE foodie books, and trust me, this one has enough mentions of food to ensure that you’ll need a snack while reading. At the very least, you’ll want a thick slice of sourdough toast lol I really wanted her recipe!

The ending was my favorite. I loved finding the secrets that everyone was keeping! The secrets and drama was enough to keep me interested on its own because BABYEH they had some secrets lol Some of them were crazy lol But seeing them finally come together at the end no matter what the weirdness was in the family, it was wonderful to see. Family first, always, and they definitely showed that in this book.

The way the family was together was another thing I loved about this book. It makes me think there will be more books? Not like a series, but a companion novel. I know there was another book by her before this one, but I didn’t read it so I’m not sure if this is already a companion series. I’m hoping its in the cards tho. Definitely something I’d like to see happen!

This one seemed like your average rom com, with a sweet romance, funny banter and silly situations, but this one also had an amazing family and the potential for more books, so you know this one was a winner for me! I can’t wait to see if we will ever see more of Reena and Nadim.

Overall, I give this