62. LOVE LIKE MAGGI – Adult Contemporary Romance

Mentor Name: Amy E. Reichert

Mentee Name: Shaya Roy

Title: LOVE LIKE MAGGI

Category: Adult

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Word Count: 84,000

Pitch:

Dr. Aaliyah Shah knows she’s in trouble when her overbearing mother creates an online marriage profile and invites all slim, fair, vegetarian men of Mumbai to apply to marry her daughter. As she meets potential grooms, Aaliyah discovers her shy, stuttering best friend might just be her perfect match.

Excerpt:

When interviewing me as a prospective wife for their son, there were many good questions Mr. and Mrs. Gaikwad could’ve asked. Will you nag my baby? Will you make him choose between us and you? Will you use all his hard-earned money to buy expensive diamonds?

Mr. and Mrs. Gaikwad chose: “What dishes can you make for dinner?”

They were here to assess whether or not I was an acceptable wife candidate for their twenty-five-year-old darling. Both sat straight on the murky-brown living room sofa, Mr. Gaikwad discreetly glancing around the house to assess how much each piece of furniture cost, Mrs. Gaikwad making none-too-subtle faces at the snacks Mom had prepared by hand.

Well, if they’d dug their grave, they could lie in it. I gave them a smile and the truth. “I make good Maggi.”

My mother, who’d had a sycophantic grin fixed onto her face so far, sucked in a horrified breath.

Mrs. Gaikwad smiled tremulously, as if she wasn’t sure whether I was joking or not. The ability to make instant noodles by adding in boiled water probably didn’t rank high on her list of qualities-to-look-for-in-prospective-brides.

“Is that all, beta?” She added the endearment ‘beta’, as if hoping that would transform me into a gourmet chef at will. “You can’t cook anything else?”

Mom pinched me right where my blush-pink saree exposed the bare skin of my back.

It hurt.