Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for this ARC.

Nikki Parekh, 32, a life coach living in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, gets proposed to by her boyfriend Jay Metha and immediately says yes. Everyone is full of congratulations but her mother Tara, 59, reacts strangely, then confesses she has left her husband Devon whom she has been married to since she was 22.

In flashbacks we get her story of an arranged marriage in which she entered out of duty and because her husband to be promised she could continue her science studies. It never happened because his dentistry practice took precedence over her dreams and she has never forgiven him. She has over the years repeatedly tried to leave him but something always happened. Now she has bought an old RV and goes on a road trip to find a long lost love.

Nikki accompanies her for a little while but this is not a road trip book as it only happens for a few pages at the halfway mark. The rest is taken up with musings about Indian Americans, Desi culture, arranged marriages versus modern marriages, relations between mothers and daughters, sisters and other family, and what happens when two brown families clash. Your heart goes out to Tara but she herself learns that she always had options but instead chose to become a martyr.

I liked all the characters and what they brought to the story. It must be difficult to combine culture and tradition with more modern ways of doing things. The mottos from Nikki's life coach website were clichéd and could have been left out but she chose well with Jay and the story ends in a hopeful note for the future for all involved. Recommended if you want to read about Indian Americans and their culture.

4.25 stars

I just finished a good book that is available later this year. Your Next Life is Now by Namrata Patel was a winner for me.