Review: How to Salsa in a Sari

It's interesting to see how the Indian publishers are finally waking up to this vastly untapped Young Adult genre in India.Mint Lounge had an interesting article on this recently which mentioned various publishers who are coming out with YA books .The link to the article is here.So now the YA genre has some more interesting options to read besides the hugely popular Twilight series!

Yet one more YA book that I have read is Dona Sarkar's 'How to Salsa in a Sari' .Unusual title and a fun book. I would recommend it to all adolescents out there to go buy a copy!

'Salsa in a Sari' is the story of Issa Mazumdar.Issa is a nerdy half-African and half-Indian teenage girl living in America with her Indian mother ever since her father walked out on them.Issa is horrified when she hears that her mother is planning to remarry what is worse is that her mother plans to marry her arch enemy in school,Cat Morena's dad.Cat is the uber cool , popular,super rich girl in school who absolutely loathes Issa and has also stolen Issa's boyfriend Adam just to spite her....almost Veronica and Betty but with a twist!

So when Issa hears that she and her mother would be moving into Cat's huge mansion she becomes absolutely determined to make it miserable for Cat by paying her back in the same way.Issa is also hoping that her mother ends the relationship and gets back with her dad Roy.To achieve her mission she pulls out all stops by getting a makeover, flirting and befriending the hunk Cat has her eyes on,lying to her would-be step dad Diego about Cat and winning the most coveted Snow Queen crown! What she ends up doing is alienating herself from her best friends and her mother while at the same time also ends up losing out on her school grades.By the end, though things have gone exactly as planned with Cat, she is not too happy as she feels that she has ended up losing more than what she has gained!

The book is sassy,bitchy and naughty!It manages to capture the turmoil that Issa goes through from her transformation as a nerdy to a naughty teenager.It shows Issa going through love,heartbreak,hatred,jealousy, indecisiveness ...all so familiar emotions!It's a simple and honest story which all of us can relate with to our own growing up years.

So does Issa manage to break off her mum's relationship with Diego,do Issa and Cat end up becoming friends and why this unusual title?Read the book to find out!

Interesting and fun read.