Courtney Jane Salinger is 29 years old and she is SICK of dating. She wants to find the love of her life, but the "dating scene" has broken her. Well, it has broken us all.. I TOTALLY know the feeling. It's a game, and it you're not playing by the rules or if you don't know the rules you're in for a disappointment. Courtney is in a good place. She came from a wealthy family but she also has a great job with a steady income, has her own place and the only thing missing is the guy she wants to share her life with. Coming across a commercial of arranged marriages website she decides to sign up and be arranged. In 6 weeks from applying she is going to meet her man on the alter (with only 2 e-mails between them to actually ARRANGE the wedding).
For me - THIS - was ridiculous. Though the site suppose to be operated by "professionals" would YOU marry someone this way? Feelings can change, that's something I agree with. But generally speaking though you can come to love someone new, it's not exactly a promise that you can come to truly love and cherish someone who was chosen for you through an application. On paper someone can be the most generous loving and supportive person, but IN person, s/he might be someone totally different who is anal about certain things. That's without mentioning the issue of attraction. In my experience it's either "there" or "isn't", I don't believe time or anything really can change your physical reaction to someone.. but that's me..
Let's move on to what actually happens.. Well, I can't say A LOT because I'll be close to spoilering who she actually marries but I WILL say I enjoyed the journey she went through. On her way she finds a great companion in Josh Dalton the bartender who, like her best friend Dina, is very disapproving of the whole arranged marriage thing but though he offers her his friendship with open arms, he doesn't offer more. Firstly, she is a customer and he isn't allowed to date those (and Courtney can't date anyone after signing the application) and second he is a screen writer who has no money and a very unknown future. He isn't interested in a serious relationship (even if she wasn't a customer) and marriage? Nope. That's WAY too soon for him. He is younger than Courtney and though he can be a serious guy and they have a lot in common he won't offer her the one thing she wants now.. So just friends it is. I really enjoyed Josh's character. He is really a sweet heart. I wish him all the best.
For Courtney it's very confusing. She enjoys Josh's company but she is mostly occupied by her desire to be married. She explains it to Josh and to herself many times. She doesn't want to "date" she wants the certainty of marriage. Because for her, dating means an expiration date and for her it's not included in marriages. I don't know from where she gets this notion, especially considering her aunt's experience with marriage. I find it more than naive. I think for a marriage, or friendship really, to work you need to work on it and take your time to build it RIGHT. It doesn't matter if there's a ring and contract involved or not. If you're dating and it's not working - bye. If you're married to someone without having a SAY in it, chances are it's going to be WAY harder than a regular relationship and so you might work EXTREMELY hard but still divorce and be back to the dating pool.
Generally speaking I don't "get" this book. But it's part one and though we know in who Courtney is "assigned" to marry, we still don't know HOW or IF it's going to work (that's part 2..). I have to say that though I had many problems with this one - mostly with Courtney herself - I AM looking forward to the 2nd part ("Arrange Us") because - relationships - THAT's where the magic happens.
I'm so DEEPLY sorry Katy. This one just wasn't for me.
I kindly received this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
This book is out TODAY - Grab it through Amazon / KU.
The second installment - "Arrange Us" - brings the story to a close. I didn't like the way things went to say it mildly..
 |
Rating:
★★★½ |
E-Book
Edition |
186
pages
|
Read on:
2 March 2019
|  |  |
No comments:
Post a Comment