Audiobook review: The Wedding Setup by Sonali Dev
The Wedding Setup is a wonderful standalone, second chance romance. Since her big brother died seven years ago, Ayesha feels that she must live to make her mother happy. This means she had to give up the love of her life, Emmitt. On the day before Ayesha’s best friend’s wedding, Emmitt saunters back into her life, breaking the fragile balance she had maintained for the past seven years.
I love second chances, and The Wedding Setup is a solid, emotionally satisfying tale. We don’t need to see Ayesha and Emmitt together in the past because the author successful creates powerful emotions that are palatable as I listened. I understood that they were each other’s perfect partner because I could feel it. And these emotions are made all the more tangible thanks to Ms. Nankani’s performance.
Narration: The story is shared via the third person POV of main character Ayesha. Soneela Nankani, a classically-trained actress of Indian and Ghanaian descent, performs each character fabulously. She covers a multitude of dialects and accents. She successfully portrays a wide range of ages. Each character is unique and distinguishable from the others. She pulls off male voices that sound masculine. And she infuses so much emotion into each character, bringing them to life and making the story come alive.
Fans of Ms. Dev’s The Rajes series will enjoy the familiar storytelling and character development. And if you’ve never tried her work, this is a great little story to start with. In the end, I really enjoyed The Wedding Setup.
My Ratings
Story: A-
Narration: A
Jen
About the Book:
Ayesha Shetty lost her brother seven years ago, the same time she lost everything else important to her: her dreams, her fierce independence, and the man she loved. Not wanting to see her mother hurt anymore, she put her wild self away and became the dutiful daughter her mother needed and took on her brother’s role in the family business.
Now her best friend’s big, fat Indian wedding is a chance to get away from her endless duties at the restaurant and maybe even have some fun (if she remembers how). But a setup arranged by her mother, with a doctor no less, is the last thing she needs. The fact that he checks all her mother’s boxes just makes everything better…and worse.
Then Emmitt Hughes shows up. Her brother’s best friend. The love she once chose over family duties and her responsibilities. The one she asked to leave, and who did. The one who knows the real Ayesha. Torn between a love from the past that could cost her the only person she has left and her sense of obligation to her mother, will Ayesha find the strength to stop thinking about what everyone else wants and finally put herself first? Or is the old Ayesha truly gone for good?
Author: Sonali Dev
Narrator: Soneela Nankani
Series: Standalone
Genre: Contemporary Romance, second chances, novella
Audiobook Release Date: January 11, 2022
Publisher: Brilliance/Amazon
Length: 2 hours
Source: publisher
Audio Speed: 1.25x
Purchase info:
Audible/Amazon (affilate link)