American Betiya by Anuradha D. Rajukar
Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 / 5 Stars
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SYNOPSIS:
Trigger Warnings: racism, gaslighting, mention of suicide
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Rani Kelkar has never lied to her parents, until she meets Oliver. The same qualities that draw her in--his tattoos, his charisma, his passion for art--make him her mother's worst nightmare.

They begin dating in secret, but when Oliver's troubled home life unravels, he starts to ask more of Rani than she knows how to give, desperately trying to fit into her world, no matter how high the cost. When a twist of fate leads Rani from Evanston, Illinois to Pune, India for a summer, she has a reckoning with herself--and what's really brewing beneath the surface of her first love.

Winner of the SCBWI Emerging Voices award, Anuradha Rajurkar takes an honest look at the ways cultures can clash in an interracial relationship. Braiding together themes of sexuality, artistic expression, and appropriation, she gives voice to a girl claiming ownership of her identity, one shattered stereotype at a time.
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REVIEW:
American Betiya, is a coming of age story that will resonate with many readers of all ages, genders and cultures.
Truthfully, I was hooked on the book from the first chapter! The characters were raw and relatable. Rani, the protagonist, is a wonderful character that captures youth perfectly. She is imperfect, all of the characters are but they’re teenagers and that’s the beauty of it. We, the readers, follow her journey and fall in love with Oliver, Kate, etc. The pressure of family, goals, and dreams. There are some trigger warnings as stated above but overall American Betiya is beautifully written and completely heartfelt.
I highly recommend y’all to add this to your to-be-read list and READ IT!
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Playlist for American Betiya:
Blackbird - The Beatles
Tere Mere - Armaan Malik
Labels - Katelyn Tarver
Dil Ilbadat- Emraan Hashi
Cynical - Katelyn Tarver
Aarijit Singh - Thodi Jagoh
Homeland - Chord Overstreet

This is a YA novel about an Indian American teenager who experiences her first love and loss while working through experiences of toxic fetishization, racism, duty, pursuing her passion, understanding her community, and loss.

This is going to be more of a personal review. But I've been struggling to put my feelings about this book into words. I don't know that I have every felt so starkly represented by a book, maybe ever. It also definitely hits differently as someone in their 30s. When I was in high school, I would have felt so seen. Now I feel seen, but also all the deeply distressing things that happen to Rani, just made me hurt.

This book deftly normalizes all the "weird" of my life growing up that I needed. The pujas, the clothes, the expectations from family, the deeply pushy need for parents to push their immigrant hopes and dreams onto their children, a peek into the mentality as to why, the dissonance between that feeling and the idea that in America you are an "adult" at 18 and your parents can't stop you from doing things (lies), the secrecy of dating, the lack of conversation about sex and relationships, the taboo, the willingness of the community to turn away from people who are struggling with "shameful" things like "failure" and addiction and poor mental health, family - the good and the bad, growing up and out and in. There were so so many times, where I was like, yes, this, I've have feel this discomfort.

Indian culture is very much part of Rani's life. Among other details and aspects of daily life, she and her parents uphold rituals and celebrate holidays in their home together as a family. However, Rani struggles with balancing her own appreciation and love for her culture, religion, and rituals at a core level, with her struggle and inability to explain them to others to their satisfaction.

Throughout the story, she is asked about these holidays or rituals or the decision to be vegetarian, and her answers appear superficial or not well fleshed out. And it's really because as a teenager a part of the diaspora, she is living in a broader culture that doesn't teach her the details. And learning is time away from art or school or friends. But we can feel her discomfort. Much of this is tied into the broader fetishization that Rani experiences, which heightens these feelings.

Rani and her relationships feel authentic and I look forward to this debut author's writing style developing and growing, because this book definitely had a lot of emotional heft. I think it's a must-read for anyone interested in a variety of different kinds of young adult experiences.

Yesterday, I finished AMERICAN BETIYA by Anuradha D. Rajurkar and wow was this such a thoughtful, complex story. Thank you to @netgalley, @anuradhadrajurkar, @aaknopf, and @booksforwardpr for the e-ARC to review!

This YA novel follows Rani, an Indian-American teen, as she secretly starts dating her first boyfriend, Oliver, while lying to her parents. While the beginning of their relationship is seemingly sweet, issues of tokenism, fetishizing, c, and gaslighting quickly have Rani doubting herself, her identity, her family, and, eventually, her relationship.

I feel like a broken record, but again, I love YA for being able to take incredibly complex issues and place them accessible, and beautiful, stories. You may have thought you were getting a cute YA romance, but instead, we got a realistic expectation about how microaggressions and tokenism are damaging and dangerous - but also got storylines about family and community expectations, family relationship, culture and belonging, and female friendship.

I’ve seen quite a few reviews (especially from South Asian voices), so I’m going to share those in my stories as well! And, I’m going to be honest, I’m going to need y’all to ignore the reviews on Goodreads; I need my fellow white women to do better and stop rating fantastic books about different experiences lower because they “couldn’t relate.”

This is such a fully beautiful #ownvoices book, I can't recommend it enough! Great, great friendships.

Thank you Netgalley & Knopf for a free earc of American Betiya! This book explores the intense complexity of being young, and in an interracial relationship. Rani must hide her relationship with "bad boy" Oliver from her parents, and as a result, this divides them. I adore the true inside look we Rani's head - being pulled in two different directions between her first love, and her Indian heritage. Facing microagressions by the person she loves most, and the internal battle of knowing when to speak up. As specific as this story is to Indian culture, I also love this book because of the way it so accurately explores toxicity in high school relationships - an experience, that is sadly universal.

it’s a perceptive story of a girl, who struck in a relationship that involves two different cultures. The author skillfully explains what happens when two discrete culture collides with each others. It also explains the importance of good parenting and family structure, which gives children a sense of security from the beginning. It elucidate the rani's struggles to balance both of her most valued relationships.
It is an interesting one to read. thoroughly the book throughly. Recommend it

"This could be a mistake. Then again, it could be the best mistake I ever make."

This YA novel focuses on Rani, a first-generation Indian-American senior in high school, who falls for her "bad boy" artist classmate, Oliver, but has to keep their relationship secret from her parents who have forbidden her to date (and would REALLY forbid her to date Oliver). I love the book's premise and that it tackles some tough subjects but wanted more from the story overall.

What I liked:
- The cover! I mean, we all know the old saying but this one totally made me want to read the book.
- The author does a great job of identifying microaggressions and how they may seem harmless but can cause as much pain as outright prejudice.
- How sex positive the story is and that physical intimacy is considered and explored in a thoughtful way.
- The supporting characters. Rani's best friend Kate is a fiery feminist who's not afraid to tell people how it is and Rani's grandmother, aunts, cousins and parents are multidimensional and full of personality.
- The modeling of healthy vs. unhealthy romantic relationships.
- The ending.

What I struggled with:
- I blinked and Rani and Oliver were in love. I know feelings in high school can be accelerated but in this case it didn't feel earned and I was less invested in the couple than I should have been.
- The progression of Oliver's character. I wish there had been more explanation of why he acted the way he did.
- The dialogue. It didn't sound true to teenagers, especially how Oliver spoke.

I enjoyed this book (and especially seeing a Desi teen so well represented) but I think my expectations were super high and it didn't quite live up to them.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Young Children's/Knopf Books for Young Readers for a copy to review.

American Betiya is a story with a mix of a cross-cultural romantic relationship, family boundaries, and arts. The comparison and struggles of traditions and racist thoughts are a highlight of the book.

The story begins with introducing Rani, The American Betiya, with a charming, warm and personality, and Oliver, a hot guy with a troubled past but with genuine sincerity in character. The development of the characters is quite visible and one of the reasons to keep me going through the book.

The secret relationship, sneaking out and falling in love for the first time felt relatable from Rani's pov, but Oliver's character was mostly secretive and it was sometimes hard to get him but that was a charm of his character(in a way).

The writing was good and easy-going but a few times it got a little annoying with the description (it a personal opinion some people like it some don't). The author's attempt to paint a detailed picture and moods was amazing, you could imagine yourself being in-place of the characters. The teenagers were pretty horny emo(obviously teenagers are), at times it made me laugh at the description and the fantasies were INTERESTING. Too much detail laugh
Apart from our horny teenagers, there were other great characters which I totally enjoyed.

Time for some TV/movie recommendation:
Never Have I Ever - Netflix Series
English Medium - Bollywood Movie star
English Vinglish - Bollywood Movie (Not a teenage movie, but shows the struggle of a traditional Indian woman in the US)
Namastey London - Bollywood Movie
Bend it like Beckham - Movie

Quote of The Day: "People Make poor choices when they are not challenged"
~Rani, American Betiya

I’m glad that YA books are read by people way past their teenage years because there’s so much in American Betiya that informs and enlightens people like me (who have such a different life experience) about what it’s like to be a young woman of colour straddling different cultures. Anuradha Rajurkar has written a thoughtful, complex book that gives valuable insights into the struggles many people feel as they forge an identity in a world that keeps foisting stereotypes and expectations onto them.

Rajurkar’s heroine, Rani, is at once an American girl in her last year of high school and the daughter of parents from India whose ambitions for her include respecting (and largely adhering to) the culture from which they originate. They see America as a great land of opportunity and have worked incredibly hard to forge a life for themselves there, and they expect certain things from their daughter.

But America means something different to Rani’s parents than it does to her. It’s almost as though America is her parent’s home away from home. But for Rani, America is her country. She’s an American girl…or maybe an American betiya is a better description: the beloved daughter of her country of origin, but with an Indian side, too.

India is a huge part of Rani, but it’s a part, not all, and she’s learning how to manage the balance of both identities when the sudden appearance of Oliver throws everything into confusion. Oliver is a white boy from a complicated American family with troubles of its own — and loving him as she does puts Rani under new pressure.

Rani describes the passion she feels for Oliver as a “frisson”, a secret and exciting ingredient to a highly charged sexual relationship. Artistic, expressive and very different from Rani’s family, it’s easy to see why she finds him difficult to resist. But from the start, there’s something quite wrong about their relationship and much of the book is about identifying the strange mixture of admiration, obsession and resentment that Oliver has for Rani’s family’s culture. He both loves it and hates it, but the most obvious thing is that he’s disrespectful of its true meaning to her and hasn’t made enough effort to understand it.

Rani knows this and, yet, her attraction for Oliver and her desire to overlook what (in retrospect) clearly not going to work between them, weakens her resolve. She even finds herself participating in Oliver’s bizarre fetishism of her culture, which is uncomfortable to read but wonderfully portrayed in the book. Oliver’s microaggressions start off as annoying and then grow, and the unfolding of their relationship provides a valuable look into a subjectivity I was grateful to experience.

The portrait of Rani’s loving, if sometimes overbearing, family is nuanced and affectionate. Oliver is a less attractive prospect to this middle-aged reader than he will likely be to the teenagers for whom the novel is intended (I wanted to sit that young man down!). Anuradha Rajurkar’s writing is full of authority and she handles complex subjects with grace.

Rani has a secret, and it's everything her parents fear. She's dating a boy, one with tattoos, who wants to be an artist, who everybody likes. Just the sort of worldly boy her parents think is oh so wrong for her. She decides to date Oliver without telling them, and as with so many relationships, it isn't long before Oliver brings his troubles to Rani's doorstep. He wants her to do things she's uncomfortable with. She must give more than she bargained for. He needs her now more than ever. For Rani, it's the kind of consuming relationship she wanted, only she doesn't know that it's consuming her. Fate transports her from her home in Illinois to India over the summer, and that's when all the trouble brewing beneath the surface of her relationship with Oliver spills over. It's not easy living between two worlds.

From the title alone, it's clear that this story is at least partially about the interactions between cultures. Rani's family is Indian, and they hope that their daughter will date people who are part of their culture. Oliver is certainly not Indian, which is part of why he keeps calling Rani his "Indian princess." Rani isn't sure how to handle his little nicknames and comments about her appearance, questions about her culture, and the expectations he has which fall outside of her own. Because of problems in his own life, he tries to inject himself into Rani's family, in his own way, but that also comes at a price for Rani. Rani's story is as much about falling in love as it is about relationships that bridge cultures, and about the misunderstandings and hurtful comments that can arise because of those differences. It's also about Rani's identity, as she pulls away from her parents' own expectations, and seeks to define what she expects of herself, and from others.

The writing from debut author Anuradha D. Rajurkar is vivid, lush, and transportive, whether at a high school in Illinois or on the streets of Pune, India. Every character is well-realized, whether their role is major or minor, and I found myself loving the relationship between Rani and her best friend, Kate. What defines the journey most of all, and how it all ends, is Rani's relationship with herself, and that is absolutely everything. American Betiya is a powerful, evocative look at the intoxicating nature of young love, the meaning of identity and culture, and what it means for a young girl to explore and define herself while being pulled between family, friends, love, and her own wants and needs. Highly recommended to high school youth and adults.

Content Warning(s) for the book: racism, cultural and racial fetishisation, death, grief, drug use, suicide, depression

Representation in the book: Indian-American girl (protagonist), smattering of side characters — both Indian-American and Indian

American Betiya is an aptly titled saga of what it means to be an Indian-American daughter. Every little bit of it is infused with this meaning, the yearning to understand oneself in the ecosystem of an Indian family and outside of it. It is raw, purposeful, painful and real.

The novel follows Rani Kelkar, an Indian-American high school girl who is a photographer. She secretly starts dating Oliver, whom she describes as someone straight out of her mother’s nightmares — an artsy, tattooed white boy who seems to share her interest in art. They bond over this mutual love and Rani finds herself falling because she feels noticed and seen, all the while Oliver slowly starts displaying gross racial and cultural fetishisation. Since, this book was marketed as a romance and the synopsis denotes that, I mostly expected Rani to “reform” Oliver and have their happily ever after. Thankfully, that was not the case.

Instead, Rani learns what it means to exist outside of the white gaze and inside of her community. Sure, she has always been part of the community, has grown up in it, has seen her parents “help” her make choices and impose their ideals on her; but what transpires can be seen as a metamorphosis. Rani finds herself and her place when she examines her culture, her beliefs about it and learns of her parents’ past — something that our parents always find to be inconsequential and unrelated to their children.

I cannot explain how well this book represents the Indian culture. Those outside of it may only see it as our foods, our festivals and our religious beliefs; but, of course, a culture lies in the details not often written down and hidden between lines. It is in the insidious beliefs that our parents have that they must shape our futures so that we never have to encounter any obstacles of our own; in the fact that no matter what we feel about our families, they will always be a big part of us and that we can never let them go; in the ways that our parents go to great lengths to never appear as human in front of us, but always a rock that will never let you fall; and in so much more.

Although, the prose of this book is beautifully written, the writing itself has a bit of a jarring quality to it. As a teenager’s point of view, it felt way too subdued, mature, and something that often clashed with the tone of the book. For me, it rendered moments of levity in a prism that felt inauthentic. The strident writing style was one of the reasons why it took me some time to begin reading this book at my normal pace. While I was moved by the prose of the book, and certain lines would live inside my heart forever, the entirety of its writing felt incongruous.

American Betiya is an honest, oft agonising, and affirming tale of life as a daughter belonging to two clashing cultures. It beautifully represents and questions ideals and beliefs around these cultures. An unexpected coming-of-age story that I will not soon forget.

American Betiya by Anuradha D. Rajurkar follows Rani Kelkar as she begins dating Oliver in secret so that her strict and religious parents don't find out. However, when Oliver's troubled home life unravels, he starts to ask more of Rani than she knows how to give, desperately trying to fit into her world, no matter how high the cost. When a twist of fate leads Rani from Evanston, Illinois to Pune, India for a summer, she has a reckoning with herself--and what's really brewing beneath the surface of her first love.

Unfortunately I have gotten extremely picky when it comes to YA contemporaries. This book discusses fetishizing of Indian woman which was interesting to read about in a YA novel. However, Oliver made me so uncomfortable (which I know was the point) and there were so many characters that it made it hard for me to keep track of the story. I also had a hard time relating to the main character, Rani, which may come from me outgrowing the YA genre.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a dramatic and angst filled romance that only a great YA novel can do right. The conversations that were brought up during this read were really captivating—themes of female ownership, sexuality, cultural appropriation, artistic expression, and gaslighting create this soul crushing debut centered around a young woman discovering herself in a relationship, in her religion, and from within.

Rani and Oliver fell hard and fast. I don't think I've ever read an interracial relationship done so raw in YA before. their chemistry was palpable on the page, setting up a passionate and thrilling relationship journey. I loved learning about the different Hindu traditions and customs. Rani's closeness with her community was actually really positive, despite her not being able to divulge into such a huge part of her life—her relationship with Oliver.

Rani made it plenty clear from the beginning that her parent's could never know and there had to be clear ground rules. Oliver was so charming and understanding—the perfect feminist dreamboat who absolutely adored Rani as much as she would let him. They connected on a deeper level, finally someone she could confide in when it came to her art. Once she couldn't give him what he needed in terms of more access to her life and family, he retaliated with manipulation. She loved Oliver so much, even though the things he said sometimes felt tone-deaf in regards to her culture, total microagressions. Not until she was in too far did she realize that his comments and remarks were him objectifying her culture, fetishizing her for his artistic gain.

I still can't believe this was a debut novel. The writing was so sophisticated, you would think this came from a seasoned author.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

AMERICAN BETIYA is a breathtaking contemporary read about identity, family, and racism. Rani is an Indian American with dreams of becoming a pediatrician, much to her parents' delight. She also loves photography, something her grandfather has nurtured in her, and the book begins with her art in a show. At the same show, her parents make sure she knows that their no dating policy continues- despite the cute guy with tattoos who is giving her the look.

Rani can't help but look back and is excited when Oliver asks her to join him for lunch at school the next day. As their relationship grows, Rani must make decisions about her family, secrecy, and the parts of her heritage she wants to embrace. Importantly, these decisions are her own and full of their own complexities, as she comes to realize.

What I loved: This book really captures the experience of Indian Americans including microaggressions and the ways that they may react to them as well as outright racism. The connecting with culture and defining yourself that POC immigrants and their descendants must do are also themes in this book that are captured really well in Rani's story. These were eye-opening and important to see.

The writing here is really powerful and enthralling. As Rani embarks on a relationship with Oliver, each step of the way, the reader feels the butterflies and the fear, both sides of the coin that eventually add up to a situation that is abusive and equally hard to separate. Rani feels these things, even when she cannot define them. She is an incredibly compelling character, and the writing wraps up the reader in her emotions and insights expertly.

Other themes including family, guilt, and friendship are all really thought-provoking. Rani is balancing her family and their expectations with her other desires, and I love the way that the family roles are ultimately settled. Rani also has a lot of guilt, not only from the current secrets, but also from what she feels that she failed to do for a friend in the past, with some important messages there. Additionally, Rani has a powerful friendship that shines through the story, and I loved the inclusion of such a friend. There are so many fantastic characters in the book throughout.

Final verdict: With important themes and powerful writing, AMERICAN BETIYA is a heartfelt, raw, and genuine YA contemporary that is certainly worth the read. Highly recommend for fans of MORE THAN JUST A PRETTY FACE, THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT SWEETIE, and HOW IT ALL BLEW UP.

Please note that I received an ARC from the publisher through netgalley. All opinions are my own.

This debut is an unflinching, feminist look at teen love--the beautiful and the painful. Rajurkar weaves a complex tale of hearts and cultures, art and identity, family and individualism.⁠
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This book drew me in from the first scene. The essence of the story was all there from the start: Rani's rich Indian culture, her passion for photography, and her budding romance with Olivier.

Anuradha D. Rajurkar's writing is gorgeous and evocative, and the story flows seamlessly. There was much to love about this novel, but what struck me was that the romance was unlike any other YA I've read recently. Without giving too much away, I was particularly fascinated by the exploration of Rani and Olivier's attraction,to each other, and what it means against the backdrop of Rani's culture.

Also, this book made me hungry! The depiction of all the Indian food was a delicious bonus.

*this review is to be published on my blog, Goodreads, Instagram and The Storygraph on March 9th, 2021. Links to be added. I decided not to review it on Amazon since it's not a positive review.

I’m not gonna lie: this book let me down. I definitely had high expectations and thought it would have such a big impact on me, but unfortunately it didn’t. The premise of this book sounds amazing and it’s for fans of Jandy Nelson, who writes emotional stories, so I was hoping this would leave me crying, too. Sadly, my cheeks aren’t accompanied by tears today.

The thing is, though, this book has such a strong and important message. It’s one I believe we should see more often in books because, let’s be honest, the bookcommunity has a way of shipping characters who are toxic together. This is perhaps the thing I appreciated the most about this book, and I must say the ending did a pretty good job at teaching us how important it is, but I can’t just ignore the things I didn’t like about this book.

The pacing of this book is all over the place. It went too fast and too slow altogether (although the fast outweighs the slow). There is no time whatsoever to really connect with the characters and learn to care from them, something that’s really important to me while reading a book. Especially when I’m hoping for an emotional story.

The way things moved too fast is also one of the reasons I thought this book lacked depth. There were certain sentences where I felt for the characters for a split second, but that always faded away really quickly. I really needed to feel more, and I think that’s this book biggest “problem”.

This book is also centered around around a romantic relationship, but it’s not a romance story at all. It’s a story of finding yourself and your dignity, of letting go and understanding what love is. I love that, of course, but the thing is that for me, it began to become too concentrated on Rani and Oliver falling in love, while, to be honest, I just wanted to see Rani grow.

As for the toxic relationship, most of the moments I really thought: yes, this captured it really well! So that representation is definitely good in my opinion, but (yes, here I go again) I really missed depth here again. I didn’t feel connected to Rani at all because she wasn’t developed well enough. Of course I felt bad for what happened to her, but it wasn’t the all-consuming emotion I wanted to feel.

Oliver’s character was pretty good in some ways. He had a certain charisma hanging around him which made Rani falling for him a bit more realistic (still way too fast, but okay). The way the author sprinkled in the red flags was also really well done. I despised him but he still had a certain vibe, if you know what I mean.

As you noticed I haven’t said anything about the Indian representation. All I can say is that I thought it was interesting to read about, but if you’re looking for own-voice reviews, here are a few: check out Kajree’s review, Gargee’s review and Shivani’s review!

Overall I think this had a lot more potential. The message was good, but there needed to be more about it. If it wasn’t for the pacing and the lack of emotions I felt, I think this would’ve been more than great. But sadly that wasn’t the case for me, so I will have to settle on giving this book a 2.5/5 stars.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with this book in exchange for an honest review! This did not affect my opinions in any way.

I don't know what I was expecting when I read this novel, but whatever my expectations this exceeded all of them. This debut was such a beautiful story, not only the story of the perils of a first relationship and first love, but also what happens when you are in a cross cultural relationship. In this novel, our narrator is Rani Kelkar, a young woman of Indian descent, opening the story at a showcase of her photography. Rani meets Oliver, a young man who is basically everything her parents fear about her dating, but her feelings are strong enough that she decides to risk a relationship. Rani is young, and she is trying to balance to demands of her family, as well as her own ideas of love and relationships, with her growing feelings and desires. Rani and Oliver face the challenges of a normal relationship, compounded by culture clash and Oliver's unwillingness to hear what Rani is saying. Over the course of the novel, we follow Rani's journey as she begins to understand what really matters to her, and what she deserves from a romantic partner.

I loved this story, because it felt very real to the human experience, and especially to the experience of anyone who might be othered. While I am not Indian, being Jewish comes with it's own set of "weird" rules to an American audience, especially when it comes to cultural identity. The conversations about food were so similar to what I experienced (stop asking me why I don't eat things - I just don't), I felt for Rani. Whether the racism is overt or microagressions, it hurts, and throughout the novel it very much felt like a realistic balance of what a young person would experience in the day to day, and how it can hurt more coming from the people that we care about. I loved the way that Rajurkar wrote about the experience of identity, and also how our identities can shift depending on where we are and who we're with. We want to be around individuals who allow us to fully be ourselves and the only way we can know what that means is through experience. Rani's journey through the novel is one of identity that I honestly think that many can relate to.

I highly, highly recommend this novel for absolutely everyone. TW: suicide, drugs/addiction, racism.

4.5. TW: grief, death of a family member, racism, microaggressions, suicide, drug use.

This is a heartbreaking book that fully explores what it's like to be a South Asian teen (Rani) in a white-majority Chicago suburb (Evanston--as a side note, it brought me so much joy to read about places that are intimately familiar to me both in that area and in the city). I've read books before in which the love interest (in this case, Oliver) is too perfect and is the ideal partner, so I'm glad Rajurkar delved into some of the more subtle racist jabs white folks do to people of color. (Disclaimer: I am not a person of color and cannot, and will not, claim that I understand what it's like to be a person of color.) I also loved Rani's (imperfect) bond with her family and friends (especially her best friend Kate) and the way she learns to cherish and celebrate aspects of her own culture. I would have loved to know more about Rani's relationship with her grandpa, but I'm sure that could encompass a whole other book.

This was absolutely stunning!! The initial thing that drew me to this was the absolutely STUNNING cover, and I’m so glad the inside was just as lovely. This is a beautiful own voices novel centered around cultural identity, self discovery, friendships, love, and identity. This does handle some challenging concepts (trigger warnings for addiction, suicide, grief, and gaslighting) so just be conscious of that.