Anjali Banerjee, Invisible Lives

Invisible Lives

Anjali Banerjee

Downtown, September 2006, $13.00

ISBN: 1416517057

In India, almost twenty-eight year old Lakshmi has a gift that her mom says comes from the Goddess she is named after, who visited her when she was still in the womb. Lakshmi shares her ability to see inside the hearts of people to observe the tribulations that haunt them, and she lifts those burdens off that individual. As a side benefit of her mental skills, Lakshmi knows the perfect color and fabric for patrons of the family's sari shop.

However, because of her age, her mother worries that her daughter remains single, so she arranges a match with a friend. Reluctantly, as an obedient daughter and to honor her late father, Lakshmi accepts her mother's arrangement. However, as fate (and romance novels) would have it, she meets chauffeur Nick Dunbar and knows he is the one for her, because her ability to look into hearts fails whenever she is around him.

Readers will enjoy this contemporary romance starring a delightful likable young woman, who balances having one foot in the modern world and another in her heritage. Lakshmi's dilemma feels real, as she wants to honor the desires of her mother and her late father, but loves Nick. This is a fine tale that rings true as a genuine chick lit Bollywood style.