“The Arrangement” by BF Queen is the latest installment in the Ramadan Night series – a heartwarming sports romance that follows Yassine, a world-famous goalkeeper who requires a green card to continue playing in the US and represent Morocco in the World Cup. His solution: marriage to Nouha, a bookish personal assistant at the soccer club who has been scarred both physically and emotionally by a tragic accident. As their arrangement progresses, Nouha questions whether Yassine’s feelings are genuine, leading to a friends-to-lovers romance with a fresh twist on the Beauty and the Beast trope. A must read for anyone who would love to recapture the excitement of the Qatar World Cup last year.
Dear Ms. Queen,
I enjoyed reading The Serendipity” last year but missed this new novella in the Ramadan Nights series until now. Technically though, it doesn’t actually take place during Ramadan. Lovers of a “marriage of convenience” trope (like heroine Nouha) or sports romances will be in for a treat.
Yassine has worked hard to honor the efforts for better opportunities that his parents made when they moved the family from Morocco to Canada. But he runs into a roadblock when his application for a EB1 visa to the US is denied. He might be one of the best goalies in the US but, as he bitterly thinks, the US doesn’t value soccer players as much as US football players. With his work permit to play on an LA team about to run out and needing to play to possibly be on the Moroccan soccer team, Yassine is at first stunned by his coach’s suggestion of a MOC for a green card. He balks at doing that to any woman and for religious reasons, he wants his marriage to be a real one.
Nouha isn’t surprised when her latest marriage proposal meeting goes badly. She’s got facial scars from the car crash that killed her parents and no, she doesn’t want plastic surgery for them. Her aunt and uncle have loved and cared for them since she and her younger sister were orphaned and Nouha knows they would never push her into a marriage she doesn’t want. When she sees medical bills for her aunt, Nouha worries about how her uncle will afford to pay them. When Yassine, whom she’s known for years through work, comes to her with a proposal, she wonders if she could take him up on it. He’s so handsome, famous and mentioned on social media while she still doesn’t like being noticed – so how could this work?
What I really liked is that Nouha and Yassine are already friends who can laugh and joke together. Yassine knows that Nouha loves romance books which turns out to be one way that he eventually shows her how much he cares. A hero who buys his heroine books rocks, IMO. Yassine is also determined that his marriage won’t just be to get a green card. As he tells Nouha, he’d rather not get one and have to leave the country – even if this means risking what he and his parents worked for – than treat a woman badly by marrying her just for this.
They need to marry fairly quickly in order to start the paperwork for a green card which leads to the main conflict of Nouha having trouble believing that Yassine really loves her. This part is a bit rushed until Yassine – by his actions – proves that he loves his bride enough to sacrifice something dear to him in order to respect her honor.
So yes things are resolved fairly quickly but in ways that reassured me that these two are on the same page and committed to each other and their marriage. I love Nouha’s sister, aunt, and uncle, too. B
~Jayne
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Jayne
Another long time reader who read romance novels in her teens, then took a long break before started back again about 25 years ago. She enjoys historical romance/fiction best, likes contemporaries, action- adventure and mysteries, will read suspense if there’s no TSTL characters and is currently reading more fantasy and SciFi.
