Jen’s Book Nook

Divining the Leaves follows the adventure of Ridhi and Nilesh as they find their way into the world of Hindu folklore. Ridhi grew up believing in gods and other magical folk and desperately wanted to be there more than that of the mortal world. Nilesh was offered the chance to be in this mythical place after discovering everyone in his family but him knew about the struggle his parents were having with their marriage.

The world building and heavy descriptions of the cultural and ethnic items from food to dance to mythology is jam packed in this book. And man, I got hungry reading about the food! 😂 I admit, I had to look up a lot of the terms because I’m not that familiar with the names of things but I know what some of them are. Minor detail that didn’t stop me from reading this book. The emotional struggle Ridhi and Nilesh go through in their personal lives hit hard. The want to be their own person, to live without knowing they’re left out is pretty much what any young person goes through today. 

I love the blending of the mortal world and the mythical. In my mind, I can see all of the vibrant colors and imagine the smells of the spices of the food, the smells of flowers and nature. And while it seems lengthy to go into all of that, I believe the author is trying to convey her heritage into this book. I can appreciate that so it becomes an Owned Voice and representation of the Indian culture. With Ridhi’s beliefs and Nilesh’s skepticism, it was a great read to follow them down this brightly colored rabbit hole. 

Thank you to the author, Epic Reads and Colored Pages Book Tours for having me on the tour and for the #giftedbook I featured before the tour began.