The Dating Plan by Sara Desai

The Dating plan by Sara Desai was one of those books that took me by surprise. I began reading it thinking it was another typical romance novel. Two people who didn’t plan on dating ended up falling in love (Think The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory). In all honesty, I delayed picking this up off my TBR shelf because I wasn’t commited to a sappy love story mood. But holy smokes I was not prepared for this book. I can’t tell you if I loved The Dating Plan because of my longing for more Bridgerton (okay, I got a little obsessed with this show) but Desai delivered exactly what I didn’t know I needed to read.

Daisy had everything she wanted in life.

As a software engineer confident in her place in life, she has no interest in finding love. In her logistically driven mind, she has no room for a person to mess with her plans and lists and complicate life. Her family, on the other hand, wants nothing more than to see Daisy married to a good man, start a family, and move out of her childhood home. Desperate to get her overbearing aunties off her back, she creates a plan to use her brother’s childhood best friend as her decoy fiance.

Liam just received an inheritance with a contingency

He has to be married by his next birthday, or his inheritance is lost to his brother. Despite being a highly successful venture capitalist, Liam feels he has something to prove. Both to his family and to himself. So when Daisy reenters his life, he realizes this is the perfect opportunity. Not only rekindle his relationship with her, but to prove to himself and his family that he can accomplish anything he puts his mind to. The only problem being, he broke Daisy’s heart ten years ago, and he’s not sure she’ll be willing to forgive him.

In order to make their arrangement seem real, Daisy creates the dating plan.

A series of dates that will not only legitimize their relationship with “accidental” run ins with family members, but also force them to reestablish a relationship. Learning about the people they have become and the past that created it. The plan seems to be going off without a hitch…until getting to know each other starts to rekindle the flames of the past.

Desai delivers with The Dating Plan

I don’t have a bad thing to say about this book. Desai’s writing flows from chapter to chapter, making you want more. The way she overlaps the characters’ stories just enough and both characters are not only likable but relatable. I absolutely love when books are written with multiple viewpoints. Mainly because I love hearing reading what’s going on in each of the minds of the characters (I’m nosy!). Desai writes The Dating Plan from the viewpoints of both Liam and Daisy. Personally, I think if it was written any other way, this book wouldn’t have been successful. There’s so much inner dialogue that’s SOO important. And it’s funny. It’s written with banter and sarcasm, something a lot of authors try to do but rarely succeed. The Dating Plan just flows.

And yeah, the story itself was a romantic novel but…..can we talk about the sex scenes?! Because unless you’re reading erotica, you’re not getting descriptions like that. My eyes couldn’t move fast enough across the pages. Well freaking done Desai.

Bottom line

If you’re looking for a good romance novel with a little bit of heat, read this book. I have to be in a particular mood for romance novels (hellooo suspense and thrillers!), and I’m glad I picked this one out of the stack. The Dating Plan was well written with a strong storyline. I will say it was slightly predictable-what romance novel isn’t though? But it had enough depth to keep you reading until the very end. And have I mentioned it was funny? If I’m being honest, I wouldn’t be upset with a sequel but I may just have to suffice with reading her other book, The Marriage Game.

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‘Till next time book nerds. xx

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