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hugbandit7's review
3.0
I think I would give this book 3 1/2 stars. There was a lot to like for this first book in this series. What i liked about it was that it was set in OK in a small college community town and where there seems to be a large Indian (Asian not Native American) population. The family is close knit and they are always eating...that may sound strange but I love food and all of the dishes that were described in the book sounded delicious. I also liked that the murder was solved in a roundabout way and really wasn't the main focus, or it doesn't appear to be the main focus most of the time.
There are some unknowns that might be addressed more in future books, such as, why did Meera drop out of school to work at the local college library? What happened to Meera's mom all those years ago in the tornado? (side note, I think there might be some foreshadowing happening in this book at the end that might address that in future books).
I do think at times the writing seemed choppy and some words were used that didn't seem right such as calling a car trunk a boot. That is the British word and Meera is American so would have used the word trunk unless her family always called it a boot and she picked it up that way.
This series has great potential and I look forward to reading them at some point.
There are some unknowns that might be addressed more in future books, such as, why did Meera drop out of school to work at the local college library? What happened to Meera's mom all those years ago in the tornado? (side note, I think there might be some foreshadowing happening in this book at the end that might address that in future books).
I do think at times the writing seemed choppy and some words were used that didn't seem right such as calling a car trunk a boot. That is the British word and Meera is American so would have used the word trunk unless her family always called it a boot and she picked it up that way.
This series has great potential and I look forward to reading them at some point.
meezcarrie's review
3.0
Gone With the Wings is kinda like an Asian fusion cozy mystery. Set in the American Midwest/South (Oklahoma) as well as featuring a main character from South Asia, Clover gives readers the best of both worlds. I love that Meera’s family and culture are incorporated into the novel, setting her apart from typical cozy heroines and giving the book an ethnic flair not normally found in this genre. The mystery in Gone With the Wings is well-constructed, and it kept me guessing right up until the big reveal. There is also a subplot involving Meera’s mother that took a couple of interesting turns too. All of which intrigues me to keep reading the series.
There were a couple things I wasn’t crazy about though. First, the characters lack dimension. They are layered, to be sure, but they still feel flat to me. Maybe it’s in the somewhat stilted dialogue or sometimes over-the-top reactions. Which brings me to the second thing – the writing style is a bit awkward in places, choppy and abrupt. This may have been an intentional choice to convey the nuances of the culture but it broke up the flow of my reading. One final thing that broke up my reading pace was the sheer volume of recipes woven throughout the narrative. I like food in books, but I don’t like stopping my story for a recipe. It just doesn’t feel natural for the narrator to give step-by-step details of what he/she is doing while cooking.
Bottom Line: Gone With the Wings by Leena Clover whets your culinary and investigative appetites, as well as providing you with a glimpse inside South Asian culture and life as an international student at an American college/university. The mystery (including an intriguing subplot) keeps you engaged, and you may find yourself trying to finagle an invitation to one of Meera’s family’s parties. There are some minor issues with dimension and story flow, but overall this is an interesting read and sets the stage for the rest of the series.
(I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book)
first seen at Reading Is My SuperPower
There were a couple things I wasn’t crazy about though. First, the characters lack dimension. They are layered, to be sure, but they still feel flat to me. Maybe it’s in the somewhat stilted dialogue or sometimes over-the-top reactions. Which brings me to the second thing – the writing style is a bit awkward in places, choppy and abrupt. This may have been an intentional choice to convey the nuances of the culture but it broke up the flow of my reading. One final thing that broke up my reading pace was the sheer volume of recipes woven throughout the narrative. I like food in books, but I don’t like stopping my story for a recipe. It just doesn’t feel natural for the narrator to give step-by-step details of what he/she is doing while cooking.
Bottom Line: Gone With the Wings by Leena Clover whets your culinary and investigative appetites, as well as providing you with a glimpse inside South Asian culture and life as an international student at an American college/university. The mystery (including an intriguing subplot) keeps you engaged, and you may find yourself trying to finagle an invitation to one of Meera’s family’s parties. There are some minor issues with dimension and story flow, but overall this is an interesting read and sets the stage for the rest of the series.
(I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book)
first seen at Reading Is My SuperPower
dollycas's review
3.0
Dollycas’s Thoughts
In this story, we meet Meera Patel and her family. They are a very close family of Asian Indian descent and we see quickly how important their culture is to them. The story takes place in a small college town in Oklahoma. Meera works at the college library and her father is a professor there. His assistant is Prudence Walker, also a professor, and she has a huge crush on the man and that makes Meera positively livid. In fact, they have a huge argument in the stairway of her father’s building. So when Prudence ends up dead, Meera becomes the prime suspect. Then a student from India goes missing right after Meera has words with her and the police believe Meera is responsible for that as well. Meera wants to clear her name but her family believes she needs to leave things to the police. Of course, she does do a little investigating on her own, and that’s a good thing.
I like Meera, her family, and her friends and I really want to know more about them. But I think this book is a prime example of the 1st book in the series “itus” where you have to introduce all the characters, try to engage the reader and give us a great mystery too. This story reads more like Woman’s Fiction with a murder happening on the side. We meet the family and how they all connect, but there are a lot of details left for future books. One thing I quickly learned is this family loves to eat. All the food described sounds wonderful and there are recipes in the back of the book. However, the mystery definitely is playing second fiddle to the family part of the story.
As far as the missing person part of the mystery, Meera really does try to find the girl, which was not an easy task, but in the end, I was underwhelmed by this part of the plot. The conclusion, while plausible, doesn’t fit with the student we met in this story.
I didn’t like the way the murder part of the mystery evolved either. The police officer was a family friend, dating the deceased and decided Meera was guilty immediately. His harassment of Meera was very uncomfortable and he should have been removed from the case. The way it wrapped up just didn’t feel right to me, it was a stretch to believe.
I did enjoy learning more about Indian culture and the food.
The authors writing style is unique, it really needs some editing to tighten it up. I hope I am right and that the mystery will be more primary in book 2 because I would like to visit this family again.
In this story, we meet Meera Patel and her family. They are a very close family of Asian Indian descent and we see quickly how important their culture is to them. The story takes place in a small college town in Oklahoma. Meera works at the college library and her father is a professor there. His assistant is Prudence Walker, also a professor, and she has a huge crush on the man and that makes Meera positively livid. In fact, they have a huge argument in the stairway of her father’s building. So when Prudence ends up dead, Meera becomes the prime suspect. Then a student from India goes missing right after Meera has words with her and the police believe Meera is responsible for that as well. Meera wants to clear her name but her family believes she needs to leave things to the police. Of course, she does do a little investigating on her own, and that’s a good thing.
I like Meera, her family, and her friends and I really want to know more about them. But I think this book is a prime example of the 1st book in the series “itus” where you have to introduce all the characters, try to engage the reader and give us a great mystery too. This story reads more like Woman’s Fiction with a murder happening on the side. We meet the family and how they all connect, but there are a lot of details left for future books. One thing I quickly learned is this family loves to eat. All the food described sounds wonderful and there are recipes in the back of the book. However, the mystery definitely is playing second fiddle to the family part of the story.
As far as the missing person part of the mystery, Meera really does try to find the girl, which was not an easy task, but in the end, I was underwhelmed by this part of the plot. The conclusion, while plausible, doesn’t fit with the student we met in this story.
I didn’t like the way the murder part of the mystery evolved either. The police officer was a family friend, dating the deceased and decided Meera was guilty immediately. His harassment of Meera was very uncomfortable and he should have been removed from the case. The way it wrapped up just didn’t feel right to me, it was a stretch to believe.
I did enjoy learning more about Indian culture and the food.
The authors writing style is unique, it really needs some editing to tighten it up. I hope I am right and that the mystery will be more primary in book 2 because I would like to visit this family again.
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