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A review by leahsbooks
Drizzle, Dreams, and Lovestruck Things by Maya Prasad
4.0
Thank you to NetGalley and Disney-Hyperion for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
CONTENT WARNING: mention of death of a parent, grief, racist microaggressions
I heard great things about this book before I even knew anything about it, and once I read the summary, I was sold. And I have to say, all the good things were absolutely true. And look at that gorgeous cover!
I fell in love with the setting first. Followed by the family relationships that are laid out in this story. As someone who grew up with much older siblings that weren’t around very often, I always dreamed of having a bunch of siblings surrounding me and relationships like this. The Singh sisters are close and supportive, and very invested in each other’s lives and feelings. While there are some times when they disagree and argue, for the most part, they get along really well.
The other thing that I really enjoyed was the way that the story is broken up by season and each season tells the story of a different sister. But there’s still overlap, so we don’t miss out on anything. And there’s another overarching story that runs through the entire year, and that’s the story affecting the whole family.
Each sister is so different. I connected with some sisters more than others, but ultimately, they were all interesting stories. And they all focused on different romances, so it was like reading four different romances all in one single book. There are different tropes invoked, humor, family drama, coming of age, plenty of Bollywood references and food that to crave (hello gulab jamun and lavender vanilla ice cream) and something that I especially loved was that not all of the romances in the story are straight romance. One of the sisters is lesbian, and the father is queer. And all of this takes place on the sweetest little island that I want to visit immediately, although I know I’m going to be disappointed because there isn’t a Songbird Inn to stay at.
This is a cute story, but there’s also threads of heavier topics, like grief, family acceptance, toxic masculinity within the realm of cultural expectations, and some racism, along with overcoming shyness and breaking out of our comfort zones to try new things even when we aren’t sure of the result. Since each of the sisters are so different, it’s easy to find at least one of them to connect with more strongly than the others, which is one of the strengths of the novel. Overall, this was a really enjoyable book, and I can’t wait to see what comes next for the Songbird Inn!
CONTENT WARNING: mention of death of a parent, grief, racist microaggressions
I heard great things about this book before I even knew anything about it, and once I read the summary, I was sold. And I have to say, all the good things were absolutely true. And look at that gorgeous cover!
I fell in love with the setting first. Followed by the family relationships that are laid out in this story. As someone who grew up with much older siblings that weren’t around very often, I always dreamed of having a bunch of siblings surrounding me and relationships like this. The Singh sisters are close and supportive, and very invested in each other’s lives and feelings. While there are some times when they disagree and argue, for the most part, they get along really well.
The other thing that I really enjoyed was the way that the story is broken up by season and each season tells the story of a different sister. But there’s still overlap, so we don’t miss out on anything. And there’s another overarching story that runs through the entire year, and that’s the story affecting the whole family.
Each sister is so different. I connected with some sisters more than others, but ultimately, they were all interesting stories. And they all focused on different romances, so it was like reading four different romances all in one single book. There are different tropes invoked, humor, family drama, coming of age, plenty of Bollywood references and food that to crave (hello gulab jamun and lavender vanilla ice cream) and something that I especially loved was that not all of the romances in the story are straight romance. One of the sisters is lesbian, and the father is queer. And all of this takes place on the sweetest little island that I want to visit immediately, although I know I’m going to be disappointed because there isn’t a Songbird Inn to stay at.
This is a cute story, but there’s also threads of heavier topics, like grief, family acceptance, toxic masculinity within the realm of cultural expectations, and some racism, along with overcoming shyness and breaking out of our comfort zones to try new things even when we aren’t sure of the result. Since each of the sisters are so different, it’s easy to find at least one of them to connect with more strongly than the others, which is one of the strengths of the novel. Overall, this was a really enjoyable book, and I can’t wait to see what comes next for the Songbird Inn!