This RITA® Reader Challenge 2015 review was written by Jacqueline C. This story was nominated for the RITA® in the Best First Book category.

Here is Jacqueline C.'s review:

Fair warning: You will find no criticism of A Bollywood Affair here. I unequivocally adored this novel and cannot think of a single reason for complaint. So, instead of the usual review rigmarole, here you will find three reasons why you should immediately grab a copy for yourself.

• The women are these complicated, vibrant creatures that are, at turns, selfish, funny, sexual, and nurturing (among other things) and can often be described as several all at once. In other words, they are human.

The heroine, Mili, is possessed of the sort of spirit where kindness, generosity, optimism, and modesty come naturally, yet she manages to exude all of that with barely a touch of naiveté. When combined with her emotional intelligence and capability at handling the fraught emotions of others, it’s easy to see why nearly all of the characters in the novel that know her care deeply for her.

Mili isn’t perfect, though. She holds steadfast to her childhood marriage and her long-held belief that her husband will finally embrace her if only she can prove herself worthy. This mindset of hers is due not only to her conditioning at the hands of her grandmother and the culture that gripped her Rajasthani village, but also to her own unwillingness to challenge them.

At one point, she has the following exchange with Samir, the hero:

“He is my husband because I believe he is. Because I’m sworn to spend the rest of my life with him. It’s what I’ve dreamed of for as long as I can remember. Because, because I love him.”

Samir let her arm go. “How can you love someone you’ve never met?” He rubbed his hand against his jeans, but the feel of her wouldn’t come off.

“You can. I can. I do.”

 

It becomes apparent here that Mili is a bundle of contradictions. She has enough agency to pursue her education past the point that her naani (grandmother) intended for her, even going as far as convincing Naani to let her leave home and attend college in another city. Mili even admits that “as for coming to America, with that she had given poor Naani no choice.” She has even dedicated her career to bettering the lives of women in her country, yet, for much of the novel, she shies away from fighting for the right to choose her own love and settles for hoping that the one chosen for her long ago would come around.

The other female characters are just as multi-faceted. Naani initially appears to be a hyper-conservative, manipulative stickler for tradition, until it’s made apparent that her behavior is derives from a fear of the unknown. Tradition dictates that she be cared for and sheltered by her offspring in her old age, yet her own children are dead and her granddaughter’s husband is nowhere to be found. Baiji, Samir’s mother, is the consummate nurturing matriarch and loves her sons and daughter-in-law to no end, however there are glimpses of insecurities and trust issues rooted in her past. Ridhi, Mili’s best friend, is open in her love for Mili. She makes a point of including Mili in every aspect of her wedding and questions Samir’s presence and impact in Mili’s life. However, Ridhi isn’t always so considerate. In fact, she is often noisy, impetuous, prone to histrionics, and extremely vocal about her lust for and naked exploits with her fiancée, often to the amusement and/or discomfort of Mili.

Such frank sexuality might not be Mili’s bag, but she, nor anyone else, ever shames Ridhi for it. Mili also experiences her fair share of hot moments, including a particularly surprising masturbation scene. Most of said moments are quickly followed by feelings of guilt and embarrassment on her part, however these are entirely due to her perceived disloyalty to her husband rather than her sexual excitement and pleasure.

• Sonali Dev’s writing is compelling, warm, and worthy of wallowing in.

Dev deftly infuses the plot and prose with cultural touchstones in such a natural way. While the exact meaning of a word or history of a practice may not be explicitly explained, its role in the story would be entirely clear. The text doesn’t foster any urgent needs to rip oneself away from the book in order to consult Google.

Similarly, traditions and values and other things that would be implicitly understood by people native to these cultures, but not necessarily by outsiders, are conveyed through the dialogue without being clunky. For instance:

“Hai, what’s the point of living like this? Don’t eat salt, don’t see your granddaughter. Take care of myself at my age when I raised an able-bodied granddaughter with an able-bodied husband.”

There are plentiful sensory descriptions as well, especially concerning the smells and tastes of various foods. Mili loves to eat and her enjoyment of every roti, chutney, and pickle is so sensual, that Samir constantly finds himself aroused and the simple sight of her eating.

She reached over and picked up one hot, perfectly crisp stuffed paratha. She brought it to her nose and took a deep sniff before putting it on her plate. Then she added some seasoned yogurt, green chutney, and a shamelessly large serving of mango pickle. She broke off a piece of the paratha with her fingers, used it to scoop up some yogurt, dipped it in chutney, and then popped it in her mouth. The purest pleasure exploded in her mouth. She moaned and her eyes fluttered shut. She chewed, and chewed, and wanted to go on chewing for as long as she lived.

Just as the paratha melted on her tongue she picked up a piece of mango pickle and sucked on it.

Oh dear God.

The earthiness if it all gives the story weight, the characters flesh, and the reader hunger for all sorts of things.

• The development of Samir and Mili’s relationship is not only charming, humorous, and fraught with inevitable conflict, but it is also fairly balanced.

Samir and Mili are on somewhat equal footing throughout the entirety of the novel. The power balance between the two initially seems to skew in Samir’s favor – with his wealth, worldliness, and willingness to go toe-to-toe with whomever is threatening his family. However, this changes pretty quickly as Mili becomes his muse and he finds himself dependent on her for the completion of his script – a script for a movie with a looming deadline and funding contingent on his ability to meet it.

As things progress, so does the give and take:

• Mili gets injured; Samir takes care of her;
• Samir helps Mili attend her friend’s wedding;
• Show Spoiler

  Mili reunites him with his birth mother;
• Samir opens his mind to the possibility that Mili is more than he initially thought; Mili opens her heart to the possibility that Samir could be more than a friend and that the fate she had resigned herself to is not what life actually has in store for her;

and so on.

It is all the more heartwarming for the true friendship that they establish and the deep understanding each has for the other prior to any open expressions of romantic interest.

I could go on enumerating the great things to be found in this book, but you should really go see for yourself.
NOTE: A Bollywood Affair is currently on sale for $2.99 at Amazon and £1.89 at Amazon UK!