Sugar, Spice, and Can't Play Nice
-
- $15.99
-
- $15.99
Publisher Description
Payal is a girl on the verge—of living a life she's always dreamt of, becoming a rising star in fashion, and...of marriage?!
When her parents insist she marry fellow Londoner and serial dater Ayaan Malhotra in order to save their company, Payal has a choice: stick it to her dysfunctional family but put her hard-earned fashion success on hold...or get engaged to save her family’s fortune and rescue her own dream-come-true life.
Ayaan has always been seen as the reckless spare to his brother, the golden child heir to their parents' company. A little wild, a little broken, and desperate to prove himself, Ayaan agrees to get engaged to Payal—on the condition that he gets 50 percent stake in his parents’ company.
Neither Payal nor Ayaan anticipate the challenges of keeping their respective agendas behind the engagement to themselves: a meddlesome grandmother, a spurned ex-girlfriend, two families with stakes of their own, a fashion brand on the line, and, unexpectedly, actually liking each other. But as the two race toward an impending engagement ceremony date, they realize that maybe they aren’t just in this for business…and perhaps, love is in the cards after all.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Familial expectations clash with individual goals in Sharma's charming second Chai Masala Club rom-com (after Love, Chai, and Other Four Letter Words). Fashion designer Payal Mehra has worked hard to create styles that fuse Indian and American aesthetics, and her dreams are about to come true when she launches her own clothing line. So Payal is horrified when her emotionally distant parents make a huge request: put her success on hold and marry their friends' son to save the family business. If she doesn't, a pending merger will fall through and her family won't have the money to support Payal's new business. Her intended, reputed playboy Ayaan Malhotra, is desperate to regain his family's confidence after making a huge mistake in his teens. Both London transplants in New York, Payal and Ayaan once had a steamy one-night stand, but neither wants a relationship, let alone marriage. Still, if they play along with their parents and pretend to be engaged, maybe they can both get what they want from the merger. It's an entertaining premise, and Sharma enhances the goings-on with rich cultural details. Highly expositional and occasionally moralizing dialogue slows the pace, but there's still plenty to enjoy. Conflict, couture, and courtship make this a pleasure.
