Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my ARC of the audiobook of this short story collection! There wasn’t really a bad story in this collection, all of them enjoyable in their own way, though of course some were more memorable/impactful than others. Most of them explore the lives of South Asian women and the relationships they form - mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, aunts and nieces. Cultural appropriation, not feeling ‘Asian enough’, gentrification, tokenism, and gender roles are all recurrent themes in this collection.

My favourites were the two stories about the young woman and her levitating aunt. The realistic setting with a touch of the surreal was so well done, and I loved the themes of women not playing into the expected gender norms of their heritage. I also really loved the story where a woman gets onto what’s obviously meant to be The Great British Bake Off, or its Canadian equivalent - so good! Then there was the story where a woman interrogates why she always feels the need to use her husband’s name when making bookings, showing how people of colour are constantly pressurised to take up less space than their white peers.

I have to say I didn’t love the narration, as it sometimes felt a bit flat. But overall, such a solid collection!