Leave and Come Back

by Lavanya Lakshmi

Family drama meets romantic comedy when a young woman’s new boyfriend accidentally shows up to a two-week-long family wedding, kicking off a comedy of errors in this funny, vibrant, and heartwarming debut

You’re invited to the most romantic, chaotic wedding of the season

For the first time, Simran Gopal is living out her own swoon-worthy romance to rival the beloved Bollywood films of her childhood... until she receives her cousin’s wedding invitation. Now, Simran finds herself returning to the family home she’s been avoiding for the last seven years to take part in a two-week long Indian wedding.

Family drama is already at a high when Leo Bridgers, Simran’s new boyfriend, accidentally crashes the engagement party. To avoid full crisis mode and provoking the ire of Veena perima, Simran’s aunt and judgmental family matriarch, the cousins need to rally. Operation DDLJ.

Following the lead of their favorite Bollywood movie, they need to trick Veena into adoring Leo. In a mess of misdirection and chaotic hijinks, Leo must prove himself to be the most charming, helpful wedding guest imaginable, and he certainly can’t give away that he’s ever met—let alone is currently in love with—Simran.

For Simran, being back with her family also brings memories of the difficult years after her parents died. As old grievances and new secrets arise—along with nosy aunties—will Simran be able to finally have her own love story, and find the closure she’s been looking for on her past?

Charming, tender, and hilarious, Leave and Come Back asks what it means to open up to love, what makes a family, and how to honor the past while embracing the present.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Fiction, Adult, Audiobook, Contemporary Romance, Canada

320 pages, Hardcover

First published June 16, 2026

About the author

Lavanya Lakshmi is a third culture kid who has lived in nine cities across India, China, the US, and Canada. One of her many childhood homes was a suite on the 37th floor of a luxury hotel. Her claimed hometown is New York City, where she lived for nine years after getting her Master’s degree from NYU. She has worked in and around book publishing her whole career and currently resides in Toronto. Leave and Come Back is her first novel.

Reviews

[veerali · Rating 4 out of 5]

thank you netgalley and viking penguin for the eARC—all thoughts are my own!
✦ publication date: june 16, 2026

DDLJ MEETS TWO STATES

simran gopal finally has a boyfriend, leo, and her life feels like a romantic bollywood movie. but everything gets complicated when she gets an invitation to her cousin’s wedding. she has to return to her family home, a place she hasn't visited in seven years because of painful memories. to make matters worse, leo accidentally crashes their engagement party. simran is terrified that her strict and judgmental aunt, veena, will be furious. to keep the peace, simran and her cousins come up with a plan. they decide to trick aunt veena into loving leo. leo has to pretend he doesn't know simran and act like the perfect guest. if he messes up, the family drama will be huge. while trying to pull off this secret mission, simran has to face the ghosts of her past, including the sadness of losing her parents. amidst the chaos of the wedding and the prying eyes of her aunts, she must find a way to make peace with her family and finally decide if she can have her own happily ever after.

this story feels very honest. it captures the complicated parts of family life perfectly. if you have ever felt like an outsider in your own family, you will really connect with the simran. i love the way the book portrays different wedding traditions especially the mix of tamil and punjabi traditions, family expectations, and the mix of languages is amazing. it feels very authentic and grounded in real life experiences. it's so amazing to see this kind of representation.

it starts off a little bit slow, so you have to be patient. but once the wedding festivities begin, the story picks up speed and becomes impossible to put down. i also teared up a bit because it deals with some heavy themes, but the ending is incredibly satisfying and hopeful.

i absolutely love simran and leo. they're so layered and i love how leo does everything to prove himself.

pick this book as soon as it's out! ya'll won't regret it 💗

⤿ rom-com family drama
⤿ indian wedding shenanigans
⤿ immigrant experience
⤿ if he wanted to, he would
⤿ ddlj x two state vibes
⤿ complicated family dynamics
⤿ grief

[joni ౨ৎ · Rating 5 out of 5]

bawled my eyes out.

live laugh love tamil authors


we're doing it.


im genuinely so so excited for this one!!! a canadian author & she's also tamil!!! i know i'm going to love this!

[DianaRose · Rating 5 out of 5]

firstly, thank you to the publisher for an arc!!

whew! i absolutely ate up leave and come back; it was a beautiful family drama romcom that was frustrating at times... but i’ve fortunately never experienced the death of the parent, and i know people handle grief very differently.

overall i’m so happy with this read — if you enjoyed nisha sharma’s books, you’ll absolutely enjoy this debut!🩵

i also listened to the audiobook and the narrators did a fantastic job!!

[bean · Rating 5 out of 5]

The whiplash I experienced going from “why is she being such a brat!!” to “omg… I am her.”

This is a tender story about love, life, friendship, family, and loss. Sometimes in life, people are so consumed by their grief that when someone else’s doesn’t look exactly the same, they can’t see it. This story serves as a reminder to give others grace. And that it’s never too late to come home again.

(It also leans WAY more heavily into the family aspect than the romance but the love story woven in was so fun! I love a fictional man who is pathetically down bad & has been yearning for his dream girl for over a decade!)

[Mai H.]

Valentine's Day TBR

📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Pamela Dorman Books

[Ananya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, first of all, welcome to a Bollywood cinematic book.
And the second important thing - THIS BOOK IS 85% FAMILY DRAMA AND ONLY 15% ROMANCE! To be very specific lets just call it Women fiction, sounds better, right?
I'm literally swimming in lot of emotions right now so I did like to warn that this review is going to be a mess. And i truly don't even know how i am going to let this all out. But i will try best.
Let's start with the good part.
The things i loved about this book-
~ We get a perfect Bollywood starting scene. Which i am in absolute love. Actually made me nostalgic in fact. Running through the airports and all. Give an Indian that starting and they will be intrigued.
~ There were so many true references to the Indian culture that I can completely relate in my RL. So this hit very close to home. That part really so well executed!
~ Leo. Yeah that's it! I love him from the bottom of my heart. The way he will do anything for her. And his determination to learn her family, her culture... well let's just say that he is the only good thing their relationship. I will tell you more in section below this.
~ I loved that group of cousins. All together, all joy and revisiting memories. Like the conversation was very easy to flow between them that's what exactly Indian cousins are! All of them were blended so well in Indian and as well as foreign culture, like i loved their thinking process a lot, to adopt modern tactics but not forgetting the imp Indian culture.
~ The whole Indian wedding setup and planning was done so nicely and up to the crisp mark..like i know all the rituals myself but didn't got bored reading them. That was actually so nicely written, no unnecessary description and meaning behind each tradition, just perfecttttt! Also no introduction of any additional unwanted guests to the wedding.
~ At the starting i hated Kavitha's character so much but then around 50% of the story i realized that she was in fact the ONLY genuine character in the whole story! Now that i know her story it feels all too real and too right. I won't blame her because at the end of the day it's her immediate family. In Indian culture it is inculcated in you the value and care to provide to your family, so what she have done was very much right according to me

The things i didn't like much-
~ Simran. Yes i hate her character in all round damn way. I am just going to be a little too much frank here. First of all SHE DIDN'T EVEN DESERVE LEO! Like guys who have read the book just give me one thing that she has done for him, soften for her, taken effort in their relationship? Nope, not a single thing. She misunderstood everyone who ever did was to care for her for her entire life. She just kept hurting people's feeling and kept feeling the guilt about it She didn't even visited her uncle when he was in hospital, like fr !? Simran felt like a villian in every situation 😭 with leo? Check. With aunty? Check. With kavitha? Check. Like why the hell!? It felt like it was only him who is upholding their relationship, simran didn't even put any effort and yes running through the airports is not the only thing in a relationship, okay? Her character was so self centered. It was just soooooo frustrating to me.
~ The book is all family drama, like all damn drama. At some point it
even felt Leo was just a side character in the story. I can literally count the romantic scene on my fingers! I really wanted both characters to grow together and solve the issues together, that should be the point of any romantic story right!? But nope, Simran won't even say a word about her past to Leo and he loves her without even knowing her properly? Like how did she even dare to ask him to move to New York , after Leo has done so much for her....you know what i feel very sad for Leo😭 It feels like i won't even recover!
~ If that aunt had to be so casual about everything at the end then why to do all the drama during wedding 😭
~ The end was so under developed. Everything felt so hallow.
~ The MCs was also soooooo underdeveloped.

So yeah that's all from my side.

For me it was 2.75 stars rounded off to 3 stars.

*Thank you Netgalley and HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction for providing me this ARC!*

[Sara☽༊‧₊˚ (semi-hiatus)]

― JA SIMRAN JA JI LE APNI ZINDAGI (if yk yk)

[Lochi's Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanking Lavanya for sending me a digital copy. I met Lavanya earlier this year at an influencer event in Toronto. She was kind, welcoming, and calmed my nerves. I can’t believe I’m reading this (VERY EARLY) and I can't wait to see her shine next year basking in the celebrations for her debut, it's going to be the best treat.

Do yourself a favour and add it to your tbr list. Trust me, you won't regret it.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

genuinely one of the most gorgeous stories i’ve ever read about love and family in all of it’s messy, ugly, beautiful, and resilient forms. i’m going to be thinking about this one forever

[Amy Broman · Rating 5 out of 5]

At age fifteen, Simran was taken in by her aunt and uncle, and their daughters Kavitha and Geeta, in New Jersey after her parents died in India. Now age 30 and living in Toronto, she has just begun dating her best friend’s brother Leo (who is white).

But when Simran is invited to her cousin Geeta’s lavish Indian wedding back in New Jersey, she returns to her family’s home for an extended visit after many years of absence. When Leo shows up there unexpectedly, Simran and Leo’s relationship must go undercover, lest her judgmental aunt Veena discover that-gasp- Simran may not end up marrying an Indian man as expected.

This rom com explores interracial love, family expectations and tensions, Indian culture, and the clash of traditional versus modern values in an American immigrant community. It is both humorous and serious, with well-developed, sympathetic charcters, and a story arc that bends towards redemption and reconciliation. I loved this rich, multifaceted story and didn’t want it to end!

[eve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this one; such a sweet, tender story, and such an interesting one as well. While I will admit it felt like stepping into unfamiliar territory, as it obviously a story deeply rooted in a culture I have not much knowledge of, I also really enjoyed that. It's always such a joy to get to find out more about the world around me through the books I pick up.

Now, the story itself really got me. I did not expect it to hit me as much as it did, but oh was I in for a ride. It made me emotional more times than I can count, and I found myself tearing up so often, it's actually ridiculous. I felt so connected to these characters, especially Simran. It was so extremely frustrating at times, but in the most perfect way; it just made them feel so real.

Absolutely adored the narration, it was so engaging, and it wonderfully brought these pages to life, making it even easier to absolutely devour.

Biggest thanks to Libro.fm & the publisher for the ALC; all opinions are my own.

[nihaarika · Rating 5 out of 5]

leave and come back felt like the perfect book for my desi girl heart. i saw so much of myself on page and came out of it, experiencing a rollercoaster of emotions. this is the kind of book that i’ll be thinking about for days, and possibly all eternity. i absolutely adored lavanya lakshmi’s writing, and the way she managed to capture the complicated (and loving) nature of a desi family. a lot of it reminded me of things that i have seen in my own family and it made me glad to read representation like that.

among the many, many things that i loved about this book was how well it captures all the different tamil and punjabi wedding traditions, as well as the intensity of an indian wedding. i’ve been to a lot of them and this book perfectly captures how crazy things can get. it felt very grounded in real life, and all the different side characters felt like people you’d bump into at an actual wedding (i feel like i certainly have).

the portrayal of simran’s grief was one of the most beautiful parts of the book and i found myself tearing up at multiple points while reading. a lot of her personality reminded me of myself, and so whatever she was going through, whether it be worrying about the multitude of relationships in her life or trying not to be a disappoint to her family and community, felt very relatable. her internal struggles and how she deals with everything, including leo’s arrival at the wedding festivities, were so freaking perfect. basically, i love her a lot.

and leo?? oh my god, the way i would do anything to have a man like him in my life. he was so caring, charming and kind and learned to speak tamil and hindi to interact with simran’s family. and the fact that he dropped everything and crashed a wedding because simran said she wished he was there? yeah. i was a goner. i liked that we had his pov because his kindness, willingness and openness in how he interacted with simran’s family made him so loveable. their romance felt very bollywood coded, and i literally loooved every single scene they had together.

leave and come back felt like the perfect desi rom-com and was such a great tribute to ddlj. like i said, i’m not going to forget about this any time soon and honestly, i would so watch an adaptation of this. i adored this and can’t wait to read it again!

thank you harper collins uk for the e-arc!

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was initially drawn to this debut because of its beautiful cover and it was solid for a debut, but not the strongest writing I’ve seen.

I enjoyed being immersed in Simran’s family dynamic and I loved the shenanigans but I thought the beginning third was way too slow and the ending seemed odd to me. Like, it seemed like a temporary fix for our main characters.

Thank you to Pamela Dorman Books and NetGalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

[Sanja ✵ · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don’t think I was the target audience for this book. It felt like a weird mix, where one part was on the nose and wanted to be a teaching lessons for us “white folk” as the book referred us as. For example, referring to Indians as “south Asians” were wrong, we should refer to the region or province in India they were from.

But it was also stuffed to the brim with references to Indian culture, where only a handful were explained. It read like the author would think these things were obvious to the reader and that made me think that this book is ultimately for an audience that has more ties to this culture.

And because I don’t have any relation to Indian culture, I didn’t connect to the central concept of the story. It felt like everyone was bending over backwards to please these withered up prunes what were mean and unpleasant to everyone and that was just accepted because they were elderly.

It got really tiring reading how the older generation in the book pushed outdated and misogynic mindsets. Even though the younger generation that were the center characters didn’t seem to support this, it was normalized. And again, this may be because I grew up in a different culture, but it grated me throughout the book and I was just annoyed. I made notes and highlights every time I was frustrated with something, and this may be one of my most annotated book ever, despite being just 300 pages.

And is this how it works in Indian families if someone want to date a person with a different ethnic/cultural background? This person must lie and humiliate themselves constantly to be accepted?

This book is family-drama first and romance second, and what a disappointing romance that was. These people have dated for a couple of hours before the wedding and I don’t understand why Leo exposed himself to this. I understand being crazy about someone from the start, but Simran treated him so bad and let him down again and again. Leo deserved better.

The ending was also a letdown. The mother that has spent the entire book being a bitch to everyone, suddenly seems to get a personality transplant. She’s suddenly fine with everything, even one character that comes out as gay. This is despite the fact that she got her panties in a twist just a couple of pages ago over the fact that a child was conceived out of wedlock and scolding them because “they raised them with better values than this”. This wasn’t satisfying, it just read as if a different person wrote the ending.

I will admit that there were some cute scenes between the sisters, but all got clouded by my pure annoyance of everything else.

[Val · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm SO SICK of indian books like this. put that obsession with ddlj DOWN. it's literally not what an Indian book is about. you cannot just ram in all these shah rukh khan and ddlj references and make it good. it's soooo 2000s and 2010s, and even those don't use it as much as y'all do. this one and better catch up with krishna kumari, idk what they tried to achieve other than desperate validation and amateur skills as writers that they tried to cover up with these plot points, jokes, humor and references.

the most ironic thing in this book was the schooling of mmc that south asian and south indian is not specific enough and very "white" way of categorising their rich culture, but there's not a single actual tamil film industry or other south indian film industry mentions LMFAOOO it's all bollywood, srk and DDLJ. maybe try following your own preaching author? I'm sorry I'm mad annoyed about everything.


(p.s. i love ddlj and srk and it kills me that the new age indian authors writing indian books cannot find any other classic or throwaway movie to base their characters love around🫩)

[Navya Yagalla · Rating 5 out of 5]

adorable cross cultural romance written by a tamil woman!! dug so deep into the meaning behind different parts of an indian wedding. handled issues of familial opinions on your relationships with such truth and grace. absolutely loved this, can’t wait to read more of lavanya lakshmi’s work. picked this up from a free books display in astoria when I was visiting Ruby. huge win!!!

[Billy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to thank NetGalley and LibroFM for the arcs of this book, this had no influence on my opinion in anyway.

I'm gonna be fully honest here. The main reason I requested this book on Netgalley, was that, in case I did not like it, could skip the bookbox this one will be in and save myself 35 bucks. I wil personally deliver that money to the author if I have to, cause there is no way in this world I do not want a physical copy of this book on my shelves. I laughed, I cried, I cried a bit more. It was amazing. Normally I would give a book an extra star for unexpected queer rep, but since I was already gonna give this one five, lets pretend I can give it six - I also feel a very good set up for a standalone sequel btw.

I do have to mention that I am not sure if I would label this as a romance at first glance, since I feel like the main focus of the book is Simrans bond with her family. However I did really enjoy the love story of Simran and Leo. I cannot wait to read more from this author.

Also, can someone tell me where i can watch Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge?

[Tara]

This book was a delight to read. I am always here for more Indian-American romances and especially loved the way this one touched on very relevant themes of belonging. Also, as a half Tamilian, every time I looked at the title it made me smile, conjuring memories of my family participating in the same ritual Sim talks about.

[carthi ♡]

messy indian family dynamics + wedding season + DDLJ vibes? oh bollywood is so back in books 🙂‍↕️✨ ⋆˙⟡ — 14/11/2025: ˙⊹

[Cristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

BOOK REVIEW

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ (4.25 stars)

This book felt like being invited into someone's home, sitting at their family table, and realizing halfway through dinner that you're witnessing something deeply personal and beautiful.

Leave and Come Back wasn't always an easy read for me, not because of the writing, but because I was stepping into a culture I'm not very familiar with. There were moments when I felt overwhelmed by the amount of terms, traditions, and references I didn't fully understand. I won't lie: I would have loved a glossary.😅😅

But the more I sat with that feeling, the more I wondered if that discomfort was part of the point.

Not every story is meant to meet me exactly where I am. Sometimes stories ask us to travel. To listen harder. To embrace not knowing. To go beyond our own experiences and try, however imperfectly, to understand someone else's ❤️‍🩹

And that's what this book gave me.

It's messy, emotional, funny, frustrating, and incredibly human. The family dynamics felt so real that at times I wanted to hug everyone and lock them all in separate rooms. The grief lingered quietly beneath everything, and the exploration of belonging hit harder than I expected 😭😭

More than anything, this book reminded me that love and family are rarely simple. They're complicated, contradictory, exhausting, and worth fighting for anyway.

Did I understand every reference? No.
Did I occasionally feel lost? Absolutely.
Did I still come away feeling richer for having experienced this story? Without a doubt.

A heartfelt, meaningful read that challenged me, moved me, and reminded me that some books aren't just windows into another world, they're invitations to walk through the door.

[BookmarkedByDrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars isn’t enough for how much I loved this book! What an absolutely stunning debut from Lavanya Lakshmi. From start to finish this book pulls you in with its hilarious Bollywood inspired hijinks as well as the fantastic cast of characters who each shine in their own right. As someone who has always admired Indian weddings getting to see these characters through multiple wedding events while the story flows with them was really fascinating. I love the romance between Simran and Leo of course but the love story that won my heart was the one between Simran and her family. The way that grief can cause rifts between family members and the eventual resolution made for a really heartwarming story. I cannot wait to see what Lavanya has in store for us next and I am so grateful to have had the chance to arc read this fantastic novel!

[gracie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having to put my inherent dislike of white people, white men especially, aside to enjoy this story was a feat of utmost determination even with how much the author tried to be culturally and politically correct in the Leo pov chapters.

However as someone who's also from a collectivist/community forward culture, it was interesting to see how Lakshmi weaved the different sides of Simran and Leo's upbringing clashing and merging in this beautiful, chaotic book. I always enjoy reading about messy, life changing events bringing estranged people back together and this was not an exception. The characters were quite palpable and I enjoyed reading about them so much.

Bonus points for this also being funny and a quick read.

[Melanie Reilly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leave and Come Back is a romantic comedy family drama, or, as coined by one of the characters, a "rom-com-fam-dram."

I enjoyed the banter and family and friend relationships. I also thought Lakshmi did a great job inviting the reader into Indian rituals, culture, and norms. The reflections on love, loss, and remembering were sweet and poignant.

There were times I felt like the main character contradicted her own stated motivations, and it sometimes felt hard to believe that the hijinks were those of thirty year olds (it felt more akin to college-aged behavior)!

Overall, I enjoyed this debut, and I'm excited to read more of Lavanya's work!

[hari ganapathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

the review has come :)
this book healed things in me that i didnt know needed to be healed!! this book was a warm hug to all the tamil girlies out there <3
first of all, the REP
the little tamil lines
the family dynamics which reminded me SM of my own family
the outfits
the WEDDING
was all perfect - there were some things here and there but overall AMAZING
the ROMANCE
omg the way leo adapted to simran's culture so fast!! he wanted to learn everything abt her!
simran also contributed sm to their relationship and i loved reading both the povs!!
the storyline was also so so cute and i just loved seeing all the characters interact and grow!! the family relationships were so relatable and just made me smile so many times!!
this book will def be a reread over and over again for me, HIGHLY recommend <3
my fav quote AGH
"'How do you say 'goodbye'? he asks. Simran realizes something. "There is no word for 'goodbye' in Tamil. Instead you say 'poitu varen.'" "Poy-too vah-reh. What does it mean?" he asks. "'Poitu varen' means I'll leave and I'll come back.' You say it because goodbye is too final.'"

[Conner La Dame Lit · Rating 5 out of 5]

romance is back with this debut!

a super fresh take on friends-to-lovers with all the blush making and giggling fun and games plus tender heart ache that I require for a five star romance. No notes!

[Kenzie | kenzienoelle.reads]

This book had the unfortunate position of being the book that I paused to read The Count of Monte Cristo and having finished that, this one is just not what I’m in the mood for. I may come back to it at some point!

[Liz Hansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

UGH my heart, I can’t stop crying. I loved this so much 😭 thank you so much to Viking Penguin and NetGalley for the ARC! Full review to come

[Sara. · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25⭐. Thank you NetGalley & Viking Penguin for the ARC. Full RTC

[Madison (madinotmaddiereads)]

What a debut!!

Leave and Come Back is a beautiful testament of love, culture, and family, tying in all its complexities into a jovial celebration.

I could relate all too well to the fmc (estranged eldest daughter here, hello!) and while it hit home in some very sensitive ways to me, I greatly appreciated how carefully these more communicative scenes between family members as handled. I think a lot of people shy away from “miscommunication” in romance books but I think this exploration can add a stunning layer of depth when done well and with intention and Lavanya did just that.

The details given in Indian wedding traditions were so fun to read about especially as the pace of festivities began to pick up. You really begin to feel the adrenaline as the characters are experiencing it for themselves.

I would say this story as a whole will lean more towards women’s fiction than your traditional romance, but I really enjoyed the love story featured and want to give note to the representation of an interracial relationship. I think this story does a beautiful job of showing readers what some of those honest conversations look like between relationships of this dynamic. The respect and understanding displayed between the two love interests was so endearing and it made it so easy to root for them.

I’m so grateful to have been able to read an advanced copy of Lavanya’s debut and am so excited to see what she has planned next!

All my thanks to Pamela Dorman and Viking Penguin for a gifted copy of Leave and Come Back in exchange for my honest thoughts 💌

[Sahar · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m torn because I was really looking forward to this and parts were relatable but the plot was lacking and it didn’t have any depth overall. It was marketed as a big Bollywood story but besides some references to Bollywood, it didn’t really give that. We just got a few references to being Indian thrown in alongside a pretty unconvincing romance. Simran was so mean to her golden retriever bf?!

I wanted so much from this for the nostalgia but it didn’t live up to expectations.