Lovetorn

Gr 7–10—Sixteen-year-old Shalini has been engaged since she was three. She is separated from her best friend and fiancé, Vikram, for the first time when her father moves the family from India to Los Angeles for a year for his job. Being apart from their large, close-knit family and living in a foreign city is difficult for everyone except Shalini's younger sister, who adapts almost instantly. The teen has a hard time adjusting to school, and her mother becomes clinically depressed. When she finds herself drawn to another boy, Shalini is torn between her new, independent feelings and loyalty to her family. Though the clash of cultures is interesting and the theme of fitting in is true to life, the characters are never fully realized, and the anticlimactic resolution is reached a little too easily. Still, teens may enjoy this as a modern real-life story.—Madeline J. Bryant, Los Angeles Public Library