Thank you Netgalley and Saga press for this arc! I absolutely adored this book, it’s so different from Vaishnavi Patel’s previous work and yet so unmistakably Vaishnavi in the way it’s written. As always I appreciate deeply the care and thought with which Hindu mythology is depicted in Vaishnavi’s books, it makes everything so much more immersive.

This book to me is fundamentally a depiction of female rage and it’s beautiful in its expression. I loved Nisha’s character, as well as the other characters in the story. At times, I wanted to shake Nisha by the shoulders but I suppose that’s how you know she got to me. The plot was wonderful and action packed. I loved how the story of the demon and the other women that came before Nisha intertwined so beautifully with Nisha’s struggles. It hammered home the point that our struggles are all the same even though they may not seem alike at all.

Another thing I found really interesting about this book, and one that took me by surprise was just how current it is. This book is steeped in current events in both USA and India. Often, when I’m reading, if the book has too many current references (to both world events, and pop culture, think - copious references to Taylor Swift even though I’m as swiftie as they come), I find it often takes me out of the book. This did not happen to me when reading WDUD and upon reflection I think it’s because of the subject matter.

We are living in a time so fraught with division and so rife with hate it was actually refreshing to read a book so rightfully angry about the current status quo. A book so unapologetically set in the present day, a book that immortalizes the struggle for access to reproductive justice and those who stand in the way of it is exactly what we need right now.

Another highlight of this book for me was the relationship between Nisha and her Aai. It’s such a wonderful take on desi mother daughter relationships which can often be fraught with generational trauma and interpersonal struggles. This is not to say Nisha and her mother do not have any conflicts but Nisha is firmly a leftist, anti-caste, secular Hindu and to see her mother in her corner at the end of the day was refreshing and lovely.

The fact that we have voices like Vaishnavi’s writing books about the desi experience in such unapologetic ways gives me great hope for the diaspora. May we continue to fight the good fight both here, and at home.

another absolute banger from naina kumar!! i adored this book, many thanks to netgalley for the arc! everything about this story, from the complex characters with rich inner lives to the beautiful setting of Scotland, was so wonderful and immersive. I was completely hooked throughout the book and loved loved loved this tender and sweet romance 💗

probably my least favorite emhen book. i thought margaret’s story was super compelling but i wish i liked alice and hayden more. they just didn’t seem as fleshed out or as interesting as her other pairings.