June 1, 2023
If you thought the Kardashians were dramatic, wait until you meet the Mehta sisters. Reeva Mehta hasn't spoken to her two younger sisters since her youngest sister, Jaya, had an affair with Reeva's fianc� and their sister Sita sided with Jaya during the fallout. But Reeva is forced to give up her years-long silence when their father's will stipulates that the sisters have to perform the kriya ceremony for the next two weeks if they want their inheritance. Except the sisters all thought their father was already dead. Like, died when they were small children. So now Reeva has to interact with her loathsome sisters, solve the mystery of their dead but not dead but now dead father (with no help from their Bollywood-singer mother), all while her hair is literally falling out. Will she survive? With her signature wit and relatable characters, Sanghani (30 Things I Love about Myself, 2022) delivers dramatic hijinks mixed with relevant themes (family dysfunction, anxiety) and charm. The novel is a little too long but overall, a delightful read.
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July 1, 2023
Sanghani's latest novel (following 30 Things I Love About Myself) is a fun and dramatic adventure filled with poignant truths about complicated families and moving on from a painful past. Reeva Mehta's mother is a famous singer/actress who lives for Bollywood drama, on and off the screen. When she calls Reeva to tell her that Reeva's father has died, Reeva, after 30 years of her believing he was already dead, is more confused than surprised. The real drama is that her father's will stipulates that Reeva and her two estranged sisters perform two weeks of traditional Hindu prayers in order to get their inheritance. Frazzled London lawyer Reeva is forced to drop everything in her busy life, where she is desperately trying to move on from the pain her family has caused her, to find out who her father was, while trying not to slip back into toxic situations. But it only takes a few days of cohabiting for the sisters to realize how much they've been hiding from one another. VERDICT Readers will enjoy the relatable characters, the snappy one-liners, and the wise and hip auntie who transcends the page and reminds readers to be kind to themselves.--Cate Triola
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September 4, 2023
In the acerbic latest from Sanghani (Things I Love About Myself), a 30-something London woman is pulled reluctantly into family drama. When Reeva Metha finds out her father’s dying wish was for her and her two sisters to reunite to perform the Hindu prayers for him, she’s shocked to learn he’d only recently died. Her Bollywood singer mother, Saraswati, had told the girls their father died when Reeva was five. Now Reeva must spend two weeks in her dead dad’s house in Leicester with her sisters: Jaya, a lifestyle influencer who ran off with Reeva’s boyfriend of nine years; and Sita, the perfect wife to Nitin and mother to twin girls. While Reeva’s life looks solid on paper—she’s killing it as a divorce lawyer and dating music agent Nick—she holds resentment against both sisters and her mother. To make matters worse, she’s started to lose her hair from the stress of spending time with Nick and keeping up a cool facade, afraid he won’t like her if she reveals her true self. As the sisters try to piece together why their parents lied to them, Reeva must decide if she’ll hold onto her resentments or let them go. While some of the plot turns rely on the family members jumping to far-fetched conclusions, the characters feel genuine and Sanghani keeps Reeva’s narration fresh by showing how she thinks as a lawyer to get out of sticky situations. This is great fun. Agent: Madeleine Milburn, Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency.