Review by Booklist Review
Dev returns with another heartfelt novel (following The Vibrant Years, 2022) about identity, motherhood, family, and how to live courageously. Famous L.A. advice columnist Vandy Guru has developed a huge following, but while she's great at giving advice, she's not the best at receiving it, especially after the loss of her husband. Vandy's daughter, dancer and choreographer Mallika, has always felt like the black sheep of the family and recently she's faced another crushing rejection, but the reason she's not responding to her mother's frantic calls and texts is far more complicated. A family secret was exposed when Mallika agreed to be part of a genetic research study led by her crush, Dr. Rex Henderson, just as Rani, a long-estranged friend of her mother's reappears. Now Vandy has to reveal a skeleton in her closet that may break them further apart or help them face who they really are. Dev excels at creating multilayered characters faced with the challenge of balancing Indian cultural traditions with modern Western culture, all while tugging on readers' heart strings.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
Dev's (The Vibrant Years) latest delves satisfyingly into relationships among friends, lovers, and family. In 1970s L.A., 12-year-old Rani, a runaway orphan from Mumbai, encounters Vandy, a wealthy girl her own age who notices Rani's desperation and persuades her mother to help. Vandy and Rani's subsequent lifelong friendship is framed against Vandy's infertility journey and each woman's relationship with Vandy's now-deceased husband. In the present day, Vandy's adult daughter Mallika uncovers secrets of her birth with the help of a love interest who specializes in genetics. As Mallika tracks down the truth about her parents, we learn about the sacrifices friends make, little lies that smooth things over, and the healing power of forgiveness. The story jumps among four timeframes, multiple family members, and two continents. Dev mostly handles the complicated plot well, although it can be hard to keep relations and generations straight. The confusion somehow adds to the Bollywood vibe of the family scenes, most of which take place in the context of wedding planning and celebrations. VERDICT Recommended for Dev's lush descriptions of food, fashion, dancing, college life, romance, and friendship and her sensitive portrayals of infertility, loss, and hope.--Erin O. Romanyshyn
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A mother's carefully stacked house of cards collapses when a daughter goes sleuthing. Vandy Guru is a successful advice columnist who has all the answers. That is, until her husband, Vir, passes away, leaving her with grief and an inability to address her acolytes' problems. Then her daughter, Mallika, a talented choreographer who's recently auditioned for a Netflix film, goes missing. Mallika fails to meet her mother, who's returning from a speaking tour, at the airport and then doesn't show up at her cousin's wedding dance practice. Vandy calls her own mother, who offers up cryptic clues about where Mallika went but provides no real help, sending Vandy into a tailspin. While Vandy is at a loss, the reader is able to piece together the mystery as Dev alternates among chapters told from the perspectives of Vandy, Mallika, and Rani Parekh, a mysterious character whose story is slowly revealed. As Mallika deals with career setbacks and feelings of self-doubt, she begins to uncover a series of lies that profoundly alters her understanding of her family and her place in the world. Mallika's journey of discovery sets off Vandy's own journey, forcing Vandy to confront truths she has worked hard to keep hidden. Dev does not do enough to round out Mallika's character, but the scenes between Vandy and her childhood friend Rani are funny, genuine, and, at times, heartbreaking. While the story does hinge on some less-than-believable events, Dev's characteristic strength at writing relationships between loved ones grounds this larger-than-life plot in a poignant reality: "There was a whole chunk of her life that her daughter knew nothing about. What was the point of sharing something that caused so much pain? Vandy had found a solution, and she'd borne the consequences." Deception and tenderness mingle in this touching story. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
