The Secret Keeper of Jaipur takes place twelve years after the events of the Henna Artist, and Lakshmi is now happily married to Dr. Jay Kumar. Malik, who has just finished his education, sets off once again to Jaipur, where he works as an apprentice to the royal palace, helping to build a state of the art cinema. But when the balcony crashes on opening night, Malik starts to investigate, and uncovers a shocking web of lies. The Henna Artist was my favorite read of 2020, and even though this sequel was good in its own right, I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much. The pacing felt off, because there were long sections where not much happened. Additionally, there were many callbacks to the events of the first book, and I wish this book had focused more on its own story instead. That being said, this book had the same richly beautiful setting as the first one; I loved seeing the descriptions of Indian culture, food, and languages. I also loved seeing what happened to all my favorite characters, and how the vents of that book shaped their lives. Overall, even though I was underwhelmed by this one, I’m still excited for what the author has planned for book 3, and I can’t wait to continue the series! I would give this one a 9.1/10!