Friday Favourites #14: Sonali Dev
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After a short break I'm back with my Friday Favourites posts. This week please welcome Ms Sonali Dev, author of the absolutely fabulous A Bollywood Affair (review) - contemporary Indian romance, set in India and the US. Her second novel, The Bollywood Bride, which I already read and loved so much, is releasing on 29 September 2015. Read on the learn more about Ms Dev's love for travelling and 1990s sci-fi miovies, together with old Bollywood claasics.
Friday Favourites
1.
Favourite
place
It’s
impossible for me to answer this question because one of my favorite things to
do is to travel. It’s almost as though
the husband and I work primarily to support our wanderlust (food, shelter,
clothing and raising children war for second place). And I don’t remember a single place I’ve travelled to that isn’t a favorite is some way. But if I had to
pick a few I’d say Mackinac Island
in Northern Michigan for its
combination of idyllic charm (no motor vehicles are allowed on the island and
those large hoofed horses are straight out of a fairy tale plus there’s the perpetual smell of fudge being
cooked) and the pristine blue of Lake Michigan edged by white rock and sand.
Then there’s the Hanging Bridges
of Arenal in Costa Rica where you’re
literally walking over the rainforest and there’s thirty layers of plant life living on top of plant life. And for
some crazy strange reason the incredibly touristy Covent Garden in London
because every single time I’ve
been there some sort of silly, wonderful memory had been made.
2. Favourite food and drink
Gosh, did you pick these questions to torture
me? Anything that’s well crafted. A
perfectly balanced marinara is just as much a thing of beauty as the most
complex biriyani. Having said that, the rose flavored macaroon from LaDuree in
Paris might be the most magical thing I’ve ever eaten. The only thing that beats it is this steamed rice
flour dumpling stuffed with sweet coconut that my mother makes called Modak.
Drink is easier: Moscow Mule is my current favorite.
3. Favourite music/genre/artist/song
Classic Bollywood film songs from the seventies.
Breakfast in America by Supertramp might be a
song that’s been a favorite the
longest and I’ll listen to Hotel
California hundred times a day and not tire of it.
4. Favourite movie/TV series
Movies: I love nineties sci-fi movies. Minority
Report, Fifth Element, Gataca. I love the metaphors about love and free choice
and discrimination.
TV series: Big Bang Theory and I’m still kinda hung up on Friends and
Seinfeld.
5. Favourite hobby besides writing, if you
consider writing a hobby
This one’s easy. Reading. Hands down. I’d rather read than do anything else.
Favourite books
The Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
Vikram Seth’s prose is pure poetry to me, incredibly smooth and perfectly
pitched. This story set in newly independent India is a perfect snapshot of an
infant nation with all its cultural complexities and characters who’ve stayed with me twenty years after the
last time I read the book.
A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry
The way Mistry brings this multi layered,
incredibly complex story together is nothing short of genius. And you can smell
and taste this book, you feel it in your marrow, it’s crazy powerful writing.
The Bronze Horseman, Paulina Simmons
This love story set during the siege of
Leningrad in WW2 is everything a love story should be. You fall madly and
entirely in love with Tatiana and Alexander, you live their love. I suggest you
expect to be entirely useless for at least a week after you read this book.
Bridgette Jones Diary, Helen Fielding
The perfect neurosis of being a woman is
unapologetically captured in this delightful, hilarious retelling of Pride and
Prejudice. There are lines I laugh out loud to even after having read them a
hundred times.
I also have to mention the last three books I’ve read because they’ve been incredible treats.
Kristan Higgins’ If You Only Knew. At once ugly-cry poignant
and shriek with laughter funny, Higgin’s
foray into Women’s Fiction epitomizes
everything that’s beautiful about her
writing.
Molly O’Keefe’s Everything I Left Unsaid is a classic
romance that turns the genre on it’s
head. Superbly damaged characters who are beautifully pure of spirit and
writing that made my breath catch while making me smile.
Kate Meader’s Playing With Fire is a delicious romance but I’ve never seen a heroine quite like this
one. I've read 'plus size' heroines before (and they often make me cringe) but
Alex is big and strong and utterly comfortable in her skin. Not just comfortable
but proud of her strength. She's a firefighter, and her body and her spirit are
not just an asset to her job but the essence of an identity she embraces with
pride and passion. Not one single negative thought about her body. The world
needs more heroines like this.
Author Bio and Links
Award winning author, Sonali Dev, writes Bollywood-style love stories that let her explore issues faced by women around the world while still indulging her faith in a happily ever after.
Sonali’s debut novel, A Bollywood Affair, was one of Library Journal and NPR’s Best Books of 2014. It won the American Library Association’s award for best romance, is a RITA Finalist, RT Reviewer Choice Award Nominee, and winner of the RT Seal of Excellence. Sonali lives in the Chicago suburbs with her very patient and often amused husband and two teens who demand both patience and humor, and the world’s most perfect dog.
I loved Ms Dev's debut novel, A Bollywood Affair, which made the list of my favourite books of 2014. I just finished her second book, The Bollywood Bride, and it's even better - an intense, somewhat dark, somewhat hopeful and happy contemporary romance.
Synopsis
Ria Parkar is Bollywood's favorite Ice Princess--beautiful, poised, and scandal-proof--until one impulsive act threatens to expose her destructive past. Traveling home to Chicago for her cousin's wedding offers a chance to diffuse the coming media storm and find solace in family, food, and outsized celebrations that are like one of her vibrant movies come to life. But it also means confronting Vikram Jathar.
Ria and Vikram spent childhood summers together, a world away from Ria's exclusive boarding school in Mumbai. Their friendship grew seamlessly into love--until Ria made a shattering decision. As far as Vikram is concerned, Ria sold her soul for stardom and it's taken him years to rebuild his life. But beneath his pent-up anger, their bond remains unchanged. And now, among those who know her best, Ria may find the courage to face the secrets she's been guarding for everyone else's benefit--and a chance to stop acting and start living.
Rich with details of modern Indian-American life, here is a warm, sexy, and witty story of love, family, and the difficult choices that arise in the name of both.
Ria and Vikram spent childhood summers together, a world away from Ria's exclusive boarding school in Mumbai. Their friendship grew seamlessly into love--until Ria made a shattering decision. As far as Vikram is concerned, Ria sold her soul for stardom and it's taken him years to rebuild his life. But beneath his pent-up anger, their bond remains unchanged. And now, among those who know her best, Ria may find the courage to face the secrets she's been guarding for everyone else's benefit--and a chance to stop acting and start living.
Rich with details of modern Indian-American life, here is a warm, sexy, and witty story of love, family, and the difficult choices that arise in the name of both.
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