A warmhearted, entertaining, and recognizable family saga.
In Basran’s novel, emotions run high as families prepare for an extravagant wedding.
An ornately bordered, two-page-spread invitation opens this novel about the impact of a lavish wedding on two extended Punjabi immigrant families in British Columbia, Canada. The bride, Devi Dosanjh, is a high-strung perfectionist who has helped to rebrand her parents’ produce business; her fiancé, Nanak “Baby” Atwal, the namesake of his family’s candy shop, is an easygoing people-pleaser who has just finished medical school. The wedding plans are extravagant—there is a week-long series of events leading up to the big day, a thousand expected guests, a DJ flown in from Mumbai, a signature cocktail, and Swarovski crystals and gold decorating the bride’s garments. The exhaustive preparations have consumed the participants, straining emotions and finances (both families have recently overextended their businesses); almost everyone is putting up a good front while harboring secret misgivings. As the wedding date approaches, Devi flirts by text with her brother’s bad-boy friend Jessie, and Baby has a hard time recalling exactly what it is he loves about Devi. Are these warning signs, or just normal prenuptial jitters? Basran writes with vivid eloquence: One man’s “entire demeanour was a mouse-like apology,” another is “a hand talker, conducting and directing the conversation.” The leads are both flawed and endearing, and their relationship feels realistic. The interplay of multiple perspectives creates depth as chapters move between multiple points of view, including those of the young couple, their friends and relatives, and the wedding stylist and photographer. The author’s skillful interweaving of themes and connected backstories makes for a compelling narrative. Basran deftly highlights the ways in which each generation affects the others and how all are concerned about keeping up appearances, from guests engineering Instagram-ready moments to a woman “acting disappointed when all she felt was relief.” The novel also offers astute social observations (people “[heart] posts as if it meant something”; “People had put love on a checklist; it was a task, something to execute”) and keen insights into traditional gender roles.
A warmhearted, entertaining, and recognizable family saga.Pub Date: May 27, 2025
ISBN: 9781771624169
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Douglas & McIntyre
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.
A love story about a life of second chances.
In Nassau, in the Bahamas, casino detective Vincent LaPorta grills Alfie Logan, who’d come up a winner three times in a row at the roulette table and walked away with $2 million. “How did you do it?” asks the detective. Alfie calmly denies cheating. You wired all the money to a Gianna Rule, LaPorta says. Why? To explain, Alfie produces a composition book with the words “For the Boss, to Be Read Upon My Death” written on the cover. Read this for answers, Alfie suggests, calling it a love story. His mother had passed along to him a strange trait: He can say “Twice!” and go back to a specific time and place to have a do-over. But it only works once for any particular moment, and then he must live with the new consequences. He can only do this for himself and can’t prevent anyone from dying. Alfie regularly uses his power—failing to impress a girl the first time, he finds out more about her, goes back in time, and presto! She likes him. The premise is of course not credible—LaPorta doesn’t buy it either—but it’s intriguing. Most people would probably love to go back and unsay something. The story’s focus is on Alfie’s love for Gianna and whether it’s requited, unrequited, or both. In any case, he’s obsessed with her. He’s a good man, though, an intelligent person with ordinary human failings and a solid moral compass. Albom writes in a warm, easy style that transports the reader to a world of second chances and what-ifs, where spirituality lies close to the surface but never intrudes on the story. Though a cynic will call it sappy, anyone who is sick to their core from the daily news will enjoy this escape from reality.
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780062406682
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.
After being released from prison, a young woman tries to reconnect with her 5-year-old daughter despite having killed the girl’s father.
Kenna didn’t even know she was pregnant until after she was sent to prison for murdering her boyfriend, Scotty. When her baby girl, Diem, was born, she was forced to give custody to Scotty’s parents. Now that she’s been released, Kenna is intent on getting to know her daughter, but Scotty’s parents won’t give her a chance to tell them what really happened the night their son died. Instead, they file a restraining order preventing Kenna from so much as introducing herself to Diem. Handsome, self-assured Ledger, who was Scotty’s best friend, is another key adult in Diem’s life. He’s helping her grandparents raise her, and he too blames Kenna for Scotty’s death. Even so, there’s something about her that haunts him. Kenna feels the pull, too, and seems to be seeking Ledger out despite his judgmental behavior. As Ledger gets to know Kenna and acknowledges his attraction to her, he begins to wonder if maybe he and Scotty’s parents have judged her unfairly. Even so, Ledger is afraid that if he surrenders to his feelings, Scotty’s parents will kick him out of Diem’s life. As Kenna and Ledger continue to mourn for Scotty, they also grieve the future they cannot have with each other. Told alternatively from Kenna’s and Ledger’s perspectives, the story explores the myriad ways in which snap judgments based on partial information can derail people’s lives. Built on a foundation of death and grief, this story has an undercurrent of sadness. As usual, however, the author has created compelling characters who are magnetic and sympathetic enough to pull readers in. In addition to grief, the novel also deftly explores complex issues such as guilt, self-doubt, redemption, and forgiveness.
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5420-2560-7
Page Count: 335
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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