Romance: The Bollywood Bride, Sonali Dev

The Bollywood Bride
Sonali Dev
ISBN: 9781617730153
"Ice Princess" Bollywood actress returns home to the USA for her cousin's wedding, reconnecting with her childhood, and with her oldest friend and former lover, who she spurned dramatically at the start of her acting career.

Really enjoyed this.  It was an interesting look at the usual tropes of romances from the perspective of an unfamiliar culture, and I really enjoyed the juxtaposition.

Ria is the straightest-laced of Bollywood actresses, consistently working hard and staying poised and cool on-camera and off.  But she hides deep guilt and an even darker secret with all of her work and her cool unruffled facade.  Once she goes back to her childhood home in Chicago, all of her efforts to be untouchable and untouched will be undone, as she finally is forced to confront the trauma from her childhood.

Dev writes clearly and passionately, and the story is logical and enjoyable, with not too much time spent on emotional or mental distress before a break to recount happy and lighthearted family and friendly interactions.  There are plenty of descriptions of clothing and outfits (male and female) and the descriptions are clear and gushing.  Characters have actual character, and the vast majority of the cast are kind and beautiful people.  There are only two people who are "villainous" in the story, and one of them even shows a surprising spark of humanity at an unexpected moment!

I hope she writes more - it's lovely to see more cultures and more diversity represented in the romance books that are available to people, especially when they are written as well and as movingly as this one.

Glamourist Histories: Of Noble Family, Mary Robinette Kowal

Glamourist Histories, Book 5 (final of the series)
Of Noble Family
Mary Robinette Kowal
ISBN: 9780765378361
The couple get dragged to Antigua, to Vincent's estranged family lands, and find corruption and simmering hatreds.

This book is the last in the series, and Kowal doesn't hold back.  By now we expect that things will go as poorly as they possibly could for Jane and Vincent, so I suppose the failure was mine, in not imagining quite how bad that could really be.

Vincent's older sibling contacts him - his father has died, and there are administrative duties at the plantation that must be handled by a male heir - would Vincent please go?  A grudging acceptance is quickly regretted as Jane is revealed to be pregnant again on the journey, and even more unwelcome surprises await the couple once they arrive.

The conditions and realities of life on a slave-holding sugar plantation are not avoided nor are they glossed over.  They actually become one of the key points of the plot, as the very modern and kindhearted sensibilities of Jane and Vincent are confronted with the sad and horrible conditions that faced slaves of all sorts.

This was a much darker book than any of the others, and there is a lot of emotional and even physical trauma dealt out with a liberal hand to everyone.  Still, the setting and characters hold true (even new ones) and there are flashes of humor and even whimsy - our regularly-scheduled Doctor Who cameo is joined by a Princess Bride reference!  These lighten up the whole without trivializing the serious nature of the problems to be surmounted, and once more, I feared for the characters.

I'm sad to see the series ending, as I'm quite in love with Jane and Vincent, but I am impatiently waiting the next project coming down the line!

Amish Values for Your Family, Suzanne Woods Fisher

Amish Values for your Family, Suzanne Woods Fisher.  ISBN: 9780800719968

August 2, 2013

Nonfiction, morals and character development of children, Amish life.

Ms Fisher is obviously taken with the Amish and their way of life.  However, she doesn't quite manage to convey that captivation in this book.  Each section is intended to show a facet of Amish life and values, to demonstrate that in a sketch of Amish life, and then to convey how to get that same feel or end-point in a modern (presumed Christian) family structure, especially in regards to children.  The reality doesn't quite measure up.  The very short sections are arbitrary and oddly divided (birding?  throwing eggs?) and the morals or lessons from the sketches don't always seem to relate to the moral or lesson she elaborates upon.  

In addition, the morals and lessons that are taken are quite simplistic - don't spoil your kids, let them have graduated responsibility, stay connected as a family, let kids be kids, nature is awesome, discipline rarely and from the standpoint of producing character growth not rebellion.  Not really earthshaking or new information there.

Perhaps I'm too cynical an audience for this one, but I think it is illuminating that the Amish have a church retention rate in the high 80% (and an additional 10% join up with more liberal Amish or Mennonite groups) for their children, while Christian families are clocking in at a dismal 40% retention rate for their children.  So a book that promises to help families pick the "values" of the Amish without adopting the accompanying lifestyle, seems to be a bit disingenuous.  Most presumed Christian families are supposedly already teaching the same basic values and morals as their religious Amish cousins, but for some reason, it isn't working for modern families, while it is working quite well for the Amish.  This book seems to be promising all of the gain for none of the pain, and I really don't think that's going to work out.

Sadly, not a book I would recommend about the Amish, or about values or character training for families and children.  Just too facile and fragmented to offer any real grounded valuable advice.