Robbie’s Inspiration – Book review: Coming Home by Smitha Vishwanath

What Amazon says

Twenty-six-year-old, Shanaya, finds her idea of home and family ripped apart when she loses her mother. Her effort to drown herself in her job proves to be financially rewarding and her work is recognized by the organisation. But, even this is not enough to fill the vacuum in her heart or answer the questions, her mother’s sudden death had given rise to. In her quest for peace and the need to hold her family together, she leaves her job in the Middle East and moves to India. The story finds Shanaya journeying across geographical planes and inner landscapes to finally reach ‘home’. Coming Home is a heartwarming story about self-discovery, relationships, loss, love, destiny, the choices we make, and how these choices eventually lead to what we are destined for.

My review

Coming Home is a delightful romance set mainly in India. Shanaya is shocked by the untimely death of her mother from cancer. She has been living on her own in her parents apartment in Dubai while her mother undergoes treatment in India under the watchful care of her father. Shanaya is devastated when her mother dies unexpectedly before she can travel from Dubai to India. The loss of her mother hits Shanaya hard and she finds it difficult to set her grief aside and become immersed in her job and life in Dubai, especially as her sister has gone away to college and her father has elected to remain in India. Shanaya decides to make some big changes and leave her safe job, returning to India to care for her father.

Naturally, nothing in life is ever as expected and Shanaya is in for a few shocks when her father decides to make some changes to his own life. Before her death, Shanaya’s mother had been encouraging her to settled own and marry a young and successful doctor. The marriage would be an arranged marriage as the couple had not met. Shanaya does not view this as an impediment to marriage as her own parents had married by arrangement and their marriage had been happy and fulfilling. Shanaya has it in her mind that she will meet the doctor and fulfil her mother’s wishes with regards to her marriage. Once again, life happens while she makes plans and things don’t turn out quite as expected.

The romance storyline is pleasant and enjoyable, but it is the insights into Indian culture and lifestyle that made this book particularly interesting to me. I know about arranged marriages, but I did not know how they came about or how modern couples felt about it. There were lots of opportunities for the author to share information about life in India and I enjoyed learning about death and burial rites and traditions, engagement clothing and celebrations, as well as a restorative visit to a remote wellness clinic where Shanaya learns yoga, meditation, and other useful tools for a healthy life. Many aspects of life in India are fairly different from my own lifestyle and I found this information very engaging.

The author is also clearly knowledgeable about banking and wrote with insight about Shanaya’s banking career. This was pleasing as the details about Shanaya and her colleagues jobs rang true and added to the overall storyline.

Coming Home is a story about coming to terms with loss and change and learning to cope and move on. It is also cautionary about making rash and hasty decisions and promotes taking life at a slower pace and following your instincts.

Coming Home is an enjoyable and entertaining read that all lovers of romance will enjoy.

Purchase links

For the Kindle and paperback edition of the book, please click here. The book is available in most countries.

You can get your copy of the paperback edition in India by clicking here.

You can find poems, book reviews, and other posts by Smitha Vishwanath on her blog here: https://smithavpennings.com/blog/

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Published by robbiesinspiration

Robbie and Michael Cheadle are co-authors of the Sir Chocolate series of books. We both like to write and bake.

101 thoughts on “Robbie’s Inspiration – Book review: Coming Home by Smitha Vishwanath”

  8. That sounds like an interesting book. When I visited India on a business trip I was talking to this young engineer who was about to get married and it was an arranged marriage. He was asking me if I was going to arrange marriages for my children, and I said, no of course not, I can’t do that. He said “I wish I lived in Texas”. So do I say congratulations or not? Anyway, thank you for a great review.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    1. Thank you, Thomas, for sharing your experience in India and for saying you find the book interesting. Robbie’s done a wonderful job of highlighting the essence of the story.

      P.S.Arranged marriages are still very much the order of the day in the country 🙂 and I understand how shocking it sounds to others.

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply

      1. Hi Smitha, arranged marriages were the order of the day in The UK and Europe in the past too. In some circumstances, it might be better for people. The current British royal family broke this tradition and it hasn’t gone very well.

        Liked by 2 people

    2. Hi Thomas, your comment is intriguing. I think people have romantic notions of love and marriage due to all the movies about romance. After 22 years of marriage and witnessing many divorces among friends and family, I think that parents sometimes are wiser. A lot of love matches are between people who are totally unsuited. The cracks start when the initial passions wear off and real life sets in.

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply

      1. That’s an interesting thought but admittedly a bit different to me. But you are right I know arranged marriages that lasted throughout life, like my wife’s grandmother’s. This young man and I assume his wife to be were not happy though.

        Liked by 3 people

  11. Thank you, dear Robbie, for this fabulous review of ‘Coming Home’. I woke up to this and it had me smiling. It’s interesting to see the things that caught your attention, especially, the arranged marriage bit. Yesterday, I met a bunch of women and they asked, ‘Is yours arranged or love?’ Everyone in the group except me said, ‘Arranged’. And I realized that It’s still very much a thing.
    I’m delighted you enjoyed reading the book and learning about Indian culture.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  13. Reblogged this on Eúnoia and commented:
    I woke up this morning to an amazing review by Robbie Cheadle of my debut novel, ‘Coming Home’. It’s always satisfying to receive a good review but what is interesting is to know what in the book touched or resonated with the reader.

    Here’s an excerpt of Robbie’s review:

    The romance storyline is pleasant and enjoyable, but it is the insights into Indian culture and lifestyle that made this book particularly interesting to me. I know about arranged marriages, but I did not know how they came about or how modern couples felt about it. There were lots of opportunities for the author to share information about life in India and I enjoyed learning about death and burial rites and traditions, engagement clothing and celebrations, as well as a restorative visit to a remote wellness clinic where Shanaya learns yoga, meditation, and other useful tools for a healthy life. Many aspects of life in India are fairly different from my own lifestyle and I found this information very engaging.

    Copyright@smithavishwanathsblog.com. All Rights Reserved.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      3. Rhea enjoys it, too. But, in India, it’s like the flavor of the year/years. One traditional publisher told me to come back with ‘Coming Home’ later because mythology was the ‘in’ thing.

        Liked by 1 person

  15. Huge congratulations to Smitha on this wonderful review. I have this book on my list.

    The arranged marriage thing is an interesting issue. For certain, my parents—had I left that choice to them—would never have made a good decision for me. Because of that, I believe the success or failure rests on the parents as well as the couple themselves.

    I look forward to reading this! Thanks for sharing, Robbie 💕🙂

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    2. Hi Harmony, I’m so glad to know it’s on your list 🙂 I’m looking forward to your thoughts of it. I hope you enjoy reading it. Btw, I’m with you on the marriage bit. I’m happy with the choice I made. XXX

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  16. Fantastic review, Robbie. It seems what you found interesting in the novel is exactly what I would find ~ the culture, traditions of India are alluring on their own, and then such a strong story line, I am looking forward to this read. Cheers!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    2. Hi Randal, I’m happy to know you plan to read the book. I hope you enjoy reading it and I look forward to knowing what you think of it. 🙂 Wishing you a lovely weekend!

      Like

      Reply

    2. Hi Tandy, I’m happy to know that you find the book interesting. Robbie’s done a wonderful job with the review. I would love to know what you think of the book should you decide to read it.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    1. Thank you,Debby, for your good wishes. Yes, Robbie has done a wonderful job highlighting the essence of the book.
      I’m looking forward to knowing how you feel about the book. Thank you again❤️🙂

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

  24. Excellent review, Robbie, thanks for giving your input. It also sent me over to Smitha’s blog where I just viewed her art–just beautiful! I’ll be back to check out more of the interesting posts here, Robbie–especially one I saw briefly last night and want to get back to; it had to do with your recent travel to that children’s festival? I’ll find it again. And I’ll return to Smitha’s blog soon, too. Thanks for this share that’d leading me to delightful people and their works!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Hi Emily, thank you for visiting me here. Smitha’s book was most enjoyable and I love her art. I did attend a children’s literature festival earlier in May. It was a lovely event and I was honoured to attend and showcase Michael and my children’s books. I do a monthly post in collaboration with Writing to be Read blog, called Treasuring Poetry. The post comprises of approximately five questions that I ask poets and which they respond too for the post. The questions are all poetry related. I always review one of the poet’s books for the post too. I wondered if you would be interested in being my July guest. If you are, please email me at sirchoc[at]outlook[dot]com

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. I don’t know about Emily, Miss Robbie, but I would love that! I think Emily is the painter and I am the poet, anyway. I’ll ask her to email you for more information.
        :::Cheshire grin::: (Emily asks me to say it was a pleasure to visit and thank you for the July opportunity.)

        Liked by 1 person

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