Friday Reads – Straight as a Jalebi by Ritu Bhathal

It’s time for another Friday Reads blog and my featured book this week is the emotional gay romance Straight As a Jalebi by Ritu Bhathal. So grab yourself a cuppa, get comfy and let’s get chatting to Ritu.

Blurb

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’d 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…

Straight As A Jalebi: https://mybook.to/StraightAsAJalebi

Welcome to my blog, Ritu. Straight as a Jalebi is the second in The Rishtay series. What inspired you to write these books?

Thanks Karen. I call it ‘Writing my life, but not my life …if you know what I mean’. Let me explain:

When I was younger, and becoming the bookworm (maybe a book dragon, I’m not sure) you see now, I devoured books speedily.

Enid Blyton’s Mallory Towers series morphed into Judy Blume books, and then I dived into Danielle Steel, Barbara Taylor Bradford, and Virginia Andrews, from my mother’s book collection, before I began to explore my own choice of books. Susan Lewis, Katie Fforde, and many more authors graced my bookshelves.

But one thing I found very little of, in commercial fiction, was relatable fiction.

Fiction where I could see myself in the main characters.

Sure, there were token Indians, but sometimes they played stereotypical roles, and weren’t truly my likeness.

That of a British Indian, pulled between two cultures: East vs. West.

My school life was where the West shone. My home life was East personified.

I loved the music of my school peers, the shows they watched, the clothes they wore. I wore the same, but not miniskirts, that would have been a step too far!

But my weekends were filled with family. I was forever attending weddings, going for family functions and dinners. There was a constant stream of cousins staying with us from overseas, as they took advantage of a good, British Education.

At university I spread my wings a little more, but this time I met other British Indians, like me, free for the first time.

I lived that Western life, but l kept my roots firmly entrenched within.

Just before I embarked upon marriage, I felt an urge to write, and the idea for my first book took germination. It was within this book, that I created a main character who was like me, but not. She was from a British Indian family and faced dilemmas like me and many other young women.

It felt good to write this story.

Through the medium of story, I began to develop ideas where I broached taboo topics within our culture.

Broken relationships, clandestine relationships, a child out of wedlock.

I tried to capture how the community used to view these situations.

And when the characters told me not to stop, the second book was born, and I wrote about homosexuality.

The third, which I am writing, deals with the toxic thoughts around infertility.

The feedback I have received has been overwhelmingly positive from both those who identify with the characters, and from other readers, who view the books as a colourful education into life as a British Indian, around the turn of this century.

Things have changed, even from when my books are set (early 2000s).

Youngsters nowadays are more open and parents who are from my generation, are generally more accepting, and there are many more young Indian authors, than there used to be.

My biggest problem, now?

The time to write, and convincing others that I haven’t written an autobiography.

I do have an imagination, too, you know!

That’s fascinating, Ritu. Thanks for dropping by to talk to us today. Wishing you much writing success.😊

This is the first book in the Rishtay series:

Marriage Unarranged

It all s̶t̶a̶r̶t̶e̶d̶ ended with that box…

The year 2000 and Aashi’s life was all set.
New Millennium ,exciting beginnings, new life.
Or so she thought.

Like in the Bollywood films, Ravi would woo her, charm her family and they’d get married and live happily ever after.

But then Aashi found the empty condom box…

Putting her ex-fiancé and her innocence behind her, Aashi embarks upon an enlightening journey, to another country, where vibrant memories are created, and unforgettable friendships forged.

Old images erased, new beginnings to explore.

And how can she forget the handsome stranger she meets?
A stranger who’s hiding something…

Marriage Unarranged: https://mybook.to/MarriageUnarranged

Also, Book 2 in the series, In God’s Hands, will be hopefully released a little later this year.

And if you like poetry,

Poetic Rituals

Delve into a book of verse exploring different topics and different genres, all with a RITUal twist.
A collection of poetry drawing on the experiences of the writer, ranging from matters of the heart, love for the family, situations in life and some verses written with a humorous twist.

Poetic RITUals: https://mybook.to/PoeticRITUals

Meet Ritu

Author Bio

Ritu Bhathal was born in Birmingham in the mid-1970s to migrant parents, hailing from Kenya but with 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 on 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, http://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.

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