Lovetorn by Kavita Daswani was provided to me free-of-charge as an Uncorrected Proof from GoodReads, FirstReads. This is a young adult novel which presents an educational opportunity to learn about the customs and traditions of India. I found it to be interesting since I know very little about India. A nice touch was the glossary found at the back of the book which was very helpful since some, but not a lot, of the words in the book were not in English. It was also refreshing that not a single character was a vampire, a werewolf or a demon!The main character, Shalini, a 16-year-old high school student, is the narrator. She tells her story of moving to Los Angeles with her family and how hard it is to fit in at the new school, make new friends, know how to dress, and to cope with all the other changes she and her family must go through. Her 11-year-old sister does well but her mother is unable to adjust and descends into clinical depression which is extremely hard on the rest of the family. Her father tries to take charge but it is difficult for him since he has a new job, a sick wife and two daughters. Shalini has to learn to make her own choices and decisions which had always been made for her in the past. She has been engaged to Vikram since she was 3-years-old and misses him very much even though they are in constant contact. When Shalini meets Toby, she starts to doubt her love for Vikram. She questions her future - exactly what a 16-year-old girl should do!This novel is more about a teenager learning to live in a new country and putting aside some of Indian ways than it is about her romantic life. The ending seemed rushed and left the way open for a follow-up novel. 3.5 starsLovetorn by Kavita Daswani is a very sweet coming of age story with a big dose of culture shock thrown in to make things interesting. I don’t think you could choose two more culturally different places than Bangalore and LA if you tried! Because of an opportunity with his job, Shalini’s father moves the four of them from all they’ve ever known and plops them in LA without family or friends, and no preparation or support system. Shalini’s mother falls into a debilitating depression so that Shalini and her sister must run the household while trying to adjust to the new culture and school by themselves. At 3 y/o Shalini was betrothed to a young boy named Vikram. They even exchanged rings shortly before she left India. She was sixteen and he was starting his first year of college at nineteen. Now in her new high school in LA Shalini meets a boy named Toby, who causes her to doubt her love for Vikram. In India things were so easy, everything was taken care of and decisions were made by someone else. Shalini had no responsibilities, was protected from the need to make choices and thus reap the consequences. Now in LA she finds the freedom of choice, but each one carries heartbreak and accountability. The descriptions of life in India were very interesting and I would love to travel there someday! Shalini and the main characters were well-developed and I felt just like part of the family.There wasn’t much about Vikram but I really liked how he handled himself, and I look forward to getting to know him better!*ARC provided by HarperCollins Teen as a Goodreads Giveaway
What do You think about De Ring (2010)?
This book was really boring and slow and it never really wraps things up.
—jen
