THE MAN BAN

In Australia, a playboy doctor strikes sparks off a food stylist who isn’t looking for love.

A careless remark at a friend’s wedding puts Manish Gomes in Harper Ryland’s bad books. Harper is facing multiple upheavals—her parents have separated, her career needs a boost, and her love life tanked after she was diagnosed with vitiligo. The last thing she wants is to end her man ban with the cocky Anglo-Indian medico. Manny has reached 40 without risking his heart, though his grandmother has been nagging him to marry someone who shares his ethnic heritage. Harper neither fits the bill nor is she willing to give him the time of day despite his attractiveness. But when an unexpected hitch threatens Harper’s big career break in New Zealand and a vacationing Manny steps in to help, proximity makes the two rethink their single status. Though Harper insists it’s a casual fling, Manny convinces her it’s more; yet with both keeping secrets, their new bond is soon tested. The novel’s setting in Melbourne and New Zealand, a protagonist from the Anglo Indian diaspora, and the inclusive representation of vitiligo are welcome departures from the standard setups in the romance genre. But off-key notes abound: There are far-fetched actions by both leads that make it hard to imagine their happy-ever-after; at least two instances of Manny kissing Harper without permission; a reference to how her robust eating habits make her superior to women who eat less and are skinny; an ableist statement by her physical therapist friend; a clumsy plot turn that telegraphs the novel’s crisis; too much screen time for supporting characters; and a deus ex machina in the form of a remarkably unprofessional psychologist.

Dated tropes mar this novel.