Ok my second book by this author and I wasn't too sure!
It was very well written, but some of the characters left me a bit cold.
If you like this sort of thing great, but for me I sorry it's only 3 stars.

This book has everything I love; families, cross cultures, forbidden love, community, belonging and doubting yourself and the people in your life.
Monica Ali has an engaging writing style which made this book a delight to read. I actually wanted a bit more (in length) as I was enjoying it so much!

The download date was unfortunately missed, I would be happy to re-review if it became available again. I have awarded stars for the book cover and description as they both appeal to me. I would be more than happy to re-read and review if a download becomes available. If you would like me to re-review please feel free to contact me at thesecretbookreview@gmail.com or via social media The_secret_bookreview (Instagram) or Secret_bookblog (Twitter). Thank you.

Love Marriage by Monica Ali are always beautifully written and this book was no different. The cover was catchy and very colourful. I really enjoyed this book its all about relationships and what happens to the people who are involved, A very good book from start to finish.

"In present-day London, Yasmin Ghorami is twenty-six, in training to be a doctor just like her Indian-born father and engaged to the charismatic, upper-class Joe Sangster, whose formidable mother, Harriet, is a famous feminist. The gulf between families is vast. So, too, is the gulf in sexual experience between Yasmin and Joe."

Big Thank you to Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for my copy.

Joe Sangster and Yasmin Ghorami are doctors and engaged to be married. The relationship has moved forward quickly and we don’t get much of a back story.

Yasmin seems a little naïve around relationships. She finds it difficult at work and is questioning whether to stay in the medical profession. Although Yasmin makes some poor choices along the way, she becomes much more self-aware in the end.

Joe, although outwardly more confident, is struggling with an addiction that we learn more about as the story progresses. Harriet, his mother, is a feminist writer with an overbearing manner who railroads her way into the couple’s wedding plans.

Despite disliking her intensely at the start, even Harriet proved to have hidden depths as the reasons for her behaviour towards Joe emerged and she learned to navigate towards a healthier relationship with him.

Yasmin’s dad, Shaokat, is well-meaning but has a poor relationship with his son, Arif; however, this changes as Arif shows a depth of character that seems absent in the first part of the book. Anisah, Yasmin’s mum, is sweet and I loved the way her character emerged as the people around her began to understand her better.

All the main characters have secrets and aspects of their character that are challenged. The process of self-discovery proves an important theme, particularly in how it affects the central relationships.

We were fed lengthy conversations between Joe and his therapist, Sandor, which I initially felt didn’t belong in the narrative. In the end, the therapist was a key factor in Joe moving his life forward and recognising what needed to change.

However, some characters didn’t seem to add anything to the story, such as the pretentious David Cavendish. I loved Mrs Antonova, though.

This book, like so many games of football, was one of two halves. I struggled with the first half but found the second flowed much better. It became a good read in the end but took a while getting there.

I received a digital ARC of this book via Little, Brown Book Group UK, in return for an honest appraisal.

I thought this was very well written. I wasn’t sure if it was intentional to not like any of the characters very much or if it was just me. A solid four star review.

Love Marriage by Monica Ali tells the story of 26-year-old junior doctor Yasmin Ghorani who is engaged to fellow medic Joe Sangster. The novel opens with Yasmin’s Bengali immigrant parents meeting Joe’s famous feminist mother for the first time at her house in Primrose Hill. The evening forces Yasmin to re-evaluate her assumptions and opinions about the people she is closest to, but the supposedly inevitable culture clash doesn’t develop in the most predictable way. There are several subplots with a large cast of supporting characters, and although some of this could have been cut down, ‘Love Marriage’ is an entertaining modern family saga. Many thanks to Little Brown for sending me a review copy via NetGalley.

Such a funny and witty story about relationships and lurveeee. But it’s so much more. I love family sagas and if you do too, you’ll love this one!

Monica Ali has come a long way since Brick Lane with it's raw get it message across style. She's more polished. She's more considered. She paces her story.

I loved Brick Lane but Love Marriage left me a bit cold. It's undoubtedly well written and there's nothing wrong with a book whose protagonists are hard to love or admire. The problem is, it just feels like a REALLY long story in which not much happens.

my first read for a monica ali book, and i will now look to her back catalogue and dip into some of her others. really liked the modern realism and the difficulties of marriage across different races and expectations of older generations. the youthful characters weren't focused on the differences of their background, there were more modern concerns to keep them occupied. enjoyed this immensely

I’m sorry to say I didn’t finish this and I was so disappointed to give it up. The premise was promising and I adored Brick Lane but this is not for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I have never read a book by Monica Ali before. I know a lot of people would recommend starting with Brick Lane but I started with Love Marriage.

Love Marriage is the story of Yasmin and the Ghorami family. They are your typical family with explosive problems, unobtainable values and expectations not met. It is how the family responds to the everyday nuances of life that tell this story.

It is the family of characters and not necessarily the plot that drives the story along so at times the pacing felt rather slow for me. The last 100ish pages seemed to be when the story picks up speed but the first three quarters seemed to be a lot of exposition and minor incidents.

Overall, Love Marriage was an enjoyable read but personally I feel my books need more pace and less reflection.

Love Marriage by Monica Ali is available now.

For more information regarding Little, Brown Book Group (@LittleBrownUK) please visit www.littlebrown.co.uk.

It had been a long wait for this inspirational novel from Monica Ali. It has all of her characteristic insight, comedy and wit. A classic.

It’s hard to believe that Brick Lane was published nearly 20 years ago, in 2003. That is, it’s hard to believe if you remember it being published like it was last year, and not two decades ago.

Ali writes beautiful, sprawling novels about people - not ground breaking or earth shattering but nonetheless, they leave you warm and thinking about the connections we have to each other as human beings.

Yasmin and Joe are junior doctors, engaged to be married and poised to blend their families. Told from different perspectives and through people who are outside of their immediate circle too, we sit with them both as they struggle with their own challenges and decisions leading up to the big day.

Yasmin’s parents are from India, her father a GP and her mother a homemaker, proud of their love marriage roots, the life they’ve made in London. Nearing retirement, her father is also proud to see her continuing in his footsteps, as they’ve talked about her whole life. Meanwhile, his son is a lazy disappointment, not sticking with anything and refusing to integrate into British life.

Joe’s single parent family is dominated by his mother, a well known and revered feminist journalist/writer. Wealthy and well established as the head of the family and the only man, he is looking forward to settling down with Yasmin.

Meanwhile, Yasmin feels like she’s barely holding everything together, from feeling rubbish at her job to trying to reconcile the rift between her father and brother, and managing the meeting of her traditional Indian parents with her loud and proud future mother in law.

Throughout these meetings and relationships, nothing is quite as it seems and every culture overlap results in something else being brought forward. Running themes include family, the pressure of expectation between generations and progressive culture - the generation gap and how we bridge it as people.

Yasmin is likeable and sympathetic and without doubt the lead character as she moves between worlds - work, home, future, her own dreams jostling with her father’s. I enjoyed getting to know her and her world a bit better.

Recommended for fans of Brick Lane with a touch of Zadie Smith’s White Teeth and something of Arundhati Roy’s God of Small Things.

Thanks as always to Netgalley and Little Brown for the DRC - now available to buy from all good bookshops!

A story of two different families that are entangled to each other. The story about trust, faith, culture, medicine, love, marriage and friendship.
Monica Ali has created a story, which was beautiful to get immersed into, filling it with flawed characters that each have their own story. The main two characters, junior doctors, struggle with their relationship pulling their families into their issues. The whole story felt so true and realistic, in addition the medical part was very well done and did not feel planted into the story at all.
The tough and tricky moments were thread nicely with some lighter humorous moments. I always appreciate when this is comes out well in a book. A great reading experience, a great book!

Thank you Little, Brown Book Group UK, Virago and Netgalley for my e-ARC.

I really enjoyed this book, and really thought the characters made the book.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

Monica Ali has created a beautiful story examining love in so many forms, parents, children, siblings, friends, colleagues as well as spouses and those intending to marry all come under her gaze and are laid bare for our inspection. Often raw and moving, her depictions of emotion ring true to each character and we feel deeply for them, right to the final shocking revelation of how Yasmin’s parents actually met. A thoroughly absorbing read.

This is another triumph from Monica Ali, I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with this cast of characters. The novel is full of love, humour and heart, and though at times it felt a little soap-opera-ish it was never overdone and at the end I was sad to leave this world behind.

I'm not being lazy, but in this case the publisher's blurb really is spot on:

"What starts as a captivating social comedy develops into a heart-breaking and gripping story of two cultures, two families and two people trying to understand one another."

Monica Ali is of course a fine, intelligent writer and Love Marriage again demonstrates the writing quality, depth and insights that have put her on a par with the best contemporary authors. It's extremely readable, too.

I'd like to point out that Love Marriage isn't -- at least in my reading of it; I don't know what the author intended -- an 'ethnic' novel about the immigrant experience. It does feature characters from a white British background and an immigrant background, but despite the postcolonial context the novel's themes are universal. It is, as the publisher says, basically about 'trying to understand one another'.

In short, it's got great literary credentials, all in all. On top of that, it's a very good read; with plot twists, comedy, drama, emotion and some great dialogue... It's such a pleasure when a literary novel is also a cracking good read, and this is one of those books.

Highly recommended.

I'm sorry to say that I DNF this even though I was excited to receive it. Love Marraige is yet another story about adult children of immigrant parents and their double lives. I'm kind of bored now of this genre and it seems to be the only type of story that I seem to find from South Asian authors. It's concerning to me that anyone outside of this group of people will view children of South Asian heritage with pity that they have to lead secretive lives from their parents. Most likely that's the type of stories/books that sell which is a shame when there is so much beauty and positivity in the culture that I know of first hand.

This story was also too slow for my liking,

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC in return for an honest opinion. I really wanted to like this one, maybe the timing wasn't right for me to enjoy this but for now I'm so tired of this trope.