The Shaadi Set Up
G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2021
Agent: Jessica Watterson
In this witty and heartfelt rom-com debut for fans of Jasmine Guillory, Emily Henry, and Tessa Bailey, an Indian American woman signs herself and her boyfriend up for a matchmaking site to prove they're a perfect match, only to be paired with her ex instead.
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....
Reviews:
“YA author Vale (Small Town Hearts) makes a splash with her laugh-out-loud adult debut...Vale evenly balances heart and heat, while imbuing her rom-com with cultural specificity and delicately exploring familial obligation and heartbreak. Hilarious and heartfelt, this second chance romance proves it’s never too late to start again.” -Publisher's Weekly Starred
“The Shaadi Set-Up is my favorite ever second chance romance. Hilarious and emotional, with characters who feel so real I didn’t want to let them go, Rita and Milan punched a hole through my heart. I can’t wait to dog-ear all my favorite passages. This is an absolute treasure of a love story.” –Sarah Hogle, author of You Deserve Each Other and Twice Shy
“Charming as hell and wonderfully witty, The Shaadi Set-Up had me grinning, swooning, and sweating. Watching Rita and Milan torture each other is truly delicious, and the tension between them is so thick you’d need several buzzsaws to cut it. A pitch-perfect romantic comedy and a new all-time favorite.” –Rachel Lynn Solomon, author of The Ex Talk