Review by Booklist Review
Lonely Advika Srinivasan, still reeling from the accidental death of her twin sister, Anu, is working as a bartender when she meets handsome, much-older movie producer Julian Zelding. After a short, whirlwind romance, they get married. At first it seems perfect. Julian buys her a new computer so she can work on her screenplay, and she has nothing but time to write. Julian's only request is that she not look into the demise of his previous three marriages. But with Anu's voice in her head and a mysterious bequest from his late first wife, Advika can't help herself, and soon she is clandestinely checking books out of the library and meeting with failed music producers. As Julian showers her with gifts, she can't help but feel like she's going to meet the same fate as the previous Mrs. Zeldings, ambitions quashed, living only to serve Julian. Ramisetti's latest, following Dava Shastri's Last Day (2021), is a compelling portrait of a young woman fighting erasure, learning to accept help from her friends, and coming into her own.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Ramisetti (Dava Shastri's Last Day) chronicles in this astute outing the whirlwind marriage of an aspiring screenwriter to an older, thrice-divorced Hollywood legend. Advika tends bar at an afterparty for the Oscars, where she hits it off with producer Julian Zelding. Three months later they're married, and things get weird. First, one of Julian's ex-wives, actor Evie Lockhart, promises to give Advika $1 million if she divorces Julian. Advika, meanwhile, is still grieving her twin, Anu, who died in an accident two years earlier, and whose cynical views on marriage echo in Advika's head as she learns more about Julian's previous wives, including a songwriter named Nova, whose name Julian once cried out during sex, and whose career he tried to control after they were married. As Advika grows increasingly suspicious of an ever-more manipulative Julian, she shoulders disapproval from her meddling if well-meaning parents, who moved back to India after Anu's death. The author nails the Hollywood milieu and offers an incisive portrait of Julian, a powerful man who feels compelled to control the women in his life. This is a winner. Agent: Andrea Somberg, Harvey Klinger Literary. (Apr.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A down-on-her luck young woman meets and quickly marries a famed Hollywood producer even though he's 41 years her senior. Twenty-six-year-old Advika Srinivasan has long dreamed of being a screenwriter, but after her twin sister dies in an accident, she gives up. Instead of making the movies she always imagined, she works for a catering company, tending bar at A-list parties. At one of these events she's approached by Julian Zelding, a sexy movie producer who's just won his fifth Oscar. In his late 60s, he's much older than Advika, but when he makes clear his romantic intentions, she finds herself smitten. After a whirlwind courtship, the two quickly marry. Still grieving her sister's death and her parents' subsequent relocation to India, Advika is relieved to have someone who is so committed to her again. Unfortunately, shortly after they tie the knot, Advika begins to discover disconcerting tidbits about Julian's relationships with his three former wives. She wonders if she's made a terrible mistake and whether she'll ever be able to escape him. Told in a close third-person voice, the novel follows Advika as she tries to learn more about Julian by examining the lives of his exes. Full of details about everything that makes Hollywood both magical and frighteningly powerful, the story also highlights how much it meant to Advika to see Indian characters in a film in her youth and how deeply she cares about bringing greater diversity to the industry. The author also creates a complex and nuanced character in Julian, whose motivation and agenda seem to provoke more questions than answers. At times, there is a frustrating lack of clarity as Ramisetti chooses to keep from ever explaining certain aspects of Julian's behavior. Conversely, there are times when an abundance of unnecessary details interrupts the pace of the narrative. Even so, the underlying premise of this unique story is sufficiently beguiling that readers will keep turning pages in their hurry to find out how it all ends. Part love story, part thriller, this novel will appeal to fans of Hollywood and May-December romance. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
