I’m so thrilled to share the news that A Holly Jolly Diwali has received a starred review from Booklist. The review will be in the Booklist September 15 issue.

The reviewer writes, “Funny and heartwarming, with lush descriptions of Indian beach resorts and chaotic city streets, Lalli’s latest multicultural romance is extremely satisfying; her characters are refreshingly relatable. Highly recommended for fans of Sonali Dev and Sophie Kinsella.”

This excerpt is from a review of my upcoming book, A Holly Jolly Diwali, from Library Journal which will be featured in their September 2021 issue!

“In the latest from Lalli, Niki Randhawa decides to attend a friend’s wedding in India after she is laid off from her job unexpectedly. While there she meets Sam Mukherji, whose life isn’t going according to plan either, and they form a connection. However, her life is back in Seattle, and his is in London, so they must decide what matters to them most. A major part of the story is Niki’s relationship with her family and her sibling rivalry with older sister Jasmine; she questions whether she wants to always be the practical and dutiful one. There’s some discussion of colonialism and colorism and one scene of street harassment, but it’s a light read overall. VERDICT Suggest to readers looking for holiday fun along with their romance.” ~Sydney Ashby, Metropolitan Lib. Sys., Oklahoma City

A Holly Jolly Diwali is now available in audiobook!

I’m very excited to share the news that the audiobook for my next book, A Holly Jolly Diwali, is now available for pre-order and will be narrated by the very talented Richa Moorjani!

Richa Moorjani is an Indian-American actress who has appeared on TV shows like The Mindy Project, NCIS: Los Angeles and 9-1-1. She is currently starring in the Netflix series, Never Have I Ever.

For more information on the audiobook of A Holly Jolly Diwali, including where you can order, please click here.

Richa Moorjani photo courtesy of: Sweet Caribbean Photo and Video

Consider this your official invitation to join me (virtually) at the launch event for my next book, A Holly Jolly Diwali!

I’ll be at East City Bookshop, chatting about my new book with USA Today bestselling author Sonali Dev.

DATE: Tuesday, October 5, 2021
TIME: 7:00 PM EDT

CLICK HERE TO RESERVE YOUR TICKETS FOR THE EVENT!

About A Holly Jolly Diwali

Twenty-nine-year-old Niki Randhawa has always made practical decisions. Despite her love for music and art, she became an analyst for the stability. She’s always stuck close to home, in case her family needed her. And she’s always dated guys that seem good on paper, rather than the ones who give her butterflies. When she’s laid off, Niki realizes that practical hasn’t exactly paid off for her. So for the first time ever, she throws caution to the wind and books a last-minute flight for her friend Diya’s wedding.

Niki arrives in India just in time to celebrate Diwali, the festival of lights, where she meets London musician Sameer Mukherji. Maybe it’s the splendor of Mumbai or the magic of the holiday season, but Niki is immediately drawn to Sam. At the wedding, the champagne flows and their flirtatious banter makes it clear that the attraction is mutual.

When Niki and Sam join Diya, her husband and their friends on a group honeymoon, their connection grows deeper. Free-spirited Sam helps Niki get in touch with her passionate and creative side, and with her Indian roots. When she gets a new job offer back home, Niki must decide what she wants out of the next chapter of her life—to cling to the straight and narrow like always, or to take a leap of faith and live the kind of bold life the old Niki never would have dreamed of.

I loved seeing Serena Singh Flips the Script included in this amazing list filled with a variety of books by Asian Authors. These are all definitely worth checking out and aren’t just for romance readers!

What they said about Serena Singh Flips the Script: “This story explores many aspects of love — romantic love, love between friends, familial love, love for a career. Unusual for a romance novel, it brings up the unfortunately sometimes still taboo decision for a woman to choose her career over other parts of her life, and I enjoyed seeing that treated with care. I also adored seeing scenes from Serena’s mom’s perspective, which is rare in books where there is a cultural gap between the main characters and their families.”

To see the full list, please visit the Buzzfeed article here.

Who doesn’t want to read about solid adult friendships? In this great list from Book Riot, they look at books that involve all kids of friendships, including Serena Singh Flips the Script.

“I’ve long said I was interested in books about friendship that use the storytelling beats typically seen in romance novels. Well, here’s such a book! Serena Singh is trying to prove to her family that her version of happiness does not match theirs, and that that’s okay. A new friendship with a co-worker is one of the relationships that helps her achieve her desired state of self-reliance, a state that paradoxically includes letting people in.” ~ Book Riot

To check out the rest of the list on Book Riot, click here.

It was so great to see Serena Singh Flips the Script included in this list on the Booklist site of the Top 10 Women’s Fiction they reviewed in April. The list includes books that “cover hot-button issues, generational stories, suspense and comedy, and grown-up women of all ages, each reflecting the depths to be mined by chroniclers of women’s lives and relationships.”

“Hip, single Serena’s sister and friends are getting married and have babies, so she takes a disastrously hilarious plunge into social media while managing the expectations of her traditional Sikh community.” ~ Booklist

To see the rest of the books that made the list, check out the full Booklist article here.

Author Libby Hubscher’s debut novel, Meet Me in Paradise, “is a poignant, emotionally authentic story of sisterly bonds and unexpected love.” (Publishers Weekly) Recently, she wrote about 10 of her favourite heartstring-tugging romance novels in Publishers Weekly, including Serena Singh Flips the Script.

“Every single aspect of Lalli’s latest book is touching—from Serena’s struggle to feel accepted by her family, to her strained relationships at work, to the love she let slip away and can’t seem to forget—but the emotional power it wields is sneaky. What seems like one woman’s quest to make an independent, satisfying life for herself is a story full of longing, loneliness, relationships broken and mended. While this one walks the line between romance and women’s fiction, the love story is authentic and satisfying, as Serena realizes that sometimes being strong means being vulnerable and letting one’s heart lead the way.” ~ Libby Hubscher

You can discover the rest of the books on her list on the Publishers Weekly site here.

Now that Spring is officially here, it’s time to add some fun new books to your TBR (To Be Read) list! Anokhi Life posted a list of 7 books, including Serena Singh Flips the Script, that they recommend for everyone’s Spring Reading list.

You can check out the full list on the Anokhi Life website. Which books are you looking forward to the most this Spring?

Can you tell I’m excited about this one? As I posted on Twitter: “Priyanka Chopra just recommended my book on her Instagram and there will be no chill in the Lalli family ever again.”

Yes, that’s right – PRIYANKA CHOPRA recommended my latest book, Serena Singh Flips the Script in her Instagram stories!!!

You can check out more of the books that Priyanka, an avid reader herself, is currently reading in this post on She Reads.