Book Review #115: The Beautiful Roses

Author: Swapna Rajput
Pages: 160
Genre: Anthology
Publisher: Quills Ink Publishing

• Ratings-

Cover : 2.5/5
Title : 2/5
Blurb : 1/5
Overall : 2/5

• Blurb:

This second edition has 1 another heart touching story, so this book is a collection of 6 wonderful love stories published with the same hope of huge liking by its readers.

• Review:

The Beautiful Roses by Swapna Rajput is the first of its kind Hinglish book, i.e., Hindi narration in English script. It is an anthology of 6 short stories, all about love. These stories focus on how two lovers meet and unit for lifetime, the hardships they face, the predicaments they go through, and how their love outweighs everything else. The 6 stories in this book are as follows-

1. Aashirwaad: The story of Raghav and Smita (Ragmita) who get married as per the last wish of Ram’s mother and how they gradually fall for each other.
2. Pehla Pyar: About the first love of Raghav’s younger brother Ram and Kavita (Ravita)and their unique tale of getting married.
3. Imtehaan: The story of Victor and Neha (Vicneha) and the tough times that test their love.
4. Chahat: About Varun and Aditi (Varditi) who are totally opposite characters yet made for each other.
5. Ardhangini: On the child marriage of Arvind and Nandini (Arvindini) and its implications on their teenage life and future.
6. Kesariya: About Suraj and Divya (Sudivya) who get married although never consummate their marriage because of Divya’s dark past that Suraj is oblivious of.

• Let-downs:

All the stories follow a very cliched narration, have almost predictable plots, and portray how everything in this world is perfect. I agree that a few novels are written for a feel-good factor but some amount of practicality needs to be imbibed in order convey the stories in the truest possible manner.

• Appreciations:

There are 3 specific things that I loved about this book:

1. Consistency among characters: The protagonist of the first 3 stories are related to each other either by blood or by friendship. When an author does something like this, it becomes very important to focus on the consistency of the traits of all characters else the narration falls apart; Swapna has been successful in achieving the same.
2. Intermingling of stories: As I mentioned, the characters of first three stories are related to each other. This means that if combined, these 3 stories could together be presented as one lengthy story wherein each character has its own back-story which somehow leads to them being a part of each others’ lives.
3. Combining the names of protagonists into one: It is a fad these days wherein parents name their children after a combination of their names; Swapna has done something similar by combining the names of all couples and giving them a name as if they are a single unit. The reason why I loved it is because I love this idea in the first place and honestly the protagonist names were too difficult even for me to come up with a common name for them. Kudos to Swapna for that!

I would also like to appreciate Swapna’s effort for pulling off the idea of Hinglish novels very well.

• Verdict:

A tea-time read (2/5)

Click here to read Swapna’s interview by me.

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Book Review #59: Hidden Husband

Author: Shikha Kaul
Pages: 240
Publisher: Gargi Publishers
Cover Design: Ammol Karambe

• Ratings-

Cover : 3/5
Title : 4.5/5
Blurb : 4/5
Story : 4/5
Theme : 3.5/5
Characters : 4.5/5
Overall : 3.5/5

• Characters:

1. Aisha- The protagonist
2. Raghav- Aisha’s collegue and husband
3. Piyali- Aisha’s best friend
4. Sachin- Raghav’s roommate
5. Sameer- Aisha’s school-mate

• Blurb:

Aisha is trapped in her own secret which makes her life hell. Her love for Raghav is true. But hailing from two very different cultures is the basis of their continued friction. Aisha is a Punjabi girl from Gurgaon and Raghav a Bihari from Ranchi. Raghav’s family will certainly not accept a girl from outside their community. And yet, he continues giving her false hopes through his efforts and promises. And then they take a step which entangles her life further. Will she manage to come out of this quandary or must she continue to live in her self-created web? Explore her journey that makes her realize the atrocities being committed on women in the Indian society and the tough decisions she must take, keeping her most loved ones oblivious to everything happening in her life.

• Review-

Hidden Husband by Shikha Kaul is the story of a girl named Aisha who works in the HR department of an MNC in Gurgaon. She is perfect at her job and is very beautiful too. During one of the recruitment drives, Aisha gets to interview Raghav and he makes it through the interview. Raghav starts interacting too much with her and even seeks her help for finding a PG nearby her house so that he could stay close to her. It was very unlike Aisha to interact and help a colleague on the personal front but when it came to Raghav, she couldn’t help but let herself open up to him. They became fast friends and each knew about the other’s feelings. On the occasion of Raghav’s birthday, they confessed their love to each other and enjoyed a sweet period of courtship.

Soon enough Raghva’s sister, Aruna, came to work at their office for summer internship. As she was an MBA HR student, Aisha appointed her as her assistant. She was very fond of Aisha and Aisha took this as a chance to impress atleast one member of Raghav’s family. Meanwhile, Aisha confessed about their courtship to her parents and after an interaction with Raghav, her parents agreed to get them married. However same was not the case at Raghav’s end. When he visited his hometown in Ranchi after Aruna’s successful completion of her summer internship, he disclosed his love for Aisha to his parents. As expected, they were clearly against it and Aruna even sent a hateful SMS to Aisha, calling her a “bitch” and “a filthy soul”. Aisha couldn’t take in the insult and pushed Raghav to arrive at a conclusion about their relationship but all he asked for was more time. Aisha had begun to hate these four words- “I need more time“. Seeing no progress of Aisha and Raghav’s relationship, Aish’s parents fixed up her match with a Punjabi boy and Aisha severed all ties with Raghav. Unable to bear the thought of losing Aisha, Raghav drank poison but was fortunately saved by being hospitalized at the right time. Aisha too suffered from low blood pressure and had to be hospitalized.

Sandwiched between Aisha and his parents, Raghav decided to take an unpredictable step and seeked Aisha’s approval for it. They secretly got married in the presence of Piyali, Sachin and Anand, their advocate, and managed to keep their marriage hidden from their families. Meanwhile Aisha got pregnant and Raghav was still unable to disclose their secret to his family. As a result of severe stress and insufficient rest, Aisha suffered a miscarriage. She even got to know a lot about Raghav’s family which she had never even in her dreams imagined to be true. She felt pathetic to be a part of such a family and blamed herself for falling into this quandary. Midst of all this, Aisha bumped into his school-mate Sameer, who had a huge crush on her during school days. The course of events that take place post that were worth every minute I spent reading the book. The book will definitely make you realize the importance of family and love in your life, and also that of a best friend like Piyali. The best of the book was the end which gave me goosebumps!!

• Appreciations:

The entire script flowed smoothly with certain twists at each point. Shikha managed to cover a truck-load of emotions very beautifully throughout the plot. The descriptions of various scenes were crafted keeping intact the thin line between romance and vulgarity. Shikha also ensured that all aspects of the story were narrated, especially Raghav’s side of the story, which was very important to help the readers understand the real situation from both the ends.

• Let-downs:

The script became a bit boring at one point in time. There were various narrations about a few riots significant in India’s history, which weren’t connected to the plot anyhow. Also there were 2-3 dialogues between God and Aisha, narrated as Aisha’s dreams, which were somehow irrelevant. Again, the mention of religious bias and a letter that she writes to the Prime Minister of India wasn’t really required in the script. A few grammatical errors here and there could have been improvised.

• Verdict:

Amazingly crafted story with a pinch of reality. (3.5/5)

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• Available at:  Amazon
  Paperback (Rs. 185)
  Kindle edition (Rs. 175.75)

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Book Review #13: Rainy Days

Author: Samarth Prakash
Pages: 200
Publisher: Good times books

• Ratings-

Cover : 3/5
Title : 3/5
Blurb : 2.5/5
Story : 3/5
Theme : 2.5/5
Characters : 3/5
Overall : 3/5

• Characters (Leads):

1. Raghav- The protagonist
2. Megha- Raghav’s love

• Blurb:

Every journey begins with a chase. We chase success. We chase love. We chase happiness. But what happens when that chase is suddenly interrupted by a long wait? Will love endure that wait? And will that wait ever end? Will all roads be closed? Or will an uneasy path open up somewhere?

Rainy Days is the story of Raghav and his pursuit of love in the midst of success, of Megha and her own world of wavering thoughts. It’s a journey that begins with a chance encounter. It’s a journey that takes them through sweet meetings and doleful partings, through long drives and silent walks, through the endless rain of joy and melancholy — a journey that inevitably brings them to the crossroads of love and life, more than once. It’s about the choices that life gives us, about the paths that we take, and the ripple effect that it has on our lives.

• Review-

“Rainy Days”, a love story, revolves around Raghav and Megha. They meet during a cricket match in a stadium and Raghav falls in love with at first sight. He follows her, finds out her work place and so on. Then follows a series of cute love episodes one would expect in a love story. And one day Megha leaves, suddenly, leaving just a letter behind, promising to meet Raghav after 5 years. She does keep her promise and meet him, only for the story to take a sudden turn and rip everything apart.

The book also involves Raghav’s work, RS3, a social website, which is his and his friends’ invention. The way they start from scratch, searching for investors, and finally become a 500 employee company. Their core value of doing only the right things, is followed throughout, but once Raghav has to surpass it for Megha, and he does so. The end will leave you shocked.

• Appreciations:

Great philosophical thoughts have been portrayed which will make one understand themselves and know the right things in life. Perfect grammar was a treat while reading. The flow has been maintained pretty well and the sudden twists and turns in the plot are a delight to the reader.

• Let-downs:

Nothing to be criticized. Good work Samarth 🙂

• Verdict:

Not a surely recommended one, but definitely a good read. (3/5)
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• Available at:

1. Amazon
2. Infibeam

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