This one is a bit of a slow-burn to start and took me about the first 100 pages to get invested in, but from that point on it became quite engaging and entertaining. The characters take time to warm to, but be assured you will find them and their a-typical antics endearing by the end, even the minor characters are memorable. A well done debut for this author, I will definitely look forward to future novels.
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
3.5 / 5 stars

💕You might like this book if:
🔹 you like books that touch on multicultural differences
🔹 you like characters who do not have it all figured out
🔹 you enjoy mix-ups, unexpected situations, moments of chaos, and some laugh-out-loud absurdities

A huge thanks to @netgalley and @randomhouse for providing me with a digital ARC in return for an honest review.

Enjoyable book about a family trying to survive a divorce later in life, as well as all the secrets they are hiding from each other. I enjoyed the characters (although they could be frustrating at times). The book ends on a hopeful note. It's a pleasant read.

This was an interesting story.

I was engaged throughout the book. The revolving perspectives from each of the four main characters were done well. I didn’t feel like I needed a break from any of them. Some of the situations this family get themselves in are awkward and gave me secondhand embarrassment.

What I struggled with bit was the fact that the narrative relied heavily on bad communication which was frustrating for me as the reader. I just wanted to shake them all and tell them to just talk to each other. I also didn’t find the characters inherently likable. Not that I need likable characters to enjoy a book but I would have like to be able to connect to this family in some way.

Overall, the writing and some of the observations of this disjointed family were worth the read. I would like to see what else this author has to offer in the future to see if it’s more of a homer for me.

Late Bloomers is a charming, heart-warming, and funny book. Impressive debut that tells the story of the parents’ divorce and how it impacts the family. With themes of loyalty, love, coming of age this story kept me engaged throughout. 🌟🌟🌟🌟

After thirty-six years of a dutiful but unhappy arranged marriage, recently divorced Suresh and Lata Raman find themselves starting new paths in life. Suresh is trying to navigate the world of online dating on a website that caters to Indians and is striking out at every turn—until he meets a mysterious, devastatingly attractive younger woman who seems to be smitten with him. Lata is enjoying her newfound independence, but she's caught off guard when a professor in his early sixties starts to flirt with her.
Meanwhile, Suresh and Lata's daughter, Priya, thinks her father's online pursuits are distasteful even as she embarks upon a clandestine affair of her own. And their son, Nikesh, pretends at a seemingly perfect marriage with his law-firm colleague and their young son, but hides the truth of what his relationship really entails. Over the course of three weeks in August, the whole family will uncover one another's secrets, confront the limits of love and loyalty, and explore life's second chances.

Posted on Instagram @carolinehoppereads Book 33…Late Bloomers by Deepa Varadarajan. Thank you to @randomhouse for an early copy via @netgalley but since I cannot seem to read on my kindle lately 🤷🏻‍♀️, I actually listened to this one on audio. I thought the narration was perfect and I really enjoyed this story!

An arranged marriage with the couple originally moving to America from India has resulted in a divorce 36 years later. Their two children, born in the USA, are now all grown up and this story uses the viewpoints of these four characters to tell their hot mess story. As with all messy family dramas, a little truthful communication could solve a lot. But that would be no fun to read about!

The parents have lived their lives in terms of their culture expectations while their kids live by the American expectations. And now they are all struggling to live the life they want or think they want. I thought it was funny at times, but also had some heart felt moments. I found this to be the perfect audio book to just have fun with a little substance….brain candy. I definitely recommend you throw this one in “your ears” for your summer reading. 🎧 📚

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Late Bloomers is the perfect book for the late bloomers of the world. Why? Because it helps you see that you aren’t alone in that aspect, but also that it’s okay to let go of the past and try new things. And it is also okay to hold onto things from the past as long as you can see how things have changed around you.

Lata is a woman who was pushed into an arranged marriage, as that is how it was done for her family. She had dreams of her own, but she put them away for her family. Now that the kids are older and her parents have both passed away, she is ready to start living for herself. And who can blame her?

Suresh is a man who worked hard to provide for his family. He thought his wife was happy, as he gave her the things she asked for. When she decides she wants a divorce, it’s time for him to reconsider his past.

Priya is a woman who has always tried to be the perfect daughter. While she has an established career, she still feels like she’s disappointing her parents. Why? Because she doesn’t have a family of her own, like so many of her peers. Is it too late for her to find her happiness?

Nikesh has a great career, a lovely wife, and a beautiful baby boy. What’s he got to be unhappy about?

While in different places in their lives, the four are all in the same place and trying to figure out what’s next!

The story unfolds over a matter of weeks, and it is difficult to follow the timeline as no set-in-stone dates are mentioned, only that it is August. Following along with each perspective is easy, as the chapters switch between characters but are labeled with the name of the person you are following.

Overall, I enjoyed reading Late Bloomers by Deepa Varadarajan, and hope she writes more fiction.

I wanted to like this book more than I actually did. While there are a lot of fun hijinks and situations, the four main characters often fell flat for me. I ended up finding myself much more captivated by the side characters in each of their stories. I appreciated that each character was complicated but the timeline didn't give much time for growth in each character. There are a lot of good moments, but I just ultimately needed more.

Late Bloomers is a wonderful love story about…divorce and family dysfunction! It’s humorous and touching, filled with rites of passages which can occur at any age. But even though the relationships are tumultuous, the main feeling you get is there is always love.

Suresh and Lata were married over 30 years ag0. It was an arranged marriage. They spent their first day as man and wife at the movies. But, through the years, they have learned to accept each other, even though they both see the flaws in the other. They have raised two children who are now adults, Priya a teacher and Nikesh, a lawyer.

At some point, Lata decides she needs her space form Suresh and wants to live a life she never had. Suresh does not understand Lata’s decision but accepts his wife’s wishes. They divorce and Lata moves into an apartment and Suresh keeps the house.

Lata begins a job at a college library where a professor begins to show her attention. She has never even had a boyfriend, so she is confused and guilty as to what to do. It does not help that the person giving her advice is a young girl she works with. Suresh on the other hand has begun dating at the aga of 60. He is on a dating app and is not very savvy at reading cues the women give him.

Along with these changes, what they have yet to discover, and possibly would freak out about if they do, Priya is in an unorthodox relationship and smokes, both of which they absolutely would not approve, and Nikesh who lives with Denise and their son Alok are not married although his parents think they are. Nikesh can’t seem to make the commitment as he pines for an old girlfriend.

With Alok’s first birthday coming and a party being planned at the house, what should be a happy event inevitably turns into a disaster with secrets coming out of the woodwork. And it is at this time the whole family must choose a new path, both together and separately as they all must make choices which will change futures. They must create a new version of their family, for the sake of all of them. They must find it in their hearts to love each other and those who love them.

Late Bloomers is adorably funny and heartwarming even though it might take this old-fashioned family a bit of time to step into a new wonderful future together.

Thank you #NetGalley #RandomHouse #DeepaVaradarajan #LateBloomers for the advanced copy.

Late Bloomers by Deepa Varadarajan immediately draws you in to this story of an Indian American family. After 36 years of marriage, Suresh and Lata get divorced. Suresh is navigating internet dating as he struggles with his new status. Lata gets a job at the local university library with her newly-found independence. Their daughter, Priya, and son, Nikesh, also have their own issues with their lives. Priya is a history professor at the local university, but is involved with a married man. Nikesh is an attorney in Manahattan, but his partner is a senior partner at the law firm. After a brief time of dating, they find out they are pregnant. Nikesh's priorities shift upon the birth of his son. At first it was a bit overwhelming with everyone having so many issues with their lives, but upon reflection, that is how most everyone's life is. The book was made more interesting by the cultural and generational issues of an Indian American family. The book is well-written with great insights sprinkled throughout the book, further emphasizing that life can be messy and still full of love and ;hope.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the opportunity to read the ARC of this novel.

Thirty-six years after their arranged marriage, Suresh and Lata split up, finding themselves and their two adult children adrift.

I heard great things about this one from my booksta friends, and it didn't disappoint! I loved the messiness and change that the characters went through as they tried to figure out their lives/how to turn their backs on societal expectations. The audio was well done, with one narrator for each perspective. Mother Lata was my favorite character - I loved her adventures at her new librarian job and her friendship/romance with jazz professor Len.

Thank you to @PRHAudio for my complimentary audiobook and Random House for my e-ARC.

A pleasant, domestic-feeling look at the inner lives and fresh beginnings of the members of an Indian American family. The characters are uneven, and since they each get a turn at narrating chapters, some parts of the book end up much more engaging than others.

This is a heartwarming and often humorous debut novel from the author. The story is told from the four POVS of
Suresh and Lata and their two children. Each character is flawed but sympathetic. The best part of this story was the look into the Indian American family, their marriage, the food and the culture. This is ultimately a story about an American Indian family trying to figure out life and love. It is a story about truth telling and second chances. It is also a story about acceptance of ourselves and our children as they are. My favorite line from the book thought by Suresh, “And there was still time left. Time to be a better father, a better grandfather, a better man. This was America, after all. It was never too late. You could always re-create yourself.”

“It was all so much easier when your kids were little children. When they asked you questions and listened carefully to your answers–even if those answers were made up and wrong. Then they grew up and didn’t care what you thought about anything–had zero interest in hearing your answers to questions they didn’t ask.”

The Late Bloomers in Deppa Varadarajan’s light-hearted novel may be Lata and Suresh Raman who now in their 50s, are divorced. But then again, perhaps all 4 members of the Raman family qualify as late bloomers. Lata, Suresh, daughter Priya and son Nikesh are facing emotional hurdles that they must cross in order to develop and move on in their lives.

The story unfolds through the voices of the four family members. Lata has been a good wife and mother, and her arranged marriage in India to Suresh has been in that sense a success, and with the kids born in America, grown and gone, Suresh and Lata built their ‘dream’ home. It was everything Lata wanted, and she fought Suresh’s basic cheap, gloomy nature every step of the way, but when the house was done, it seemed to be a monument to their lifeless marriage. Lata demanded a divorce and moved out.

With 35-year-old Priya (a single, medieval history professor) and 30-year-old New York attorney Nikesh still reeling from the news that their parents have split, both Suresh and Lata make efforts to move on. Lata gets a job in the university library and Suresh, now retired, goes crazy with Indian online dating. He drives all over the country to meet women and quickly discovers two things: that he is a hot commodity and that “all these internet women lie.” Some of the lies are what Suresh excuses as “RDT’S” (“Reasonable Deviations from the truth) such as knocking a few years off one’s true age. Suresh knocks a few years off of his age so he finds a few lies acceptable, but some of the lies are outrageous. Suresh’s expectations are beginning to shrink when he meets Mallika, a 40 something knockout who claims to be a widow. Meanwhile, Lata has gained a few workplace friends–including the outgoing-boldly spoken Deanna. A music professor begins to try and establish a relationship with Lata, but now in her mid-50s, Lata has never dated in her life. The only life she imagined beyond Suresh was a peaceful single existence without his constant bitching and grousing.

Daughter Priya is extremely successful but she is locked into a relationship with a married man. Her brother Nikesh seems to be the all-around success story as he is married to his older boss, Denise, and they have a child together. But Nikesh’s family don’t know that his life is unravelling. He isn’t married to Denise and their relationship is fraught with tension. When the 4 Raman family members converge for Nikesh’s son’s birthday, everything explodes.

There were some very funny moments in the book, and it was a fun, light read. Not my usual fare, and it was a little too sweet for my dark tastes. However, I loved Deanna who has some acid comments at just the right moments. One of the issues raised by the book is whether we can change–if we can get out of our old grooves. Priya has a fixed schedule with her married lover, and Nikesh, still moping over an old girlfriend, can’t seem to commit to Denise. Divorce has forced Suresh and Lata to change. Suresh is not at his best with Lata, and even though he’s morose, he wants fun–just has no idea how to achieve it. After Lata moves out, Suresh grows in some ways, but still with Lata he remains clueless. Here he is asking himself how on earth Lata can stand living in a small condo:

Well, whatever Lata paid to live here, I had a hard time imagining her satisfied with condo life. As I remembered it, Lata liked wandering through rooms. When we lived together in our house, I’d enter the kitchen, and soon enough, she’d wander into the bedroom to look for something. Or I’d go into the bedroom, and she’d wander into the guest room to collect another blanket. A compulsive room-wanderer, she was, going from room to room, fussing about, organizing trinkets, straightening pictures.


Review copy

Late Bloomers alternates between the points of view of four family members–divorced parents, Suresh and Lata, and their adult children, Nikesh and Priya. This Indian American family was born from an arranged marriage, and Lata has decided to start anew after 36 years married to Suresh.

I really enjoyed reading each family member’s perspective as the parents in their late fifties navigate life independently and their fresh starts in dating. Seeing the different ways their children reacted to their parents’ new lives was entertaining.

The Indian American experience is a highlight, as Suresh and Lata immigrated to Texas from India, and Priya and Nikesh were born and raised in the US.

The novel includes thoughtful lines about a mother’s love and a father’s love. So much about marriage is explored in this story. Aging and changing and second chances come through in the parents’ storylines, while the adult children reflect on expectations and are trying to figure out their own futures.

Some parts feel a little far-fetched, particularly in Suresh’s dating storyline, but it was, overall, an entertaining and sweet story of family and new beginnings. I really enjoyed the character of Deanna, a quirky side character who has an intergenerational friendship with Lata.

This review is posted on Goodreads Michelle Beginandendwithbooks and on FB and IG @beginandendwithbooks

This book is all about family and all the messiness. Parents divorcing after being married for over 30 year, She's had enough, She kept pushing her feeling and desires down to raise the kids. Now she is over it. She's moved out and found a job. He is staying in the house. It isn't until she is gone that he realizes how much she did. Their daughter's life is a mess. She doesn't tell them what is going on and when they do find out. How did we not see the signs? As for their son, he keeps up the "I'm fine" saying. All along things aren't fine. Until he can settle the past, he can't move forward. He needs to move forward to keep the family he created in tact. In the end, all you can do as a parent is to support your children and the choices they make. As for Lata and Suresh, will they get back together, time will tell. Suresh helped his grandson blow out the candle for his first birthday. Will wishes come true?

3.5 stars

Honestly, this was not a happy story. But it was a real one about one family's messy lives as they try to live between the expectations of their family members and what they think they want for themselves. Of the four characters, I liked Lata the most, and I really wanted her to find contentment. Suresh drove me crazy because of his holier-than-thou attitude toward women especially, complaining about them lying on profiles when he was doing exactly the same thing. He did show growth by the end, making him slightly less annoying. The kids fell somewhere in between in how much I liked them. While I disapproved of Nikesh lying to his girlfriend (and his family), I think I kind of understood how he ended up in the position he was in and why he found it so difficult to come clean. And Priya was whiny, and she most definitely shouldn't have been carrying on with Ashish, but I was angrier with Ashish.

Overall, this was a well-written novel with characters that were not easy to like (although I enjoyed some of the side characters like Deanna and Len), but it was a good story. I would recommend this to those who enjoy realistic fiction.

I received an advance review copy for free from NetGalley and the publishers, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This was such a fun and interesting family drama about an American-Indian family that starts out with the divorce of the parents after 36 years of marriage. We read from all 4 POV of the family, the mother, father and two adult children.

From the father we get to hear how "fun" it is to try and find a date online and how the women are never honest. From the mother who has never dated in her life because she had an arranged marriage and never dated before that day emerges to attempt to date=full on fear! The son and his companion and their sweet one year old son really gives them a run for their money. Lastly, the daughter who has a secret that she desperately doesn't want her parents to know.

I loved that each person had a unique problem that was very real to them, but not over the top. They had actual, real life problems and concerns that we humans tend to face. Much of their battle was what the others in their family would think and they behaved in a way to hide or protect themselves. Family! We love them, but they can also push our buttons, and you really feel that in this book.

It wasn't angsty, it was joyful. It was sad yet hopeful. It had the perfect recipe for an enjoyable family drama!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the e-copy of this book.

3.75 stars(rounded down). Enjoyable book about a family trying to survive a divorce later in life, as well as all the secrets they are hiding from each other. I enjoyed the characters (although they could be frustrating at times). The book ends on a hopeful note. It's a pleasant read.

"'I have a soft spot for underdogs. And late bloomers. You've told me a lot of things about yourself, so let me tell you something about me'

After thirty-six years of a dutiful but unhappy arranged marriage, recently divorced Suresh and Lata Raman find themselves starting new paths in life. Suresh is trying to navigate the world of online dating on a website that caters to Indians and is striking out at every turn--until he meets a mysterious, devastatingly attractive younger woman who seems to be smitten with him. Lata is enjoying her newfound independence, but she's caught off guard when a professor in his early sixties starts to flirt with her.

Meanwhile, Suresh and Lata's daughter, Priya, thinks her father's online pursuits are distasteful even as she embarks upon a clandestine affair of her own. And their son, Nikesh, pretends at a seemingly perfect marriage with his law-firm colleague and their young son, but hides the truth of what his relationship really entails. Over the course of three weeks in August, the whole family will uncover one another's secrets, confront the limits of love and loyalty, and explore life's second chances."

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

At its core, Deepa Varadarajan’s novel Late Bloomers is an exploration of a cast of unlikable characters (save for Lata, the matriarch of this dysfunctional family of four) who are still worthy of love.

While reading this book, I kept getting hung up on how unlikable Suresh, the newly-divorced ex-husband to Lata and his two children, Priya and Nikesh, were. They were each selfish individuals who were ready to point fingers whenever conflict arose. Much like the novel’s title suggests, they were late bloomers, a group of children stuck in adult bodies.

I began to understand that this was exactly what Varadarajan had set out to achieve with this cast of characters. Their ugliest thoughts were laid bare to us readers who were being asked to find something in them still worth loving and rooting for.

Perhaps most jarring was Priya’s inner dialogue. Examples include likening her affair with a married man to a heroin addiction or comparing the discomfort she felt discussing her sex life with her parents to the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. I’d highlighted these on my kindle with a series of question marks, thinking to myself, is this Varadarajan speaking or Priya?

I’d understood Varadarajan’s intention behind using such jarring language during the bar scene between Priya and Deanna. Deanna, much younger than Priya, calls her out on her self-pitying and childish behavior. Despite Priya’s insistence that she was nothing like her parents, she actually resembled them in many ways, primarily through her problematic language and political mindset stuck in the early 2000s. In many ways this conversation between Priya and Deanna mimics one would typically have with their parents.

While this novel didn’t blow me away, I took away more from it than I’d expected to. It was also funny! Overall, Varadarajan is a skilled and fine writer. This book is the kind you can devour in one evening. I enjoyed the storytelling but wished for a slightly more conclusive ending and added complexity to the characters, including Mallika.