A BOLLYWOOD AFFAIR is a wonderful debut novel that made the 2013 Golden Heart Finalist list (the RITAs for debut authors) for Romance Writers of America. I picked up this book based on the giddily glowing review of Nalini Singh, one of my very favorite authors. It's a wonderful blend of chick lit and romance with the wonderful backdrop of Indian culture and traditions.

Mili Rathod was married to her husband at the age of four in a Rajasthani mass wedding. She hasn't seen him since then, but the twenty years she has been married has allowed her freedoms that most girls from her village did not have. Her erstwhile husband, eight years older than she, is a fighter pilot in the Indian Air Force. Mili has received a fairly extensive education and more expansive cultural experiences than the other females in her village, to make her a fit bride for her urbane husband. Mili even manages to wrangle an eight month overseas study in America. Mili tries to be happy and positive, but secretly feels trapped and resentful of her husband who has completely ignored her for two decades. My heart broke for her over and over, even as I rejoiced when good things happened to such a deserving soul.

Mili's brother-in-law Samir is a popular Bollywood producer and a playboy. Mili's injured husband is unable to travel, so his brother Samir journeys to Michigan to free him from his unwanted child bride. Samir expects to find a greedy and duplicitous woman, but is charmed to discover a genuinely good woman. Samir insinuates himself into Mili's life under false pretenses, and spends a number of weeks with her, cooking for her, writing a screenplay in her apartment, and attending her roommate's grand spectacle of an Indian wedding. Samir finds himself falling for his brother's bride, but what will happen when Mili discovers why Samir came to Michigan?

I found myself disliking so many things about Samir- his treatment of his prior lovers, his manipulation of Mili for his own benefit to break his writer's block, and his continuing lies by omission about being there to coerce Mili into signing the divorce papers. Despite all of these things, however, Dev gets me to care about Samir, I think based on how well he treats Mili (as an alpha male does) and how he slowly falls under her spell of goodness. I'm always impressed when an author can get me to like a guy despite his douchebaggery.

This book was in turns poignant and over-the-top silly and fun, with the requisite Bollywood-style drama. It was fascinating to read about the Indian culture and traditions that overlaid the common romance tropes of a verysexually experienced rake meeting a naïve virgin and alpha hero harboring a Grand Secret. The characters seem deceptively lightly drawn, but their underlying emotions and drive are complex and heartrending. A BOLLYWOOD AFFAIR is a fantastic debut, and this book has vaulted Sonali Dev to auto-read status for me!