Books are food for my soul! Pull up a beach chair and stick your toes in the sand as the Jersey surf rolls in and out, now open your book and let your imagination take you away.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Year of the Chick by Romi Moondi



Year of the Chick by Romi Moondi
Published By: CreateSpace
Release Date: October 26, 2011(Kindle Edition) / November 29, 2011 (Paperback Edition)
Format: Paperback - 296 pages / Kindle 442KB
ISBN: 1466492066
ASIN: B005 ZY7DG0
Genre: Chick Lit / Contemporary Romance / Women's Fiction


About The Author:






I am Canadian, and here are some strange personal facts:

I wear denim-top-to-bottom in high school (there is a direct inverse relationship between how much denim I wore and how few tongues were launched down my throat at school dances ... or anywhere in high school at all).

I'm continually baffled by that Malaysian baby whose father let him smoke two packs of cigarettes a day. That baby had so many fat rolls, and I thought cigarettes were supposed to be slimming.

I always hated those insufferable couples who would cuddle and make out on the subway ... until I became
half of one. But now I'm back to being none of one so I hate them again.

One thing I love is writing. I wrote the parody The Book of Awful because the original made me angry, I wrote NOT Love Poems for Real Life because I needed to get things out of my system before I finished Year of the Chick, and I wrote Year of the Chick because the realities of being an Indian girl who's living in a "westernized world" simply needed a book like that. And also because of Internet romance; it's an actual thing these days.

Year of the Chick is book one in a trilogy, and book two currently exists in the form of a screenplay. This screenplay made it to the semi-finals or better in five different screenplay competitions in 2011 (more details in the "Info" section of my Facebook page), so I'm confident it will be a worthy sequel to Year of the Chick. I just have to write it into "book" form. With a full-time job. No biggie.


AUTHOR WEBSITE
FACEBOOK
TWITTER
GOODREADS


BUY THE BOOK:
AMAZON
BARNES & NOBLE
SMASHWORDS


Disclaimer: At the request of the author and Chick Lit Plus, a Kindle edition of this book was sent, at no cost to me, for my honest review and participation in the virtual book tour event.


Virtual Book Tour Event: On Monday, January 23, 2012, in association with Chick Lit Plus, Romi Moondi participated in a virtual book tour event with an Author Guest Post on Jersey Girl Book Reviews.
http://jerseygirlbookreviews.blogspot.com/2012/01/author-guest-post-romi-moondi-author-of.html



YEAR OF THE CHICK VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR EVENT CONTEST GIVEAWAY: WIN $10 AMAZON GIFT CARD!

Click on the above link to enter the contest giveaway! Everyone who leaves a comment will be entered to win a $10 Amazon gift card.

If you purchase your copy of Year of the Chick before February 6 and send your receipt to Samantha@ChickLitPlus.com , you will get five bonus entries!



Amazon.com Book Description:


An awkward family homecoming at Christmas.

A humiliating public weigh-in, with two judging parents as the audience.

The announcement of a deadline for arranged marriage doom.

And that's just the first two chapters.

In Year of the Chick, Romi Narindra must find love before her parents find her a husband. This is a difficult task in a world where self-consciousness is at an all-time high, and dating experience at an all-time low.

Severely lacking in seductive skills and uninspired by her corporate job, Romi turns to what she loves, by writing about her quest to find love on her brand new blog.

From whiskey-breath scum bags to uni-browed creeps and everything in between, Romi and her wingmen come up empty time after time. But hope floats again when she meets a fellow writer unexpectedly.

On the Internet.

So it will be arranged marriage doom, or an Internet affair that's not as creepy as "To Catch a Predator?"

Time will tell in the Year of the Chick, a twelve-month quest to find love.

Tick-tock.



My Book Review:


What does a twenty-seven year old Indian-Canadian girl do when her traditionalist Indian parents decide it's time to arrange marriages for her and her older sister? *groan* How does she stop their attempts so she can live a modern western lifestyle? Can she live and love the way she wants, or will her parents win out, and will she be doomed to the dreaded arranged marriage? These are the questions that Romi Narindra ponders in Year of the Chick!

Twenty-seven year old Romi Narindra is an Indian-Canadian girl, and a non-traditionalist when it comes to arranged marriages. Unfortunately, her very strict traditional parents decide that both her older sister, Neema,  and herself will have arranged marriages set up within the year. <*gasp* *groan* *sigh*> While undergoing dinner table interrogations during the Christmas holidays, Romi scrambles to come up with a plan to stop her parents from dooming her to an arranged marriage. She gets a twelve-month reprieve when her parents tell her that she needs to lose twenty pounds before they will look for a suitable Indian husband for her. What happens next is Romi's twelve month odyssey of trying to lose weight and find a man of her own ... sounds simple, no problem ... or so she thought! She names her man-quest "Year of the Chick," and with her friends as her "wingmen," she tries to find men in gyms, clubs, the dreaded friend's arranged dates, and even the Internet hook-up. Nothing seems to be working in her favor, so she takes to writing a blog about her quest and befriends another writer, an English hottie named James, who lives in Barcelona, Spain. Interest and intrigue about a possible romantic hook-up with James, starts out with emails and phone calls, which leads to an obsession that completely dominates her world. With a chance to meet James in New York, will Romi's man-quest and "Year of the Chick" plans come to fruition? Or will she be doomed to go through with her parent's arranged marriage plans?

Year of the Chick was such a fun book to read, there were so many parts of the story that were hysterical that it kept me in stitches. The storyline was well-written and had a realistic feel to it, and it should since the author's life inspired this fictional story. I loved the characters, their individual quirky personalities and fun-loving camaraderie made the story so much fun to follow. I especially loved our heroine Romi, her witty, sarcastic and downright funny personality kept me snickering throughout her twelve-month man-quest. This novel lends a realistic, yet humorous look at traditions, dating and self-discovery. I really enjoyed learning about the Indian culture and traditions, even though I have to admit that I would not want to be on the receiving end of those arranged marriage traditions if I was an Indian daughter. I look forward to reading the other two books to this trilogy, I can just imagine the situations that Romi will find herself in! Chick-Lit fans, this is a must read book, it will keep you laughing and in true Chick-Lit fashion leave you wanting more!


RATING: 4 STARS ****







1 comment: