Customer Reviews

Goddess for Hire

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

A terrific adventure. Unlikely and silly as the premise may be it is completely wonderful. Here is a book that embraces all the cliches of chick lit- coffee drinking shopaholic heroine in need of a purpose, a handsome hero who hides his true feelings to the end - and yet isn't made stale by them. This is a very fresh story with a completely engaging set of supporting characters. Loved it.

I read this book on a 5hr airplane ride - I found myself laughing outloud numerous times! The book is an easy read, and the story line will keep your interest. I found it hard to put the book down - in fact, I didn't. A good read if you're lookin for something light and comedic.

I could not put this put book down. It won't win any literary awards, but this author has class, style, and a wicked sense of humor. I spent two days lauging out loud as Maya found her way. Sonia Singh reminded me with her clever wit that life is too short to take it so seriously and sometimes you just have to strap on your sari and live a little...it's up to the goddesses of the word to make it all work. Excellent work young lady, you've got what it takes and I can't wait for Bollywood...

Being a second generation Indian-American, I have devoured books written by other Indian-American writers in the past few years. I've always had one complaint: Why are the women in these books always so miserable? From reading their books, one would think that Indian women have no happiness in their lives at all and they all suffer from terrible marriages and awful family lives and never find any kind of happiness. So for a while after being depressed by all the books, I had given up reading books by Indian authors. But then I came across Goddess for Hire and from reading the back I thought it would be different. I'm a fan of chick-lit and hoped to find a Desi version of Bridgett Jones in the pages of this book. I thought finally I was going to read a story where I could empathize with the heroine because she would be more like me. Boy was I wrong.

The book starts of great. Singh starts off well and I found myself enjoying what seemed to be a 30 year old Desi version of Cher from "Clueless". The first few chapters were great and then it took a turn for the worse. The whole goddess thing made no sense to me. The story was too light-hearted to be a "super hero" story. There also wasn't enough explanation as to where her powers came from. Nor was there any explanation as to why her relationship with her family was the way it was. Then there is Maya's romantic interest, Tahir who seems to come directly from the pages of a Bollywood movie script with his good looks and arrogance. His whole character felt fake like the writer was trying too hard to make him a character and nothing about him felt real. Plus she did not give enough background information on Tahir thus I could not understand where he was coming from or why he loved Maya.

And finally the ending was tied up way too nicely and easily. It was Deus Ex Machina at it's finest. The goddess saves the day causing the bad guys all of a sudden become good, she gets the guy, gets the adoration of her family and relatives, and reconnects with her brother and they all live happily ever after while all along she remains a spoiled and selfish brat. Though the author tries to remedy that at the end, one setance thrown into to show Maya's generosity does not do the deed.

Those are the bad points. If I was basing it only on those things then this would have received 1 star. But there were things I did enjoy about this book. It was light hearted and I think I would actually have enjoyed the whole thing more if the whole goddess portion was left out. It was quite funny at most parts and I did find myself laughing out loud many times. There were parts that played to the ABCD in me and for small portions of the book, I did find myself actually relating to Maya.

So over all, this is not a bad book though it has its bad parts and it is not a good book though it has its good parts. It's definitely an easy read and it won't take anyone long to read the entire book. It's not quite worth the money to buy, but I would recommend borrowing it from the library for a quick read.

I know this was supposed to be humorous, but it wasn't. You have stereotypes of everyone -- airhead Indian-American female, arrogant Indian immigrant male, crazy religious swami, clueless parents and adults. (OK, I did like a couple of the aunties). If you don't know Kali or Hindu mythology, you're not coming out any smarter.

My expectations were too high. The publisher's motto is "every good bag deserves a good book" -- therefore, this book is just an accessory to go with your bag to make it look like you're an eclectic reader.

Great.

This book was so much fun!! I was at Borders browsing for a book to read on a flight and came across this title. By the time the flight was over I was more than halfway through the story and totally hooked. Totally laughed my @#$ off. True, I'm from the OC but anyone can relate to the main character. I'll definitely be checking out other stuff from this author. Good work!!

I loved this book!!! Maya is your typical Newport Beach girl who turns thirty and discovers she's the incarnation of a Hindu Goddess. Since Maya's favorite activities are shopping and sleeping, fighting evil may just get in the way. I practically finished this book in one night. It's fast-paced and so much fun. Maya is the most unlikely person to ever be chosen as a goddess, but that's what makes the book great. We get to learn about being a goddess along with Maya! I also drooled over the romantic lead--Tahir! Now that I'm done with the book I'm going to go out and buy it for all my friends. Make no mistake--this book is very entertaining but also well-written and touching. Like Maya we're all looking for our purpose in life. Can't recommend this enough.

Although this book seemed like it was gonna be a chic story, I thought it was really good. Its about a woman who turns thirty and finds out that she's the incarnation of a hindu goddess. The main character thinks this is a joke because she's the most non-religious person alive. I think anyone who's wondered what their purpose in life is will really love this book. I actually found it to be really funny, which is hard to find in a book. Being that my family is also Indo-American, I could relate to the immigrant experience in the book but I think anyone would love it.

I felt that the writer tried too hard to be hip, cool and funny and because of this, it was difficult to read this book. I found myself searching for the next "excruciatingly contrived hip, cool phrase"; thereby I wasn't concentrating on the storyline.

It was nice to read a book where the lead Indian female character was empowered and not willing ot succumb to the "societal" pressures of getting married and serving a man. HOWEVER, this book went about it all wrong--it's major flaw? Making the lead character as unappealing as possible. She was an incredibly selfish, unloving individual who you great to detest more and more as you read through it. I kept waiting for her to redeem herself, but not once did you get to see the softer side of Maya.

And the storyline about her actually being the Goddess Kali--puh-leease. I have no problem with this idea, but it just didn't fit for me. Shouldn't someone who was a diety have some sense of right or wrong, have some semblance of human dignity? Here was a character who had no friends, treated a visitor from India like crap (she left him what, three times in the middle of three different dates??), and is an absolutely lazy bum.

Although I'm tired of the stereotypical way that South Asian woman are portrayed in books (weak, subservient, at the mercy of their husbands), I'm equally turned off by the character who makes South Asians women look just as bad.

I will say that I appreciated her "plugs" of common Indian stereotypes (Indian Standard Time, etc)--but they seemed to be thrown in randomly.