Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Nisha Sharma to HJ!
Hi Nisha Sharma and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, The Letters We Keep!
Thank you so much for having me!
Please summarize the book for the readers here:
THE LETTERS WE KEEP is a college age romance where two students from very different backgrounds find letters in a locked section of their university library. The letters are from a student who disappeared fifty years ago in a fire. They work together to figure out what happened to the student, while also growing closer and falling in love.
Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:
“Dear Jaan. I still remember the first time we met. In the kaleidoscope room. I was standing at the balcony, and you walked in on the main floor. I looked down just as you looked up at me. There was no music, no gust of wind to flutter our hair. Nothing like the feelings the Bollywood films warned me of in my youth. It was just silence. And in that silence, I was scared. Because I knew our love would be tested until one of us broke. – January 15, 1972.”
Please share a few Fun facts about this book…
- The meet cute in The Letters we Keep was inspired by a TikTok where two students were fighting over the same study room!
- The letters were inspired by some of the letters I found from my great grandmother in my grandmother’s belongings while I was closing her estate.
- The Davidson Tower in the library is a smaller version of The Linderman Library at Lehigh University.
What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?
It’s definitely a different process for every book I write. No protagonist pair is attracted in the same way. For THE LETTERS WE KEEP, Ravi notices the way that Jessie is a rule follower. That she’s fearless and dedicated and determined. She knows what she wants while he’s struggling to figure out what he wants to do with the rest of his life. Jessie notices the way that Ravi is nothing like the nepo baby that she assumed he’d be. He makes sure to walk her back to the dorms even though she says she doesn’t need him to make sure she’s safe at night. He gives her space, and pushes her to think differently about the assumptions she makes.
Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?
I really enjoyed writing the way Ravi and Jessie discover the letters! They end up in the locked section of the library because of a dare, and Jessie can’t help but snoop a bit while she waits for someone to “rescue” her. When Ravi shows up, instead of leaving right away, she asks for his help. You’ll just have to read the book to figure out where the letters were kept!
Readers should read this book….
If you like a light mystery, college nostalgia, and a classic coupling of two people from very different backgrounds, then THE LETTERS WE KEEP is for you!
What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?
My next release is the last book in my adult rom-com trilogy of Shakespeare adaptations. MARRIAGE AND MASTI is inspired by Twelfth Night and it comes out August 27th!
Thanks for blogging at HJ!
Giveaway: A print copy of Nisha Sharma’s THE LETTERS WE KEEP
To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: What was a decision you made in your late teens/early twenties that you felt changed the trajectory of your life? Who would you write a love letter to, and what would you say?
Book Info:
Two students—worlds apart—unite to solve the mystery of a legendary decades-old love story gone tragically wrong in a captivating romance by the award-winning author of The Karma Map and Dating Dr. Dil.
It doesn’t take long for ambitious freshman and aspiring engineer Jessie Ahuja to learn about two university legends. One is the haunted history of Davidson Tower, where more than fifty years ago, two ill-fated lovers disappeared in a devastating fire. The other is Ravi Kumar, a privileged billionaire nepo baby who’s aggravatingly charming and occupying more brain space than Jessie has room for. Things change when a campus prank locks them both in the old tower’s ghostly library.
There, Jessie finds letters from the fabled lost lovers, forgotten in a hollowed-out copy of Persuasion. One by one, the letters suck Jessie and Ravi into a beguiling mystery and an achingly beautiful long-ago romance destined to go up in flames. It’s also drawing Jessie and Ravi—every bit as star-crossed—closer together. Can they overcome whatever fate has in store for them? Or are they just as doomed as the young lovers whose tragic end has become legend?
Book Links: Amazon | B&N |
Meet the Author:
Nisha Sharma, pronouns she/her, is a YA and adult contemporary romance writer living in the Philly suburbs with her Alaskan husband, and a plethora of animals named after characters in literature. Her books have been included in best-of lists by The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, Cosmopolitan, The Washington Post, Time Magazine and more. Before she left the corporate world, Nisha spearheaded DEI initiatives at billion dollar companies. She has continued her advocacy work by fighting for marginalized authors in publishing. When she’s not writing about people of color experiencing radical joy or teaching about inclusivity, Nisha can be found hitting the books for her PhD in English and Social Justice. You can find her online at Nisha-sharma.com or on TikTok and Instagram @nishawrites.
Website | Instagram |
Nicky Ortiz
I can’t think of any.
There is no one I could think of
Thanks for the chance!
Mary Preston
I went to a party that changed my life forever. Living the consequences even today.
I can’t see myself writing a love letter. I’m a face to face kind of person.
erahime
Not getting enough sleep before an event; that really changed my life. Also writing a love letter to myself because I need that confirmation in certain times of my life.
debby236
I studied abroad and met someone. I planed to return for another year but could not work out the finances. I would write him a letter and explain more.
janinecatmom
When I was a teenager, I met a guy who changed my life, but not for the good. Big mistake. I don’t think I could write a love letter. I’d be afraid of saying the wrong thing and those words would be there forever.
Kathy
Nothing I can think of &
I am not a love letter writer
Diana Hardt
I’m not sure.
Texas Book Lover
I can’t think of anything or anyone.
Rita Wray
I can’t think of anyone.
Daniel M
always thought i should have taken that job instead of the other one
Glenda M
I dated a guy who was the perfect example of a toxic, horrible, abusive person who was able to hide it all from the world. I learned to find red flags
Mary C
Switching careers. I can’t think of anyone I would write a love letter to.
Amy R
What was a decision you made in your late teens/early twenties that you felt changed the trajectory of your life? Move
Who would you write a love letter to, and what would you say? Spouse
Dianne Casey
A major decision I made in my twenties was to move out of state. There’s no one I would like to write a love letter to.
bn100
n/a
lori h
Having children.
I would write a love letter to my grandmother and tell her again how much I love and appreciated her influence in my life.
Bonnie
I moved to a different state in my twenties and enjoyed the change in life style.
Patricia Barraclough
I decided to join the Peace Corps when I heard President Kennedy’s speech announcing its formation. I was in high school at the time and had to wait 7 years before I finished college and could join. I served 3 years. It helped me become the person I am and was a major step in my need to volunteer and be of service.
Patricia Barraclough
I forgot the second part. I would write a love letter to my husband. He has accepted me as I am and encouraged me in my volunteering and work with nonprofits. he has been a wonderful partner for over 51 years.
Jeanna Massman
I fell in love for the first time in high school and it took me a long time to get over it. I would write a letter to my high school boyfriend to tell him how happy I am to have had that relationship even though I was very hurt by it.
Susan C
Wrong guy and that letter would be to my best friend in high school saying thank you.
Nancy P
Left an abusive marriage & was a single parent.
Jamie N.
I left a cult-ish religion in my early twenties. I would write a love-letter to myself, to let me know that things were going to be OK!
lindaherold999
When in college I began a Master’s degree in special education. Good decision because I was a special reduction teacher for 30 years!