When Tara Met Farah by Tara Pammi is a romantic coming of age story with a Bollywood backdrop.
At nineteen, Tara Muvvala is the only one of her friends not to have graduated high school. All that stands between her and her diploma is a single math class that she just cannot pass. Thankfully, she has her Bollywood dance group and her YouTube channel where she vlogs about food.
Farah Ahmed is running away. She’s adrift after her mother’s death and leaves the world she knew to study in America. She’s a genius at math and working with Professor Muvvala is a great honor.
Tara is pure energy, while Farah is reserved. Both have a lot to learn and a lot of growing up to do, but just maybe, doing it together is what they need.
Pros And My Favourite Parts
There is a definite grumpy/sunshine dynamic in this book that’s a lot of fun. Farah is so closed off to everything while Tara is a total free spirit. I love that Farah is able to see this aspect of Tara long before she sees it herself.
I’m so glad we’re starting to see some really great work like this that explores coming of age from a place where the characters are a little older and doesn’t focus on their coming out experiences. However, not all of the experiences explored deal specifically with coming of age. Pammi has done a fantastic job of addressing not only Farah’s grief over losing her mother but also Tara’s grief over the passing of her Thaatha.
Cons And Heads Up
Two very minor issues. The first, I found it occasionally confusing as we switched between the two POVs. Where Tara’s POV is written in first person, Farah’s POV is in third person. While an interesting choice, that I understand the purpose of, it does make it occasionally difficult when the scene shifts.
Second, I found the dialogue occasionally clunky with Tara’s dialogue seeming to overuse terms of endearment.
The Conclusion
This was a cute read, and despite the heavy subject matter, it was funny and enjoyable. Whether you enjoy new adult or not, this one is worth a look.
Excerpt from When Tara Met Farah by Tara Pammi
My confused mind registered the most delicious part first, of course. The stranger in my bathroom was a girl. A hot girl, to be precise. I’d have totally squee-d at this meet-cute in a movie.
If not for the fact that I’d just yelled at a hundred-year-old statute like a maniac, I’d have wondered if I’d walked into someone else’s house.
But this way my house, my basement, my bathroom. The one that usually looked like a hurricane had passed through. The marble counter where I usually dumped several bottled in different colors and sizes looked neat and tidy.
A vase full of bright pink mums took pride of place on the floating shelves Zen had put in for me last year. All my various cosmetic bottles and lipsticks had been set up on the small pressed wood shelf I’d brought ages ago but had left on the floor in its packaging. The white tile floor that Thaatha and I’d picked when we’d renovated the basement gleamed now that the tiles were visible again.
Someone had tidied up my bathroom. Tidied, not cleaned. I pointed out that distinction to myself.
I was an untidy person. Not a dirty one.
In a matter of a few seconds, I took all this in. And then my gaze moved towards the someone.
She stepped out of the shower, grabbed an unfamiliar looking towel from the bar and covered herself. Not fast enough for my eyes to have missed the glorious sight of her nakedness though.
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Bits and Bobs
- AISN number: B08GP6YKT4
- Publisher: Indie author
- Tara Pammi Online
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