The First Becoming

She chose two suitcases over a wedding. Now she has to discover who she will become.
From Delhi to Vancouver: At eighteen, Nina Dawan faces two paths-an arranged marriage or a chance at a foreign education, paid for with all her family's savings. She chooses the second and heads to a country she has never seen.
Nina moves into a drafty old house in Burnaby with housemates from around the world. She adapts to rainy days, bus rides up Burnaby Mountain, and new traditions like first footing on New Year's Eve. At home, she keeps noticing Liam, the quiet construction manager, by the boots he leaves at the door.
But being loved is not the same as being truly understood. When Liam dismisses the 'conscious community' Nina grew up with, and a free-spirited classmate leads her through a blue door into a kirtan on Commercial Drive, Nina must decide what belonging will cost her and who will shape her story.
Tender and vivid, and deeply rooted in the Pacific Northwest, The First Becoming is a coming-of-age story about chosen family, first love, and the courage to stay and let yourself be changed.
This is book one of the "Where the Mountains Watch" series.