Straight as a Jalebi

Who knew that an innocent trip to India in the year 2000 would have such an impact on his life?

Sunny had only gone as a chaperone for his sister and her best friend and to attend to a few business matters. He ended up with a deal that would change the shape of his professional future and possibly his personal one too.

Battling the pressures of marriage by his family isn’t Sunny’s only fight, as he finds his feelings for a certain ‘friend’ may be more than just friendship.

But how can he tell anyone how he truly feels? Because the road to love isn't always straight...

About the author

Ritu Bhathal was born in Birmingham in the mid-1970s to migrant parents, hailing from Kenya but of Indian origin. This colourful background has been a constant source of inspiration to her. From childhood, she always enjoyed reading. This love of books is credited to her mother. The joy of reading spurred her on to become creative in her writing, from fiction to poetry. Winning little writing competitions at school and locally encouraged her to continue writing.

As a wife, mother, daughter, sister, and teacher, she has drawn inspiration from many avenues to create the poems that she writes. A qualified teacher, having studied at Kingston University, she now deals with classes of children as a sideline to her writing! Ritu also writes a blog, www.butismileanyway.com, a mixture of life and creativity, thoughts and opinions, which was awarded first place in the Best Overall Blog Category at the 2017 Annual Bloggers Bash Awards and Best Book Blog in 2019.

Ritu is happily married and living in Kent, with her Hubby Dearest, and two children, not forgetting the fur baby Sonu Singh.

Review

‘Straight as a Jalebi’ is a brilliant chickpea romance that filled my heart with joy. I truly adored the first book in this series’Marriage Unarranged’ and I was so excited when I found out there was going to be more. However, you can pick this one up as a standalone as it is concentrating on different characters this time round. Plus, Ritu provides enough details to let you know the gist of what you miss in the first book.

When Sunny went to India in 2000 with his family who knew it would end up changing his whole life? Sunny had gone as a chaperone for his sister and her best friend and to attend to a few business matters. He ended up making a deal with Milan, an indian fashion designer that would change both his professional and personal lives. Battling pressure from his family to settle down and marry, Sunny is confused as he starts to feel something for his friend Milan. But how can he tell anyone what he is feeling as his community wouldn't understand…

Oh, it was such a treat to be back spending time with the Gill family! I loved the first book and this one didn't disappoint either. It was great to delve deeper into Sunny and his life but you also got to know what happened with the rest of the family - Aashi, Kiran, Basi. But oh my heart broke for poor Sunny and what he was forced to go through. Ritu has brought up what is still a difficult topic in Asian communities and that is being gay. For the older generations, it is still something that most people don't understand and are bigoted against. Therefore, it's books like this that help bring it out into the open. Ritu also brings up other topics that go against the grain and present them as a positive thing.

Let me know if you pick this one up. I'm already looking forward to book 3!