Review by Booklist Review
Nura Khan has thrived at the helm of her family's Atlanta matchmaking business, Piyar, especially after she spearheaded the launch of their popular app. Riding high, she dismisses a sudden wave of bad reviews, threatening notes, and a podcast threatening to expose her "evil-doing" as sour grapes from rejected applicants to their elite VIP program. But when a high-profile client's wedding is derailed by fake arrest records and her best friend (and long-held secret love) Azar steps back from his role as her PR-enhancing fake fiancé, Nura's world is shaken. As Nura sets Piyar's private investigators on the trail of the saboteur, corporate espionage takes a darker turn with the kidnapping of another of Piyar's high-profile matches. Nura turns to her found family as the walls crumble, unsuspecting that an enemy lurks in her circle. Saeed, celebrated for her juvenile novels (such as Amal Unbound, 2018), offers a satisfying thriller debut here that's centered on Nura's good-hearted tenacity, romantic tension with Azar, and enlightening immersion in Desi culture.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Children's author Saeed (Omar Rising) makes her adult debut with a bumpy romantic mystery centered on Nura Khan, who runs a thriving matchmaking service among Atlanta's Pakistani community. Nura's company has brought wedded bliss to hundreds of couples, but she remains single on the cusp of turning 32, relying on her best friend, Azar, to be her plus-one to the countless weddings she's invited to. While contending with her growing feelings for Azar, Nura starts receiving disturbing emails from former applicants accusing her of being a "fraudster" who "ruins people's lives." When one client's lavish ceremony is interrupted by the bride's angry parents shouting recriminations about Nura's incompetence, Nura vows to ferret out who's targeting her reputation, and why. Saeed delivers brisk prose and generates sweet chemistry between Nura and Azar, but she stumbles with the book's mystery component, outsourcing most of the investigation to Nura's staff while Nura frets about Azar's new girlfriend. Despite some promising elements, this never quite takes flight. Agent: Faye Bender, Book Group. (Feb.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Children's book author Saeed's (Amal Unbound) debut adult novel is a romystery, an engaging blend of thrilling action, love of all kinds, and a touch of sweetness. Nura Khan, a third-generation, Atlanta-based matchmaking expert, encounters a series of troubling events at the weddings of clients she's matched, only to discover that someone isn't just out to destroy her business--they are out to destroy her. Against this backdrop, Nura is hopelessly in love with her childhood best friend, Azar, whom she can't be with. She and her team and Azar set out to solve the mystery of the sabotaged weddings, putting her in danger. Saeed's descriptions are colorful, and the characters are fully formed, drawing readers into the story and making the plot twist at the end all the more satisfying. Short chapters make the book easy to read, while the fast-paced storyline makes it hard to put down. VERDICT An engaging, quick read, Saeed's mystery-romance hybrid will be popular at public libraries.--Jenny Shonk
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A successful Atlanta-based matchmaking entrepreneur suddenly finds herself the target of increasingly bizarre and terrifying events that threaten first her business and then her life. A third-generation matchmaker, Nura Khan considers it the work she "was put on this earth to do" and has an enviable record of success pairing off the well-to-do men and women who are part of her client pool. Well-educated, worldly, and hard-working, 31-year-old Nura seems to have the best of everything--except a match for herself. Still, she manages to keep up socially necessary appearances with a fake fiancé named Azar, a childhood friend with whom she (quite disastrously) fell in love with as a college student, but who is more than willing to accompany her to clients' weddings. Then her glittering world begins to crumble when a member of her staff comes across a podcast from an unknown man who slanders Nura's work and a rejected client threatens to destroy her reputation with bogus claims of misconduct. Saeed's deft handling of the escalating tensions that follow--the kidnapping of a bride and groom; Nura's deepening quandary about Azar, the best friend she cannot admit is the love of her life; and the devastating betrayal that changes everything--creates a narrative that will captivate readers from the first page. This hybrid romance/mystery takes the South Asian tradition of arranged marriage and works it into a story that delights with its shimmering fluidity, memorable characters, heart-stopping twists, and a happily-ever-after that warms the heart while bringing the narrative to a delectably satisfying close. A warm, winning debut with intelligence and storytelling panache to spare. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
