One type-A data analyst discovers her free-spirited side on an impulsive journey from bustling Mumbai to the gorgeous beaches of Goa and finds love waiting for her on Christmas morning.
We chat with author Sonya Lalli about her latest book release A Holly Jolly Diwali, along with writing, book recommendations, and more!
Hi, Sonya! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
I’m from Canada and I’m a romance and women’s fiction author of Punjabi and Bengali heritage. I grew up in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, but after spending time living in London and Toronto, my husband and I now call Vancouver home. I have a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and I love travelling, doing yoga, playing piano, reading and my new goldendoodle puppy, Joey!
When did you first discover your love for writing?
I think I’ve always loved books. I’ve been told that my very first book was one that I made myself out of construction paper and the story featured a talking snake. I don’t remember much about it so I must have been very young. My mom still has that book – she kept it as proof that I’ve always wanted to be an author.
As I grew up, the more I read, the more I wanted to write my own stories too. Reading and writing have always been a huge part of who I am.
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
As a child, the first book series that I remember reading again and again was the Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. It’s a series of children’s books based on her childhood in the American Midwest in the late 1800s. I loved reading about her life, her family and her journey. The stories really resonated with me because I, like the author, grew up on the prairies.
I don’t really have a book that made me want to become an author since I’ve always wanted to write, but one book that I always recommend to people is My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite. This book has everything to keep a reader interested: a complex protagonist, a vibrant setting, and a dangerous love triangle. But what I think makes this book really great is the relationship between Korede (the heroine) and her younger sister Ayoola (the serial killer). The book’s description of their bond as sisters and how it transcends their circumstances will resonate with anyone who’s ever had a complicated relationship full of love and resentment, loyalty and betrayal.
Your latest novel, A Holly Jolly Diwali, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Festive. Romantic. Adventurous. Joyful. Swoony!
What can readers expect?
While I write both romance and women’s fiction, A Holly Jolly Diwali is definitely more on the romance spectrum.
The book is about Niki Randhawa – she’s 29 and has always made practical decisions. Despite her love for music and art, she became an analyst for the stability. She’s always stuck close to home, in case her family needed her. And she’s always dated guys that seem good on paper, rather than the ones who give her butterflies. Although Niki is Indian, she grew up in the USA and has never visited the country her family came from. When she’s laid off, Niki realizes that practical hasn’t exactly paid off for her. So for the first time ever, she throws caution to the wind and books a last-minute flight for her friend Diya’s wedding in Mumbai.
Niki arrives in India just in time to celebrate Diwali, the festival of lights, where she meets hot, hot, hot London musician Sameer Mukherji. Maybe it’s the splendor of Mumbai or the magic of the holiday season, but Niki is immediately drawn to Sam. At the wedding, the champagne flows and their flirtatious banter makes it clear that the attraction is mutual.
Throughout her journey Niki experiences both the bad, like colourism, sexual harassment, and the realities of discovering her identity in a new country and the good, including a newfound passion in her whirlwind fling with Sam, and the joys of discovering her own roots.
Where did the inspiration for A Holly Jolly Diwali come from?
I love watching Netflix and Hallmark romantic comedies and holiday romances, like Holidate and The Knight Before Christmas, and was inspired to write a holiday romance that reflected the experiences of someone like me – a South Asian living in North American who celebrates Christmas, but also celebrates Diwali from my own culture.
Can you tell us about any challenges you faced while writing and how you were able to overcome them?
I have personally experienced many of the things that my main character, Niki, experiences, including understanding her own prejudices about India and the conflicts within herself about her cultural identity. Writing this book gave me an opportunity to do some self-reflection and grow as a person and I tried to reflect some of that self-journey into Niki’s journey.
One challenge that I faced was the location research for the book. Although I’ve been to India several times, including Mumbai where most of the book is set, because of the pandemic I wasn’t able to travel there to do further research. I also wasn’t able to visit Goa, where the characters go on holiday. I had to do a lot of careful research to make sure I was as thoughtful and accurate as possible.
Were there any favourite moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I loved writing the scene where Niki and Sam first lay eyes on each other. Niki is partying with Sam’s mother, Asha Auntie, and Sam is on stage playing the bass guitar but Niki doesn’t realise that the two of them are connected. Niki and Sam’s chemistry is explosive and obvious, and Niki really embarrasses herself when she realizes that Sam may not have been looking at her the whole time, but instead at his mother! (Of course, you find out quite quickly Sam really did notice Niki, too.)
What do you love about the romance genre?
The Happily Ever After feeling through and through. You get to explore complicated characters, see how they approach relationships, feel their angst and then cheer at their happiness. At the very core of every romance story are people just trying to connect with each other and that’s something most of us can relate to, especially now, when so many of us are feeling isolated because of the pandemic. Readers can experience so many emotions reading romance and it’s a nice way to escape into a story, even if only for a little while.
What’s the best and the worst writing advice you have received?
The best advice: Read as much as you can, across genres. Reading a broad range of stories really helps your own writing in so many ways, including learning to think critically, structuring your story, and developing dialogue.
The worst advice: Write what will sell/is popular. I know some writers look at what is trendy and try to write things that will get them agented/published and while I guess that is one way to go about it, I don’t think that it works for everyone. If you have a story inside of you that just needs to get out, you should write it.
What’s next for you?
My next romance will feature Niki’s older sister, Jasmine! She is a fun, complicated character with her own journey, and I am excited to get to explore it and her romantic life in my next romance, which should be out in 2023. I’ve never written a companion novel before and I’m right in the middle of the process right now – it’s been really fun to bring in characters from A Holly Jolly Diwali into this new book.
Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
Along with My Sister is a Serial Killer, which I mentioned above, I am also a huge Uzma Jalaluddin fan. I would absolutely recommend Hana Khan Carries On to everyone. I loved it – it’s a sweet romcom-type story – think You’ve Got Mail, but with poutine, podcasts and rival Halal restaurants! There are tougher issues dealt with as well, such as the immigrant experience in Canada, and Islamophobia. The book balances it all out so well and it’s ends up being a thoughtful, delightful, brilliant, multicultural story.
