Review: GROWING UP, LETTING GO OF OLD IDEAS, AND ACCEPTING LOVE...
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 10, 2014
Opening Act by Suleikha Snyder breaks all the molds and looks fantastic doing it.  It's definitely in the New Adult genre, but doesn't rely on all the "difficult subjects".  It features a band that isn't completely dysfunctional.  It has multicultural characters that shine, including the protagonist.  The only problem:  I wanted more, a lot more!Saroj and Adam have known each other for years.  For Saroj, those years have been spent nursing a crush.  For Adam, they have been spent looking at Saroj like a sister and best friend.  It all starts falling apart with a kiss, and not a shared one either.  Suddenly, Adam's safe little world is rocked and its very foundations are cracking.Saroj is, in a word, fantastic.  Saroj is, by her own words, an American desi.  Her cultural experiences, her family pressures, her religious observances are an open book and flow naturally through her as a character and through the narrative of the book.  There is no sense that any of it is forced in any way (i.e., "need to add cultural reference here").  But Saroj doesn't have a long way to go to complete her character arc.  It is Adam who has to get over his assumptions, Adam who needs to grow, become aware, accept himself as worthy.  This is the crux of the story.Woven with ease through the book are the various relationships, both Adam's and Saroj's.  A deft and delicate hand draws out the plot where it needs to be tense and releases that tension in just the right and at just the right time.  This is a story about growing up, letting go of old ideas, and accepting love.RATING: 4Heat Rating:  MildREVIEWED BY: Monique NeavesCourtesy of My Book Addiction and More