cover image The Reluctant Matchmaker

The Reluctant Matchmaker

Shobhan Bantwal. Kensington, $15 trade paper (300p) ISBN 978-0-7582-5885-4

The last thing diminutive Meena Shenoy expected when she went to meet the CEO of her company was to run smack into him, sprain her ankle, and fall in love. Prajay Nayak lets her rest in his office and borrow his car; Meena thinks he’s sweet on her and is shocked when Prajay asks her to help him place an ad to find a well-educated and tall woman he could marry. Meena is furious that Prajay refuses to consider her as a prospect, even though they get along so well. They get hung up on each other’s looks to the point where the conflict feels contrived; hearing the same rant about the six-foot-tall Amazon gets tedious. Meena does at least try to move on instead of throwing herself a pity party. Bantwal (The Full Moon Bride) pairs their romance with her trademark taste of how Indian expatriates live in New Jersey, complete with family dynamics and tensions between different ethnic groups. (July)