I’m over at Dear Author with a review of Bad Behavior by KA Mitchell. Beach finally gets his book and oh my, what a book he gets. Warning: My squee levels were high with this one.
Tag: multicultural
Why I read it: I received a review copy from the publisher via NetGalley.
What it’s about: (from Goodreads) 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.
What worked for me (and what didn’t): I admit I’m not a big Harlequin Presents reader. While I don’t mind reading about the occasional rich alphahole, many of the HPs I’ve tried have not worked for me because the power differential in the relationship is too great – perhaps I’ve tried the wrong ones but the alphahole vs the innocent doormat ingenue mostly doesn’t work for me (Not that I’m saying that all HPs are like that. I don’t think that is the case). A Bollywood Affair isn’t a HP, but I think it’s a close cousin. It seems to me to fit within the common tropes and themes within the line, while at the same time being somewhat fresh and different to the usual fare. I didn’t personally find that it subverted tropes. It seemed to me to stick fairly closely within them but it mostly did this in an entertaining way which I enjoyed, but did not adore.
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I’m over at Dear Author with a review of November Rain by Daisy Harris. I enjoyed the multicultural aspects of the story but in general terms, it was not a success for me.
Why I read it: My Goodreads feed was buzzing so I bought it.
What it’s about: (from Goodreads) The diagnosis of a chronic stomach condition leaves thirty-two-year-old Sergeant Jed Cooper with little choice but to call time on his Army career. Then on the dusty streets of Kirkuk, an ambush gone tragically wrong decimates his team, and he returns to the US with a shattered leg and the memory of his best friend dying in his arms.
Life in his sleepy hometown proves intolerable until he finds solace in a lakeside cabin with vivacious young carpenter, Max O’Dair. In the shadow of the epilepsy that periodically plagues Max, he and Jed form an unspoken bond. After a late night episode, Jed realizes how much Max means to him, and life has taught him not to waste time.
But the lines between contentment and complacency are blurred. Things left hidden resurface to tear through their world, and before they can repair the damage, death comes to call again. Faces, past and present, rally around them to weather the storm, but before long, they are left with only love.
What worked for me (and what didn’t): I liked this book quite a bit but I have to say it doesn’t have the usual romance structure. Or, at least, the structure I expect anyways.
Jed Cooper returns to Ashton, Oregon after being medically discharged from the Army. He suffered some severe burns to his left shoulder and a serious wound and break to his left leg (multiple surgeries and pins in his femur) in a mortar and air attack while on convoy in northern Iraq (circa 2006). Those injuries were so severe he was shipped stateside and he was in hospital for months. They are the obvious injuries. But he also has a condition called gastroparesis. It is a paralysis of the vagus nerve which controls the stomach and means that the stomach doesn’t move food on into the small intestine in the timely manner it should. It causes abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, anemia (iron is much harder to absorb through food) and is a lifelong incurable condition. Eating is difficult and it can obviously be a very debilitating condition. Jed, being the person he is, doesn’t tell anyone about the gastroparesis. He’s a man used to being relied upon, not one to rely upon others.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
