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Monday, August 31, 2015

Scars of Love by R.S. Khambete : A Review



BOOK TITLE: Scars of Love
ISBN: 9781927826089
AUTHOR: R.S. Khambete
GENRE: Fiction / Indirom / Medical / Romance
NUMBER OF PAGES: 141
FORMAT: Digital
SERIES / STANDALONE: Standalone
REVIEW BY: Dhivya Balaji
HOW I GOT THIS BOOK: I thank Naheed Hassan of Indireads for sending me this book in exchange of an honest review!
SUMMARY:
          Seema has everything a girl could wish for; stunningly beautiful and financially secure, she has a great job and a handsome, successful, caring fiancé. But then she loses it all!

          A freak accident leaves her horribly burnt and in terrible pain. Her hospital bills are mounting, her job is at stake and she will carry the scars to her grave. Worst of all, her fiancé seems to be losing interest in her.
          Seema thinks she has nothing left to live for, but her doctor is determined to heal and get her back on her feet–whether she wants to or not. With his faith as her bedrock, Seema learns to stand again and reclaim all that she had lost, including her true love.
REVIEW:
          Seema is a beautiful young manager of an IT company who is engaged to Manoj, a successful banker. The book starts with a freak accident (caused by Manoj) that totally scars Seema all over her body. She is filled with burns over her legs, arm and lower half of the body. The doctors are hopeless of a full recovery and Seema rues the loss of her beauty. But her fiancé Manoj helps her into a hospital where a doctor suggests an expensive procedure for recovery. Seema hates the fact that the burns have rendered her immobile and she detests the doctor who seems very indifferent to her plight. She refers to him as ‘the beast’ and slowly realises that he is indifferent because of his past.
          Enter into the plot Seema’s colleagues who have almost managed to ruin the office by negligence in her absence. They have lost important contracts and they have made the company turn over in loss. Seema now has the double job of coping with her physical pains as the burns heal slowly and also to keep a drowning office afloat. Her boss is no longer interested in maintaining the branch of the office where she is working. Bank notices for closure of the office force Seema to rethink her position. Closing the office would mean more than 40 people losing their job and Seema wants to do something to keep both the office and the job intact.
          What she does further and the life changing decisions she makes in a short span of time form the rest of the story. The lead character Seema faces betrayal from all ends, even her family, and she has work problems to solve within a deadline. Her boss is callous, her doctor is seemingly indifferent and Seema does not know where to turn. Even her fiancé who once found her so attractive would only approach her in a patronizing way. Feeling pressurised from all ends, Seema makes some bold quick decisions that give a total twist to the story in unimaginable ways.
          It is here that the lead character leaves readers with a mildly disbelieving incredulous look. Seema, though she describes the doctor as an indifferent person (and that is the only negative thing she does through the whole story) is a really loving person towards everyone else. She is simply too good to be true. I personally would have liked Seema to teach a lesson to her cheating fiancé and betraying sister. And a little more background story of the doctor would have made this one interesting read.
          Talking about the story as such, it has clean simple language and is a delight to read. (As is usual with indiReads novellas). The premise of the story itself is very simple. The plot explains how one woman faces difficulties in life and comes out of it. The story develops on this single line in multiple directions. The characters are well developed and most stand in mind for their dialogues and behaviour. Seema, though she is the heroine is only my second favourite character. The first of course is the doctor and one character I really loved was Qutubuddin Filmrollwala. I have never enjoyed so much while reading about any other character in recent times.
          Overall, Scars of Love is an interesting story. You would take back important lessons from it.
WHAT I LIKED:
          Qutubudin Filmrollwala. No other explanation needed. And the characterisation of the doctor. And through most of the book, I really did like the lead character, Seema.
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER:
          For a lead character, Seema could have had a little more depth. Her decisions regarding her family members and her presumptions with Mr. Sanghani somehow made me get a sour taste. She could have behaved a bit more human (yes, pun intended. This woman was too good to be true!)
SPECIAL MENTION: 
          Excellent editing makes the book a treat to read.
          The cover design could have been a bit better. The image is not clear and doesn’t portray what the story is about.
VERDICT: Go for this! It is a fast moving story with enough twists and some melancholy.
RATING: 4/5
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
          Dr. R S Khambete is a practicing family physician in Ahmadabad, India. He believes that an author is born, not trained, and that an author needs a profession. His medical practice and other activities form the foundation for his passion in life, writing stories and novels. Till date, his published work includes hundreds of short stories, many features of general and medical interest and one poem
EDITIONS AVAILABLE: Digital
PRICE: $1.77 for Kindle


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