Daisy Patel likes a plan. Liam Murphy needs a marriage to secure his inheritance. Their proposed engagement could quiet her matchmaking relatives and protect his family’s distillery, but Daisy remembers the childhood crush who left her waiting on prom night. Putting dates on a schedule does not settle what that old hurt means now.
The Dating Plan suits readers drawn to banter, family interference and attraction inside a practical bargain. Its more uncertain appeal is whether the accumulated tropes and renewed resentment feel believable. Our researched editorial assessment compares enthusiastic and critical reading accounts; no firsthand Eikna reading is claimed.
Best for readers who welcome an energetic fake-engagement romance with family comedy and a childhood-crush reunion. The main reservations are consistency, contrived obstacles and the late handling of vulnerability. These concerns matter more than whether the premise sounds familiar.
A numeric heat level has not been established. Read the review’s heat and content discussion for attributed descriptions before choosing. An unknown level is not a closed-door or no-spice promise.
The heat-level guide explains detail and frequency; the glossary entry for spice separates sexual content from quality.
The romantic outcome is not established in this summary. A romance label does not independently confirm an ending. Consult the discussion before choosing if closure is essential.
For the difference between romantic commitment and wider plot closure, compare HEA, HFN and cliffhangers.
Standalone or continuing-series status is not established in this summary. Read the existing format and series guidance for any available context; do not assume a missing series entry means the book stands alone.
The series-order guide explains what to check when a complete romance belongs to a connected world.
| Author | Sara Desai |
|---|---|
| Selected ISBN | 9780593100585 |
| Format | US paperback |
| Imprint | Berkley |
| Selected edition date | 16 March 2021 |
| Publisher length | 352 pages; retailer displays 353 |
| Series context | Second Marriage Game title; returning family characters |
Publisher premise and format guidance We may earn a commission from purchases through our links, at no extra cost to you. Find this book on Amazon. Edition details also checked against the linked retailer; dates refer to this edition, not necessarily first publication.
The publisher’s premise gives both leads a practical motive for the arrangement. Daisy’s relatives want her married; Liam’s inheritance has a marriage condition. Attraction complicates that cooperation. There is an old grievance, but the checked premise does not establish years of a previous adult partnership or mutual, sustained enemy opposition.
We describe this as a childhood-crush reunion and fake relationship. Readers wanting second-chance feelings can find them in the missed opportunity and renewed trust. Readers wanting an estranged established couple, or enemies with incompatible causes, should choose a more specific route rather than rely on those broad labels alone.
Publishers Weekly finds the fake relationship convincing and the family tension meaningful. Harlequin Junkie particularly enjoys the chemistry and the couple supporting each other. Caz Owens at All About Romance likes the banter and intimacy but finds too little relationship development once attraction is plainly mutual.
Our romance judgment leans positive while retaining that limitation. A practical agreement can make spending time together enjoyable without creating sustained uncertainty about whether the leads belong together. If your pleasure comes from watching the arrangement become affectionate, that may be enough; if you need a more demanding change of heart, it may not.
PW finds Daisy endearing. Asha Reads enjoys the multicultural context and supporting cast but finds her quirks inconsistent. Owens also questions character consistency and the way extended families are simplified. We retain these objections without adopting an assumption that introversion dictates someone’s sexual behavior.
The choice here is how much broad comedy you enjoy around private vulnerability. Big personalities and matchmaking relatives can give the relationship an audience, but they can also reduce people to recurring jokes. Our mixed character score reflects both the favorable account of family tension and the criticism of flattened characterization.
Kirkus finds the conflict thin. Asha describes an uneven rhythm, with unnecessary information in some passages and quick movement through others. Owens becomes more critical in the final quarter, particularly of a protective withdrawal pattern. We keep the specific resolution out of this spoiler-free review while flagging that concern for reader fit.
Harlequin Junkie’s enthusiastic response shows that the humor and familiar arrangement can succeed for a reader already receptive to them. Our writing score stays mixed rather than treating either enthusiasm or frustration as definitive. The practical question is whether familiarity feels pleasurable to you when the causal links attract criticism.
StoryGraph reader kenziewol enjoys the banter and family scenes but finds some Marvel-themed details embarrassing. Jelavision is much less invested, citing weak emotional depth and abrupt shifts. These are named individual assessments, not a coded sample or a claim about the average reader.
The comparison helps separate a liking for the premise from a liking for its execution. You may love fake dating and still dislike a particular comic voice. If pop-culture references often interrupt your immersion, use the publisher sample before choosing; if they contribute to the fun, the positive account offers a clearer route in.
Checked romance reviews and the StoryGraph accounts establish explicit sexual content. Kenziewol also reports a car accident, abuse, alcoholism and grief; jelavision separately flags childhood abuse and abandonment. These are attributed reader warnings, not a verified scene-by-scene inventory or a claim that all these themes have equal prominence.
The book follows The Marriage Game, with related family characters returning; Amazon groups it as the second Marriage Game title. Its central bargain is understandable from the premise without a recap of every earlier character. The publisher records a 352-page paperback, while Amazon displays 353 for the same ISBN. We preserve that small discrepancy and leave ending satisfaction and re-read appeal unscored.
| Inspected source | Contribution |
|---|---|
| Berkley / Penguin Random House Find this book on Amazon | Selected paperback identity and practical bargain; promotional evidence. |
| Publishers Weekly Find this book on Amazon | Favorable reading of the fake relationship, Daisy and family tension. |
| Kirkus Find this book on Amazon | Finds the central conflict thin despite an appealing premise. |
| All About Romance: Caz Owens Find this book on Amazon | Enjoys banter and intimacy but questions consistency, development and late conflict. |
| Harlequin Junkie Find this book on Amazon | Enthusiastic account of chemistry, humor and mutual support. |
| Asha Reads Find this book on Amazon | Mixed account of supporting cast, quirks, pacing and rapid resolution. |
| StoryGraph: kenziewol Find this book on Amazon | Enjoys banter and family comedy; dislikes some pop-culture details and supplies content notes. |
| StoryGraph: jelavision Find this book on Amazon | Critical account of emotional depth and narrative shifts; flags childhood abuse and abandonment. |
Checked 3 October 2026. These are selected responses, not a representative reader survey. Promotional quotations are traced to their original review; bots and secondhand recommendations do not count as reading testimony.
Provisional Eikna score: 3.3/5. Based on romance, characters, writing, emotional impact (85% of the full weighting), normalized over those supported dimensions. Ending satisfaction, re-read appeal remain unscored. Evidence confidence: Moderate. This researched editorial judgment may change when those gaps are assessed.
3.5/5 · Strength with reservations
Positive leaning on chemistry and the practical arrangement, moderated by limited development and thin-conflict criticism.
3/5 · Mixed
Mixed: appealing leads and family stakes coexist with consistency and broad-characterization concerns.
3/5 · Mixed
Mixed: humorous execution works for some readers, while specific craft accounts identify pacing and plotting weaknesses.
3.5/5 · Strength with reservations
Positive leaning on supported vulnerability and family stakes; a contrary reader’s limited investment remains visible.
Descriptive; not a quality score
Unscored
Unscored
Heat is descriptive and excluded from the quality score. Our rubric and provisional-score method.
View The Dating Plan on Amazon US
As an Amazon Associate, Eikna Romance earns from qualifying purchases. The linked title and ISBN were checked; checkout and commission credit were not tested. Bookshop and Libro.fm links await destination checks, and Audible affiliate setup remains pending. A missing button does not mean a format is unavailable.
The checked premise describes her childhood crush and a missed prom date. We do not describe them as a previously established adult couple.
Daisy has a personal grievance, but fake engagement and renewed attraction are the clearer mechanisms. We have not verified sustained mutual enemy opposition.
No such guarantee is supported. Named reader accounts flag explicit sex and themes including abuse and grief, even while some enjoy the comedy.
Keep a practical fake relationship, shifting family and inheritance pressure to academic life and its separate status concerns.
Compare a shorter initial romantic performance that leads into long-distance dating rather than an inheritance-driven engagement.
Emily Henry
Keep ambitious adults negotiating personal uncertainty; replace a fake engagement with publishing-world friction and compatibility.
Each route carries forward a particular premise or reader preference. These editorial comparisons do not promise identical heat, endings or personal response.
Fake-dating guide compares why a couple agrees to perform a relationship in public. It shows how that arrangement creates a different kind of tension from friendship or an actual marriage bargain.
Romantic-comedy guide compares the awkward situations, conversation and public performances in its selections. The premise notes help you choose the kind of comic tension you enjoy.
Choose The Dating Plan if family comedy and a planned arrangement turning personal are the pleasures you want. Read the consistency and late-conflict reservations first if plausible decisions matter more to you than banter and familiar romantic mechanisms.
This page contains affiliate links, including Amazon, Bookshop.org and Libro.fm. As an Amazon Associate, Eikna Romance earns from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you.
The brother’s-best-friend and sibling-circle romance collection explains the family connection and relationship context for this choice and compares it with other reviewed books.