Author Spotlight: Sinclair Jayne Sawney with an Upcoming New Book and a Great Giveaway!
Congratulations, Kate Bobb! You are Sinclair’s winner! She will be in touch with you! Thanks to everyone who stopped by and took the time to participate! We love it when you do!
It’s such a treat to welcome amazing author, Sinclair Jayne Sawney to the Spotlight! Not only is she a great writer, she’s also my editor and my friend, which makes today a triple treat! Sinclair is a former journalist and middle school teacher who holds a BA in Political Science and K-8 teaching certificate from the University of California, Irvine and a MS in Education with an emphasis in teaching writing from the University of Washington. She has worked as Senior Editor with Tule Publishing for over seven years. Writing as Sinclair Jayne she’s published fifteen short contemporary romances with Tule Publishing with another four books being released in 2021. Married for over twenty-four years, she has two children, and when she isn’t writing or editing, she and her husband, Deepak, are hosting wine tastings of their pinot noir and pinot noir rose at their vineyard Roshni, which is a Hindi word for light-filled, located in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Shaandaar!
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Swipe Right for Marriage
By Sinclair Jayne Sawhney
I’m excited for the second book in my Misguided Masala Matchmaker series, Swipe Right for Marriage, to be released because it is a book heavily intertwined with my family in Charlotte. First, the story revolves around the Festival of India in Charlotte, North Carolina, and my sister-in-law is one of the founding members on the festival board. She has been in charge of the festival for over twenty years and has steered it from an afternoon of music, dance and homemade Indian food to a highly planned two-day weekend festival of cultural celebrations that includes lectures on culture and history and demonstrations of dance, music and cooking. There are artists, vendors and chefs and so much more. The Charlotte Festival of India is now one of the largest in the country.
It was so much fun to curl up on a couch and interview my sister-in-law about how the festival has evolved over the years—we never get enough time together. I kept trying to get some “drama” or juicy gossip, but my sister-in-law, Tulika is very calm and organized and takes dedication and details to an orbital level. She laughed at my efforts to draw her out until I saw a picture of a huge blue Ganesh on her phone. Ganesh is the elephant god. He is often depicted looking quite vibrantly festive, but I’ve never seen him blue. I asked why and suddenly she was talking about how the idol had been part of the wedding, and he’d been so difficult to carry to safety when the freak storm and tornado hit during the wedding demonstration. What? How had I not heard this? I had my moment.
The second reason to book is close to my heart is that the “wedding demonstration” that happens during the Festival of India in the book was real. My niece married a few years ago, and because my sister-in-law had traveled to India to gather so many wedding items (weddings are HUGE business in India and in the Indian culture—slow your roll, Kardashians), she decided to add a wedding demonstration to the festival, so my niece Reeva and her new husband Jon reenacted parts of their wedding as if they were Bollywood stars.
And a third reason I was excited to write Swipe Right for Marriage was because never have I ever written two such ambitious, competitive characters. My romance love was kindled so many decades ago first by Barbara Cartland (yes, aristocrats) and then Harlequin Presents (oooooh those alphas), but this was the first time I had written a true alpha male, so of course I wanted to give him an alpha female. So much fun. The sparks flew as they each vied for top dog position—so different from how I live my life but what a ride. The best part—all the “flaws” that the hero’s mother saw in the heroine that made her an unsuitable bride, were the things he LOVED best about her.
Who doesn’t want a hero who thinks you rock? And the cherry on top—it is a reunion romance with a secret I didn’t even see coming until close to the end.
Love that when my characters have minds of their own.
I hope you get a chance to read Swipe Right for Marriage. It releases September 20, 2022.
And now for the giveaway.
For anyone interested in receiving a signed print copy of book one in the Misguided Masala Matchmaker series, A Hard Yes, along with a few other goodies–$10 Starbucks card, chocolate, Ganesh key chain and possibly a surprise second book—I have a question for you. Do you have any personal or family lore stories about when a wedding, or special event was interrupted by weird weather, act of God, unexpected guest or something else that disrupted the moment?
Swipe Right for Marriage
Who needs a husband?
Corporate attorney Shanti Kapoor is not falling into the arranged marriage trap her family has set. Too bad her skillful dodge is thwarted by her younger sister, who accidentally sets Shanti back in the sights of her law school nemesis and fiercest competitor, Rakesh Singh. She and Rakesh have a history she’d rather forget, but now she owes him a favor that Rake’s definitely collecting on. Worse, playing the part of Rakesh’s bride at Charlotte’s Festival of India dredges up emotions Shanti thought she’d forever buried.
Rakesh has goals far beyond the DA’s office in Charlotte and a strategy for every move he makes. He only hesitated once to chase something he desired—Shanti Kapoor. Not this time. Rakesh knows he’s got one shot, so when fate plays into his hands, he shamelessly seizes advantage.
Shanti and Rake are at the top of their game. Their chemistry is explosive and someone’s going to get hurt. But all’s fair in love and war—and with these two, it’s always been both.
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17 Comments
Kris Bock
This book sounds so fun! My own wedding was very low-key. We invited the two people who were instrumental in our getting together, hired an officiant for one hundred dollars, wore clothes we already had (a vivid blue dress for me and a matching blue shirt for him), and got married in the foothills of Albuquerque. We went to an Indian buffet for lunch, and they brought out a special selection of mixed desserts as a surprise. Then we called our parents to tell them. We saved a ton of money and hassle and were able to afford the down payment on a house instead because our parents gave us some money for that instead of for a big wedding!
Kimberly Field
I loved getting to know more about this series and can’t wait to read the first two and get caught up. I love learning about different cultures and traditions. My mom’s fourth marriage, which lasted for almost 30 yrs, my step dad passed away 3 yrs ago, has always been the joke that she was a mail ordered bride. My mom sent cards to any service person during the Desert Storm, and he pulled her card out of a huge barrel, they started writing back and forth. Long story short, they met for the 1st time in June, and were married in Nov. They had only met in person 3 times, when they married, and lived in different states. I am sure a lot of people thought it would never last. We were on our way to CA for the wedding from CO, a huge snowstorm hit the day we flew out, we were actually in a plane crash on the runway, luckily all worked out well, but I did look at my mom and ask her if she was sure this wasn’t a sign to not go, but we were rescued and they got us to Denver, made another flight with only the wedding clothes, all luggage stayed on the plane. My mom was interviewed and was shown on CNN, and people were calling my step dad and asking if his soon to be bride was in a plane crash in CO and on the news.
Sinclair Jayne
That is so dramatic and scary and romantic all at once. Reality often has the edge over fiction.
Kimberly Field
So very true!
Debra Pruss
Our wedding was delayed because the minister could not find his robe. He could not remember where he had put it. The song came on for my Dad and I to walk down the asle, the minister was in the narthex running around looking for his robe. I was in tears. In the end, he found it. We were married. We have been married for 33 years. Thank you so much for sharing. God bless you.
Sinclair Jayne
That sounds so stressful and also—i retrospect hilarious. It’s so visual—the minister running around looking 4 his robe.
Sinclair Jayne Sawhney
Hi everyone,
I love having Nan in my life as a friend and an author. She is funny, kind and brilliant, and her personality it reflected in her own books set in Rivers Edge. I know I asked about a time when your big plans or an event were impacted by something unexpected or dramatic–such as the massive storm that hit downtown Charlotte much larger and closer than what had been predicted when my uber organized sister-in-law had minutely planned the festival and the wedding demonstration. I would never think that the weather would dare interfere with my sister-in-law, Tulika (Toni)’s plans. For my own wedding it POURED rain. Just POURED starting about an hour before (our pictures were fine–me dancing in the cobblestone roundabout at the Sorrento) guests arrived–some of then absolutely drenched. Yikes. but not unexpected in Seattle. What was unexpected was the my husband’s uncle performed the haven for our wedding ceremony and he was so nervous and not used to doing this so he used some different prayers, which definitely earned some side eye from my mother in law and laughter from some of the guests who knew a bit more what to expect, but the mistakes made the experience more enjoyable, amusing and memorable for me.
SJS
Kate Bobb
My step sister got married in June and it rained so we had the wedding in the hotel lobby it turned out to be beautiful
sinclair jayne sawhney
I have decided that rain is quite lucky!
Janine
I think rain is lucky too. It rained the morning of our wedding and later on that day.
Liz Flaherty
I love the post. Reading about the story’s “starting gate” makes it all the more interesting. And your niece and her husband are gorgeous, aren’t they? They could be cover copy!
Sinclair Jayne Sawhney
Reeva has always been beautiful, but wow, dressed up for her wedding and seeing some of the pictures…she was breathtakingly gorgeous. Hard to believe she was the giggling “cutie pie” who used to write poems about how I should “not kiss Deepak chacha.”
Janine
I love Sinclair’s books and can’t wait to read this one. My crazy wedding story is about my in-laws. Sorry, it’s long. They tried so hard to break us up and sabotage our wedding. My husband’s brother and his wife were in the wedding and my sister-in-law planned the bridal shower and claimed she never got the list of people to invite. So, when she finally found the email, it was only days before the event and only 2 people were able to attend. Then the day of the wedding rehearsal, my mother-in-law didn’t want to go. She decided to go to a play with her friend. On the actual day of the wedding, we didn’t even know who would show up, so I had to ask friends to be on standby in case the brother and wife didn’t show up. So, we planned a trick for the wedding. Since they didn’t want us to be together, we decided to make it look like Russ was calling off the wedding. When it came time for me to walk down the aisle, he turned from the alter and walked to the back door where I was standing. Jaws dropped with shock. But in reality, all he did was come get me and walk me down the aisle. The main reason we did this was because my step-father was in a wheelchair and the old church where we got married didn’t have a wide enough center aisle for him to roll down. My mother-in-law left during the reception without even saying goodbye. We will be married 13 years this October and actually been together for 22 years. I’m pretty sure we broke all the bets they probably made.
sinclair jayne sawhney
That is so toxic! I am so happy you and your husband were able to imbue some of your own energy and humor into your wedding. Plus you have a great story. My in-laws were quite dismayed that my husband was marrying a blonde from Laguna Beach, California, as they were attempting to set him up with some “suitable girls,” from Charlotte. He jokes that they were mostly relieved he was FINALLY marrying at almost 34 so they went easy on his choice of me. 26 years next month.
Janine
Congratulations on 26 years. You were obviously very suitable for your husband no matter what they thought at first.
Barbara Ankrum
Ooh! I love this Sinclair. After watching the Indian matchmaker series on Netflix I’m fascinated by the culture and the weddings! Can’t wait to read your book. Congrats!
sinclair jayne sawhney
thank you Barbara. This series was so close to my heart, and I felt a little nervous tackling it, and yet I had a blast writing this whole series–book two was especially fun because the couple was so verbally edgy and brilliant and competitive that I really had to get in the zone to get the energy and sexy tone I wanted. Tons of fun, but a challenge.