REVIEW: "The Marriage Code" by Brooke Burroughs
I never felt pressure to get married.
It’s probably because I didn't give anyone the chance.
As a teen, I honestly never thought anyone would want me enough to actually marry me — yes, teens are the kings and queens of healthy self-esteem… and overweight ones are even better. But real life has a way of surprising you, and mine did when I got engaged only weeks after turning 22 and married at 23.
Because I got married when I was, basically, a baby, there wasn’t really any time for my mother to start pressuring me about settling down. There was no time for her to ask about grandkids while passive-aggressively glancing at her watch as if it tracked not the passing of minutes but the dwindling of the years that would make up her life.
Though I still think that it is a bit of a miracle that the marriage I, in retrospect, too hastily entered into has worked out as well as it did, I’m glad that I took that ill-advised leap. Because doing so saved me from the family holiday queries of, “Is there anyone special in your life?” It saved me from the — honestly quite bitchy — reminders that I wasn’t getting any younger.
Knowing myself the way I do, I can say that those queries and reminders, no matter how well-intentioned, would have been problematic.
Because I'm a people pleaser.
If people had started pressuring me to get married, I probably would have rushed out and found someone — or joined a dating website, really, because who meets people in the wild these days? I would have found the first sap who I could somehow convince to tether himself to me forever.
As much as I like to fancy myself a strong and independent woman, I really probably wouldn’t have had the emotional fortitude or self-confidence to assert myself in the ways of the strong female protagonists I admire like Elizabeth Bennett. The ones who proudly say, "I don't need a man and you can't prove to me otherwise." The ones who insist, “I don't want a man unless he is the perfect man. I will not settle, even under intense pressure.”
In books and movies, we usually see this pressure to wed placed firmly on the shoulders of the woman. They’re the keepers of the biological clocks, after all. But in The Marriage Code, Brooke Burroughs’ debut novel, we see this pressure applied to our hero.
Though he grew up in South India, Rishi now lives in bustling Bangalore. He works in IT — one of the fields deemed acceptable by his old-fashioned, loving-yet-controlling parents — as an app developer. When the opportunity to work in Seattle presents itself, he leaps at it, not because of his desire to see America but, instead, because a job in America could mean more money. And he needs more money, as he helps support his parents who are experiencing financial hardship as a result of a failed investment that not only stripped them of their old-age security but also shattered their relationship with their older son, Subhar.
But it isn’t only financial pressure that Rishi feels. He also feels pressured to take a wife. This pressure intensifies when his younger sister, Dharini, starts to express interest in getting married. If Rishi doesn’t marry well, it could hinder Dharini’s ability to find a suitable match. So, despite the fact that he wants to marry for love and not out of necessity, he starts to hunt for the perfect wife.
Though Rishi is looking for a woman to love, Emma most certainly will not be her.
Their first meeting goes horribly when, disgruntled by the fact that she feels she has been left out of the professional loop, she treats him perhaps unforgivably badly.
But Emma and Rishi wouldn’t have been a match, anyway. Rishi needs to marry a certain type of woman. An Indian woman from a certain place and a certain caste. A woman with certain attributes to recommend her. Emma, a redheaded American who has been largely on her own since her parents’ tragic death when she was a young child, is about as far from fitting the bill as you could possibly get.
But that doesn’t mean that she can’t play a role in Rishi’s search for the perfect wife. When Emma discovers that improving her relationship with Rishi would be professionally advantageous for her, she decides she needs to make amends with him.
So she proposes a deal.
If he will look beyond the rather unforgivable rudeness she exhibited when they first met, she will help him write the marriage code, a web crawl that will find him the perfect wife.
But what starts out as a purely business relationship quickly evolves into much more. It starts to become clear to Rishi what he wants: Emma. The only problem is that choosing her means letting down his family. And that’s not something he is sure he is capable of doing, no matter how much his heart wants him to.
Merging a sweet and sexy love story with an insider’s view of life in vibrant India, this romance novel stands apart.
A particular strength of this novel was the significance and believability of the barriers standing between our couple and their ultimate happiness.
As any frequent reader of romance knows, there always have to be stumbling blocks, complicating the duo’s trip down what would otherwise be a well-marked path to love. Often, these stumbling blocks are clichéd, easy-to-clear-up misunderstandings. In this case, though, the hindrances to their romance were real and serious and life-changing. They were grounded in important factors like family and culture and history.
The seriousness of these stakes made the journey even more treacherous for our hero and heroine. Because they knew that, for them to reach their happily ever after, they would potentially have to hurt people they truly cared about.
Another definite strength was Burroughs’ ability to fully transport her readers to India.
The closest I have ever gotten to India was some probably ridiculously inauthentic takeaway food I used to eat during a study abroad in England. But now, thanks to Burroughs, I feel like I have a richer understanding of this culturally complex and captivating country.
Capturing the setting was particularly important here because this story couldn't have happened anywhere else. And I really don't think anyone who is not as intimately acquainted with India could have as effectively written this book. I could tell the Burroughs had walked these streets, had these experiences, eaten this food, marveled at these temples. Her experience showed through not only in the depth of her description but in the way she described these places and experiences — seemingly with love and authentic appreciation.
This book was as light on weaknesses as heroine and hero, Emma and Rishi, would appear to be on similarities.
Really the only factor that had any kind of negative impact on my enjoyment of this book was the pacing. While, in general, I felt like this novel moved at a pleasant rate, there were a couple of spots that seemed to drag a bit.
The book was relatively lengthy by romance novel standers, clocking in at just under 400 pages. This length was due, at least in part, to the dense description — which I just praise so I certainly wouldn't want to see removed for the sake of economy. But, ultimately, the book did make for a little more of a laborious read than you would normally expect from a romance novel.
With rich characters and an even richer setting, The Marriage Code is definitely a novel I will think back upon fondly in the future.
It earns 4 out of 5 cocktails.
In reflecting on this book, I realized that I really don’t read that much fiction set outside of the United States. What’s your favorite book set in another country? Tell me about it in the comments below so I can add it to my TBR.
Let’s go, 2021! Keep the good reads coming! Want to see what I pick up next? Subscribe to updates in the sidebar on the right and follow me on Goodsreads.
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*I was provided a gifted copy of this title by the publisher*
