Sonali Dev's
The Bollywood Bride is a follow-up of her previous chick-lit
The Bollywood Affair. A contemporary and cheesy romance,
The Bollywood Bride is everything it sounds like: all glitter with not much substance to root for.
Dev's new book follows Bollywood star Ria Parkar, the Ice-Princess with a scandal-free reputation, who returns to Chicago after 10 years for a cousin's wedding. Old flames ignite when Ria meets her adolescent love Vikram, who is still coming to terms with the cold way Ria broke up with him when her film career took off. Memories, sweet and painful, flood them over as Ria and Vikram examine their current status, loss, and heartaches. Author Sonali Dev captures Ria's emotions pretty well, as she tries to hide her troubled past under the facade of a Bollywood diva, yet completely distraught by the recent romantic developments in her heart.
The Bollywood Affair, though mushy with a subject done to death, offers a new story. The treatment of the cultural details deserves special mention as well as the way how Dev tries to bridge a gap between Indian and American social customs, without disrespecting either sentiment. Her language is lucid, funny and comfortable. As far as the character development is concerned, there seems to be a lack of communication between the protagonists which render the plot unconvincing. But all in all, Sonali Dev's romance is an enjoyable read, especially for those faithful to the genre.
How critics view the book: Publisher's Weekly writes, "Dev replaces true connection with overdone drama in this middling contemporary romance."
Kirkus Reviews writes about the book in a review, "A bright, beautiful gem."
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