Sunshine and Spice

Starred review from July 15, 2024
Palit debuts with an addictive grumpy sunshine romance starring a hero whose one-liners are worthy of a modern Mr. Darcy. Canadian Bengali Naomi Kelly grew up in a rural community with a mother who rejected everything Indian and a stepfather with no connection to her heritage. Now an adult, she feels culturally isolated and yearns for Bengali connection. She also desperately needs a contract as the brand consultant for a recently reopened Indian shop in a quickly gentrifying neighborhood. The store belongs to Dev Mukherjee’s very traditional Bengali mother, whose other major project is finding Dev a wife—with no regard for his feelings on the matter. When Dev and Naomi meet, they see a solution to both their problems: Dev will be a cultural cheat sheet for Naomi as she works to impress his mom, while Naomi will keep potential brides away by pretending to be Dev’s girlfriend. The result is an un-put-downable charmer brimming with serious themes of cultural identity, family estrangement, and the struggles of the first generation born to immigrant parents. As sparks fly and real feelings grow, readers will be unable to keep the smiles off their faces. Agent: Jemiscoe Chambers-Black, Andrea Brown Literary.

August 1, 2024

DEBUT After launching her own brand-consulting business, Naomi Kelly needs to secure her next contract to keep her fledgling dream alive. She delivers a winning pitch, to help revamp Gia's Bazaar into an Indian-style caf� that will be able to compete with the spreading gentrification in its Canadian town, but she's concerned that the caf�'s owner, a conservative Bengali mother named Gia Mukherjee, will discover she has no real connection to any Indian Canadian culture or community, despite being of Indian descent. Naomi decides to seek out assistance from Gia's grumpy and handsome son Dev who agrees to introduce Naomi to his family's Bengali roots, but only if she'll also serve as a buffer and fake girlfriend to ward off the matchmaker his mother recently hired. As Dev brings Naomi into his family life with community events and even couples' cooking lessons, he begins falling for her, even though they both fear that her untraditional upbringing will mean their romance is unsuitable as anything other than a fling. VERDICT Palit's debut is a lovely fake-dating romance that mixes sweet moments with a bit of heat while also tackling the realities of cultural identity. Perfect for readers who enjoy the work of Denise Williams and Farah Heron.--Elizabeth Gabriel

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Starred review from September 15, 2024
Fledgling brand consultant Naomi Kelly has three months to bring Gia's Market, which is owned by Gia Mukherjee, into the twenty-first century while retaining all the charm and flavor Gia invested in her business years ago. Unfortunately, given her own family history, Naomi has next to no knowledge of Bengali customs and culture. Dev Mukherjee has no interest in getting married, and now having to deal with the matchmaker his mother, Gia, hired for him is driving him crazy. Then a possible solution to both Naomi's and Dev's problems presents itself. If Naomi pretends to date Dev, that would derail any attempts to match him up with someone else. If Dev helps Naomi with her rebranding project, she can access his knowledge of Bengali culture and the neighborhood's South Asian community. It all goes swimmingly well until Dev and Naomi develop very real feelings for each other. Written with great humor and heart, Palit's exemplary debut not only offers readers a beguiling combination of wit-imbued writing and a deliciously entertaining grumpy/sunshine romance but also a thoughtful, empathetic look at one woman's efforts to connect with her family's cultural heritage.

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