My So-Called Bollywood Life [Book Review & Giveaway!]
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Hello Catastrophes!
Title: My So-Called Bollywood Life
Author: Nisha Sharma
Publisher: Stripes Publishing
Published Date: 2nd May 2019
Rating: 4 Stars.
*Thank you to the publishers for the review copy*
Synopsis: Bollywood film fanatic Winnie has grown up believing the future is written in the stars. Her family’s pandit predicted she would find the love of her life before her eighteenth birthday. So, when her relationship with Raj collapses, despite him meeting all the criteria, Winnie is lost. This is not how her perfect ending is scripted.
Then fellow film geek Dev challenges Winnie to look beyond her horoscope: is taking the future into her own hands the way to find her happily ever after? To get the perfect ending, Winnie will need a little bit of help from fate, family and, of course, a Bollywood movie star.
Review: Did I know I needed Bollywood-themed, young adult drama in my life? No! But good thing Nisha Sharma was here to give it to me anyway. By the end of this book, I couldn’t stop smiling. And here’s why…
I really loved the Bollywood inspired storyline. I loved that our main character was a huge Bollywood buff and made references to the movies as she lived her life. I liked that she was a blogger and the little snippets of movie reviews we got to see sprawled throughout the book. (Note: there’s a recommendations list of all the movies she mentions for anyone looking for new Bollywood recommendations. Or first timers, like me.) I also really loved that we have a second-generation Indian main character. That way we got to have some of the difficulties of language and culture that second-generation teenagers have to deal with. We got to hear about lovely Indian clothing, delicious Indian food and see how some of the events in the book lined up to the Bollywood tropes.
I was also very happy to see how involved Winnie’s parents were with her journey. Not only her parents actually – this book included teachers and grandparents too. I love it when I get to see the older characters working alongside the younger ones in a non-patronising way, while still filling a parental or supervisor kind of role. It was done wonderfully here, and I appreciated that.
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the theme of destiny in this one? Winnie has been given a prophecy, but it’s up to her whether or not she wants to follow it. This book manages to discuss free will vs. fate, and whether or not we make our own choices or mimic the ones our parents made before us. I didn’t expect to like this element of the book so much, but I did.
I really liked Winnie. She reminded me of myself in some ways – she was definitely a go-getter, and a very ambitious hard worker. She wants to make her hobby her profession, which is also something I am hoping to do too. I loved how she took no nonsense but was also a bit dramatic at times. Having a dramatic personality tends to be seen as a bad thing these days, or over-the-top. But we have to admit that there are some people like this! And not all of them are bad. I quite liked Winnie’s dramatic way of speaking or playfully acting sometimes.
This book wasn’t all perfect. At the beginning the dialogue felt a little stilted or unbelievable to me. However, by halfway through the book, it wasn’t a problem anymore and the conversations flowed smoothly and realistically. In the middle of the book the conversations with Raj got a little repetitive, but that soon faded away too. Lastly, I found the story to be predictable. BUT, I am more so pinning that on contemporary as rather than this book itself.
By the end of this book, I was grinning so much. It made me feel overwhelmingly happy once I turned the last page. There were some really cute scenes, and sometimes the things characters did for each other were so adorable, loving and thoughtful. There were struggles and ups and downs along the way. But these characters pulled through and I was so satisfied with how it ended. If a book can make me this happy, it’s definitely doing a lot of things right.
Relevance to today: What makes this one so relevant to today is that it deals with questions a lot of teenagers have to face – what to do in the face of difficulty and struggle. It reminds me of how important it is to strive for your dreams whether people tell you it’s impossible or possible. It’s always worth trying! But it also showed me to take care of the people close to me while doing so. Because they are worth more than anything!
Links: Get the book on Amazon,
Gif Summary:
Giveaway: Enter to win a finished copy of My So-Called Bollywood Life. Open to UK & Ireland only!
CLICK HERE TO ENTER!
New Video! A huge book haul =)
Olivia’s Question: What’s your favourite Bollywood movie? Or favourite movie?
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Psst! The photos in this post uses free graphics from pngtree.com.
Olivia-Savannah x
Sounds like a fun read. I like reading and learning about Indian culture. Bollywood says a lot. 🙂
This one is adorable and I will have to check this out soon. I have seen enough Bollywood movies to last a life time!
Sounds like this one ticked all the right boxes when it comes to Bollywood-themed YA! I love all things Bollywood and I’m really looking forward to this one. Glad this one worked for you despite the shortcomings- great review!
This book sounds so adorable! I usually don’t mind much if they’re predictable as long as they make me smile as much as this one seemed to make you smile 🙂 You can’t really go wrong with a lovely, cosy romance, especially if they make you feel all kinds of good feelings! I don’t know, it just tops all those books that try to sound too clever and ground-breaking but completely fail to capture your heart – one word: souless.
I’m glad this made you more intrigued about Bollywood movies – I have to say I’m a complete first-timer too! I don’t think I’ve ever watched any, which is just sad because they always look like so much fun and cheesy hahaha Gotta love your cheese <3 Plus, even if they are completely unrealistic, I’m sure they can teach you a lot about Indian culture, which is always nice.
Amazing review, Olivia! <3
This book looks awesome! 🙂
Megan S.
This sounds wonderful!!
The Bollywood references sound fun, and the Indian rep sounds great! It also does sound like it handled the whole fate/prophecy thing well, with how she could choose to follow her destiny or not. We do seem to be harsh on characters who are imperfect or dramatic or whatever else, and yet, like you said, people in real life are like that, but they can still be good people! And you know a book is good when it just makes you happy 🙂
I love how creative you are! That little edit of you on the red carpet is amazing! 😛
Sounds very interesting and fun to read.
This book sounds so cute, and for me, anything with Bollywood is an instant win. (If you want anyone to discuss the Bollywood movies you end up watching with, feel free to message me. Haha. I’ll even watch them with you!)
I just recently won this book, and I’m really excited to read it. Sounds like you really enjoyed it!
Yeah! I am glad you had fun reading this book. It’s sort of nice to see all the reviews this year, so I can relive all the joy this book brought me. Like you, I adored Winnie’s family. I actually wanted them to adopt me, because they were that fabulous, and though you may not appreciate it in the same way I did, I was all about the setting, because it takes part in and around, where I live, which is a phenomena that only happens in Nisha Sharma’s books.
Sounds like this is pretty great. I love the Indian protagonist, the references to Bollywood and even the sound of the little movie reviews or recommendations- that sounds awesome! I really want to get this now.
I always like that happy feeling too after finishing a really good book. 🙂
Ah this sounds like such a fun read and your review made me really want to check it out! Also, your pictures are always so great Olivia, they’re like my fave part of your posts lol. I’m so glad you enjoyed this and can’t wait for your next review!
Oh! I had wanted to read this but totally forgot so thanks for the reminder!
Love your pics!
Karen @ For What It’s Worth
I love a book that makes me feel happy at the end! This sounds a little different than what I might usually read, but it sounds like a great summer book for reading at the pool!
This sounds like such a great book in so many ways! And those are really terrific photos!
you need to add some social share buttons so we can uplift your posts 🙂
Just added some now! Let me know if you can see them and use them? <3 Thanks for the suggestion!
I love the blogger connection and if the book left you smiling it’s a good thing!
This sounds like a book that I’ll enjoy. I love your review!
This sounds like a wonderfully joyful read. I could do with a happy book on my TBR. Most of mine are very serious!
Great review! Not only does this sounds like a great book from what I could gather from your review but the cover is also fantastic. I love it. I haven’t actually seen a Bollywood movie before.
I really liked this one too! It was such a fun read, and I loved all the movie connections, even if I’ve never seen a Bollywood movie in my life. Glad you enjoyed it as well. Great review!