Today we’re spotlighting Rosewood: A Midsummer Meet Cute by Sayantani DasGupta!
Read on for more about Sayantani DasGupta, her book, and a giveaway!
Meet the Author: Sayantani DasGupta
Sayantani DasGupta is the New York Times bestselling author of the critically acclaimed, Bengali folktale and string theory-inspired Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond books, the first of which — The Serpent’s Secret — was a Bank Street Best Book of the Year, a Booklist Best Middle Grade Novel of the 21st Century, and an E. B. White Read Aloud Honor Book. She is also the author of Debating Darcy, a contemporary young adult reimagining of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Sayantani is a pediatrician by training, but now teaches at Columbia University. When she’s not writing or reading, Sayantani spends time watching cooking shows with her trilingual children and protecting her black Labrador retriever Khushi from the many things that scare him, including plastic bags. She is a team member of We Need Diverse Books, and can be found online at sayantanidasgupta.com and on Twitter at @sayantani16.
About the Book: Rosewood: A Midsummer Meet Cute
New York Times bestselling Sayantani DasGupta brings her trademark wit and insight to this bright and funny Sense and Sensibility retelling!
Eila Das is used to following her head, rather than her heart. When she meets Rahul at Rosewood, a summer camp where campers are being scouted for the hit Bridgerton-like TV show, she experiences…feelings. Between the drama of the show and the drama of the camp, Eila will have to keep her wits about her to make it through the summer. But when she has to choose between her head and her heart, what will she do?
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~Excerpt~
“No way that is Regency appropriate!” I said for the millionth time, my eyes transfixed on my sister’s lap- top screen. There, amid the well-groomed greenery of a twisty garden labyrinth, was a hot, brown-skinned lord of the manor doing seriously R-rated things to a milquetoast but moaning lady. I wasn’t a prude or anything, but all those barely covered heaving bosoms were a lot to take on a school night. “Jane Austen would definitely not approve!”
“Don’t be such a snob, Eila.” Mallika threw a piece of pop- corn in my direction without blinking her thick-lashed brown eyes. Her calling me by my name rather than Didi, or older sister, revealed the depth of her feeling. Mal probably wouldn’t care if an airplane flew by in the background of her favorite new obsession, the implausibly sexy Regency-era romance-slash-detective-series called Rosewood. “What do you care? You hate Jane Austen anyway.”
“I’m sorry, excuse you, please!” I protested. “I do not hate Jane Austen. I just prefer more literary writers, like Shakespeare!”
“Literary?” Mallika asked without taking her eyes from the gymnastics happening on the laptop screen. “Is that just a different way of saying dead white male?”
If there was anyone who knew how to push my but- tons, it was my sister. I mean, who was the feminist in the family? Was it march-attending, postcard-writing, president-of- the-school-gender-equality-club me, or Mallika, whose primary extracurricular activities involved buying and/or making her own clothes, watching celebrity TikToks, and skimming library romance novels for all the smutty bits?
“I don’t get how you’re so into all the Austen movies,” I said. “I mean, it’s not like you’ve taken the time to read a single one of her books, but you own, what, three ‘I heart Mr. Darcy’ bags?”
“Well.” Mallika’s dimpled face was the picture of serenity. “I do heart Mr. Darcy! And, in all bisexual fairness, the future Mrs. Darcy too! And even you like it when I slow down the Colin- Firth-getting-out-of-the-lake-in-a-wet-shirt scene!”
I didn’t respond because my sister wasn’t wrong. I also appreciated it when Mallika reversed and replayed the scene in the Keira Knightley Pride and Prejudice where Mr. Darcy flexes and unflexes his hand after helping Keira into her carriage. But I wasn’t about to admit that now.
“Plus, don’t even get me started on those fluffy modern adaptations!” I said, pointing at the bedazzled pink self-designed T-shirt Mallika wore that declared: cher horowitz for president.
“Just because teenage girls like something doesn’t make it less worthy, or serious, or literary!” Looking not particularly serious at all, my sister waved the fluffy pink pom-pom-topped pen she’d made to go along with her shirt. “Plus, Clueless was way ahead of its time in terms of LGBTQ+ representation! And there’s a whole theory that the main character, Cher, was actually queer herself—that even Jane Austen’s Emma is about compulsory heterosexuality!”
“Okay, fine, whatever!” I squinted at my sister, annoyed that she had actually made an interesting point. “But what about those other modern adaptations, like Bride and Prejudice? Yes, hashtag representation matters, but just because we are Desi does not mean I have to give a pass to Aishwarya Rai’s terrible acting!”
“Well, Rosewood isn’t modern day.” Then, even as the laptop lord and lady moaned some more, my sister clarified, “How can you argue with the Regency formula? A brooding and proud hero, a poor and possibly rain-drenched heroine, some interfering-slash- embarrassing relatives, goofy clergymen, amazing costumes, and sexual tension for days! How does that not do it for you? Not to mention the costumes?”
“You said costumes twice,” I pointed out. “But other shows have already perfected that formula. Rosewood is like Bridgerton meets Murder, She Wrote! I mean, how many violent deaths could have really occurred at those Regency balls? And the fact that no one in that entire fancy-pants society—”
“The ton,” my sister interrupted me in a hoity-toity voice. “The upper crust of English society was called the ton.”
“I stand corrected.” I rolled my eyes. “As I was saying, the fact that no one in the ton realizes that the detective solving the crime every week is just Lord Rosewood in a fake mustache and glued-on sideburns? I mean, come on!”
“It’s a very thick mustache!” Mallika protested. “And those muttonchops really change his face shape! Lord Rosewood is both a sexy but brilliant aristocrat and a master of disguise!”
On-screen, the aforementioned Lord Rosewood was nibbling at his lady love’s earlobe while surreptitiously affixing some kind of wax onto her thumb to get her fingerprint. Then he progressed his earlobe nibbling down to some neck nibbling, much to the lady’s very vocal delight. I reached out to turn the computer volume down. The scene was doing something upsetting to my equilib- rium, and I found it easier to watch without all the groaning.
Excerpted from Rosewood: A Midsummer Meet Cute by Sayantani DasGupta, Copyright © 2023 by Sayantani DasGupta
Published by Scholastic Inc.
Title: Rosewood: A Midsummer Meet Cute
Author: Sayantani DasGupta
Release Date: March 7, 2023
Publisher: Scholastic Press
ISBN-10: 1338797727
ISBN-13: 9781338797725
Genre: Romance
Age Range: YA / 12 and up
*GIVEAWAY DETAILS*
What a beautiful cover!
Oh, this is such a unique concept! I love the idea of modern Sense and Sensibility retelling. The cover is GORGEOUS!
The cover is stunning!
The cover is AMAZING
I always enjoy summer camp books since I never got to go to one.
This looks so cute!!
I love Sayantani DasGupta!
The cover is beautiful and eye-catching. This book sounds fun to read!