Thalassa Ali

So many emotions running through my mind, I was so moved with what Mariam had sacrificed. She has braved it all like a white woman and yet embraced her path as a Punjab's wife. Though she had to go through a tough journey to learn the nooks, with all the dreams and wars, she has truly prevail it all. Many unexpected turn of events especially since mixed marriage was abhor back then. Definitely a good read and I didn't expect the book to end as it is.

Here's my full review:
href="http://www.sholee.net/2016/09/mpov-beggar-at-gate-mariana-givens-2.html" rel="nofollow" target="_top">http://www.sholee.net/2016/09/mpov-beggar-at-gate-mariana-givens-2.html… (more)

A young Englishwoman, shipped off to British India to find a suitable husband among Queen Victoria's military community, becomes entangled with local politics when she is thrust into the position of rescuer and guardian of a young child being held political hostage by the Maharaja of Punjab.

The descriptions of life in northern India (now Pakistan) during the early years of Queen Victoria's reign, is suitably colorful, but the action borders on the melodramatic, with many hair-raising escapades, a forced wedding, an escape from the seraglio, an is-it-or-isn't-it romance, and an ending that just kind of dribbles off without a clear resolution.

Ali, American-born and married to a Pakistani, manages (barely) to stay out of bodice-ripper territory, mostly by keeping everyone chaste. But her heroine is cut from the traditional cloth -- an independent, unconventional, headstrong maiden whose curiosity about the exotic locale leads her, step by step, into deeper intrigue and danger.

It's not a bad read, but don't expect much more than light entertainment here.… (more)