Lies and Other Love Languages: A Novel

by Sonali Dev

Overview

From the bestselling author of The Vibrant Years comes an emotional story of three women navigating ugly truths and safe lies with only love to guide them on a journey of motherhood, friendship, and life.

Bestselling advice columnist Vandy Guru built her career teaching others how to live honestly and courageously, but after the loss of her husband, Vandy’s public veneer can barely conceal her grief. When her beloved daughter Mallika suddenly disappears and her estranged childhood best friend Rani returns, stirring up long-buried secrets, Vandy’s carefully crafted life feels at risk.

Aspiring choreographer Mallika Guru is tired of failure. When another audition ends in rejection, she signs up for a genetic study to find out why she’s so different from her accomplished family. But the results reveal her whole life to be a lie, and Rani seems to be the only one who knows the truth.

Rani Parekh sacrificed everything for Vandy once. But to hold on to the life she’s rebuilt, she must confront her troubled history and face Vandy and Mallika. Join these three extraordinary women as they journey from LA to Mumbai on an incredible path of discovery, hope, and love.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781662509513
Publisher:	Amazon Publishing
Publication date:	09/26/2023
Pages:	335
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.38(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

USA Today bestselling author Sonali Dev writes Bollywood-style stories that explore universal issues. Her novels have been named Best Books of the Year by Library Journal, NPR, the Washington Post, Buzzfeed, and Kirkus Reviews. She has won numerous accolades, including the American Library Association’s award for best in genre, the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award, and multiple RT Seals of Excellence; has been a RITA finalist; and has been listed for the Dublin Literary Award. Shelf Awareness calls her “not only one of the best but one of the bravest romance novelists working today.” She lives in Chicagoland with her husband, two visiting adult children, and the world’s most perfect dog.

Find more at https://sonalidev.com.

Editorial Reviews

Dev’s characteristic strength at writing relationships between loved ones grounds this larger-than-life plot in a poignant reality… Deception and tenderness mingle in this touching story.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Recommended for Dev’s lush descriptions of food, fashion, dancing, college life, romance, and friendship and her sensitive portrayals of infertility, loss, and hope.” —Library Journal

“Dev excels at creating multilayered characters faced with the challenge of balancing Indian cultural traditions with modern Western culture, all while tugging on readers' heart strings.” —Booklist

“How do we define love between friends, and how far would we go for that love? Sonali Dev’s book peels back one unexpected surprise after another as she blurs the lines between the family we make and the family we are born into, between altruism and selfishness, and between truth and lies.” —Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“Lies and Other Love Languages is a tender and compelling novel about how women navigate their relationships with families, friends, careers, and their pasts. Mallika’s disappearance and Rani’s emergence set the story on a path of intrigue and revelation. The contrast between Vandy’s carefully crafted public persona and her inner turmoil will resonate with many women. This is a story about discovering who we are.” —Balli Kaur Jaswal, internationally bestselling author of Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows

“Lies and Other Love Languages is a breathtaking novel that explores the depths of true female friendship, motherly love, marital love, and the challenge of finding your true purpose in life. Sonali Dev pulls the reader as deep as one can go into the hearts of the exceptionally well-drawn, relatable characters. I was emotionally invested from beginning to end, and I can’t recommend this gem of a novel highly enough.” —Julianne MacLean, bestselling author of Beyond the Moonlit Sea

“Lies and Other Love Languages is a gripping mystery cloaked in a rich family drama. It’s full of unexpected twists and turns, and Sonali Dev did a masterful job weaving a tangled web of secrets, lies, love, and devotion. I found myself lost in the pages and wonderfully satisfied when the last one was turned.” —Suzanne Redfearn, bestselling author of In an Instant

From the Publisher

2023-06-21
A mother’s carefully stacked house of cards collapses when a daughter goes sleuthing.

Vandy Guru is a successful advice columnist who has all the answers. That is, until her husband, Vir, passes away, leaving her with grief and an inability to address her acolytes’ problems. Then her daughter, Mallika, a talented choreographer who’s recently auditioned for a Netflix film, goes missing. Mallika fails to meet her mother, who’s returning from a speaking tour, at the airport and then doesn't show up at her cousin’s wedding dance practice. Vandy calls her own mother, who offers up cryptic clues about where Mallika went but provides no real help, sending Vandy into a tailspin. While Vandy is at a loss, the reader is able to piece together the mystery as Dev alternates among chapters told from the perspectives of Vandy, Mallika, and Rani Parekh, a mysterious character whose story is slowly revealed. As Mallika deals with career setbacks and feelings of self-doubt, she begins to uncover a series of lies that profoundly alters her understanding of her family and her place in the world. Mallika’s journey of discovery sets off Vandy’s own journey, forcing Vandy to confront truths she has worked hard to keep hidden. Dev does not do enough to round out Mallika’s character, but the scenes between Vandy and her childhood friend Rani are funny, genuine, and, at times, heartbreaking. While the story does hinge on some less-than-believable events, Dev’s characteristic strength at writing relationships between loved ones grounds this larger-than-life plot in a poignant reality: “There was a whole chunk of her life that her daughter knew nothing about. What was the point of sharing something that caused so much pain? Vandy had found a solution, and she’d borne the consequences.”

Deception and tenderness mingle in this touching story.

Kirkus Reviews