Destiny Decides by PG Van

I received the book Destiny Decides by PG Van as a review copy from the author as a part of the Blog Tour by The Book Club. I would like to thank the author and the Book Club for the book.

The Blurb (from the Book Club):

Sameera lives a simple and fun life that she has structured with utmost care ensuring that she was focused on work and also keeps in touch with the classical dancer in her. Sameera has endured tough times in her life at a young age and wonders if she could ever hang on to anything that makes her life perfect.

Nick is a successful businessman who went to high school with Sameera, back when they lived in India. He re-enters her life taking her by surprise and in no time expresses his love for her. He wins her heart with his enigmatic but sweet gestures. He convinces her to move in with him.  Nick gives her the confidence and support that she needs to overcome her doubts.

Sameera starts to feel like Nick is the secret to happiness, she finds out that there is a search underway for her. Nick tells her that an Indian royal family is trying to locate her family. Fully convinced that it was a misunderstanding she ignores Nick’s warnings about the people that were searching for her and travels to India for a family emergency.

A member of the Royal Family that has been searching for her, meets Sameera as soon as she reaches India. Nick follows her to India a short while later and asks her to marry him to which she agrees whole-heartedly. The story ends on a happy note but with an open question around why Nick’s extended family in India is looking for Sameera’s family.

The story:

Sameera Swaminath, Meera, moves from Hyderabad to their grandparents place, after her father’s death, with her mother and sister and disconnects with the life that she had when her father was alive, like Bharat Natyam, the dance she excelled at and also her friends from Hyderabad. Then she shifts to the US with her mother while Nate decides to stay back in India to complete her education. Once there, Meera completes her education and takes up a job and Nethra comes and joins her. Her mother remarries and she, and their step-father, both cardiac surgeons, move to Dallas. Now, 23, Meera, lives with her elder sister, Nethra, Nate, in San Fransisco.

Nethra meets Srini, her school mate from Hyderabad at a class reunion and they start dating each other. One day, when Nate, Srini and Meera go to a pub, they meet Nick, Nikhil Bhatia, their class mate in Hyderabad and Meera’s best friend in school.

Nick is an Indian, born and brought up in America who goes to Hyderabad, while still in school, to stay with his aunt and study there. He moves back to the US and that is the last that he and Meera hear of each other.

Now that they meet again, he does everything to woo Meera and she also falls in love with him. But she is scared, is this happiness for keeps or, will she have to fight fate again?

My take:

The story has been written in first person from Sameera’s point of view. The plot is simple and the book has been written in a very simple language. The flow is good. The characters have been developed beautifully and are relatable. The love between Sameera and Nikhil is so ideal, that I kept praying that nothing should go wrong between them.

The first meeting of Sameera and Nikhil was from a Karan Johar movie, New Year’s eve, Meera going to office on a holiday because of some urgent work in her Mini Cooper and some random guy on a superbike moving right next to her. And he even blows her a kiss. She does not know what hit her but his eyes are familiar. The eyes haunt her and she cannot place them. And then she meets Nikhil…..the eyes, her school days all fall into place. And then starts the wining and dining and wooing. I loved the way Nikhil elicits information from Nate and impresses Meera.

I loved the relationship that Meera and Nate share with their parents and the easy camaraderie between Nick and Srini. The comfortable relationship Nikhil shares with his mother and sister is also worth a mention. Nikhil’s understanding nature and also the patient way he tries to make Meera comfortable with her past is beautiful. Sameera’s loyalty for her family has been beautifully portrayed.

The author has explained the Indian rituals and traditions which come up in the story in detail possibly for the international audience.

The end of the book left me wanting for more. Maybe because of the way the book ended, in a suspense mode.

Loved the book immensely, especially the sweet story.

 

Disclaimer: I received the book as a review copy from the author and the views are completely mine. I have not received any monetary compensation for the same.