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Darling readers, I was texting with a bookish friend, and sometimes Virtual Book Club attendee, last night, and she insinuated she needed book recommendations.  I want you to imagine you’re that friend, right now.  I want you to hear me telling you what I told her – your TBR needs to include From Blood and Ash #1 by Jennifer Armentrout and soon, because you need to be ready to join us on August 26 at 7:30pm CST for Virtual Book Club because books are better when you have friends to talk to about them after reading them (and one of us is cheating today and discussing two)!  If this sounds like something you need to hear, be sure you sign up here to get the link to join in the conversation. 

If you remember back to our Persuasion Jane in January theme at the beginning of this year, you might remember our discussing The Rajes Series, specifically Recipe for Persuasion by Sonali Dev. Well, A Bollywood Affair is Dev’s debut novel, and darling readers, I didn’t feel like I was reading a debut novel. That alone is proof to me that she never stopped writing even though Dev took her time earning two degrees, migrating across the globe, getting married, and having children between the age of eight years old when her first works were performed for a Diwali extravaganza in Mumbai and now, eight novels later, as she lives and writes from the suburbs of Chicago. A Bollywood Affair is currently available through Kindle Unlimited. Our choices for authors of color during this Lemonade Summer have been very subcontinent focused, and I am not remotely sad about it. Unlike The Widows of Malabar Hill, A Bollywood Affair is a modern-day romance, set both in India and the United States.

Mili used her 20 year old marriage certificate from when she was four, and he was twelve, as credentials in being approved for a student visa to the United States for an eight-month certificate course in women’s studies. She hasn’t seen her husband since the day of their wedding but for the past twenty years she was busy taking care of her aging grandparents and the grandparents of her husband, all with the goal of becoming a good wife, “a domestic goddess-slash-world’s-wife-number-one-type good wife.” And she had done that, but she was afraid of bucking societal norms and contacting her husband in any way, even though she has pursued higher education in order to be a wife who could support a husband who is an officer in the Indian Air Force. Nothing she had done in her entire life had truly been for herself, even the justifications for taking the certificate course was so that she could support a husband she hadn’t seen in twenty years. Virat, in that 20 year time frame, thought his grandfather had the marriage annulled, had married someone else and they were expecting their first child. He sends his brother Samir on a ‘woman-hunt’ to get Mili’s signature on official annulment documents so that his new wife and child would have no legal entanglements in the chance of his death. (This hit me really really hard in the feels because of the death of one of my best friend’s husbands in 2020 during a flight maneuver. It’s also the reason I don’t foresee myself watching Maverick ever again. Sometimes it’s hard to suspend disbelief, and it’s hard to even write these words…so let’s move on.)

Samir is Virat’s younger brother, a model, and bollywood movie writer and director. He goes on the hunt for Mili in order to avoid the looming movie deadline he has yet to begin writing. But, I don’t want to discuss Samir, as handsome and relatable and human as he might be, I really want to discuss Mili. I love her thirst for freedom and knowledge. I relate to her desire to be the best wife she can be while also trying to accomplish her own goals and desires. How is one a good wife to a husband one has never met? Well, you do all the things that society expects you to do and be without complaint, that’s how. No matter how it doesn’t make sense in her situation, she still does what is expected of a good wife for his family and for hers, and especially out in public. There is the theme of freedom of choice for Mili, and even in the prologue given from her mother in law’s point of view, there is this quotation:“She could hardly tell [Samir] it was because the child had been born a girl, destined from birth to be bound and gagged, to never be free. And [Mili] seemed to have sensed it far sooner than most. Sadly, the poor fool seemed to believe that she could actually do something about it.” Near the end of the book, Mili tells Samir, “I have craved freedom all my life.” And isn’t that what everyone desires? The ability to make our own choices on who to love, where to live, what to do to make a living, etc, without the constraints of someone else’s needs and desires or society’s rules? Dev really gets into the pull and tug of this mindset of wanting freedom to be your own person but also wanting to be the person society wants you to be.

I’m giving A Bollywood Affair 3.5 stars rounded up to 4. I did expect a little more actual ‘Bollywood’ adventure, maybe having more of the book being set in India. There were also some major timeline editing faux pas at the end of the book that I could not believe were missed, especially when Dev has 7 more books to her name, and editors who should have gone back through her works and fixed them. I think it would be a pretty easy edit to make, and wouldn’t change the plot or timeline of the story at all. I am, of course, going to continue to read the rest of her novels at some point, and recommend her future books to the library as soon as I know they’re being published. I can make concessions for a debut novel that is so well written.

What book have you read lately that you were surprised to feel such a deep connection to one of the main characters?

~Ashley

When I sat down to write up my review / feelings on A Bollywood Affair by Sonali Dev, I reviewed my highlights, and then looked on Goodreads to see what star ratings I needed and try to remember how I felt about this book way back…six days ago.  What I realized is that I read two modern, billionaire romances back to back.  (Ashley read two in five days, but also finished other things too, because she’s an overachiever like that.)  So, this review isn’t going to be the usual, because I’m bringing in another title, The Last Eligible Billionaire by Pippa Grant.  

In both titles, we have very rich successful men who can get anything or anyone they want and we have women who are striving to become a better version of themselves.  They accidentally fall into a relationship together, they experience a lot of drama together, and then they’re driven apart for basically the same reason, and are brought back together through a grand gesture that is shockingly similar.  Now, these books were published about eight years apart, yet I’m not suggesting anything beyond the formulaic nature of romance novels, which is honestly part of the reason I adore them.  If I can’t handle the drama of the issue that breaks the couple up before the grand gesture brings them back together, I usually know where to pause, and these were no different.  

Here’s how they do differ – in A Bollywood Affair, Samir needs Mili to annul her marriage to his brother (it’s in the marketing copy, so not a spoiler).  In The Last Eligible Billionaire, Hayes needs a fake relationship to stop people from trying to set him up or throw themselves at him.  Mili has devoted herself into becoming the model wife for her husband (even though she was four when they got married and hasn’t seen him since).  Begonia is trying to find herself after getting out of a marriage to an obnoxious man and meets Hayes very accidentally.  I do enjoy that Hayes and Begonia are both adults who’ve experienced relationships, even if they weren’t great.  I did struggle with the combination of Samir’s rakish nature and Mili’s devotion to a husband she hasn’t seen in 20 years and how that plays out in the novel.  Is it unrealistic?  No, but I don’t have to like it.  What I did really enjoy about A Bollywood Affair was the culture, and a couple of mysteries that are revealed slowly (or not so slowly, depending on how quickly readers connect the dots) throughout.  I giggled at the reference to Samir’s brother enjoying some Old Monk rum, having consumed more than I should admit myself (not that I purchased it, because I wasn’t permitted in the liquor store, as a delicate female *eyeroll*).  

Ultimately, I did genuinely enjoy reading both of these books.  I’m giving A Bollywood Affair three stars, and a bit of a caveat, as I did consider 3.5, but ultimately, I wanted a bit more in some parts of this book, however, it is Dev’s debut, and as such, I can appreciate it more, having read some of her more recent works.  I’m glad to have read it, and I’m likely to continue in the series.  I’m giving The Last Eligible Billionaire four stars for a really fun, well-executed reading experience.  Both titles have a bit of “hold my beer” energy which I do genuinely enjoy on the page.  Dev’s is a bit more, almost, apologetic, whereas Grant’s has no cares to give, as evidenced by the meet cute and the dog.  Speaking of the dog, I went back to find its name, looking in my highlights, which didn’t help, but they did give me a great list of one liners, which I also enjoy about Grant’s writing.  Two of my favorites which don’t include spoilers are:

“I don’t drink coffee. I drink the blood of people who piss me off.”

“Why do you love my son?” “Because he pays attention and he believes in me.” Not to leave Dev without her own quote, because there were definitely some truths to be found, my favorite of which is:

“But trust was the most fragile of things.”

Who’s an author you trust, and were glad to have read their backlist that demonstrated how much their writing improved with practice?  

~Nikki 

P. S. Will I offend Ashley and some of you darling readers if I say Sarah J. Maas (except I don’t trust her, not after the cliffhanger that shall not be named and what he did – #iykyk)?

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