Ved is a closeted gay man living in Mumbai. In order to please his mother, he agrees to an arranged marriage to Disha (a women). However, when he meets Carlos on Grinder, he begins to question what he’s doing.

This was kinda out of my comfort zone, but I thought this was a really interesting listen. You can listen to this on Audible for free if you have a Kindle Unlimited account.

Thanks to @NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for my ARC!

The premise of the book intrigued me… the fact that one of my biggest pet peeves in books and in life is lying didn’t make this easy. But yes I get it, so moving along, it’s romance you know how these things are going to go. It’s not the typical romance we get to see so here’s to hoping for more diverse LGBT romances in the future.

Super book!! The characters are big and bold and lifelike in this one. You will fall in love with the story as it unfolds for you and you will want a happy ending for everyone.

Three and a half stars rounded up. I've read a lot of romance novels and this one was unlike any other. Because I'm an American hetero woman, I don't think I "got" the book as much as a different reader would, who could relate to the characters. However I still found it powerful and interesting.

While it's technically a romance novel, it reads more like contemporary fiction because it's more about Ved's personal journey than the actual romantic relationship. He is a closeted gay man in India where homosexuality is illegal. Over the course of the book, he realizes he wants to live authentically and tries to figure out how to do that without disappointing his parents.

Generally I wouldn't like a romance where cheating is prominent but it was necessary to the storyline and I understood the characters' motivations. I appreciate that there were ramifications of the cheating.

I recommend this for readers of LGBTQ+ stories and romances.

I liked how the content was handled and the writing was enjoyable too. However the main issue I had with the story was that the middle part was too long. Ved's lying and repeated denial got on my nerves. He was constantly saying that trust and honesty are the most important things to him and how he really should stop all this. Too hypocritical for my taste.

Still I can recommend this to anyone who likes a bollywoodesque contemporary gay romance. If you can overlook the initial hypocrisy.

Thanks Netgalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Set in Mumbai during the time when Supreme Court of India was planning to hear the plea against Section 377 decriminalizing gay relationships this novel is the story of Ved a closeted gay man. This novel is essentially a journey of Ved in the conservative Indian society and his realization that his happiness is important too.
Though this is said to be a romantic comedy its not a comedy at all. It's a happily ever after novel but there is cheating too. Having said that the author has bought the struggles of a gay man in India where the society is still a bit conservative to life. I could feel the pain of Ved trying to find his own happily ever after and when he finds his path of life I rooted for him. The ending of the novel is so worth it even though I did get angry at Ved's actions in some parts. Read it as a romance and you will enjoy it.

A really great story about finding love your own way. I thoroughly enjoyed this cute story as it is the first LGBT+ book I have read. I love reading new perspectives and this had everything - homosexuality in India, which is still illegal, and an arranged marriage. It touched on some really important points but was still a rom-com.

This is a sweet rom-com that deals with genuine social issues affecting India. The characters are fun, creating a great ensemble that shows fun personalities, but also not being afraid to call them out when they do bad things. I would definitely recommend this to anyone interested in a different type of romance, with a Bollywood flair.

This book was a real page-turner! Not only does it show a perspective of being gay in a country where it’s hard for anyone to be openly gay, but it’s also a high-stakes story of not knowing how to come clean about something that’s going on, or in Ved’s case multiple things, even though you know it’s going to spiral out of control.

This was a classic romcom and as much as I do enjoy this I didn’t think it was any better or any less than other romcom is within this genre I thought it was good as a book in a hole but I think that it doesn’t have anything that differentiates itself from the genre itself although I did thoroughly enjoy the characters the pacing was great and it felt a massive when I read the book

I was looking forward to reading this book. The synopsis had me excited, however I just could not get into this book and could not finish it.

My thanks to Netgalley and Lake Union publishing for the early access via e-arc.
I thought this story was definitely well worth the reader's time. I don't read a whole lot of romance and so it's nice to get to dive into a romance with a different setting and cast when I do as so much of the genre seems to be dominated by US or UK settings.
This Mumbai based story really enchanted me and it's description of the sights, sounds and taste of Mumbai at the same time also really transported me there, and made me wish to go there myself one day.
I think the story feels very suitable for it's setting. And while it is a story about this particular one fictional man, I'm sure many will be able to identify with him at some level or another, even if you don't share his heritage. Ultimately it's a story about the struggle of dealing with the expectations put upon oneself, either by yourself or by others. And finding out and embracing what you truly want for yourself, for your own life.
I found the plot well executed. It didn't feel like much of a stretch as some romance premises definitely do. And enough attention was given to all elements to result in a satisfactory delivery. The relationships within this one were also superb. None of these relationships were simple, they were all very nuanced, very real.
My main problem is very personal, and that is the lying. I can understand why the protagonist lies, and how at some point he has just been lying so much that he can't really stop as it'll all come crashing down. But that is just something that I take serious offense by and so I was often exasperated by the decisions our protagonist Ved was making. And that's a feeling that I don't particularly enjoy, though it also didn't make me turn away from the book. I guess, because it was also clear why he was choosing to lie.
Definitely recommend, especially to regular romance readers who are looking for something not set in the US/UK for once.

This book was just kind of boring. The whole conflict is that Ved is engaged to Disha but he's seeing Carlos on the side and he doesn't know what to do. That's it. If you know that summarized line, you know the whole story,

It was so disappointing because I was very exciting to see gay Desi men in books but I unfortunately did not enjoy this one. I can see the potential in Dadyburjor's work. He is an excellent writer and I will be getting his future books but I think this one was a miss.

Gay Rom-Com Celebrates Love in the Time of Section 377

Deputy Director of OutRight Action International Maria Sjödin stated, “Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which made sexual behavior ‘against the order of nature’ illegal and punishable by imprisonment, served as a model for similar laws across the British Colonial Empire. As such, its fall marked a significant step forward in the recognition and promotion of the human rights of LGBTIQ people not only in India but around the world.”
The Other Man by Farhad J. Dadyburjor offers a rom-com peek into Mumbai’s gay life before the September 6, 2018, repeal of Section 377. Twisted in knots from the emotional to the situational, it is a happily-ever-after comedy of errors.

At 38, Ved Mehra has everything. He’s tall, Clooney-esque handsome, stylish, and the VP of his father’s electronics megabusiness. He’s first-class marriage material, and his status-conscious mother knows it. When she wears him down—wanting only the best for him, of course—he agrees to a business-beneficial marriage with the vivacious and accomplished Disha.

But Ved secretly grieves for Akshay, his ex-, who four years earlier bowed to pressure, married a woman and expected the two to carry as clandestinely as before.

Shortly after agreeing to marry, complications arise. Ved discovers he enjoys Disha as a friend and doesn’t want to hurt her. At the same time and true to himself, he returns to the gay dating app Grindr. There, meets Carlos Silva, an equally vivacious New Yorker temporarily headquartered in Jaipur. Carlos, Ved learns, plans to visit Mumbai, and Ved agrees to meet him.

Besides, Ved figures he “could never shag Carlos, much less have a relationship with him. Ved was engaged and Carlos was moving away soon. It would be a doomed relationship from the start.”
The two men meet and fall hard for each other.

Ved’s intensifying love for the fun-loving Carlos is likewise muddled by his anxiety about the engagement extravaganza plans. Offering on-the-fly excuses to avoid party preparation obligations becomes a habit. Frantically avoiding everyone but Carlos becomes a necessity. Ved knows he has to come out to his parents and Disha and call off the marriage, but anticipating their reactions causes him emotional stress intense enough to make him curl up in bed and devour a carton of Honey Nut Crunch ice cream.

Yet, for all the hand wringing, it’s a rom-com with hair-raising run-ins and breath-holding circumstances that fluster our hero. Ved is a complicated character whose turmoil over what family and colleagues may think of him as a gay man is his guiding star, making him lusciously flawed, if not a little naïve. Overall, he’s a frustratingly lovable character, and it’s easy to want a happy ending for this triad of Ved, Carlos, and Disha.

“With this book, I wanted to give an up-close and personal view of what it’s like to be gay in India,” Dadyburjor explains. He also wanted to “paint a happy, love-affirming picture, especially one that’s not just of the romantic love between Ved and Carlos. My book is also a celebration of the deep, abiding love between a son and his parents, and even the fondness that develops between Ved and the girl he’s supposed to marry.”

In all those goals, Dadyburjor succeeds. The novel is an entertaining read with unexpected laughs and a cast of amusing characters enmeshed in everything from nail-biting to eye-rolling episodes. As a rom-com in a challenging setting, it works like a dream. If you’re looking for an upscale happily-ever-after with a feel-good beach read vibe, look no farther than The Other Man.

It took me a moment to get into the no frills, journalistic writing style, just because I'm not used to it, but I ended up enjoying it a lot. I flew through this story, and it tugged at the heartstrings quite a few times.

I was very invested. I understood Ved, and Carlos, and I understood Disha. I think this book is something between a romance and romantic fiction, because romance isn't always necessarily the primary aspect since Ved's own journey, and his (and the other characters') struggle with societal norms and expectations are very much intertwined with it. This is a fast read and, like I said, and I think the characters and the story, could have been slightly more fleshed-out, but it's very simple, straight to point, as well as honest and realistic. I was a little worried about the cheating aspect here but I didn't mind it. It's something that technically was cheating, and even the character says it was but it didn't feel quite that way, especially since Ved and Disha are pretty upfront about their situation, and their arrangement. I loved how Ved realises the hurt that was inflicted upon him in the past is now the hurt that he's causing, and he's very realistic about it, and it's easy to see why he's in such turmoil. I loved how his relationship with Carlos developed, and how both of them were persistent when they needed to be. Also, bonus point for the parents' reaction.

And of course, I liked the ending, it was heartwarming, and even if it was a little too neatly wrapped up, it was the ending we needed. All in all, this was a compelling, thought-provoking story, and it made quite an impact on me.

*I have received an ARC from Netgalley and the publisher, and I am leaving an honest review.*

The Other Man
By Farhad J Dadyburjor

The Other Man is a contemporary romance read about a closeted gay man, and a wealthy heir to a business empire living in India where arranged marriages are the norm and being queer or gay is not accepted by the culture, and is considered an unnatural offence and a punishable crime.

At 38 yo, with a family pushing for a matrimonial match, he finally agrees to a potential future with Disha Kapoor. Enter Carlos Silva a dashing businessman from America. What comes next is an enjoyable romcom that is a quick feel good read.

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book!

While the storytelling dragged on a little for my taste, this book is an incredibly important addition to shelves in the fiction genre. This talks about a homosexual relationship in India, and I thought it was handled with deep respect and taught me a lot. It was a story I felt needed to be told.

Farhad J. Dadyburjor's The Other Man is a rom-com, not my usual choice for reading. I wanted to read this title, however, because the central romance it's built around is gay and because it's set in India, which I thought would make for an interesting combination.

I admit to losing patience with The Other Man at times because of the internalized homophobia of the main character. I just kept wanting to whack him upside the head as he made mistake after mistake and dug himself into deeper and deeper troubles. Seriously. He's just met the man of his dreams yet becomes engaged to a woman at the same time to make his family happy. It's a rom-com, so you know that's not where the story ends—but realizing that does make his behavior any less exasperating.

I appreciated that the novel also included the story of his fiancee—also trying to make her family happy, but determined to maintain her autonomy in ways many women being pushed into a semi-arranged marriage might not be. She's also more honest with herself (if not to her family), which makes her a more likeable character.

By the end, I was glad I'd read this novel. I'm not necessarily going hunt out similar titles, but a bit of rom-com from Dadyburjor did my heart good.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from NetGalley; the opinions are my own.

The premise of this book is why I wanted to read it. Unfortunately the info dump in the beginning was too much for me to get past.
DNF 20%

I didn’t connect with this book in the way I’d hoped to. I really enjoyed the complicated issues that were brought up with a closeted gay man in India, and really appreciated that his fears of coming out to his parents were unfounded. I also appreciated that this wasn’t the usual book about a young guy finding romance as I so often see in LGBTQ+ romances.

Unfortunately I just didn’t like Ved all that much as a character. I found him to be a little one dimensional and really never connected with him in such a way as to be drawn into his story.

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing for sending me this eArc via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review!