Tuesday, May 29, 2012

The Reluctant Matchmaker-Shobhan Bantwal

The Reluctant Matchmaker


Shobhan Bantwal

Kensington, Jun 26 2012, $15.00

ISBN 9780758258854



In Princeton Junction, New Jersey, pint-sized marketing and public relations manager Meena Shenoy is excited over her upcoming first meeting with her boss Prajay Nayak, the CEO and president of Rathnaya, Inc. Eighty-five pounds when dripping wet Meena never expected to meet her employer when they collide. She sprains her ankle as her body felt like a truck ran over it. However, it is her mind that is discombobulated as she now understands what her mom means in her native language Konkani when she says nasheeba kheloo (destiny’s game).



Prajay tells Meena that at thirty-nine his family expects him to marry as his siblings are married with kids; they wonder if he might be gay; a thought that Meena had too. Meena commiserates as her family wants her to wed soonest and is upset over who her brother is seeing. He asks Meena to write an ad in the matrimonial columns of a few select India-American newspapers and websites with a key requirement that she be at least six feet tall educated Hindu with a sense of humor. Stunned, as she wants to be the chosen one, Meena works on finding her boss a spouse though she wished he would look down to her.



The Reluctant Matchmaker is a fabulous fun frolic starring two likable protagonists while providing readers with a close look at the Indian-American culture, which mingles tradition from the old country with modern technology and the ways of the new country. The storyline reads like a 1930s madcap comedy in a Bollywood-New Jersey setting as Shobhan Bantwal provides an enjoyable contemporary romance



Harriet Klausner



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