A thing which I’ve noticed in most Indian authors who write this kind of books : the books sometimes become too filmy or unrealistic for me! The story is good, characters well-defined but the setting is just not believable and somehow it is unrealistic. Actually, this book doesn’t wholly fall under the "filmy books" category, but then, it was nothing new and the story was more or less, another normal college-life tale.
A LITTLE ABOUT THE AUTHORS :
Durjoy Dutta was born and brought up in Delhi. He has an engineering degree from Delhi College of Engineering and a management degree from MDI, Gurgaon. He is the author of several best-selling books like Of Course I Love You!, You Were My Crush!, She broke Up I Didn’t and If Its Not Forever.....its Not Love (with Nikita Singh).
Nikita Singh was born in Patna and grew up in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. After pursuing a degree in Pharmacy she decided to try her hand at writing. She is the author of the best-selling books Love@Facebook and Accidentally in Love and co-author (with Durjoy Dutta) of If Its Not Forever.....Its Not Love.
PLOT SUMMARY :
Niharika Singh - the girl that doesn’t exist. She is the skinny girl from school, who sat on the first bench, wearing her thick glasses, always immersed in her books and religiously noting down the teacher’s words. She doesn’t know how to dress and as a matter of fact, how to be a girl. She is the protagonist in the book and we read the story through her point of view.
After a total transformation by her sister and her friends, Niharika turns to a glamorous beauty from her not-so-dazzling looks. Suddenly, she knows how to dress, wear the proper shoes, looks beautiful and behave like a girl. Meanwhile, she meets her sister’s boyfriend, Viraat. Though not physchandru021y attractive, he is a sweet-enough guy who appears to be smitten with her sister. Their love makes her ache for her own gentleman and now starts the girly part. As this book is written through Niharika’s POV, there are a lot of girlish aches and feelings written in the book and some people (men) may not relate to it.
Later, Niharika meets Akshat, who seems to be her Viraat, and soon imagines herself to be in love with him. Her heart soon breaks as her sister warns her about Akshat and his notorious ways. He is supposed to have a past record of trapping girls, by his good looks and charming ways and then dumping them.
Thus, Niharika’s little fairytale comes to and end and she soon goes to college. There, she meets the super-cute and child-like guy (with the harry Potter specs) , Tanmay and Pia, Niharika’s roommate. She also is a cute, pretty and nice girl and the three of them soon become friends.
Thus starts their college life. From here on, the book is baschandru021y woven into a common story, new characters make appearance. Akshat turns up in Niharika’s college and begs her to take him back. Karthik, the college senior, seems to be hiding something. And, for reasons unknown, Niharika finds herself attracted to him.
The only thing which wasn’t that predictable in the book was the ending in which Tanmay meets with an accident after a drinking spree, and shockingly, he dies. This leads to heartbreaks and in the end, whom does Niharika actually choose ?? Karthik or Akshat. That, is baschandru021y all the story is about.
PROS :
The book has simple language. The story is uncomplicated and not much thinking has to be done. The flow of the story is very good. One after another, each incident happens in a systematic manner.
The characters are very well-defined. Apart from the three main characters, each of the others - Akshat, Simran, Karthik - all had their own personality or character traits. As soon as we read about some character, we immediately form an opinion about him and get a clear picture of him/her.
CONS :
Too common a story for me. There was nothing new or special in this book. Though I’m a huge fan of the author and his books, it seems none of his recent books are as good as his earlier ones. The duo’s previous book If Its Not Forever, at least had a different not-set-in-a-college story and the emotions of love written in the book were just pure beautiful to read. There are thousands of books written about college life and somehow, most of the books end up having the same story.
MY TAKE ON THE BOOK :
This was certainly an enjoyable read but absolutely doesn’t fall under the "I MUST HAVE IT NOW!!!" category. You may read it to pass a boring afternoon but in case you don’t, don’t worry, there’s nothing special to miss.
And, if you’re thinking of trying this author, I suggest you try Dutta’s books - She Broke Up I Didn’t, Now That You’re Rich....Let’s Fall In Love, If Its Not forever and Oh Yes I Am Single.
Thanks for reading,
AH