Sonali Dev - There's Something About Mira

Mira Salvi has the perfect life—a job she loves, a fiancé everyone adores, and the secure future she’s always imagined for herself. Really, she hasn’t a thing to complain about, not even when she has to go on her engagement trip to New York alone.
While playing tourist in the city, Mira chances upon a lost ring, and her social media post to locate its owner goes viral. With everyone trying to claim the ring, only one person seems to want to find its owner as badly as Mira journalist Krish Hale. Brooding and arrogant, he will do anything to get to write this story.
As Krish and Mira reluctantly join forces and jump into the adventure of tracing the ring back to where it belongs, Mira begins to wonder if she is in the right place in her own life. She had to have found this ring for a reason…right? Maybe, like the owner of the lost ring, her happy ending hasn’t been written yet either.

Comment: This is the second book by the author I try. I did enjoy another title years ago and had intention of reading more things, but some titles were not as appealing to me and time went by... this book, though, this time, did grab my attention.

Mira is a young woman, whose Indian born parents sacrificed a lot for a better life in America. However, despite the fact Mira has been as a perfect child as all parents dream of, her twin brother Rumi was expelled from home due to his homosexuality. Mira has tried to compensate and that also includes agreeing on a marriage with Druv, a man her parents approve of and whose family accepts Mira too. Everything changes when Mira goes alone to a New York trip, although her fiance should have gone as well, and then Mira finds a lost ring on the street. She decides to post the finding and the video becomes viral, meaning strangers start contacting her about it. With the help of her brother, whim she of course is in contact with despite her parents' opinion, she meets Krish, a reporter who claims he can find the ring's owner in exchange of writing the story. Mira is reluctant at first but investigating with Krish will open up a new world to her...

The other story I had read by the author was a more classic romance, with evident tropes and path. This one did seem to include a lot ore layers, which is one of the reasons why I decided to try it in the first place. I was also quite eager to see how the author would develop the "being gay in a culture which does not accept homosexuality" element and if the family would unite again. 

Mira is a modern hardworking young woman who still wants to please her more traditional parents even if that includes a fancy wedding she isn't really dedicated to. She loves her fiance Druv but it is true his work as surgeon takes up a lot of his time, including the days they were supposed to go on a journey together to New York. Mira goes alone and of course uses the opportunity to visit her brother, estranged from their parents. This did allow me to grasp some layers. both in regards to the plot and to Indian culture, which is way more complex than movies or stereotypes seem to suggest.

While in New York, Mira is confronted with a lot more than seems obvious, mostly in the figure of Krish, a man with obvious Indian origins but who seems to know little about their roots and traditions. At the same time, she finds the ring a huge part of the plot starts to be centered on that, as if Mira has to complete the task of finding who is the owner before she moves on to whatever new goal she has. At fist I wasn't really interested on this element and I wanted to go back to Mira's life and why, despite she and Druv not being meant to be - this is obvious from the start - they were still going ahead with their promise to one another.

Of course, things aren't as easy and there's more to the ring story than it seemed at first. The more they investigate, the more Mira and Krish learn about each other and what everything in both their pasts meant to take them to this moment. They also travel to India, separately, but end up meeting there while Mira's mother and mother -in-law to be help her with wedding things. While all this is ongoing, we have scenes in which many things are explained and given a context and some things are quite fascinating to know, both the good ones and the less positive. I think the story is engaging and intriguing where it's meant to be, but it is also true not all situations were done with the same "finesse".

Since this is a romance, the very end cannot be as surprising as it is, and it's also true that some things related to the ring are a bit too convenient...but, nevertheless, there are very fascinating situations among the more cliched ones. Mira seems very obedient but she does learn about boundaries and accepting other things, including the fact her parents are responsible for their opinions, and that is not a reflection on her own personality. I liked the journey Mira went on, both physical and mentally.

If I had had more time to read continuously, I probably would have savored this story more, but as a whole, this was very enjoyable and presented interesting themes and gave me food for thought.

Grade: 7/10

Sonali Dev - A Bollywood Affair

Mili Rathod hasn't seen her husband in twenty years--not since she was promised to him at the age of four. Yet marriage has allowed Mili a freedom rarely given to girls in her village. Her grandmother has even allowed her to leave India and study in America for eight months, all to make her the perfect modern wife. Which is exactly what Mili longs to be--if her husband would just come and claim her.
Bollywood's favorite director, Samir Rathod, has come to Michigan to secure a divorce for his older brother. Persuading a naïve village girl to sign the papers should be easy for someone with Samir's tabloid-famous charm. But Mili is neither a fool nor a gold-digger. Open-hearted yet complex, she's trying to reconcile her independence with cherished traditions. And before he can stop himself, Samir is immersed in Mili's life--cooking her dal and rotis, escorting her to her roommate's elaborate Indian wedding, and wondering where his loyalties and happiness lie.

Comment: This is another book I've became interested in a long time ago, and it had some hype around it when it was published and "found" by readers. At the time I put it in my TBR list and some time ago finally got it. This month I decided I had to read it, I was still feeling curious about it.

 

In this book, we follow Mili Rathod, a young woman who goes to America for a while to study and improve herself while her husband of 20 years doesn't call her. Mili was married at age 4 to a boy by their families but they never actually met. Mili is still waiting for her husband to get her and start their marriage.

Samir Rathod is a known Bollywood director and brother to Mili's apparent husband. However, his brother never considered himself married, and their part of the family sent a refusal to Mili's family but somehow that never got to them. The brothers kept on with their lives but Mili has grew thinking herself married. Now that Samir's brother is about to become a father with his real wife, he needs Mili to sign up the annulment marriage of 20 years ago in order for his baby to be recognized. Samir offers to do that, thinking Mili is a gold-digger. But the reality is much different from what he thought...

 

I had a great time reading this book. It's a very easy, fluid story, not overly complicated despite the appearance of that based on the mixing up in the story. In fact, this story was quite simple and basic in it's core, if we were to remove all the extras, all the addition of cultural elements, this is a simple story, just like we would have seen in countless harlequin stories where rich important hero wants to uncover the heroine's greed but ends up falling for her because she's innocent and special and after a false betrayal scene/chapter they get their HEA.

 

What made this special in reality was the cultural elements given by the presence of Indian costumes, habits, religion, traditions, all the things we get by the setting and details alone.

The average reader would already know some things (from movies and knowledge alone) but this book complements that in a very interesting way. I can't help thinking some situations seemed too easy and well rehearsed and of course I can't vouch for its veracity but I want o believe the simplicity or some things is only a matter of plot and not a true example of Indian culture. Not that it was badly done or a bad thing, but to me some things felt rather superficial and I got the feeling reality is much more complex that what we read about here.

 

The plot, like I said, is simple. I liked that Mili wanted to do something for herself before settling again to wait for her husband and it was funny how she and Samir met. The development of the plot seemed very focused on their relationship but that's to expect as a) that's what the story's about and b) this is a romance after all, but some situations seemed so easy. It's nice he's rich and able to help her but she's a bit too naïve for someone who didn't have much luck in life, who had to be smart to overcome a situation that would have put her in a bad position, let alone the waiting process. Closer to the end I was happy by the way things were progressing, the big scene when she finds out the truth was to be expected and it was emotional, but the HEA happened in a rather silly manner. I kind of wanted a more serious situation while they discussed and finally solved things between them.

 

The romance is classical, I have to believe some traditions are real and why it seems weird they didn't solve everything sooner. Mili is naïve but she somehow finds the strength of character to be positive in adversity and later on to protect her heart but she loves him and that's what really shapes her actions and feelings.

Samir has a more difficult personality, his past and the bullying - in a way - and prejudice because of his skin were elements not fully explored but we got the idea of how that shaped his behavior and self protection. He still has an inner good soul and he proves that throughout the book. In the end everything ends well but I think his personality was sort of "downplayed"... I have that feeling at least.

 

All things considered, this is a good story, interesting, different enough to make a reader bored with this trope to consider this exciting and in the end I was very entertained with it. I will read her other book someday.

As for this one, a good change in the romance department.

Grade: 8/10