Book Review: The Shaadi Set-Up by Lille Vale @PRHGlobal #partner #romance

The Shaadi Set-Up by Lille Vale book cover

GIFTED / Today I bring you a review for a book I read some time ago, and had so much fun. I hope my review, although it is brief, will make you notice it and give it a chance.

The Shaadi Set-Up was published on Semptember 7th 2021 by  G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers. It has 368 pages.
I want to thank the team from Penguin Random House Global for sending me an e-galley of this novel (in an exchange for an honest review).

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About the book:

FROM GOODREADS /

High school sweethearts Rita Chitniss and Milan Rao were the golden couple, until the day he broke her heart. Now, six years later, Rita has turned her passion for furniture restoration into a career and has an almost-perfect boyfriend, Neil. The last thing she needs is for Milan to re-enter her life, but that’s exactly what happens when her mother, an unfailing believer in second chances, sets them up. Milan is just as charming, cocky, and confident as he was back in school. Only this time, he actually needs her business expertise, not her heart, to flip a hard-to-sell house for his realty agency.

While Rita begrudgingly agrees to help, she’s not taking any risks. To prove she’s definitely over him, she signs herself and Neil up on MyShaadi.com, a Desi matchmaking site famous for its success stories and trustworthy enough to convince everyone that she and Neil are the new and improved couple. Instead, she’s shocked when MyShaadi’s perfect match for her isn’t Neil…it’s Milan. Ignoring the website and her mother is one thing, but ignoring Milan proves much more difficult, especially when she promises to help him renovate the beach house of her dreams. And as the two of them dive deeper into work—and their pasts—Rita begins to wonder if maybe her match wasn’t so wrong after all….

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Review:

I finished this book back in September and I am writing my review only now so I apologise it’s not as detailed as I promised it would be.

I got The Shaadi Set-Up via Netgalley when it was first published and I was so excited to read it, but as you can probably assume, life got in a way and it had to go on hold until now when I finally have more time to read and review (and go through all of my review copies).

I will be honest, as time passed I wasn’t as excited to dive into the story, but once I started reading I was swept away by how fun and good it was.
I had such an enjoyable time reading this novel. This was a romance comedy in all it’s glory and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Netflix movie based on it. It would be a good movie, let me tell you that!

The Shaadi Set-Up features love triangle and maybe it was obvious how it would resolve, but still all the scenes with “the wrong guy” were pleasure to read and some of my favourite scenes were because of him.

This romance has miscommunication trope, so I get why some readers would be bothered by it. I personally didn’t mind it.

I also want to state that this is own voices story and represents Indian culture.

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Serenity by India R. Adams: Excerpt + Giveaway (Blog Tour)



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I am so happy to be today’s stop for Serenity blog tour. This book is perfect for ya paranormal fans and I want to thank Giselle from Xpresso Book Tours for giving me this opportuinty.
Today, you can read an excerpt from the book and decide whether you think this could be something you’d enjoy.

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Serenity
India R. Adams
(Forever, #1)
Publication date: July 26th 2016
Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult

To say I know where this story begins is to say I remember what lifetime started it all…and why. What I do know is this lifetime is hard and cruel…maybe like the rest. That is until I meet him–the light that shines and guides me. To where I don’t know but my soul chooses to follow regardless. I believe it has done this before. I believe I will follow him…forever.

A destructive home life silently tears Serenity, a 16 year old girl, apart until her broken spirit is given a gift in the form of an old journal that sends her a visitor in the night.

Away from the sun I close my eyes
and release myself into the unknown
I hope she is there
I hope she is there…

The cloaked woman teaches Serenity that the lingering feeling of missing a part of her soul, may not be a figment of her imagination and with these words Serenity’s journey, of this lifetime, begins.

The toll on my spirit had slowly broken me down—day by day, night by night, drink by drink, hit by hit—to the limp, fragile, lost girl that Dereck Hamilton . . . carried away.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / iBooks

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Excerpt:

Josh has Jolene wrapped in his arms, leaning against his old-timey blue Ford pickup truck, the only thing his dad left when he bailed years ago. Josh’s deep-set brown eagle eyes are already watching over Sky and me. Jolene is approximately five feet eight, so the top of her head fits just under his chin when they hold each other like this. I melt when watching them show affection. Their energies blend, making violet waves shine for me. I instantly want to intermix with their love because I know firsthand how healing it is.

            Even if I’m weren’t able to read auras, the sun shining off Josh and Jolene would show how they’ve both fallen out of the Gorgeous Tree and hit every Stunning Branch on the way down. He has short, light-brown hair and a brooding, serious face. Jolene has similar-colored hair except it’s much longer and has golden tints throughout. The Wise Ones, together, are perfection. They may be financially poor, but they’re rich in many different ways. They also have this uncanny parental instinct when it comes to Skyler and me. Josh and Jolene watch over us as if they aren’t high school seniors, and we trust them implicitly because Jolene says to always follow my instincts.

            Jolene glances over her shoulder with her model-like brown eyes when she hears Sky’s car slam on the brakes. Sky’s driving is horrendous and a danger to all other vehicles on the road. Exhibit A: she just forgot to put her car in park before opening her door.

            As the car begins to roll, Josh yells, “Sky. Park.”

I jolt as Skyler slams on the brakes—again—doing as she’s told. She yells past me and out my open window, “Well! What the hell do you expect? You’ve got me all riled up! A damn bundle of nerves with your damn last-minute plan changing.”

He leans his head back and laughs. “That girl kills me!”

As we get out of the car, Jolene lets go of Josh and proudly coos, “There’s my baby girls.”

I know she says this every day, but hearing her speak of us so endearingly warms my heart. Maybe it’s also the fact that they let each other go to make room for Sky and me. And I’m in need of their attention, because I suspect Josh of being a troublemaker.

His smirk confirms our suspicions. “I can see your pout from here. Stop it.”

I mumble, “Says the pot stirrer.”

            Jolene and Josh take hold of our shoulders that sometimes hold more weight than Sky and I can bear, and then they embrace us. Skyler’s face buries into Josh’s strong chest, unknowingly soaking up his violet rays as if starving. “You lecture us on our grades then ask us to skip school?” With her arms around his waist, she peers up. She has to. He’s six feet two. “What gives, o mighty one?”

His hugs never have hidden agendas, and his kisses are from the best, most overprotective big brother in the whole world.

His deep inhale informs me it’s worse than I thought. “Now, don’t freak out.”

“Oh. My. God.”

“Sky! I just said don’t freak.”

“Is it cancer? How much longer do we have you?”

“What? I’m not dying, Skyler. You’re always going straight to the worst scenario.”

She smirks. “The worst scenario would be Jolene having cancer.”

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Author Bio:

India R Adams is an author/singer/songwriter who has written YA and NA novels such as Blue Waters (A Tainted Waters Novella), My Wolf and Me, Steal Me (A Haunted Roads Novel), Rain (A Stranger in the Woods Novel), Serenity (A Forever Series Novel) and also The Forever Series music.

India was born and raised in Florida but has also been so lucky as to live in Idaho (where she froze but fell in love with the small town life), Austin Texas (where she started her first book, Serenity, and met wonderful artist), and now Murphy, North Carolina (where the mountains have stolen a piece of her heart).

Being a survivor of abuse, has inspired India to let others know they have nothing to be ashamed of. She put her many years of professional theater background to the test and has written fictional stories with a shadow of her personal experiences. She says, “I’m simply finding ways to empower perfect imperfections.”

Another cause India feels needs change, is Sexual Slavery. She has joined forces with jewelers to design beautiful ways to raise money for non-profit organizations. Even though India writes about serious subjects such as domestic violence, sexual abuse, and Human Trafficking, she has a magnificent sense of humor, as do the characters she creates. Perfectly balanced between laughter and tears, her readers see how to empower their own perfect imperfections.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

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Giveaway (INTL):

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  • Organic soap and body oil (1 Bar and 1 oil. Scent: lavender and Patchouli) + paperback copy of Rain.
  • ends August 25th

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