TL;DR: I ended up loving The Singles Table! From the moment Zara’s beautiful vibrant personality is introduced and they get their meet cute (she shoots him in the ass with a paintball gun as he’s being an insufferable prick!), I was fully sold on their romance. We get more meddling aunties, badass mums with sweet biker boyfriends, an eccentric artist father who… paints intimate portraits and so much great banter. This is by far my favourite in this series and I would recommend it if you love the grumpy/sunshine trope because Zara and Jay were the perfect pairing.

I went from the first to the third book in this series (only cos I didn’t have a copy of the second) and I’m so glad I did. I didn’t remember if Zara was mentioned in the first book. Still, it didn’t matter because I remembered the aunties very well, especially Taara Auntie who makes the most offensive fusion concoctions that she continues to poison everyone with, lol. I loved all the Indian cultural references here—from the food, dancing, music and of course, all the wedding festivities. But I also loved the other side characters we’re introduced to like Jay’s business partner, Zara’s very horny bestie, Parvati, and her awesome colleagues at the law firm. I mean, I would go with the tiger firm for sure!

From the moment we meet Zara and Jay, I knew I would love them individually and together! Well, I was hoping that Jay wouldn’t be a total prick the whole time and I’m glad that he wasn’t. Theirs was a hilarious meet-cute as Zara and her wild ways come crashing through the bachelor/bachelorette party and take Jay by surprise by not only shooting him in the ass with a paintball gun but also winning the game for their team. I adored Zara’s sunshine attitude and although she is a bit of a hot mess and is always full steam ahead and getting into easily avoidable trouble, she had such great energy! Her relationship with her father was sweet and I loved how much she supported him—that exhibition was hilarious though and her panic had me cackling because same. 😂 Of the both of them though, I’m surprised by how much I loved Jay! The more we get to know him and see his walls crumble around Zara, we see he’s a total sweetheart. I’m a sucker for grumpy MMCs who are scared to be vulnerable and are hurting deep down but have big hearts and would lay down their lives for their loved ones. Jay was all that and more. Holy swoontastic, if you love a man who falls first and falls hard, you’ll love Jay. Some of the things that came out of this man’s mouth had my legs jelly with the swooning and their sexual chemistry and banter was off the charts! I loved their sexual journey together as much as their emotional one—it was so playful, fun and very sexy. 🥵 There were some OTT moments but it didn’t feel cringe or too much and I found myself laughing out loud often!

They both have abandonment issues that they need to work through and as much as the third act kind of irritated me (I mean, when am I not irritated by a third act, lol) I also saw that it was good for them as they worked out their issues. Jay in particular needed that push to get the help he needed and Zara to realise that she was just being a silly goose. 🤭

Overall, this was a great pick-me-up laugh-out-loud read and I now need to go and find the second book in this series so I can read it ASAP!

Have you read The Singles Table or is it on your TBR?

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