Sonali Dev
Author Interview - Sonali Dev
Author of INCENSE AND SENSIBILITY
The West Wing meets Jane Austen. Yash Raje, California’s first Indian-American gubernatorial candidate, has always known exactly what he wants and how to get it. Until a hate crime at a rally critically injures his bodyguard. Suddenly Yash’s perfect life feels like a lie. When he tries to get back on the campaign trail, he blacks out with panic. Desperate to keep Yash’s condition from leaking to the media, his family turns to the one person they trust—his sister’s best friend, India Dashwood, California’s foremost stress management coach. Raised by a family of yoga gurus, India has helped San Francisco’s high strung overachievers for a decade without so much as altering her breath. This should be easy. Except, Yash has spent a lifetime repressing everything to succeed, including their one magical night together ten years ago—a too brief, too bright passion that if rekindled threatens to destroy the dream he’s willingly shouldered for his family and community . . . until now.
Author Interview - Sonali Dev
Author I draw inspiration from: How can I not say Jane Austen?
Author Interview - Sonali Dev
Favorite place to read a book: In my bed (my place of greatest comfort) and on a flight (my place of complete isolated escape).
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with: I know it's inappropriate to name a character from my own book. But, I'd be disingenuous if I named anyone else right now but Yash Raje from Incense and Sensibility. I think he'd be charming and kind in the face of my swooning.
HBL Note: It is absolutely appropriate to name a character from your own book! It makes sense that you might be fond of a character you’ve spent so much time with. :)
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author: I always knew, but the moment when I thought it was actually, maybe, possible was when I read Vikram Seth's The Suitable Boy in college and thought, "Wow, this book has people like me in it and it's beautiful and people want to read it."
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook: All of the above. I love the smell of paper, but I read a lot at night and ebooks have saved my marriage by making the "when are you turning the light off?" "After just one more chapter!" fight redundant.
The last book I read: Pack Up The Moon by Kristan Higgins. A life changing book about life, love, and the light at the end of even the darkest tunnel.
Author Interview - Sonali Dev
Pen & paper or computer: Computer for writing books. Pen and paper for to-do lists and plotting.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with: I recently read and LOVED Christina Lauren's The Soulmate Equation and Jess (the protagonist) and her best friend Fizzy have the funniest but also the warmest best friend banter I've ever read. I so very badly wanted to be a part of that friendship.
Author Interview - Sonali Dev
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a: Life coach? Poker player? House flipper?
Favorite decade in fashion history: Which was the most bohemian fashion decade? The 1970s? I've always been all tie-dye, batik, embroidery, and block prints-- I feel like the world has come around to my fashion in this decade. I know, narcissistic much?
Place I’d most like to travel: Galapagos Islands.
My signature drink: Malbec (because at least one thing about everyone should be simple)
Favorite artist: Van Gogh. He breaks my heart every time I'm in the presence of his strokes.
Number one on my bucket list: Hitting Number One on the New York Times Best Seller list. (Or are bucket lists things we have control over?)
Find more from the author:
Instagram: @sonali.dev
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sonalidevfanpage/
Twitter: @sonali_dev
Author Bio: USA Today bestselling author Sonali Dev writes Bollywood-style love stories that explore universal issues. Her novels have been named Best Books of the Year by Library Journal, NPR, the Washington Post, and Kirkus. She has won numerous accolades, including the American Library Association’s award for best romance, the RT Reviewer Choice Award for best contemporary romance, multiple RT Seals of Excellence, has been a RITA® finalist, and has been listed for the Dublin Literary Award. Shelf Awareness calls her “Not only one of the best but one of the bravest romance novelists working today.”
She lives in Chicagoland with her husband, two visiting adult children, and the world’s most perfect dog.
Find more at sonalidev.com.
