“Mary Poser” by Angel A. is a novel that presents a mix of romance, humor, and cultural exploration. The narrative follows Mary, a social worker from Nashville, who encounters Simha Das, a young Bollywood filmmaker, at the Nashville Film Festival. The book is noted for its portrayal of Nashville and its characters.

The themes of self-discovery, perfectionism, societal expectations, multiculturalism, religion, and mental health are woven throughout the story. While some readers may find Mary’s character development to be gradual, others might appreciate the novel for its engaging plot and the protagonist’s journey towards understanding her spirituality.

In addition to these elements, the novel also touches upon the challenges of intercultural relationships and the complexities of balancing personal beliefs with professional responsibilities. Mary’s interactions with her diverse group of friends and colleagues provide a rich backdrop for exploring these issues. The book’s setting in Nashville adds an authentic Southern charm to the narrative, making it a relatable read for those familiar with the city’s culture and lifestyle.

Thanks to the publisher and author for the ARC provided via NetGalley; this is my unbiased feedback.

Book Review:
Mary Poser by Angel A
Angel's Leap, 21st August 2017
⭐️ - DNF

Synopsis:
Cultures clash when Bollywood meets the Bible Belt in this award-winning multicultural journey of self-discovery.

There's troubled love in Music City, USA. Despite deeply entrenched obstacles, Southern Belle, Mary, falls for a visiting Bollywood director, Simha Das. A life-changing event leads to questions about who or what intervenes.

Review:
I debated adding my review of this book here, but reviews are all about the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Although I persevered with this book, picking it up several times over a year, I abandoned it at various stages and did not finish it (DNF) as there were so many things that bothered me about it.

Despite Mary being described as someone who goes out of her way to make everyone like her, I found her completely unlikeable.

The book appears to be about racism, but the author has used quite problematic language when describing some of the characters.

There are a couple of places where the author has used different tenses in the same paragraph, which is confusing.

The plot has more holes than my poor attempts at knitting.

This book is described as award-winning. Seriously?

😬😬😬

Well, the American South is known for the Southern Belles, their fate and their racism, and all of these aspects are visible in this novel.

We have Mary Poser, a Southern belle, born to a religious family. Her father is a Baptist minister and her mother is such a religious person, that needs her three children to follow God’s rules line by line. Her mother was married right after high school and therefore judges her sister that hasn’t married yet, and her daughters and son for not having followed her footsteps yet. So she is very fond of Jason, Mary’s old boyfriend. Jason is Toby’s best friend. Toby is Mary’s brother and the two young men are on a country music band., whose biggest fan is Mary. But, Jason cheated on Mary and this is why the two of them broke up. Nobody really seems to care about this fact, but they are all willing to overlook

Mary has two friends, Chloe and Alice. Chloe is a gorgeous black woman with sassy attitude and is pursuing a career in acting. While Alice is Maori and has travelled in so many places, unlike Mary who hasn’t been anywhere! The three of them get along very well, even if Mary is always late at their meetings, or if at times it seems that Chloe cares only about herself. On one of those nights that they are out on a gala, supporting Chloe, the girls meet a couple of move producers and directors. One of them is Simha, an Indian director that is dazzled by Mary and the two of them connect instantly. They become fiends very soon and they keep in touch, despite being in different continents.

I wanted to really like this book, and I did, but not as much as I expected. I just could not understand Mary, who was trying to please everyone else, but never herself. She was trying to be the best daughter, the best Christian the best girlfriend to someone that was not supporting her and clearly did not love her. She didn’t really see the flaws on her mother’s behaviors. The woman did not care about her daughter’s happiness. She only cared about her daughter following her standards with respect to God and family. She was such a narrow minded person and a racist. And don’t get me started on Jason. He only cared about Mary when he learned that she met Simha, he cheated on her, let’s not forget that part… He wanted Mary to be on all his performances with the band, even if that meant that she would be all night alone at a noisy bar, waiting for him, just so she could applaud and make other people applaud too. They never went on dates, they never spent time together and this was supposed to be a romantic relationship!

While Simha on the other hand always sent her messages and gifts and took the time, through his busy schedule, to devote to their communication. He even flew back to the US for her. He truly had feelings for her and she for him, but she was always putting obstacles in their path, as she didn’t want to let herself enjoy what they could have.

I don’t know. Maybe it wasn’t the right time for me to read this book, so others may enjoy it more.

Thank you to NetGalley & Angel’s Leap for an advance copy of this book. The views expressed are my personal and honest opinion.

10% in, after a fifth attempt to get into the book, it officially hit my "DNF" shelf for good. I found the main character totally unlikable, which is mainly bad because she's supposed to be the girl who does whatever it takes to make people like her.

Not sure about this book it was well written i did read but could not conet with it but a good story

Fabulous read, I couldn’t put it down! Romantic, humorous, insightful and highly entertaining. It touches on some interesting and diverse themes such as multiculturalism, religion, spirituality, mental health, friendship and love. It was written so well and I loved this one a lot.

This was a cute read. I found myself enjoying it. There's country music, so I'm all in!

Mary Poser wasn't a character I could completely relate to, but I liked her overall.

I adored the humorous and at times awkward, yet endearing moments between Mary and Simha, and was particularly fond of the insightful quotes regarding love that were used for each chapter heading.

"Butterflies and White Lies in Bollywood"

A very light hearted fluffy sort of book, ideal for anyone wanting a gentle romance. Bit too long and dragged in the middle, but fairly enjoyable.

Very much enjoyed this book, it was interesting and captivated my time and attention.

A very interesting tale that held my attention all the way through. Great plot, twists and turns & the writing kept me hopping! Thanks for the opportunity with this ARC!

I must admit, I read this entire book in my Reba McIntyre voice !

This was, or seemed like, a cheerful comedy / romance to me. It is written in first person, and it read pretty much like a journal most of the time. At 50% - I almost gave up. It was uneventful. Glad I kept reading because it did get “eventful”.

This is a good, easy/funny book to read between some of those more complex books.

This was a fun little Rom-Com. I was kind of excited about it because it's set in the south, where I have lived my entire life. True, it's set in Nashville, TN and I live in South Carolina, but the cultures are very similar. It was interesting reading about the food and the people and nodding my head thinking, "Yeap, I know people just like that." So, yeah, that was fun! I couldn't find information on the author anywhere online, but I'm guessing the author is very familiar with the Nashville culture and the stereotypical people there, because they were described in great detail throughout the book.

Unfortunately, I wasn't so excited about the writing. I was frustrated with the tense. It was written in first person past tense until the author started describing something and then it switched to present tense. It may have been because that wall is still currently green, but it was very distracting as a reader. There were also quite a few grammatical errors that kept pulling my attention away from the story.

The characters were fun, but very predictable.

To be honest, I don’t love the description and I’m not sure I would have picked it up to read had I not received an invitation directly from NetGally, which I had been wanting to join. I’m really glad I got past the sort of silly description and read the book!

I like to read books that speak to reality in an entertaining and enlightening way, and that’s exactly what this book does. Through Mary’s journey of self-discovery and her struggle to be true to herself rather than live the life expected of her, the author examines issues of religion, stereotypes and prejudice, and mental illness.

Some my favorite parts of the book, because they taught me the most, were the parts where the aforementioned Anglo Indian, Simha Das, explains his Hindu beliefs to Mary Poser, the Nashville girl. Knowing virtually nothing about Hinduism, I found a surprising amount of commonalities with Catholic Christianity. Even more interestingly to me, the things I found common to Catholicism were often the things Mary found most unlike her Baptist faith (particularly in the realm of sexuality).

The book is full of references to common stereotypes and prejudices. I’m not sure whether it makes the story more or less believable that Mary’s family manages to deal with all the hot-button issues: race, sexuality, religious beliefs. Mrs. Poser, Mary’s mother, is the character who embodies the majority of the unsavory behavior. She is a stereotype, while believing and perpetuating every stereotype about anyone unlike her. She’s pretty much insufferable, and though she comes around at the end I find her redemption a little too convenient.

Mary’s personal journey forms the basis of the story and is the most compelling part of the book. It has a very powerful metaphor in Mary’s inability to cross a particular bridge, and is full of lots of insights about a young girl trying to figure out who she is and how to find her own way in the world. While the outward issue is that Mary falls in love with an Indian Hindu man in Nashville (the horror!), Mary’s inner dialogue reveals her struggle with mental illness, particularly anxiety and self-harm. She feels she has a role to fulfil in life and struggles to allow herself the freedom to break out of the mold her upbringing has forced her into. The author, I think, does a superb job of illuminating the inner workings of an anxious mind through telling the story from Mary’s point of view. My only grievance is that I’m not satisfied with the resolution. While Mary has moments of clarity, she seems unable to actually recognize her anxiety issues (for example, she chafes at being prescribed medication for anxiety when she sees a doctor for recurring stomach issues); similarly, I feel the self-harm (specifically, cutting) issue is inadequately resolved and not given the weight it deserves.

One thing that sticks with me all these months later (that I didn’t have to reread my Kindle notes to remember) is a discussion Mary and Simha have about using the term “busy” as cover for “unhappy” when asked how one is doing – as in, “How have you been?” “Oh, you know… busy” – because “busy” seems important. I don’t think it’s an expression I’m guilty of using in that context, but it has caused me to reevaluate what it is that I’m “too busy” for, to make sure those things that truly matter don’t get lost.

I found the book entertaining, well-written, and to be an interesting cultural study. Best of all, I learned from it and it made me think.

An easy read about Mary Poser, a Nashville woman with a small town upbringing. She happens to meet Simha, an Indian film director, and opposites attract but will their upbringing and different lifestyles keep them apart? It was a fun read!

This was a feel good read. Mary was a frustrating character - at times too goody two shoes, doing everything her southern, religious mother expects and then seeming more like a modern normal girl when with her friends. Clearly her meeting with Simha was out of character and going to earth shattering. I enjoyed following the story, and could understand the guilt, but it was extreme. I was willing Mary to cross that bridge throughout the book following her accident, and I was very glad she had her aunt to add a touch of modern thinking to her conscience. In many ways Mary appeared older than her years, but incredibly naive. A very likeable character, and the characters throughout were well developed. I was willing her brother to come out throughout the book, making the assumption that he was in a relationship with Jason. How that assumption panned out, I won't disclose as a spoiler! And I loved Mary's dad, put upon but with his own spirit shining through. And good old grandpa with a glint in his eye. I did feel I knew the family and Mary's friends, and watched her on/off relationship with the gorgeous Simha with interest.

I'm not sure how this came to me, except that I got an e-mail telling me I'd been approved for it at NetGalley. Did I really request this? Why don't I have a record of it?

Not an auspicious start, and then I read the back cover copy and... really. HOW did this book come to me? Is this part of some eager author's marketing, where reviewers are pretty much forced to read and review or take a hit to their NetGalley stats, possibly causing them to lose out on books they'd prefer to read?

Well, I figured, it's here so I may as well read it. I took it with me to the doctor's office and... I gave up at the 4% mark. I know: that's not really a fair chance. Except, it was.

Look, I'm a professional freelance editor. And when a book opens with this much microdetail about how a character gets dressed, and we meet her friends, one of whom says "Bro" every time she opens her mouth, well... experience has taught me that as an editor, I've got my work cut out for me. There's a lot this author needs to learn about craft.

Only, she's not my client. And I'm not getting paid to help her produce the best book possible. So why am I reading this?

That's why I stopped. I have other clients who want to learn to master the craft of writing, and I have even more clients who are much further along in the journey to master it. When I sit to read, I want to read polished writing that will help me help my clients. This only made me want to help the author -- assuming she's willing and able to pay my fees.

The book was interesting. The writing was excellent but there was such a huge focus on the race of the protagonists love interest, that it was uncomfortable. The book also didn't really make sense. It was clear that the main character liked the main love interest, yet she was engaged and was in a relationship with someone else. It didn't make sense.

There were some parts that I enjoyed. Some of the moments where cute and even swoon worthy.