Priya in Heels (Entangled Embrace)

by Ayesha Patel

[Cocktails and Books]

There was one big reason why I jumped to read this book: the romance between Indian Priya and Caucasian Tyler. Being married to an Indian, I was interested in seeing how the author was going layout the romance between these two, given how different they were culturally.

Priya, finishing her residency in Houston, has a bit of freedom from her traditional Indian family who lives in Dallas. It's very clear Priya does not want to disappoint her parents, even if what they want for her is not what she wants for herself. She lets her mother strong arm her into meeting with a man, because his good family called hers and they would be a good match. It doesn't matter that Priya doesn't want to meet him and really doesn't want to get engaged to someone she doesn't know...she doesn't want to disappoint her parents so she followed their lead.

Tyler, the man Priya meets one night in the ER and soon discovers is her neighbor, is instantly attracted to Priya. He doesn't care that she's Indian, he just wants to get to know this woman who's sparked his interest. But Tyler soon discovers trying to do anything with Priya was going to cause a lot of hurt (on both sides) and become an exercise in extreme patience.

In my opinion, Tyler was a saint. Being married to an Indian, I'm thankful my husband's family was very open to him being married to someone who wasn't an Indian. I only wished Tyler could have had the same thing. Instead of following the normal path of a relationship: meet, get to know each other, fall in love...., poor Tyler was put through the ringer. By Priya and her inability to put her foot down and tell her parents it's Tyler she truly wants, and by her parents and their prejudice against him. I would have walked away. No matter how much I wanted the other person, I would have said enough is enough. But Tyler has so much faith in Priya, even when it seemed like he didn't, but he was still there for her. No matter what she said, who she was with or what she did, he was still there for her.

Priya was not my favorite character, mainly because she kept stringing two guys along when she knew her heart belonged to one of them. I understood why she felt she needed to follow the course her mother had set, but having been raised in America and American enough to use some pretty horrible slang regarding her friends, I would think she would be American enough to tell her parents that she was in love with Tyler and she wasn't going through with the arranged marriage.

In the end, this was a decent read with drama and angst. Despite not liking Priya, the author does a great job of giving us insight into Priya life and how difficult it can be to blend two cultures. It takes Priya a while, but she does finally figure things out.