Asha is working in Paris as a perfumer, she has been asked to develop a new fragrance for a large client.... there is one issue which Asha is keeping to herself.... after suffering from Covid, her sense of smell has disappeared, she then tries to use her instincts and chemical calculations which resulted in a complete failure. Following a meeting with her boss, she returns home to California on extended leave.

After a few days, Asha admits her problem and her grandmothers try all sorts of things to help her recover.

The book is a good illustration of how families can work together to overcome issues.

A good read

Thank you for granting me access to this book.
I tried really hard to enjoy this book but it just wasn't working for me.
I found the narrative dragged in this one, and we only briefly got a look at Asha's life in Paris which served to highlight that while she had been living there for over 10 years, she hadn't made a life for herself beyond superficial friends.

I liked the idea of this book. I haven't read any books with this sort of premise so I was curious. Unfortunately, it didn't end up capturing my attention. Sort of slow and not for me. A decent book that others should check out but not a fit for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for the ARC.

Scent of Garden by Namrata Patel was a very enjoyable book.
I loved how this took you inside of the stunning Parisian world of perfumers, and the gorgeous bucolic setting of Napa Valley.
There were so many nice clever twists and nods to various things that it felt like I had the "inside track".
At first, I was a bit put off by the Covid-related challenge presented to Asha, the main character.
I think when you have lived through a thing like the pandemic, for me, I don't wish to continually re-hash how awful it all was, but prefer a story to "get away from it all".
Once Asha made her way to Napa to be with her grannys and family, I felt like the story took off nicely.
We learn about how she ended up in the perfuming field, and what her aspirations, desires, and regrets were.

The secondary characters were all so well-written, I feel like I could see them in my minds eye.
I think this would make an excellent movie, and I hope someone out there options it!
So many beautiful settings would make it a delight to watch.

While I felt like I could see where the story was going, it was still a very satisfying ending.
y only quibble was there are a lot of Indian food and other terms. A glossary might have been nice for those of us Anglos who don't know what any of these are....

Thanks very much to NetGalley, and what is rapidly becoming my favorite publisher, Lake Union Books, for an ARC of this wonderful story in exchange for my honest review.

I’ve really enjoyed reading more WOC books and I had high hopes for this as it was centred around a Gujarati American family. Unfortunately I didn’t love the plot and the character developments seemed thin at best. The baa’s made me laugh though!

A charming read that book clubs are sure to enjoy. I especially admired the family dynamics and the honesty of the main character as she deals with her loss of smell. The premise is fantastic and invites the reader in. As some other reviewers have noted, the pacing is a little slow and there's some repetition that could have been trimmed. But all in all, an engaging read with a satisfying conclusion.

This is a lovely read about a perfumer who can no longer smell after contracting Covid.

Add in a desi family legacy and it’s the perfect cosy novel.

I liked it but I didn’t love it as much as her first book and felt like there were a lot of tangents and not enough tightness in the plot.

It’s the same exploration of relationships as the first book, but this time focuses on the mother daughter relationship, expectations and lost love.

I wanted to love this, but it didn’t quite meet the mark for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for an e-ARC in exchange for honest review!

“A perfumer in Paris is forced to return to her California roots in an exhilarating novel about family” The introduction already wrap me around it

This story is about finding hope when everything in your life seems to be spiraling out of control and, as you might have anticipated, things don't turn out the way you had wanted. It was an incredible book for when you have free time and are having fun in life. The characters also are so pleasant, charming, relatable and lovely (when in fact, I had a hard time getting into them at first) :D.

Great story about finding your way in life, and how some things we overcome can help us reflect on what we really want.

I enjoyed this book from the start because it felt relevant. The main character, Asha, works on creating perfumes in a large company in Paris, however, after losing her sense of smell from having covid, she is struggling. She is forced to take time off and uses it to go visit her family and best friend in California.

While at home, her grandmother, with the help of everyone else, makes a plan to do whatever it takes to help Asha get her smell back and get back on track in her career. But is that still what Asha wants. She is at odds with her family expectations, her heart, and her mind.

I cannot wait to reread this book in the springtime surrounded by flowers

3.5 stars, this is a pleasant book filled with nice imagery and some likable characters. To be honest, the story was a bit slow and dull at times. I did like the way the author represented Indians, it was refreshing to see non-stereotypical characters.

Scent of a Garden by N. Patel, published by Lake Union Publishing is a stand-alone romance novel, raw and gripping.
Asha is living in Paris, the city of Light and works as perfumer. Now she has to return to her California roots.
Blurb:
The daughter of proud Napa Valley hoteliers, Asha “Poppy” Patel chose a different line as a Paris perfumer, gifted with a nose for fragrances and business. Until her heightened sense of smell disappears. Her career in jeopardy, her world now muted, Poppy returns home. Maybe tending to her grandmother’s massive aromatic garden, where Poppy’s gift first flowered, will bring restorative hope.

But when she arrives, Poppy discovers that the land upon which the beautiful garden once thrived has been uprooted and destroyed. She realizes that the years she spent away from her home have loosened so many ties with the past. Torn between a mother who lives vicariously through her and a father who wants her to embrace her family’s legacy, Poppy is determined to find her own path.

An intriguing read, a slow burn, well written. It took me a minute to get into the story, but all in all a good story.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and became very invested in how the story ended. Although at first, I had a hard time getting interested in the book. At the beginning, I had a hard time keeping track of all the characters and their nicknames/family names which had re-reading to make sure I understood the plot. As the book moved forward and you learned more about the characters, it was much easier to follow.

This story is very relatable to a 20-30 something finding their path in life and realizing that life doesn't always turned out as you expected. I found the main character very relatable as well.

Asha patel has Hyperosmia, she can identify smell of things. Its really helpful in her career. Something happend make her back to her childhood home, it is scare her to lose something that had been with her all her life. Family drama thick here, its easy to blame other person than reflect on yourself. When Asha get epiphany what she want to do and make it happend, i love how she get strong, stand for herself even when her family doubt it. She believe in herself, her power, her ability. With that her dream come true.

Thank you to NetGalley for provide this book, it is pleasure to review this book.

#ScentofaGarden #NamrataPatel #LakeUnionPublishing #NetGalley #ARC

This was such an interesting take on Covid, Asha Patel is an an Indian American who has all the weight of her family expectations on her. She was what's known as a "nose," a talent she's had since she was a small child.
It became her identity. But, after she gets Covid, her long-term effects are a loss of her sense of smell.

After an unsuccessful product presented to a client, Asha heads to home to her family in Napa.

Her family was part of a long line of hoteliers. This was something I'd heard about but hadn't read much about. Her family is at odds. Her mother thinks Asha's profession is a great talent that must return, her grandmother and a family friend's grandmother live together and begin their gentler attempts at helping her regain her sense of smell.
This was a fun, interesting book, and I really enjoyed it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for an e-ARC of this title in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Asha Patel is a young Indian American woman living in Paris, making her name as one of a handful of perfumiers. She's on her way to the top, but Covid did on one her and robbed her of one of the most important senses in the world to her.
After a slight crash and burn, she is sent off for a break and returns home with her parents in Napa.
This story has many facets, including the strength of expectations on many children of Indian families. Asha and one of her childhood friends, Neel, are children of hotelier families. Businesses that have been built by grandfathers and passed down. The thing is, neither is interested in the hotel business.
Sometimes it does take a person a while to pinpoint their true passion, and this is what happens for both characters. They have to swim against the tide of disappointment as they attempt to venture out into the world for themselves instead of following a much easier, well-trodden path with more of a guarantee of financial success and stability. Which is what their forefathers always wanted to leave as a legacy,
Asha and Neel's grandmothers live together after being widowed, and I loved their characters. a mix of pushy and supportive, they gave a much-needed sense of fun to the story.
I enjoyed it.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for an ARC.

This was a good book. One that I curled up with on the couch and didn't stop til I was halfway through and then couldn't wait to get back and finish it. It was so good.
I just reviewed Scent of a Garden by Namrata Patel. #ScentofaGarden #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]Edit

This was such a unique and entertaining read. I loved reading about the family dynamics and the main characters issue that she had to learn to adapt to! The cover is also gorgeous!

Thank you for the digital ARC. All opinions expressed are completely my own.

What I really liked from this book was definitely how alive and well-developed the characters are and the relationship between them. It has a fairly slow start as our main character, Asha found herself back at home after failing to do her important job as a perfumer due to her sudden loss of smell. Not knowing where to return after her boss put her into a month-long break, she decided to come home to her family, never expecting it'd bring her insights necessary for her life path and how she navigated herself in the midst of her 'supposed' dream and her actual passion.

I admitted I wasn't a fan of the slow start at first. But the writing had its certain charm to keep you wanting to stay and read for more, and I ended up finishing the book and appreciating how the pace truly make the whole book even enriching in its flavor. The compelling family dynamic, characters that are given color, and ultimately how we witnessed thoroughly through Asha's lenses of her life changed gradually was pretty satisfying. I really liked how we are there in every single moment, no matter fickle and futile it is, that the transition and the self-discovery Asha found during her holiday, and how it truly paid off in the end. I also loved her connection with Neel, and honestly I'd be lying if I don't want more of them. I liked the type of relationship they have; petty and subtly bitter due to their past, and yet still steady and mature at the same time.

But aside from all the goodness, it's also true that I didn't particularly feel emotionally attached to all the characters; apart from Asha and maybe a little bit of Neel. I want more of closure about Asha's family dynamic which wasn't exactly the best, and I feel they were given less importance near the end when it should have mattered more. I guess I just want more to make this heart-wrenching to read because it has so much potential to be an emotionally profound read.

Nonetheless, Scent of a Garden is a well-written story of a woman's self-discovery in her dream, family, and love.

This was a lovely, compelling read - I couldn’t put it down! I absolutely adored the cast of characters, as well as the dynamics between them. They really popped off the page. I feel like the author developed their character traits nicely. Asha’s character development was phenomenal and I just LOVED Asha and Neel’s relationship. At the beginning, the pacing was a bit slow but it picks up quickly afterward. Overall, this was a captivating and well-written story with several profound themes that’ll really stick with you.

This was a quick and charming read. Asha is a likeable character who is struggling with her identity after a large piece of it disappears. The cast of characters around Asha create depth in the story. The two grandmas are laugh out loud hilarious in their devil may care attitudes, so different from their lives when they were younger. The family dynamics in the story feel familiar as Asha navigates returning home after being away for so long. The book addresses the topics of family dynamics, passion for work, love, goals, and finding yourself. I wish I could have seen more evolution in Asha and Neel’s relationship throughout the book. I really enjoyed watching Asha evolve over the story and come into her own identity. This was a good book.