Pink Champagne by Madhuri Iyer

Pink Champagne is an Indireads novella written by Madhuri Iyer. Set in New York, it is the story of Arjun Mehta and Tanya Sen.

Book Blurb:

Alone and new to New York, Tanya’s chance encounter with Arjun turns out to be a blessing in disguise. He introduces her to new friends, rental condos and pink champagne, and generally spends way too much time with her.

At least, that’s what his very suitable fiancée, Lily, believes. Regardless of her mother-in-law’s obvious preference for the new girl, Lily digs her claws in deep and she isn’t planning on letting go of the suave Arjun.

With the wedding looming, Arjun is being pulled two ways; the flighty, fun-loving Tanya, or the sophisticated Lily?

The characters:

Arjun Mehta, 31, runs the family business of chemical and plastics. His mother stays in Bergen County and his sister studies at the University of Pennsylvania.

Half Indian-half British Lily Holmes, his fiancée, has a small family business in New York.

Tanya Sen, 23, the only child of academician parents, is academically brilliant with an impressive record. Her support system is her colleagues and friends.

Karsh Oberoi, Arjun’s friend, is a banker in New York. He becomes Tanya’s ‘How to’ authority.

The story:

Tanya gets a job offer in a New York based financial services firm as an Investment Banking Analyst and moves from Toronto to New York. She trips and collides into Arjun at a rest stop on the way and spills the contents of her bag. In a rush to put them back, she puts Arjun’s Blackberry in her bag, a mistake she realizes after his mother calls him when she reaches New York. She meets him for breakfast the next day and also meets his friend, Karsh. She gets busy with work, takes advice from Karsh and runs into Arjun off and on.

Arjun’s mother wants to meet her and he helps her in her search for her apartmrnt. Karsh likes Tanya and wants to date her himself but she is infatuated with Arjun and he is engaged to Lily.

The review:

The story is simple and cute and the characters are wonderfully portrayed. The author has described the feelings of the main characters as well as the supportive ones. I finished the book in one sitting and found it to be a perfect end to a hectic, stressful day.

Highly recommended. Like all Indireads books, this one also left me with a smile on my face.

Book Source: Bought

Publisher: Indireads

Format: Ebook

Unsettled by Neelima Vinod

 

Unsettled is a novella by Neelima Vinod, the book was sent to me as a review copy by Indireads. Thank you Naheed for the book. It is a story of a couple, Divya and Raghav, and a Yakshi.

The Blurb:

The hundred-room house is a rich tapestry of memories and hidden secrets, a dark, forbidding place, rumoured to be haunted by a vengeful Yakshi. Propelled by a desire to save their marriage, Divya and Raghav journey to the haunted mansion in search of the mythical Scrolls of Love.

Written five hundred years ago by the banished court poet Shankara, they are fabled to have the power to heal and reignite lost love. Is this just a legend, or are the couple heading towards a chilling destiny?

The story:

Divya Nambisan, a media professional, a Keralite is married to Raghav Pandit, an architect and a Maharashtrian for five years. She likes classical to his traditional. Anu is Raghav’s friend since childhood, through college to adulthood, they were even about to get married when he happens to meet Divya at a pub and ends up marrying her. One day, Divya sees them together and becomes suspicious of Raghav and starts prying and gets fed up.

She then meets a marriage counsellor, Dr Ray, at the behest of her friend, Emily and goes for a counselling session. He understands that she wants to put her suspicions to rest and Raghav wants the marriage to work and motivates her to bring Raghav for a session. He sends them both in search of scrolls written by Shankara Shastry, an ancient poet, in Cherakad, Divya’s ancestral village. Divya has heard the story of the big hundred-roomed house near her grandmother’s house in the village from her grandmother and also knows about the Yakshi, Thathri, and that the house is cursed.

Intertwined is the story of Thathri, the Yakshi and also the story of Shankara, the poet. Will they succeed in getting the scrolls from the Yakshi or will the Yakshi win?

 The review:

The book is beautifully written, with both poetry and prose complementing each other.  The characters are life-like and Divya is a normal human being with reasonable emotions.

The story is mostly about Shankara Shastry and the Yaksh and Divya and Raghav are characters put in to bring the main story out.

Overall, a nice, eerie read.

Book Source: Review Copy from Indireads

Publisher: Indireads

Format: ebook

Only a Dream by Jazz Singh

Only a dream by Jazz Singh: Another Indireads Novella! Thank you, Naheed for introducing Indireads.

The Blurb

Rhea is successful, accomplished and perfectly content in the comfortable little niche she has carved out for herself. She’s moved on from the heartbreak of her past, and hasn’t looked back in years. When Varun comes waltzing into her life again, however, Rhea is unprepared for the rush of memories that upset her neat little life. Nor is she able to push back her broken dreams, and learn to trust again.

Varun wants her back, but it looks like an uphill task, at best…

The story:

Rhea Kochar works part-time at Educomp, a company that helped students with admissions to universities abroad as a means to earn some extra money while studying Mass Communications at Jamia Milia Islamia. She meets Varun Suri, when he applies for Hotel management course in Switzerland. They become friends, she starts hanging out with him and his friends, Ajay and Kirpal and they become the best buddies. Eventually, Rhea and Varun fall in love and have the blessings of both the families but one day, she comes to know that he is married. She is heart-broken but she immerses herself in her work.

Now, six years later, Rhea leads the event management team at The Timeout and Varun, the chairman and managing director of Eastmec, checks into the hotel and wants to negotiate a deal for the property. Rhea resigns and keeps the relationship professional and Varun wants her to listen to him and start off where they left.

Will Rhea fall for his charms?

The review:

The story is simple, short and sweet. The author had created very realistic characters and the relationships have been portrayed well. The feelings of the characters have been described beautifully.

I enjoyed the book and am looking forward to another book by the same author.

Book Source: Bought

Publisher: Indireads

Format: ebook

A Scandalous Proposition by MM George

True to their reputation, Indireads books are a must read. A Scandalous Proposition by MM George is one such novella from Indireads. I could not resist ordering the book and reading it as soon as I could download it. It is the story of Mira Talwar and Ranbir Dewan.

Book Blurb

“What is your price, Mira?”
“You’ll never be able to afford it!”

Feisty, small-town girl Mira Talwar is just finding her feet in Delhi when she encounters the hottest bachelor in the country, Ranbir Dewan. The sparks flying between them sizzle with sexual tension, but when Ranbir puts a scandalous proposition before her, she turns him down spiritedly.

However, thrown together by unhappy coincidence, Mira is finding it hard to resist Ranbir’s attentions. And he isn’t the kind to give up easily…

The story:

Mira Talwar moves to Delhi from Meerut with her mother and younger sister, Reema after their father’s death. To support her family, she takes up a job in a cafeteria and her sister, as a salesgirl. Her boss, Ranbir Dewan, is arrogant and autocratic; who thinks that everything/ everyone has a price. He asks her to become his mistress and she refuses. Then, he calls her to a café, accuses her sister of trying to ensnare his brother, Tarun, and suggests that Reema becomes their grandmother’s companion, for Tarun’s sake and both the sisters move into the Dewan Kutir.

Will Reema win her way into the Dewan family and will Mira succumb to her boss’s demand? Read on…

My take:

An excellent read, I could not keep it down till I finished it. Ranbir is much more real than the Mills & Boon heroes we used to read about when in college and Mira, she is the real middle-class girl next door. The book is well written and the flow is good. The realtionships between family members as well as between the characters have been well depicted. The author has nicely described the feelings of the characters.

A must read if you are into romance, and it is well worth a try it even if you are not into it.

Would someone make a film out of it, please?

Book Source: Bought

Publisher: Indireads

Format: ebook

Temptation in Paradise by Jyoti Singh

Temptation in Paradise by Jyoti Singh is a story set in Gurgaon, India.

The characters:

Niki Vora, 29, is an engineer heading a team of analysts at Knowledge Networks in Gurgaon. A very private person, she closes up, and the death of her parents had scarred her in more ways than one. She drives a 350cc Enfield because she feels that is the fastest way of moving through traffic.

Tanya Vora, Niki’s elder sister, married to her school sweetheart Tushar, takes care of the family business after their parents’ death. She feels responsible for Tanya and wants her to get married and suggests grooms for her whom Niki rejects.

Siddharth Shetty, Sid, is Tanya’s best buddy from graduate school. He left for the US after graduation and is now back as a Venture Capitalist.

Gauri, Sid’s girlfriend in graduate school and later, breaks off with him and marries someone else.

The story:

“I hate Techies- they are all brain and no heart” is how Niki retorts when Tanya asks Niki to meet an engineer one evening, but agrees to do it one last time. In a hurry to reach home and get dressed, she gets into the lift which instead of going to the lobby, goes up and when the lift finally comes down, the doors do not open and Niki being Niki, gets nervous and starts pressing the lift buttons, steps on the toes of another passenger on the lift falls on top of him. After the chaos, the lift opens, they part ways without introductions, she finally makes it to her home and to the appointed place just in time. And who does she meet? None other than the person she had encountered with on the lift, Sid. Then, she sees him in office with her boss and also socially.

Slowly, she falls in love with him and then Gauri walks in.

For the rest, read the book and I know you will not regret it.

The review:

A very well written book. The story is a little slow at first and then, I just could not put the book down. The characters and their feelings have been very well described.  The book is funny at times especially the scene in the lift and emotional at times. The relationship between Tanya and Niki has been very well described.

Must Read. Highly recommended.

What I did not like: There is no description of the author like all the other Indian Author Mills and Boon.

Book Source: Bought

Publisher: Harlequin India