Rani Deshpande Takes the Wheel by Arushi Avachat (2026)
Charming and fun every step of the way......or should I say every stop sign along the way.....
19 year old Rani felt like a lonely outcast during her college freshman year away from home. So as summer unfolds, she's transferred to a University close to home, bringing her back into the loving, but constantly overbearing embrace of her large, extended Desi family,....(aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, in-laws,, her tween twin brothers.......and Kush Khanna, that annoying, cooler-than-cool long-ago childhood crush)
Rani's loaded up a full plate this summer before her sophomore year - an internship with a famously demanding professor, re-connecting with her best friend, helping to raise those rambunctious twins (a thankless task expected by her mother) and finally getting around to driving lessons. and at long last a license. But guess whom the family has entrusted Rani's driver's education to?
Naturally, some sparks fly and some fenders crumple as the taciturn Kush and the say-the-first-thing-on-her-mind Rani clash during those literally bumpy driving lessons......but sooner or later , you know those sparks will start to change from angry to not-too-angry to way-less-than-angry and then to.......do I really need to explain further?
As Rani and Kush slowly but surely move from antagonists to....uh , something else, there's plenty of family meddling and gatherings that guarantee humor, strife, heart..... and always luscious food. It turns into a summer of revelations for Rani and she travels into adulthood not expecting to find love along for the ride.
And just in time in time for the warmer days,, author Arushi Avachat serves up this perfect beach read, or for any other time as well.
19 year old Rani felt like a lonely outcast during her college freshman year away from home. So as summer unfolds, she's transferred to a University close to home, bringing her back into the loving, but constantly overbearing embrace of her large, extended Desi family,....(aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, in-laws,, her tween twin brothers.......and Kush Khanna, that annoying, cooler-than-cool long-ago childhood crush)
Rani's loaded up a full plate this summer before her sophomore year - an internship with a famously demanding professor, re-connecting with her best friend, helping to raise those rambunctious twins (a thankless task expected by her mother) and finally getting around to driving lessons. and at long last a license. But guess whom the family has entrusted Rani's driver's education to?
Naturally, some sparks fly and some fenders crumple as the taciturn Kush and the say-the-first-thing-on-her-mind Rani clash during those literally bumpy driving lessons......but sooner or later , you know those sparks will start to change from angry to not-too-angry to way-less-than-angry and then to.......do I really need to explain further?
As Rani and Kush slowly but surely move from antagonists to....uh , something else, there's plenty of family meddling and gatherings that guarantee humor, strife, heart..... and always luscious food. It turns into a summer of revelations for Rani and she travels into adulthood not expecting to find love along for the ride.
And just in time in time for the warmer days,, author Arushi Avachat serves up this perfect beach read, or for any other time as well.
4 stars (****).
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