A win for The Henna Start-up

Hello friends,

I’m delighted to let you all know that my novel The Henna Start-up won the Neev Book Award 2024 just last month. When I heard that the book had been shortlisted for the award, all the way back in May, I was happy that the book was getting the recognition it deserved. But I never dreamt that the book would win the big prize despite being cautiously optimistic.

Nevertheless, it was a happy evening, surrounded by my family and friends from the kid lit industry who cheered me on. I was in a daze for at least two days after the win.

Here’s a video the Neev folks took right after the win.

Thank you to everyone who read Henna and enjoyed it and loved it so much. What’s more, the book has been longlisted for two other awards – The Crossword Book Award and the Binod Kanoria Award. I’m truly humbled as well as delighted and grateful to my editor Sayoni Basu who championed the book from Day 1.

So, apart from that, I’m busy finishing up the last book of the Hotel Moonshine Series, which is Ethan and Aashna’s book. I’ll be taking a long break from KDP after that (not writing) because there are a few books I need to write without having the distraction of the KDP bandwagon.

Here’s a short snippet from A Kiss to Reclaim which will continue to remain on the reduced pre-order price for just a few more days. I will be releasing it in December instead of January, so don’t forget to pre-order it right away.

It was the scent of coffee that woke her up.

Aashna blinked and opened her eyes, confusion settling into her mind like a haze. Where was she? This wasn’t her room in Bangalore.

Oh wait. She lived in Karimbagh now.

But this wasn’t her cottage either. She was ensconced in an entirely too comfortable sofa and she had a warm crocheted throw covering her body.

She sat up.

Oh shit. She was still in Ethan’s house. She felt like an idiot for falling asleep when she told him she was going to be here only till the rain stopped.

But the thing that had stopped her in her tracks was that she’d fallen asleep here? She could never fall asleep in her own bed, not until she’d counted a million sheep or did all sorts of mental activities that were supposed to slow down her racing mind and make her fall asleep.

She’d tried yoga, avoiding coffee, drinking warm milk, chamomile tea, melatonin and even magnesium. She’d tried aromatherapy and taking a warm bath before sleeping. All of this helped, but only until a certain point, and then she was back at it, staring at her ceiling, wondering about the choices she’d made in her life, at the mistakes mostly. From there, it was a downwards spiral, thinking about what she could have done better and how despite everything, she was still a failure.

She acknowledged her privilege, and she knew that if the café didn’t work out, then she could always pack her bags and return to her parents in Bangalore. But she’d seen how her friend Sanjana had turned around her family bookstore The Last Chapter into something else altogether, and she ached to do something similar for herself.

When she got to know that her uncle was planning on selling his café, she’d had to come to the small town where he’d lived all his life and see it for herself. And once she came here, she was taken in by the charm of the town and the overall kitschiness that held a kind of appeal to her.

But now that she owned the café, and was running it, she still felt like her mind was on a treadmill. So how on earth had she managed to fall asleep on Ethan D’Costa’s sofa?

The scent of coffee became stronger and her mouth watered. Ethan appeared then, looking gruff and unshaven. He placed a mug on the coffee table before her and turned around to walk away when she called out to him.

‘Ethan!’

‘Yeah?’ he asked, without turning around. She could see that he was getting ready for work. She peered out of the window to see that the sky was still dark, with a few streaks of light fanning across. She got into work much later, at half past nine, like a normal person. But of course Ethan, spawn of the devil would leave for work when it was still dark outside.

‘Why didn’t you…why was I…’ she wasn’t sure what to tell him. First of all, she had no idea how she’d fallen asleep here. And such sound sleep too. She felt like a fresh, new person. Like a baby.

‘What?’ he asked, sounding irritable.

Last night, she’d thought he had almost melted, become a little more human, but that had lasted all of ten minutes when she’d told him about her haircut disaster. He’d been broody and unapproachable right until then.

Things get very interesting after this. I promise you! Meanwhile, Shilpa Suraj’s YA novel Hey Kitty has also been published, so don’t forget to get it. It’s a tale of two youngsters in a harsh world which Shilpa tells with deft ease and a whole lot of compassion. This one’s a must-read!

And I don’t quite remember if I told you all about my YouTube channel – The Back Story. If I haven’t please do check it out and subscribe to it. I’ve been talking about some of my books here, as well as the back stories to why I wrote them. This one, where I talk about More than Just Biryani has been the most popular (on Instagram).

And now, for some free books.

That’s all for now, folks! Until next time then!