I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the Operation Mom Blog Tour!
Check out my post & enter the Givaway below!
About the Book
Operation Mom – My Plan to Get My Mom a Life and a Man
Author: Reenita M. Hora
Genre: Adult Contemporary
Publishing date: November 8th, 2022
Synopsis:
Ila Isham has a lot to worry about – the angst of being an Ali Zafar groupie and the extra layers of fat she has inherited from her Punjabi lineage. Add to this separated parents,an enthusiastic best friend, Deepali, whose idea of variety means dating three guys at the same time and Aunty Maleeka, mom’s BFF, whose savvy skills throw up more problems than solutions.
Ila’s life takes an exciting turn when she decides to hunt for the perfect partner for her mother. With a little help from Deepali, Aunty Maleeka and Dev of the inviting chocolate-pool eyes, she’ll have to brave it all – from Lagaan.com and Ok-cupid profiles to handlebar-moustache colonels and middle-aged psychos, if she wants to succeed in her quest!
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Interview
In one sentence, what was the road to publishing like?
A complete nightmare. HarperCollins India had published a version of this in the days before the dating apps. Years later, I decided to do an updated more fleshed out US/Western version. It was not easy to find a publisher at that point. I chose to go with an indie publisher called GenZ. I was really impressed with their editorial comments given my target audience. One the book was ready though, we had a complete nightmare with Amazon which really has to be one of the most user-unfriendly experiences of my author life. I felt completely shafted by the massive conglomerate and any amount of appealing for help changed anything. Completely contrary to what you would expect! It was a complete David and Goliath situation in which Amazon was the Goliath, GenZ was David and I was a helpless nobody trapped in between. I won’t go into the details but GenZ took the decision to find alternate publishing/distribution.
What is one piece of advice you would give to an aspiring author?
Keep a story journal or any place where you can log your ideas. Because if you are anything like me, you will have these light bulb moments and then the light bulb goes out leaving you wondering later on what that great idea was! And as I said earlier — just write. Don’t worry about refining and re-refining your first drafts. There’s plenty of time for prettying things up later.
Your book is set in Mumbai. Have you ever been there?
My book is set in contemporary Mumbai. I grew up in Bombay…in the days before it became Mumbai. Lots has changed …as with any city perhaps, but the underlying core is the same. This city defines a unique sense of values, culture, diversity and mindset that is peculiar to this place and this place only. My husband, also from Bombay and I have discussed many times that wherever we go in the world, if we run into a Bombay-ite, we immediately feel at home. And I know that I speak for every single Bombay-ite out there whether they are in Bombay or not.
How did you do research for your book?
Having grown up in Mumbai, the research was easy. I knew the places I wanted to set the story in. I knew what they were about and the kind of crazy character chaos that I would find in those locations. Of course, this being a YA book, me now being a full-fledged adult (at least in size if not maturity levels), I knew I had to be up with the ‘method of madness’ of the current Mumbai young adult. So I had huge amounts of fun talking to my school going nephew and his friends to learning the lingo, compare the mindset from my time to theirs and quickly adapt to the change. Then of course I had fun taking long bus rides through town and hanging out at places like Swati Snacks and Kalaghoda Cafe (locations referred to in the story) to people watch and eavesdrop on conversations. Research is really one of the most fun parts of creating a story.
Which was the hardest character to write? The easiest?
Oof, this is hard to say. Ila and Veena (mother and daughter) are essentially the same woman in two different generational bodies. So when I look at the zany women in my own household, Yours Truly in particular, it isn’t hard to come up with traits and quirks that easily define these main characters. As to the hardest character again…there has been
Giveaway
Prize:(1) print copy and swag–a postcard from Mumbai, book-centric decal, and Mumbai design notebook
Start: November 10th
End: November 17th
Enter HERE
Author Bio
Reenita Malhotra Hora is a founder, executive-level content, operations & marketing leader, and prolific writer. With multiple years of experience in media, entertainment, communications, tech/innovation and wellness industries in the USA and Asia, she grows organizations, ranging from early stage startups through mid-size businesses, through storytelling, creative marketing and business strategy.
Reenita has written seven books – five non fiction and two fiction. She is the writer, anchor and executive producer of Shadow Realm and True Fiction Project podcasts and founder of the Chapter by episode fiction app. She has contributed to The Hindu, South China Morning Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, CNN, Asian Investor, Times of India, National Geographic Kids, Cartoon Network Asia, Disney, and more.
For more information, visit Reenita at her website and on social media:
The Clever Reader 
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