Review by Booklist Review
Three generations of Indian American women strive to find what makes them happy in this heartwarming rom-com about the compromises that held them back and how they finally reclaimed their freedom. Many years ago, Bindu Desai made a radical choice that, while thrilling at the time, almost ruined her life in India, and she's been keeping that secret ever since. Now living in Florida with her son's ex-wife Aly, Bindu finds her life changing overnight when she mysteriously inherits one million dollars and moves into a luxurious retirement community, swiftly becoming the most attractive single lady in Shady Palms. Aly and her daughter, Cullie, an anxious app developer, are also overwhelmed with suitors as they delve headfirst into the often gross and hilarious world of online dating, while Aly fends off her recently returned ex-husband who wants to make amends. All three paths converge when Bindu's past reemerges in the form of a young movie mogul from Bollywood, whose mad crush on Cullie is threatened by the secret he has come to share about her grandmother. Dev's first standalone since completing her Austen-inspired Rajes series with The Emma Project (2022) is also the first project to be picked up by comedic actor, writer, and producer Mindy Kaling for her new Amazon imprint, Mindy's Book Studio. This endeavor will combine book publishing with film and television production and is dedicated to spotlighting diverse authors and stories. Fans of Kaling's groundbreaking work will be sure to enjoy an Amazon Prime adaptation of Dev's latest romantic comedy, a passionate reflection on life and love.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Regrets, secrets, and love drive this beautifully told multigenerational saga from Dev (The Emma Project). App developer Cullie Desai hit it big with Shloka, which she created to help others deal with anxiety. She then had an affair with Steve, who helped take the app to market. Now, six months after Steve went back to his wife, he's trying to sabotage the program by charging users a subscription fee, prompting Cullie to come up with another winner so she can boot him from the team. Meanwhile, her mother, Aly, is still chasing her dream of becoming a television news anchor, a career that's already cost Aly her marriage and 10 years of being pushed into the background by her boss. Meanwhile, Cullie's paternal grandmother, Bindu, who's just received a substantial inheritance, tries to create a new life at an upscale seniors' residence. Unfortunately, the inheritance is tied to a painful secret from her distant past. Dev easily gets the reader to root for her well-rounded characters, and the intertwined story lines wrap up with a delightful ending. This effervescent tale is sure to please the author's fans and win her new ones. (Dec.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Dev's (The Emma Project) latest is full of love--for family and of the romantic variety. Beautiful Bindu is 65 and ready to chart her own course after years of being a good wife and mother. Alisha, 47, is living out the consequences of her divorce from Bindu's son while pursuing her dream of being a TV anchor. Her twentysomething daughter Cullie is a brilliant tech entrepreneur who suffers from anxiety. The three women join forces when Cullie must create a new dating app in record time. Each commits to gathering data for the project by trialing existing dating apps. Silly and disastrous dates abound, from being forced to smell pet poop to being drafted into nude performance art. Meanwhile, ghostly journal entries by a long-dead lover of Bindu's begin each chapter, and by the second half the book we learn the true identity of Cullie's hot date from India. When Cullie's chances at true love come into jeopardy, Bindu must confront painful memories she was previously able to conceal from her family. VERDICT Dev explores themes of racialization, gender roles, and aging in a lighthearted way, with details on food and fashion sprinkled throughout. Recommended.--Erin O. Romanyshyn
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
An intergenerational tale of self-discovery and the relationships that matter most. Cullie Desai, a 25-year-old Indian American woman, is endlessly loyal to her mother, Alisha (known as Aly), and her paternal grandmother, Bindu. So when Cullie gets a call that Bindu is in distress, she immediately hops on a plane to Florida from her home in San Francisco and shows up at her grandmother's new condo at a glitzy retirement center. A loving familial gesture--except that in this case, the older woman's distress is the result of a really bad date, when the man she's with dies in the middle of their first sexual interlude. This sets the tone for the novel as a whole: It's the story of three women bound by deep love and very few boundaries. While Bindu's sexual drama does drive a chunk of the plot, the three deal with a whole host of problems, supporting each other with advice, chai, and lavish home-cooked meals. Tech-genius Cullie needs to develop a new state-of-the-art app while opening herself up to the possibility of love. Recent divorcée Aly is trying to prove her worth at work while dealing with a surprise visit from Ashish, her ex-husband (and Bindu's son). And Bindu is balancing her desire to be liberated in her golden years with traumatic memories that she cannot shut out. Told from the alternating perspectives of Cullie, Aly, and Bindu, the novel often relies on overly coincidental plot points and too-convenient characters. That said, these problems are offset by Dev's success at portraying the profound bonds of care, humor, and love that run among the three women: "Love so strong it was almost painful tightened around Bindu's heart for these two. The world would never see them like this, entirely comfortable in their skin. This was a world they had created, the three of them, because of who they were." A cozy cup of chai for the soul. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
