This book was an emotional journey through a love story started on the precipice of WWI. Torn apart by war and its side effects, this love story has to persevere through time, place, circumstances, and above all emotions. The whole time I was listening I felt the weight of the sorrow of the characters. Reading at the end of 2020 and into 2021 I had to take this book slowly because of all the emotion contained within. If you like an emotional romance with a descriptive setting, then you will enjoy this book.

This book is low on steam and mostly closed door.

“Britain owes reparations to her former colonies.”

To the editor who thought it would be a great idea to publish a book written by a white author involving a romance between two English colonizers against the backdrop of the British Raj, I have a bone to pick with you. How unlearned are you? How the heck is this even allowed in our day and age? Are we that far gone as the human race that all we do is turn the other cheek when it comes to subjects of offending a certain race, gender or historical event and what really took place? At least know your terminology if you’re going to write about historic India and use foreign words or terms in your book that you have zero knowledge of. Ashcroft’s character used the term “Hindis” to describe the people of India. Let me clarify for the last time for anyone who is unaware: HINDI is a language, HINDU is a religion and to be Indian is to be from India.

To read about an author glorifying the British elite invading India, romanticizing and monetizing the suffering of India makes my blood boil. India was raped, exploited, and destroyed by colonization. Know your history before you support colonial romances and please do not support white authors who write ignorant fiction books about far away countries they have probably never stepped foot in or are uninformed about. This was a DNF for me.

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for an opportunity to read Meet Me In Bombay

This is a story of love and loss as Maddy and Luke meet on NYE just before the start of World War I and fall in love. The war, and people around them tear and keep them apart.

What I liked:
✔️ Once you remove all the soap opera antics, I enjoyed Luke and Maddy’s love story
✔️ Maddy’s attempts to explore “the real” Bombay vs the colonial world she’s living in

What I didn’t like:
✖️with a mother like that, who needs an evil step mom 🤷‍♀️? I get she wasn’t evil, but like really?
✖️this book felt a bit long, and at times long winded ( lots of side bars in parentheses too which I thought was kind of strange - but see what I did there 🤣)

“Life can go from being one thing to another thing entirely - with no hint, no warning sense of the change afoot.” This quote is on the very first page and caught my eye. How true it is. I don’t often read historical fiction, but the exotic local caught my attention and I wasn’t disappointed. In the beginning of the book, Bombay was like another character in the book.

The underlying theme of the book is what is love. There are multi generations of family, romantic relationships, friends and acquaintances, but who shows what is love? There are many acts throughout the book that leave the reader questioning if that is love or selfishness. Set during the lead up to World War I, Maddy and Luke first see each other at a New Year’s Eve party, but don’t actually meet for weeks. He shows her the everyday Bombay as they fall in love. They are then torn apart by the war. And as each are living apart, you’re left to wonder if they’ll reunite.

The book is story driven and my favorite character isn’t one of the main characters, but a supporting character, Luke’s best friend Peter. As the book progressed, I kept hoping for a reason for Peter to appear.

It is beautifully written with drama and emotion. Honestly I would have given it five stars except that the author set the story halfway around the world and none of the main characters are Indian. None. With that being my only negative, it is a good romance.

I started this book giddy....and ended it sobbing. I felt all the emotions: excited, sad, anxious, frustrated. What a delightfully written story of two young people meeting right before the beginning of WWI. It felt only fitting that I started this book on New Year's Day. However, there were points that drove me nuts. All of the opportunities for the reconnection to be made and there were so many STUPID things that got in the way. Drove me nuts. Fate was trying so hard to bring them back together!

Meet Me in Bombay starts with such an enticing yet heartbreaking prologue. The intrigue and mystery building in each chapter, the exquisite description of Bombay, the backdrop of lingering war all add up to my first 5 star read of the year and first book I’ve wanted to keep reading without stopping in ages.

Maddy Bright and Luke Devereaux meet in 1914 during the British Raj. The anticipation and build up to their first meeting was thrilling and heart racing. Their attraction and chemistry leap from the page. It’s the first time in a long time that I’ve felt that while reading. The angst (which I normally avoid) gave me such a rush.

This story, at its heart, is a love story. The grand and sweeping love story of Maddy and Luke, but also the love between parent and child. It is beautifully written and definitely added to my favorites list.

Madeleine Bright sees Luke Devereaux from across the room on NYE 1913. She feels an instant connection. Luke introduces Maddie to the real life of the people of Bombay. She is a new person because of him and they can't get enough of each other.. But then World War I happens. He promises to meet her in Bombay, but first must remember who she is....

I loved the setting of this book, old Bombay (now known as Mumbai). I've visited so was able to picture the scenes quite vividly, keeping in mind of course that things must have looked much different back then. This book is about family and friendships, as much as it is about love. It's about loss, grief and moving on. Maybe not this exact story, but I'm sure there were similar for other soldiers during the World Wars. I quite enjoyed it, but we do have to keep in mind that we are reading a Colonial era love story between 2 British people in a country full of Indians. This may be offensive to some.

I recommend this book to anyone who likes reading about family, love and/or history. It's one of the longer books I've read but it didn't feel like it.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the eGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I really loved this book! Set mainly in Bombay, the book opens with Maddy Bright returning to India after many years in England with her aunt and uncle, hesitant to be reunited with the mother who never visited. On top of this trepidation, Maddy also feels rather adrift over what will become of her future, with some scandal in England limiting her teaching options. The book begins in 1914 and a. whirlwind romance catches Maddy by surprise. All of the characters come toile - even minor ones and those who act almost villainously.

The historical backdrop feels well-researched and fits in to drive the plot as well. There's certainly a rather rosy spin on British-Indian relations overall during this time, but I appreciated the rather unique inclusion of India's role in the first World War. There are still some familiar war scenes here, but this is still a part of history that isn't as commonly portrayed in fiction. As for the romance central to the book, Lukle's amnesia and the circumstances that separate them, their book feels heart-wrenchingly sad. There are some moments that are a bit manipulative to the reader, and some near misses. But I still loved it, while doubting with each page that it would ever end happily.

I think that this would be a great one to listen to on audio as well - and I am definitely curious about Ashcroft's earlier books!

I was not familiar with Jenny Ashcroft and her blacklist of publications so I was not sure what to expect. Meet me in Bombay is a dual timeline story which has become popular among writers in recent years.

I would characterize this book as a love story with some historical fiction thrown in. The story starts in Bombay in 1913 with the chance meeting of Miss Madeline Bright and Luke Devereaux. One could say that this was no chance meeting by the way the sparks flew from the first moment. Readers get to watch as their love explodes as the world starts to implode with the start of World War 1. Then book then alternates between 1913, 1915 and at times 1975. With the alternating timelines, it left me turning the pages as fast as possible because I wanted to know what happened to Maddy and Luke. Ashcroft was an expert at not giving away too many details and exposing the ending but leaves the reader with small crumbs of information that feeds the need to know the outcome of this love story.

I have wavered between 4 and 5 star rating. The only reason that I would give this a 4 star rating is that I felt several times the story rambled on and could have been moved along at a faster pace. In the end I am going with 5 stars. Again, I would not characterize this as historical fiction but a love story of great depth on many different levels.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for an ARC. All thoughts & opinions are my own.

Meet me in Bombay was very confusing it time hops back and forth then does huge time jumps. It also has different point of views more than three. Character Madeline Albright falls in love with Luke Devereaux who is a British solider in India. ( Forced Occupation) They get involved in World War one as part of forced British rule. Madeline Albright is part of a British social circle living in India which is its own class based.
As British have their own class system. However Madeline seems to want to know more about India its rich cultures, religion, language and people. Not as what else can I say forced occupied people but as humanity. Luke is lost for a while and Madeline can't get over it. They're goal is to find each other but other forces are happening and people too are meddling.
This book brought up emotions such as "thats Messed up" or they mentioned a famous book-" all quiet on the western front" The characters had depth and so did the world building but the times and areas got a bit confusing to me.

Book comes out January 19/2021
Meet me in Bombay is by Jenny Ashcroft
Arc was given to me by net galley in exchange for an honest review

I felt like I really escaped into this story, I could feel the sweltering heat of Bombay, feel the sadness in Maddy’s heart. The book is both beautiful, hopefully and heart-breaking. It’s about love, memory, hope, loss and family.

The second I read the description, I knew I had to read this book, and I am happy to say that it lived up to its expectations! Meet Me in Bombay is a heartbreakingly beautiful love story set in Bombay, India during World War I. Maddy and Luke fall madly in love and are inseparable until the war tears them apart. What follows is the epic tale of a man without a memory fighting to get back to the woman he knows he loves even if he doesn’t know who she is. The Bombay backdrop is a beautiful setting to highlight the story!

Maddy and Luke meet on New Year's Eve in Bombay in 1913. She's only recently returned from Oxfordshire, where she grew up and went to school. He's mysterious to her but they click immediately- then he leaves to travel around the country but he gives her a guide to Bombay that extends beyond the standard British tourist sites. When he returns, they plunge into a love affair that culminates in marriage but he's activated as part of the Indian Army to serve in France. What misery. You will realize early on that he's the man without a memory but can he get home to Maddy and their daughter? Back home in India, Maddy struggles to cope. No spoilers from me but this one has a big surge of ups and downs. These are terrific characters (as, btw, is Guy, who is in love with her as well). Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. It's a deeply romantic story that will appeal to fans of historical fiction.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for Meet Me in Bombay.
4 Stars
Meet Me in Bombay is a wonderful historical romance fiction. It follows the love story between Luke Devereaux, a British Soldier, and Madeline Bright, a young British lady, who meet in Bombay on New Year's Eve 1913. While their their courtship which eventually leads to their marriage, the clouds of WWI are looms and will have far reaching consequences. Having no choice but fight on the front, Luke and Madeline's relationship will be put to the test? How long can you love someone even when the uncertainty of war may tear them from you forever?
The had a beautiful love story! I loved Luke and Madeline as a couple. Both brought out the best in each other. Luke was willing to open Madeline to the beauty of India. The pacing was good and moved the story along while creating the atmosphere of the war and the aftermath of what the soldiers endured. The setting was a confusing choice. This story felt like it could have been set in any country. There was not real feel of India as I read this book. The longing between Luke and Madeline was heartbreaking! Overall, I enjoyed the romance of this story, but would have preferred the story to have the feel of the country it is suppose to take place in. I am not really a fan of a British love story, which had mostly British people taking place in a British colony for really no purpose!

"All he needs is to find her. First, he must remember who she is.

Jenny Ashcroft's "Meet Me in Bombay is a powerful, poignant and deeply emotional tale of love, mystery, loss and joy." - Kate Furnivall, New York Times bestselling author

It's New Year's Eve in Bombay, 1913, and Madeline Bright, new to the sweltering heat of colonial India, is yearning for all she has left behind in England. Then, at the stroke of midnight, Maddy meets Luke Devereaux, and as the year changes so do both their lives.

Bold and charismatic, Luke opens her eyes to the wonders of Bombay, while Maddy's beauty and vivacity captures his heart. Only her mother disapproves, preferring the devoted Guy Bowen as a match for her daughter.

But while Maddy and Luke are falling in love, the world is falling apart. World War I is on the horizon, and Luke will be given no choice but to fight. They will be continents apart, separated by danger and devastating loss, but bound by Luke's promise that they will meet again in Bombay."

The romance evoked in just a few simple lines...

I am always hesitant to start historical fiction but I usually end up loving it more than I anticipated. This book is no exception and it was a beautiful, sad, and romantic start to the year. I had not before read a book set in India immediately before, during and after World War I but the scene was beautiful and heart-breaking all at once. I loved this story and the characters and I had to know how it ended. . . definitely recommend this one!

Meet Me In Bombay comes out next week on January 19, 2021, and you can purchase HERE. If you want a heart wrenching historical fiction that is also so romantic, this book is for you!

Today, after morning tea, I fell asleep quite suddenly. It happens like that. I never fight it. My dreams are all I have left of that other world: the one I'm sure I once belonged to. It was full of heat, light and color; so much life. There was a party, on the banks of a sea. Nothing like the tame affairs we hold here—no finger sandwiches, diluted cordial, and crackers that don't make bangs. It was loud, packed with people; the music of a ragtime band.

3.5/5 rounded up
I loved the love story and the way in which the author wove the timelines together; the epilogue did bring tears to my eyes. The characters were deeply developed and at times, I held such anger for Alice that I was not sure if I could continue reading. The novel is beautifully written.

However, I wanted to see a bit more about the how the British occupying India effected the Indian people. Historical fiction is an important genre, one which I love. It isn’t always pretty as history can be ugly at times. I’m certain that British soldiers experienced levels of romance, heartbreak, etc. during this period. What this book could have done was recognize the British’s colonization but acknowledge the people of India more than simply them being sellers in the market squares.

Maddy explored, she was intelligent, as was Luke; I felt despite Luke and Maddy’s father being military, Maddy would have noticed the Indian people more, and questioned things. I wanted that and felt there was room in the story for it. Had this been set during this time nearly anywhere else, I would have given it 4.5/5 stars but the omission and setting the Indian citizens as mere background to the picture and ignored necessitates a 3.5 rating.

Slow to start, the storyline failed to capture me. This was disappointing for me but obviously not for other readers.
I found my self flailing around and disinclined to finish.

A St. Martins Press ARC via NetGalley

First off, while I was looking at the reviews for this book I began to notice it had a lot- I mean a lot- of one to three star reviews. As I fell in love with the book within the first chapter, I found this puzzling. Then I realized… the one star reviews had never read the book (and swore they never would). Their issue- this is a “white woman” writing about a romance involving “white people” in colonized Bombay. They claimed disgust that it was written at all- that there was no talk of the oppression and indignities that the native people faced. I guess that’s fair…. if you feel this way, this book isn’t for you. Me? I just wanted a love story. There were British people in Bombay in 1913. A war took place in the timeline of this book. I see no issue with writing a love story about characters that could have been there. I will say that it would have been fantastic to see more of the Indian characters- Suya, Cook, Luke’s men… really anyone. In the end, though, I am not mad about this and did not feel like the author deserves the criticism she is receiving. Rant ended… moving on.
The story starts out with a letter written by an unknown older man (we quickly learn this is Luke) to a woman that he knows he loves but can’t remember. I immediately and irrevocably fell in love with him before chapter one. (#boysinbooksarebetter) Luke is my favorite character here. He is sweet, charming, strong, loyal and forces those around him to try to be better simply by… being. My heart broke for him, his confusion over losing his memories, his dreams where he sees a woman that he has to find… the countless letters in his journal. Everything about this man makes him the best lead male freaking ever.
Sadly, the same cannot be said for our lead female, Maddy, whom I found myself wanting to shake multiple times. She seems very immature and petulant for her age. When we meet her, she is homesick for the home she had to leave when her caretakers got embroiled in scandal. She had just assumed that her life would be there, that she had a job waiting where Uncle Fitz worked. Having lived most of her life in England and only seeing her mother once in all that time, I kind of get it…. but I feel like she could have sat her mother down and started asking questions way earlier than she should. She begins to grow on me as she and Luke begin their courtship dance through notes and the gift of a guidebook for Bombay (a sweet gesture to help her get to know her surroundings and not feel homesick). As we move forward I love her more and more… until she finally decides that Luke really is dead and settles on a new marriage to give her daughter, Iris, a father.
Other people I would love to shake? Her mother. Alice is hellbent on keeping her feelings and emotions and pain from her daughter- to the detriment of their relationship. At the same time she wants to keep her daughter there in Bombay and has gone so far as to pick a suitor for Maddy who was pretty well entrenched in India (not to mention 20 years older). She finally agrees to let Maddy marry the man she loves, but when Luke’s out of the picture she starts pushing her toward Guy again. She swears it’s for Maddy’s own good… but anyone with eyes can see this is for her. I slowly started to understand Alice, but it was way too late to fully redeem her in my eyes.
This book spans six years for the most part, with a few chapters from far later. A lot of that time is kind of skimmed over, and part of me does wish that we spent more time there but it may have broken the flow of the book. This book is not a quick read, but it was one that I could not put down. I pored over descriptions, letters, dreams… completely charmed. Reading this made me want to read her other works. It was gorgeous, and heartbreaking, and just… just so perfect. For me this is a five star book.
On the adult content scale, there’s language, sexual content, drinking and violence (there is a war going on after all). While there is nothing I would call rape, not all sexual content is… as it should be. That may make people uncomfortable. I would say this is geared toward young adults and adults- no younger than 16.
I was incredibly lucky to receive an eARC of this book from Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review. My thanks. I have also preordered my hard back copy and hope to receive it on release day (January 19th, 2021). I am considering writing another blog post on this day so that I can quote my favorite parts.

Meet Me in Bombay by Jenny Ashcroft was my first book of the year and my first book by this author.

Ms. Ashcroft is a wonderful writer. Her writing flows effortlessly and keeps the reader engaged. The structure of the story was well done. The story begins with pieces of what sounds like a letter from a soldier to his lost love. From there, the novel goes back and forth in time, slowly revealing bits and pieces of a story that we don’t get a full picture of until the very last pages. It was fascinating how Ms. Ashcroft’s story was woven so intricately. One is tempted to jump ahead and go back to validate how all the story lines come together.

Ms. Ashcroft’s writing style is extremely descriptive. Her gift of creating a time and space which transports the reader to WWI Bombay is excellent. With the use of varied timelines, she creates a narrative that sustains the interest of the reader. Ms. Ashcroft’s ability to hint at a change in the destinies of her characters by using adeptly placed statements creates an aura and feeling that never allows the reader to become complacent.

The characters were very well done. They are deep, rich and compelling. You find yourself cheering the characters on and wishing some had fallen off the page never to return again (Alice). This was a such an immersive read – the kind where you are still up two hours later and exhausted the next morning because you had to continue reading.

The combination of complex characters, a beautiful setting, love, tragedy, heartbreak, hope and simply a well written story has created a story that will stay with the reader long after the turn of the last page. Well done. I can’t wait to see what Ms. Ashcroft has in store for us next.

I would like to thank St. Martin’s Press, the author and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.