In her mid-20s, Raina Anand agreed to let her Indian grandmother play matchmaker if she was still single at 30. But when her 29th birthday hits, Raina gives in and starts meeting the guys on Nani's list. Secretly, she figures a few blind dates will get Nani (and Toronto's female Indian community) off her back while she helps plan her best friend Shay's elaborate wedding and waits for her ex to come to his senses. But even half-hearted dating while dealing with clashing cultural expectations isn't easy. Sonya Lalli traces Raina's fraught, often hilarious romantic journey in her debut novel, The Matchmaker's List.
Born to a mostly absent teenage mother and raised by her grandparents, Raina has always been the dutiful granddaughter. As she works through Nani's list, though, she grows increasingly frustrated with the pressure to marry a nice Indian guy. While Raina's dating mishaps will ring true for readers who have faced the challenges of 21st-century singlehood, her passivity is frustrating at times, and her absorption in her own troubles sometimes makes her blind to others' struggles. Lalli's narrative does eventually lead Raina toward true love, but the book's most satisfying relationships are between heterosexual women: Raina's deep bond with Shay, her fierce love for Nani and Nani's own volatile friendship with Shay's mother. As Shay's wedding approaches and Raina starts to run out of names, she learns to own her mistakes and admit what she really wants in a partner--and what she must provide for herself. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams