2022 Reading Challenge: a book set during a holiday

A Holly Jolly Diwali by Sonya Lalli

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Niki is the good girl of the family. She gives up a dream of music to pursue IT because it's reliable. She lives at home with her parents to save money to pay off student loans, buy a car and maybe a house. She's the "practical one" of her Punjabi-American family. She even agrees to go on a blind date with a doctor her parents set her up with.

So when, at the age of 29, she gets let go by the start up company she's the Data Analyst Manager for, Niki finds her world turned upside down and she's left adrift. So, taking the advice of blind date Dr. Raj, she decides on the spur of the moment to fly from Seattle to Mumbai for her college best friend's wedding and then going to visit family she's never met before.

So, boring, practical, predictable Niki goes to India and while at a Diwali/pre-wedding party starts crushing on the bass player for the band, "Sam from the Band". They end up hitting it off and she finds herself realizing that this is just not a vacation fling and is falling hard.

But she doesn't know what to do. She lives in Seattle, he lives in London and Mumbai. How can she and he make it work? Should they even try to make it work?

***

This is falling into what I am calling "cozy holiday contemporary romance". Basically a "hallmark holiday movie" in book form. I liked the sweetness of the story, the lack of any overt erotic escapades and the tie into a holiday that isn't necessarily Christmas.

I may even look into more by this author for when I need a book that is not heavy on the thinking but actually still has a story.



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