This is such a damn liberating read! More so because it's based on a conservative society and more so because the couple are women!

I just love the concept and the idea behind this children's story book. As such there's severe lack of such books, books on queer and LGBTQIA plus, and more so because of the gender represented. I myself tend to read more of MM books when it comes to reading queer books. Time to change that. And this book is just the basic start!

And yes, this book is quite apt for children.

In the story, Charu cannot quite understand why the relatives and family members did not attend or refused to attend her cousin, Ritu's marriage with her girlfriend, Chandni. (Love the cultural names though!)

Yes, it's true. Let alone marriage. The mere utterance of queer terms is still forbidden in the society. Even amongst the family. Imagine how difficult it must have been for this community and the hatred, discrimination they must be facing on a daily basis not only from strangers but more from their near and dear ones.

The dialogues between Charu and the adults who came to attend the wedding is done well. And yes, the baraat (wedding procession) is represented accurately. And so is the discrimination and hatred towards such marriages. All the Hindi terms are explained at the glossary towards the end.

The Illustration is so detailed and so well. presented. It's colourful, festive and representative!

Kudos to the team.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.

LGBT's marriage has been banned or discriminated by local religion or tradition, It has been more accepted around the world than before, but people need to be educated and need to accept same sex marriage even though some of them do not agree with or do not understand the necessity of same sex marriage.
This book introduced the difficulties that a lesbian couple faced due to the prejudice by local people, but their faith was strong enough to overcome those difficult circumstance.
I am sure a lot of LGBT's, not only from that region, but also from all over the globe will be supported by this book. Love is love.
I personally think that this kind of book should be published more than now and should be used for education in both public and private schools. Thank you so much for the great piece of work.

This is an absolutely stunning book, in both its art and it’s message. South Asian LGBT+ is underrepresented and it’s wonderful to see such a wonderful contribution aimed at such a young audience, what better a way to teach love is love than when we are at our most accepting and understanding, when we are innocent and accepting of everyone, this is definitely the way to make change, just like the story the innocence of children Ayesha’s love for her didi teaches the adults, children and their hearts are the way we need to learn and change. This is a wonderful book, I cannot emphasise enough how beautiful the art work is and it’s beauty matches the story so well. Fantastic and I would be happy to read to any child of any age, I would encourage it.


Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion