Neesha Meminger

I was so happy to read this book. There aren’t many YA authors painting stories with the color brown, and this author has clearly increased in confidence and skill with this book.

Jazz, short for Jasbir, is seventeen, and despondent because her strict Punjabi Sikh parents want to start the process of fixing her up with a “suitable boy” as determined by family matchmakers. Jazz, however, is an all-American girl, and wants to date, and have boyfriends, and then fall madly in love, like in show more the bodice-ripper romances she is so fond of reading.

She gets lucky when one of her aunts proposes a young handsome boy from Canada who comes down to meet Jazz. He confides in her that he is gay, and suggests they pretend to like each other so that their respective parents will leave them alone. In time, Jazz and “Mit” become good friends, and the ruse seems to be working.

Meanwhile, Jazz, her best friend Cindy, and her childhood friend Jeevan (“Jeeves”), all members of the Future Stars and Leaders (FSL) Program at their high school, scheme to help find true love for Jazz’s Auntie Kinder.

When both Jazz and Mit become smitten for real, however, all the deceptions implode and seem to lead to disasters. Jazz’s parents threaten to send her to India, and Jazz isn’t sure anymore what love really is:

“Was I too busy looking for the giant, all-consuming love I’d read about; the one that woke sleeping beauties out of eternal sleep and whisked lovely maidens away from their wicked stepmothers, transforming them into princesses in glittering ball gowns? A love that sent my heart racing and made my tongue go numb; that made an FSL – Future Star and Leader – student like me do stupid things despite knowing better?

…What if Love wasn’t all that? What if it was quieter, like a whisper on a breeze that you had to listen real hard for? Or smaller, like a cardamom seed that’s soothing and pungent and explosive all at once?....”

Evaluation: In some ways, this story is similar to others involving high school girls finding out about the realities of romance. But it mixes in the wonderful flavor of Indian Punjabi culture to distinguish it from that and other YA books. The teens are basically good kids: they want to make their parents proud, but they want to be true to themselves as well. This book is charming and funny and poignant, and gets high school talk absolutely perfect. I definitely recommend this enjoyable read. show less

Shine, Coconut Moon really appealed to me because of the topics that it deals with. What does it mean to be an American? Can you be an American but still keep your old family traditions? I really liked how Neesha handles these topics. Samar knows nothing about her mother's family until her uncle steps back into her life. Along the way she learns that she can be an American while still following some of her family’s traditions. I really enjoyed how Samar grows and learns about her mother's show more side of the family. She has always tried to just fit in with her mostly white classmates but now she takes the time to speak with some other Indian students. This was really my favorite part of the book because it is so nice to see Samar expanding her world view. In the past she would always ignore her Indian classmates.Some of the secondary characters were also pretty interesting. I really loved Samar's uncle. He was such a kind and sweet man. I really want him to be my uncle. I thought that Samar's boyfriend was a real trip. He starts off as this nice guy but the second she starts to learn about her Indian culture he turns into a maniac. This was one of the things that bothered me about Shine, Coconut Moon. Mike seems to go from the sweet boyfriend to a stalker idiot in a matter of minutes. It seemed really rushed. I think that Shine, Coconut Moon would have a high rating from me had it been a bit longer.I enjoyed Shine, Coconut Moon and despite the fact that it seemed rushed the ending did wrap up nicely. I was able to kind of easy guess what was going to happen but I did get a little misty eyed a few times. I always enjoy a book that can make me that emotional.This was Neesha Meminger's first book and I really hope she writes more books. Especially books focusing on Indian culture. I also wish that she could come over here and make me some of the food described in Shine, Coconut Moon. I could really go for some Mutter Paneer right about now! Kudos to Neesha for the food cravings. show less

Jazz In Love was one of the first books I read this year, and honestly set the tone for me for the rest of my reads. It is a light, fun read that really opens your eyes into the Indian culture. Honestly, to dive into a culturally driven book that wasn't about an immigrant or about fighting blatant racism was really refreshing. It's not that I dislike books like that, not at all really. It's just nice to have a light and fun read about a girl who comes from another background. I fell in love show more with Jazz, and the rest was history.

Jazz, or Jasbir, is one of those characters that is so easy to relate to. Growing up in a very strict Punjabi family means Jazz isn't allowed to hug a boy in public, much less actually be attracted to one. Her future husband, because that's what she should be looking for, needs to meet all the requirements that her mom sets forth in the "Guided Dating Plan". After all, Jazz needs to have the structured life that her family sets forth. Right? Not according to Jazz. With heaping helping of wise-cracking and lots of sneaking around, Jazz is determined to live her own life. When Jazz sets her sights on the very UNsuitable hottie, I think that was my favorite part! Watching her grow and change was fabulous.

There are a lot of underlying messages in this story. Of course on the surface we watch Jazz as she learns to deal with (and bend) her parents very strict rules. She tackles figuring out what parts of what they say she should follow, and which parts she needs to forge her own opinion on. However there is also commentary on friendship here, as well as that battle that all adolescents fight: what is love? Jazz goes through what every teen girl or boy has at some point. An endless crush that seems like the real thing, but is it?

Honestly I loved every single part of Jazz In Love! I wish I could share more, but I failed to write my review right after I read the book and that book is on a tour. Yes my friends, I'm going off of pure memory right here. I can tell you that watching Jazz navigate her love life, her home life, and just the pitfalls of being a teenager was so much fun! I found myself completely in love with all the characters and their lives. This is one of those books that is so much fun to read that you'll breeze right through it! Quick, refreshingly sweet and amazing. Enjoy! show less

I’ll admit, at first I was worried that Shine, Coconut Moon was going to be a little bit too after-school special for my tastes. But considering the dearth, Mitali Perkins aside, of really good books about Southeast Asian American teens, I was willing to give it a try. And while it does sometimes feel like a laundry-list of after-school special issues are being addressed (Discovering your personal history and identity, prejudice from friends and bullies, AND 9/11? That’s hitting the show more trifecta right there!), Neesha Meminger does the one thing that can raise an “issues book” above feeling like a Lifetime movie: she writes it very well. The characters are complex, the writing is tight, and the situations build on each other in a way that keeps them from being preachy or unbelievable.Apart from her mother, Sameera has never met any of her family. Sam’s mother is estranged from her parents and is determined to raise Sam as a “normal” American girl. Sam has never learned about her Sikh heritage, met her uncle and grandparents, or learned even a word of Punjabi. She has no Indian friends at school. And while Sam has always wanted to meet her family, she has never given much thought to her heritage. But like many Americans, Sam’s way of looking at the world changes after September 11th. She experiences prejudice for the first time since she was a small child – sometimes from unexpected places. And her Uncle Sandeep reaches out to Sam’s mother, bringing family and all the complications that come with it into Sam’s life.The characterizations are a strong point in Meminger’s novel, and Sam’s two closest family members are perhaps the most interesting, especially in terms of their changing relationships with Sam. Sam’s mother, Sharan, is conflicted about her own heritage because of controlling treatment by her parents. She has tried desperately to shield Sam from their influence, and in doing so she has completely seperated Sam from her history and heritage. But this treatment from her mother leaves Sam feeling just as controlled and unfairly treated as Sharan did as a child. Sam’s mother must come to terms with her daughter embracing the family and culture that Sharan has turned her back on. And as her mother’s attempt at protection backfires, Sam’s relationship with her Uncle Sandeep grows. He acts as a catalyst for her attempts to learn about her heritage, and to reconcile her family’s culture with her own life. Their relationship is a very sweet one, which makes the extreme prejudice that Sam witnesses against her turban-wearing uncle even more affecting.Sam’s search for self also affects her relationship with her best friend, her boyfriend, and others from her school in very realistic ways. Sam’s growth is often difficult for the people who are closest to her, and I love that Meminger acknowledges and explores that side of her journey. In some cases Sam comes to very difficult realizations about people who she cares about, and in other cases the relationships eventually grow stronger. Sam also starts tentative relationships with other Indian girls at her school, one of whom demonstrates for Sam that unlike her mother, she does not have to definitively chose either her Sikh heritage or her American culture – she can learn to balance both.I did find the first half of the book a bit difficult to get through – I didn’t warm up to Sam until her growth arc was really moving along. But by the second half of the book, after she has met Uncle Sandeep and become curious about her family and her heritage, I was hooked. Sam goes through the search for identity that every teenager experiences, but because of her estrangement from her family and her complete lack of knowledge about her family’s culture, Sam’s journey is condensed into a short, intense period of time, making it especially powerful for the reader. show less