Sonya Lalli Books in Order

Sonya Lalli is a Canadian writer born and raised in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Of Punjabi and Bengali heritage, she writes romance and women’s fiction that puts South Asian families, messy expectations, and ordinary grown-up decisions at the center. Her stories often make room for humor alongside the uncomfortable conversations families sometimes avoid.

Before publishing novels, Lalli followed a path in law. She studied law in Saskatoon and at Columbia University in New York, then spent time in legal journalism and publishing. Her route to fiction was not a straight line.

After her legal training, Lalli moved to London to take a real run at writing a novel. She completed an MA in Creative Writing and Publishing at City, University of London, in 2015. That decision gave her time and structure to develop the story that began her career.

That story became The Arrangement, first published in the UK in 2017. American readers know the same debut as The Matchmaker's List, released in 2019. It follows Raina Anand as her beloved grandmother sets her up with eligible bachelors, while Raina tries to work out what love, independence, and family loyalty mean on her own terms.

Lalli returns to women trying to separate what they genuinely want from what friends, parents, partners, or communities expect. In Grown-Up Pose, Anu Desai faces separation, single parenting, and the risky choice to run a yoga studio. Serena Singh Flips the Script follows a successful Washington, D.C., advertising executive who has to rethink her self-reliance and reconnect with people she has kept at a distance.

Her romances also like sending a carefully organized life off course. A Holly Jolly Diwali takes Niki to India for a wedding after a setback at home, while Jasmine and Jake Rock the Boat strands two childhood acquaintances on an Alaskan cruise packed with their families’ friends. Both use travel and romantic friction to open up questions about culture, work, and belonging.

There are plenty of aunties, family gatherings, old hurts, and people figuring out how to tell the truth.

Lalli also writes thrillers as S.C. Lalli. Are You Sara? begins with two women sharing a name and a rideshare mix-up with deadly consequences. In The Plus One, a lavish destination wedding turns into a murder investigation. The genre changes, but the books still pay attention to ambition, class, race, reputation, and the versions of themselves people present to others.

Her books do not treat tradition as one fixed rulebook. Instead, they let characters question it, keep the parts that matter, and make mistakes while building a life that fits. The romantic books lean warm and conversational, while the thrillers bring more tension and secrets.

Now based in Vancouver, Lalli lives with her husband and their mini goldendoodle, Joey. Alongside fiction, her background includes law, legal journalism, and book publishing, a useful mix for an author whose characters often find themselves choosing between a safe plan and an uncertain next step.