Marriage Unarranged by Ritu Bhathal – Blog Tour

On behalf of Zoe at https://zooloosbookdiary.co.uk/zooloos-blog-tours and Ritu Bhathal, I am excited and honoured today to be reviewing Marriage Unarranged. Thank you for a copy of this novel in exchange for an unbiased and honest review.

Synopsis

It all s̶t̶a̶r̶t̶e̶d̶ ended with that box…

The year 2000 and Aashi’s life was all set.
New Millennium ,exciting beginnings, new life.
Or so she thought.

Like in the Bollywood films, Ravi would woo her, charm her family and they’d get married and live happily ever after.

But then Aashi found the empty condom box…

Putting her ex-fiancé and her innocence behind her, Aashi embarks upon an enlightening journey, to another country, where vibrant memories are created, and unforgettable friendships forged.

Old images erased, new beginnings to explore.

And how can she forget the handsome stranger she meets?
A stranger who’s hiding something…

Coming Summer 2023 , book 2 in The Rishtay Series

Buy Links

Amazon UK –  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Marriage-Unarranged-Rishtay-Book-ebook/dp/B09SBSSD67

Amazon US –  https://www.amazon.com/Marriage-Unarranged-Rishtay-Book-ebook/dp/B09SBSSD67/

My Thoughts

In a nutshell, I loved this book and cannot wait to read more of this series and this author.  I’m really hoping it’s a series about the same family/characters as I really want to know how things progress for everyone in Marriage Unarranged. 

I enjoyed the cultural aspect and the family dynamics of this novel.  It was interesting to see how Aashi’s parents and brothers dealt with the news of her relationship breakup and how much this aspect also affected Aashi.  Her brothers and Kirin provided a great support network and I loved how they encouraged her to walk away and not look back. 

India is a country on my list of places to visit and I really felt as though I was there with Aashi and co.  Ritu Bhathal describes India with an insider’s perspective as opposed to a tourist and it was fascinating.  I loved learning about what everyday life may look like and indulging in experiences such as seeing a Bollywood film in a cinema there.  As well as Indian culture, there is also lots of reference to the Sikh religion which is another thing that fascinates me.    

I enjoyed being part of Aashi’s journey and how she found her personality came out over the novel, with the help of her travelling companions.  I was willing for her to have the ending that she deserved.  I also enjoyed the different relationships developing amongst other characters too.   

I cannot wait to return to this series and find out how everyone is getting on.

Author Bio – Ritu Bhathal

Ritu Bhathal was born in Birmingham in the mid-1970s to migrant parents, hailing from Kenya but of Indian origin. This colourful background has been a constant source of inspiration to her. From childhood, she always enjoyed reading. This love of books is credited to her mother. The joy of reading spurred her on to become creative in her writing, from fiction to poetry. Winning little writing competitions at school and locally encouraged her to continue writing.

As a wife, mother, daughter, sister, and teacher, she has drawn inspiration from many avenues to create the poems that she writes. A qualified teacher, having studied at Kingston University, she now deals with classes of children as a sideline to her writing! Ritu also writes a blog, www.butismileanyway.com, a mixture of life and creativity, thoughts and opinions, which was awarded first place in the Best Overall Blog Category at the 2017 Annual Bloggers Bash Awards and Best Book Blog in 2019.

Ritu is happily married and living in Kent, with her Hubby Dearest, and two children, not forgetting the fur baby Sonu Singh.

Facebook : www.facebook.com/RituBhathal/

Instagram : www.instagram.com/ritubhathalwrites/

Twitter:  twitter.com/RituBhathal

TikTok :   https://www.tiktok.com/@ritubhathalauthor

Website:  http://www.ritubhathal.com/