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Lovetorn by Kavita Daswani — book cover

Lovetorn

by Kavita Daswani
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Overview

Can you find love when you think you already have it?

Shalini is new to L.A. Not new like from New York City new—or even Kansas new. New like from India new. And in the U.S., she has it all wrong: the way she dresses, the way she talks, the way she wears her hair. And then there is the ring, which makes her way different from everyone else—because Shalini has been engaged since she was three to Vikram, back in India.

Shalini’s life has been turned upside down. She doesn’t fit in, her mom is depressed, and email is no substitute for being with Vikram.

But when she meets Toby at school, Shalini’s heart gets turned upside down, too. Just looking at Toby makes her stomach flutter. She thinks she loves Vikram, but he never made her feel like this.

In Lovetorn, Shalini discovers that your heart ultimately makes its own choices, even when it seems as if your destiny has already been chosen.

Synopsis

Can you find love when you think you already have it?

Shalini is new to L.A. Not new like from New York City new—or even Kansas new. New like from India new. And in the U.S., she has it all wrong: the way she dresses, the way she talks, the way she wears her hair. And then there is the ring, which makes her way different from everyone else—because Shalini has been engaged since she was three to Vikram, back in India.

Shalini’s life has been turned upside down. She doesn’t fit in, her mom is depressed, and email is no substitute for being with Vikram.

But when she meets Toby at school, Shalini’s heart gets turned upside down, too. Just looking at Toby makes her stomach flutter. She thinks she loves Vikram, but he never made her feel like this.

In Lovetorn, Shalini discovers that your heart ultimately makes its own choices, even when it seems as if your destiny has already been chosen.

About the Author, Kavita Daswani

Kavita Daswani has been a fashion correspondent for CNN International, CNBC Asia, and Women’s Wear Daily. Her stories have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, International Herald Tribune, Vogue India, and Entrepreneur magazine, among many other publications. She was also formerly the fashion editor of the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. Her adult novels include For Matrimonial Purposes, The Village Bride of Beverly Hills, and Salaam, Paris. She is also the author of Indie Girl (for teens). Kavita grew up in Hong Kong and spent summers in Mumbai, where her parents are from. She now lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two sons.

Reviews

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Editorials

VOYA - Laura Lehner-Ennis

When she was just three years old, Shalini's father promised her hand in marriage to his best friend's young son, Vikram. Vikram and Shalini spend their entire childhood with their lives intertwined, engaged and in love, until her father is offered a job he cannot refuse and moves his family from the large and safe family compound in India to loud and unpredictable Los Angeles. Shalini's mother slides into depression, her younger sister takes to America as if she were born there, and her father loves his new job. Shalini has difficulty adjusting but slowly embraces American high school life with the help of some new friends, including a boy she could come to like if she did not miss Vikram so much. Daswani explores the ups and downs of arranged marriages and close-knit families in this solid contemporary novel. The subjects are dealt with respectfully and realistically—Shalini wants very much to be a traditional girl and live up to her family's expectations, but when immersed in a different culture, she comes to understand how many ways there are to live in this world. The writing is clean and descriptive, and most of the characters solid and believable—some readers will question the choices made in the end, but the story leading up to it is worth the time. Reviewer: Laura Lehner-Ennis

Kirkus Reviews

When her father lands a job in the United States, Shalini's family relocates from Bangalore, India, to Los Angeles. Her father loves his work, and her little sister, Sangita, dives happily into middle school, making friends and discovering a gift for swimming. But like her mother, Asha, shy Shalini is miserable in high school, where her foreign manners and dress target her for ridicule. She shares her unhappiness with Vikram, her fiancé back home (they've been engaged since Shalini was 3 years old); he offers her support and encouragement by phone. Culture shock takes a toll on everyone, especially Asha, who succumbs to clinical depression. Shalini's upbringing has given her few coping skills beyond passivity until she meets Renuka--South Indian by heritage, but born and raised in the U.S.--who urges her to be proactive and stand up for herself. Taking Renuka's words to heart, Shalini begins to turn things around. But the joys of being an L.A. teen bring complications. How will her attraction to Toby, a gifted musician in the school orchestra, affect her relationship with Vikram? Daswani, whose fiction includes the teen novel Indie Girl (2007), portrays a contemporary immigrant family and community with empathic insight and humor. Straddling two very different worlds, Shalini remains authentic and appealing throughout her metamorphosis. (Fiction. 12 & up)

School Library Journal

Gr 7–10—Sixteen-year-old Shalini has been engaged since she was three. She is separated from her best friend and fiancé, Vikram, for the first time when her father moves the family from India to Los Angeles for a year for his job. Being apart from their large, close-knit family and living in a foreign city is difficult for everyone except Shalini's younger sister, who adapts almost instantly. The teen has a hard time adjusting to school, and her mother becomes clinically depressed. When she finds herself drawn to another boy, Shalini is torn between her new, independent feelings and loyalty to her family. Though the clash of cultures is interesting and the theme of fitting in is true to life, the characters are never fully realized, and the anticlimactic resolution is reached a little too easily. Still, teens may enjoy this as a modern real-life story.—Madeline J. Bryant, Los Angeles Public Library

Book Details

Published
January 17, 2012
Publisher
HarperCollins Publishers
Pages
250
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780061673115

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