Episode 222 #HomagetoJane: Talking Jane Austen with Sonali Dev

Hey campers&#8212;I hate reading you all a canned intro to our authors every time, so I&#8217;m winging it with our guest, <a href="https://sonalidev.com/">Sonali Dev</a>. I&#8217;m a fan of hers, so I feel like I know all the things. She&#8217;s the author of four straight-up romances, but her last-book-but one is the start of a series written in homage to Jane Austen, as is her latest, both set among the members of a politically ambitious Indian family in California. Why Jane Austen? Because, as Sonali says, &#8220;those were the first books I read about women wanting things and getting them. Instead of ending up crazy or dead.&#8221;<br/><br/>We talk the pros and cons of writing from such revered material, whether readers are &#8220;looking for Lydia,&#8221; the need to make your heroine &#8220;likeable&#8221; (pro tip: the female Darcy is hard sledding) and supplying recipes for hungry readers. <br/><br/>Links from the pod: <br/><br/><a href="https://www.instagram.com/sonali.dev">Sonali Dev on IG</a><br/><br/><a href="https://www.subscribepage.com/m2b4d7">Newsletter with a recipe booklet, recommendations, and a really bad joke.</a><br/><br/>#AmReading<br/><br/>Sonali: <a href="https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9781728206141">Boyfriend Material</a> by Alexis Hall<br/><br/><a href="https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9781732144347">The Kingmaker</a> by Kennedy Ryan<br/><br/>KJ: <a href="https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9780399587689">The Proposal</a> by Jasmine Guillory<br/><br/><a href="https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9780063008465">Perfect Happiness</a> by Kristyn Kusek Lewis<br/><br/>Sarina: <a href="https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9781541736122">Pale Rider</a> by Laura Spinney<br/><br/><a href="https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9780143036494">The Great Influenza</a> by John M. Barry<br/><br/>Thanks to everyone who supports the podcast financially. To join that team, click the button below:<br/><br/>But it&#8217;s all good. The pod is free as it always has and always will be. This shownotes email is free, too, so please&#8212;forward it to