Book Review: Fade into Red

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Author: Reshma K. Barshikar
Publisher: Random House India
ISBN13: 9788184005547
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 376
Source: Flipkart

Fade into Red is a story of Arya, a smart and intelligent modern day girl, an investment banker who dreams of being an Art Historian. In-spite of being stuck in a job she doesn’t like, she is successfully juggling her family, her career and her long distant boyfriend. On a monsoon day in June, she is suddenly sent packing from Mumbai to Tuscany to buy a vineyard for a star client. The four day trip turns into a two week treasure hunt that finds her in the middle of midnight wine deals, dodgy vintners, rolling Tuscan hills, and a playboy millionaire whose swirling plans don’t just include the wine. A twenty nine year old, Arya jay walks on the road of happiness realising how elusive the end can be.

The author has described every scene the book in beautiful detail. If you let it, your imagination will take you right into the gorgeous vineyards of Tuscany. All characters are almost alive and Arya speaks to you through the authors words. Her dilemma of choosing between things she wants to do and things she has to do is very well portrayed. The loud family and the banter with the boy friend add the air to the book, making it a breezy read.

Reshma K. Barshikar was a former investment banker. She completed her B.A. (Honours) at the Oxford Brooks University, Oxford and started her career as a journalist for The Hindu and Business Line. But she left the job to complete her MBA at the Indian School of Business. Reshma now works as a freelance travel and lifestyle writer. She currently contributes to India Today Travel Plus, Harper’s Bazaar and Grazia among other publications of repute. She is also the co-curator of a prominent e-commerce website.

The book is a definitely worth a read. Pour yourself a glass of red, and take a dreamy walk through Tuscany with Arya while she searches for happiness.

Rating: 3/5

Book Review: Advantage Love

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Author: Madhuri Banerjee
Publisher: Rupa Publications India
ISBN13: 9788129130020
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 200
Source: Personal copy

The story revolves around Trisha Mathur, a simple girl who leaves Lucknow for Delhi taking along the big city dreams in her starry eyes.
She meets debonair politician Vedant in college while having her first brush with student politics. She is swept off her feet by his irresistible charms and before she knows it, she falls head over heals in love. Soon after the flying in skies of romance, gravity of reality pulls them down. The man cant commit to taking the relationship further. Much to the dismay of the girl, he has his reasons and sticks to them. Vedant heads back to Bombay, while a very heart broken Trisha stays back in Delhi.
The sour experience she has had with love makes her vary of men. That is until the smashing tennis star, Abhimanyu, comes along.The small town girl in Trisha struggles to fit into the glam of the tennis circuits, eventually realising its worth for her. She decides to walk the lengths on the road to self-discovery. Fate strikes and brings Vedant back into her life. After a deuce between both the men, its advantage Trisha.

The author has told a simple story, in a way that it leaves a smile on your face. It has all the perfect ingredients to make it a lip smacking recipe. Love, infatuation, heartbreak, and rekindled romance. The characters are dreamy as they could be. A nice girl with her head on her shoulders and not one but two men of desire. You ride along the highs and lows of the waves of their relationships. There are parts which can be identified with very closely. It has something that, at some point in out lives we have all felt.

I picked it up the book because I like the way the author thinks, and how she just simply puts it across. Madhuri Banerjee is an Indian writer. She has written other titles such as Losing My Virginity and Other Dumb Ideas and Mistakes like Love and Sex.

Its a nice light read. Must read for all chick lit fans.

Rating: 3.5/5