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A Bollywood Affair
RECOMMENDED: A Bollywood Affair by Sonali Dev is $2.99 at Amazon, and $2.51 at Google:Play. There are so many things I can say about this book: it was a Sizzling Book Club Pick, it’s a RITA® nominee, and the manuscript was a Golden Heart nominee, too. It was in the DABWAHA tournament, and so many readers I know enjoyed it. Normally it’s more than $9, so this sale is a perfect opportunity to try it if you’ve been curious.
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.
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Double Love
Double Love by Kate Williams, from the Sweet Valley High series created by Francine Pascal, is $2.99 digitally. You can blame/thank Theresa Romain for this one – she tweeted at me about SVH books she had in her collection and told me these were on sale.
For many of us, SVH was our gateway into romance. It was for me, and re-reading the oldest books in the series used to be an annual weekend event for me. This is book one – and oh, I could NOT resist the temptation.
Who will Todd choose—the glamorous Jessica or the gentle Elizabeth?
Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield are identical twins—beautiful, blonde, perfect—but they couldn’t be more different from each other. Elizabeth is friendly, good-natured, and kind, and the complete opposite of her clever, conniving sister. Jessica believes the world revolves around her…and the problem is that most of the time it does. Jessica always gets what she wants—at school, amongst her friends, and especially with boys.
This time, she’s got her eye on Todd Wilkins, the good-looking star of Sweet Valley High’s basketball team—and the one boy Elizabeth really likes. Now the twins are in a game of double love, with Todd as first prize. Will Elizabeth fight for the Todd? What will Jessica stoop to in order to get what she wants? Can the bonds of sisterhood stand up to the pangs of a broken heart?
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Secrets
Secrets, book 2 in the Sweet Valley High series, written by Kate Williams and created by Francine Pascal, is $2.99. The first 10 books of the series that are $2.99 in digital form as well, should you wish to glom and take yourself back in time for a bit. This review says that the books have been updated a bit – and the twins are a size smaller than they were (WTF?!) – so I’m curious how the changes affect the whole. I think I might need to re-read.
Jessica would stop at nothing…
Gorgeous but ruthless, Jessica Wakefield is determined to be the chosen queen of Sweet Valley High’s fall dance this year. Once she’s crowned queen, surely Bruce Patman, the most popular boy in school, will finally notice her. And the only person standing in her way is Enid Rollins, Elizabeth’s best friend.
But when Jessica uncovers a secret about Enid’s past, she knows the crown is within reach. She doesn’t care that revealing the secret could cost Enid both her reputation and boy she loves.
Can Elizabeth save Enid from Jessica’s vicious gossip? Can she stop her scheming twin in time?
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The Food52 Cookbook
The Food52 Cookbook: 140 Winning Recipes from Exceptional Home Cooks by Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs is $1.99 right now. Oddly enough, someone emailed me a recipe from Food52, which hosted weekly recipe contests for home cooks, and then this book popped up in my sale alerts. This cookbook has a 3.9 star rating, and some readers really liked that reviews from the Food52 community were included in the cookbook.
The Best Cooks Are Home Cooks
Accomplished food writers and editors Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs had a mission: to discover and celebrate the best home cooks in the country. Each week for fifty-two weeks, they ran recipe contests on their website, Food52.com, and the 140 winning recipes make up this book. They include:
Double Chocolate Espresso Cookies Secret Ingredient Beef Stew Simple Summer Peach Cake Wishbone Roast Chicken with Herb Butter
These recipes prove the truth that great home cooking doesn’t have to be complicated or precious to be memorable. This book captures the community spirit that has made Food52 a success. It features Amanda’s and Merrill’s thoughts and tips on every recipe, plus behind-the-scenes photos, reader comments, and portraits of the contributors—putting you right in the kitchen with America’s most talented cooks.
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I have wanted to read The Bollywood Affair for a while now, so I was happy to see that it was on sale. I was even happier to see that it had been price matched at Amazon.
Oh, Sweet Valley High, I read so many of the books in that series. So soapy.
Even though she’s an incredible snob, Amanda Hesser’s rigatoni with white Bolognese sauce is one of the most delicious dishes I’ve ever eaten. I might have to get this cookbook.
SWH books, the romance novel gateway drug! I remember I used to read one of those a day when I was in high school.
I LOVED A Bollywood Affair!
OMG – they wear a size 4 now??? I can’t even.
Bollywood Affair also on sale at Kobo and iBooks for 2.99!
I do a pub quiz once a week with a bunch of also 30 something female friends. 2 weeks ago, we couldn’t remember Elizabeth and Jessica’s last name. I’m pretty sure we are never, ever going to forgive ourselves for that. Especially since it was a 2 point question.
FYI–“A Bollywood Affair” is now $2.51 at Amazon.
I’m wondering why the SVH books are so expensive. I know $2.99 sounds cheap, but I was paying $2.95 for them back in the 80s.
Oh, SVH… I have such a weird relationship with those series – like some parts, hate most of it, still would like to have all the translated books.
And it’s this very same blog that helped me to rediscover it.
(Oops, the very long and rambling post ahead, sorry.)
See, SVH wasn’t part of my childhood in a book format. There was a radio serial called “School in the Tender Valley” (if my mention of “translated books” somehow didn’t make it clear, yes, it wasn’t named so in English) and in pretty much every episode something dramatic and/or tragic had been happening, so I wasn’t even sure what was so “tender” about this valley.
Years have passed. I forgot most of the plot since then, didn’t ever remember there were twin sisters at all. Only that there were a lot of deaths, breakups and drama in general. I had an internet access, visited English-“speaking” sites, but either never came across any mention of SVH online, or, if I did, it just didn’t ring any bells. Why would “Sweet Valley High” make me think about “School in Tender Valley”? It’s not like I always knew that “Something Something High” most likely means “Something Something High School“.
And then one day I came here, and there was a rant about “Dear Sister”. The plot sounded vaguely familiar, and the author’s name even more so.
Suddenly I wanted to read those books. To remember.
There were translations online – not some new ones, from those times. I didn’t expect books to be great, and they weren’t. They also weren’t as relentlessly bleak as what I remembered from the radioplay. And there was quite a lot of infuriating stuff, which I expected, thanks to the rant. But they pushed some weird nostalgic buttons.
I don’t have “guilty pleasures”. I don’t feel any guilt for enjoying some elements of SVH, though those elements won’t stop me from snarking/fasepalming/angry yelling at awful parts. There are books so horrible that I can only read them as dissected by someone like, say, Fred Clark. SVH could use a good dissection too*, but I can’t help having some soft spot for the series. Like they still can be… I don’t even know, salvaged? Maybe none of the ghostwriters really cared of any of those characters, and, thanks but no thanks to Confidential, I’m almost sure Pascal herself just hates them all (the characters, not ghostwriters), and if the movie ever happens, it’ll probably be a satire – but somewhere in there seems to be a potential for a good story. Probably still super melodramatic, but less toxic. I’d like to read that story.
*Unfortunately, most snark recaps of SVH I’ve read are a bit too much on the “this character is a skank! That other character is a frigid prude! Also ewww, curly hair, so unfashionable!” side.
This reminded me to check my library for “The Bollywood Affair,” and sure enough they had a digital copy. Huzzah!
Oh how I loved SVH…my favorite as a preteen was the bizarre Alone in the Crowd in which pretty but shy Lynne takes off her glasses and becomes a bombshell in a jersey dress who rocks as a lead singer with her heartfelt ballad. That is some realistic shit right there. I may have to buy these now
Nook readers rejoice! BN has price matched Bollywood Affair.
Sweet Valley high. Oh I remember those – but how about Sweet Dreams. Specifically – I want someone to bring back the book “The Popularity Plan” Anyone else remember that one?
I read some of these – probably belonged to my babysitter as a young kid in the early/mid 90s – and I actually picked up a copy of “All Night Long”, which featured a college guy with a total molestache on the cover who tries, if memory serves, to rape Jessica in a boathouse at a beach/lakehouse party. 0.o