This is the first of Ms. Baeli’s work I’ve read and I’ve gotta say, I enjoyed it. It was a quick read, entertaining, funny in places, steamy in others, just enough suspense to keep it from becoming stale and overall a well conceived story. I’m not going to go into detail about what the story is or who the characters are, that would be giving it away. (Plus, I HATE SPOILERS! And if you want them, you can find them somewhere else.)
I will say this, however: her characters aren’t your average run of the mill, read about them a million times in a million different books people; they are faulted and faulty. Ms. Baeli’s treatment of them, I feel, is both sensitive and straightforward. Her characters are who they are and that’s that, and over the arc of the story, they each help the other to be better than who they are separately simply by being themselves. This, I think, is especially true for India, but I’m saying too much.
Also, some of the images Ms. Baeli paints on the page are just so….brilliant is the only word I can come up with. She has a quirky way of wording things, of describing things- ordinary, mundane things even, that are at once very funny and also very apt. This is something I absolutely appreciate. If you decide to give this one a try, I’m sure you’ll see what I’m talking about.
If you’re looking for a fun read that I have very few complaints with, this is one I’d recommend.
Kathleen Wheeler is Author of Changing Shape and The Immaculate Chaos of Being
https://www.facebook.com/katwheelerbooks
