In a modest bowl of Nashville, gently place a girl who is Country music, Bible belt, and a Steakhouse foodie.
Then add a surprise portion of exotic and handsome Anglo Indian, who is a passionate Bollywood director, vegetarian and Hindu.
Stir vigorously on a bed of intense attraction.
At first, the ingredients will seem to clash and separate.
Keep stirring...
Include a dollop of jealous boyfriend and a meddling mother.
Splash in a serving of fun and mischievous friends. Keep stirring...
Add a dash of crazy aunt and a minister father to keep the flavors working together.
Sprinkle in even more complicated family members to taste.
Cook on high emotions.
The secret ingredient that cuts through the sweetness is a final layer of shocking revelation that adds a surprising depth of flavor.
Finish with a twist of 'Oh My God! Is she really going to do that?'.
Serve as tasty bite-size chapters in a novel dish of mayhem and madness with a side of Country music and Bollywood dancing.
Mary is from Nashville and a daughter of a pastor. Simha is an Anglo-Indian film director. When their paths cross, there is lots of drama and romance.
The plot of the book is really very simple and straightforward. Girl meets boy. They fall in love over the story that includes A LOT of drama. For most parts the flow of the story was predictable once you get to know the characters. Talking of characters, Mary – the protagonist is not very outstanding thus Simha takes the limelight throughout. She doesn’t really have a personality or outlook that would make the readers like/love her very much; or hate for that matter. What I didn’t like about her was the fact that she never really stands up for her relationship or her boyfriend through the book. Also, Simha’s ‘exotic’ look was really at it took her to fall for him without ‘really’ knowing him. Simha on the other hand comes off as this distinguished person who shines through. Part of it is because of the lack of Mary’s personality and partly because of his charm.
The book talks a lot about religion and racism without actually dealing with it. It was really frustrating to read stereotyped adjectives and comments. I couldn’t decide half the time whether the author herself had this typical view of the world and its people or was she trying (and failing) to break the stereotypes. As a result, it was quite a tedious read overall.
The plot had some potential if it was handled properly.
Review Copy received via NetGalley
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