Jasmine Skies

I really liked this book a lot. I read in the reviews that it was a sequel but I would have never guessed that a book came before it. I didn’t feel like I was missing information or drowning in back story.

Jasmine Skies is about Mira Levinson who flies to India to meet her cousin’s family. She knows that her aunt and her mom had had a falling out many years ago and she wants to discover what happened to cause it.

Mira finds India to be exciting and interesting and she eventually learns the family secrets while finding a new best friend in her cousin and love with Janu.

I highly recommend this book. I loved the descriptions of India and the story itself. I will definitely put Artichoke Heart, the first book, on my to read list! :-)

Loved this! A more tween-friendly option for readers who aren't quite ready for Dimple Lala yet. This edition is a re=release, but as we do not have the original in my library, I will definitely purchase it.

No matter how far away people live or travel from one another they remain connected to one another. Our past, our present and our future seem to fight against the idea that people should remain apart from one another to build a tiny more personal world with people like themselves. When Mira travels from America to India to visit her Indian relatives, she feels an immediate connection. She feels the keen desire to flow backward into the pasts of her loved ones who seem no longer close to one another. So she secretly takes a bundle of her mother's letters from a relative, Anjali., all the way to India with her.

Although she stays with her super energetic cousin, Priya, she feels an immediate moment by moment connection to Janu. He seems her soul mate. Janu seems more like the old India while Priya is definitely a part of modern India with her short, pink spiked hair and her lack of desire to wear a sari. Priya kept me grounded through the novel. Perhaps, she kept Mira grounded too. India has progressed while some areas remain the same: There are malls. There are zooming, speeding cars and there are teens like Priya who wear a long beautiful plait which is really a wig. Then, there are still the beautiful ancient temples. There is still the Goddess Kali with three eyes. It's all there, and it all was waiting each day for Mira to make a choice. Will I step into the old world or the new? By the way, you can Skype in India too which surprised me.

Too soon it's time for Mira to return to America. Of course, she doesn't feel she's seen everything or gotten as far as she desired in to the past secrets of her family. Someone says to her that perhaps it's not meant for us to finish everything but the lesson is to leave some things unfinished. In India, everything and everyone has purpose and meaning. Therefore a lemon lost in a pocket is not thrown aside. It will become a precious memory among the many others Mira became acquainted with while visiting this land of contrasts.

Sita Brahmachari in Jasmine Skies made me want to read more novel about India. Like Mira, I wasn't ready to return home. I especially loved Janu. He seemed so romantic. Like changing the lens in a camera, India seems like a changing sunset which color and beauty all around. Thank you to NetGalley for this book.
http://mykindabook.com/authors/sita-brahmachari

One of my go to books for 11 year old girls.