BOOK TITLE: Without
You
ASIN: B015TJJOJE
AUTHOR: Preethi
Venugopala
GENRE: Fiction
/ Romance
NUMBER OF PAGES: 226
FORMAT: Kindle
e – book.
SERIES / STANDALONE: Standalone
REVIEW BY: Dhivya
Balaji
HOW I GOT THIS BOOK: I
thank the author for this Kindle Copy J
SUMMARY:
When Ananya, a bubbly twenty-year-old
engineering student, reaches her Grandmother's house in Sreepuram on a month
long vacation, romance is the last thing on her mind. However, she meets Dr.
Arjun there and falls head over heels in love.
As it often happens, the path of true love never runs smooth. Circumstances force them apart even though they were madly in love. She becomes a victim of depression. When everything fails to return her to normalcy, help arrives from an unexpected source. Will she ever find happiness again? Will time allow her heart to heal and forget Arjun? What indeed is true love? What is that strange secret that locks all the circumstances together?
Travel with Ananya to the picturesque Sreepuram, face the chaos of Bengaluru, and relish the warmth of magical Dubai in this heartwarming tale of love, betrayal, friendship, and miracles.
Meet the main Characters in order of appearance:
As it often happens, the path of true love never runs smooth. Circumstances force them apart even though they were madly in love. She becomes a victim of depression. When everything fails to return her to normalcy, help arrives from an unexpected source. Will she ever find happiness again? Will time allow her heart to heal and forget Arjun? What indeed is true love? What is that strange secret that locks all the circumstances together?
Travel with Ananya to the picturesque Sreepuram, face the chaos of Bengaluru, and relish the warmth of magical Dubai in this heartwarming tale of love, betrayal, friendship, and miracles.
Meet the main Characters in order of appearance:
·
Ananya: A bubbly twenty year old
engineering student— the narrator of the story.
·
Ammamma: Ananya’s Grandma, Arundhati
Mukundan, an author by profession, who loves playing Cupid.
·
Dr. Arjun: The dashing doctor who is
the heir to a multi Billion super market chain ‘Shine’.
·
Colonel R.S Nair: A helpful neighbor
whose charming talks always influences Ananya.
·
Dr. Vishal: Ananya’s cousin and
Arjun’s best friend.
·
Shakuntala Devi: Arjun’s mom, the
current head of the ‘Shine’ empire.
·
Shankar & Sukanya: Ananya’s
parents.
·
Khushi and Poornima: Ananya’s best
friends in college.
·
Kishore: Ananya’s cousin who lives
in the United Arab Emirates.
·
Shreya and Aditya: Kishore’s wife
and son.
·
Lily: The cute Filipina girl who is
Ananya’s colleague and best friend.
·
Tom: The handsome and funny
colleague who is the heartthrob in the firm Ananya works.
·
Sophia: Ananya’s flat mate and
friend who is an expert on Zodiac signs.
REVIEW:
Without you – expect some unexpected
twists – especially at the end!
First Impression:
The cover design looks like a watercolour
of a woman in a flowing gown. While I know the author is multi talented, I am
wondering if somehow, she influenced this design. A nice muted image that
conveys more than it seems to, on first sight.
A healthy sized book awaited me. The summary was crisp and to the point
and what impressed me was the list of characters given upfront!
Now the story:
Romances are often categorised as
one time reads, with little in them to take back after the story has been
finished. But sometimes, some books capture your imagination in a different
way. You are not entirely sure you will be able to forget the story, but when
asked to point out one favourite character, you will stall a moment because
there is something you like about every character!
Without You is one such narrative. The
story is simple enough to hold your attention, yet narrated in a descriptive
manner that you could visualise it and find yourself wandering away from the
story and into the scenery at times.
Ananya Shankar is a fun loving,
unassuming twenty year old who goes to her maternal grandmother’s house for a
summer vacation. The readers’ senses are treated her with a very descriptive
account of the village and its climate and people. There she falls for Arjun, a
charming neighbour and a doctor. Surprisingly, her grandmother even accepts the
match, and Ananya is on cloud nine. Everything about Arjun is perfect. His
looks, character, behaviour and attitude leave little to be desired.
But fate has other ideas. It plays a
cruel game and separates them both. Ananya is devastated, depressed, and
considers suicide. While this might seem like a signature movie move, it also
adds depth to the naïve character that Ananya is portrayed to be. Things look
bleak and with her mind and heart warring, Ananya can neither forget Arjun nor
move on in life.
She tries so hard to be her normal
self and manages to go through the remaining semesters in her college and lands
up in a good job based on her meritorious education. Once again, fate has its
say in her life and Ananya comes face to face with the best and worst
happenings in her life. What happens after that forms the story.
‘Without You’, while not as ominous as
the title is making it sound, is also filled with some surprise elements while
nearing the end of the book. The story about the main characters is somewhat
predictable. You know, deep down, that somehow, everything is going to be
alright. And you could also have an idea of what the author has been meaning to
do with the characters.
But a few cleverly written twists at
the end of the book make the story somewhat unique from others in this genre.
The first half is a descriptive slow read about the bliss of falling in love
and the misery of falling out of it. The second half, however, is the one you
should watch out for, with the twists coming so subtly that you might miss
them.
The book adheres to the summary and
the characters are natural and well defined, bringing with them the nativity of
the region they belong to. The author has a knack for describing places and it
is only natural that her prowess in her art, and also civil engineering comes
out in the book! After all, which book doesn’t contain a part of its author?
Overall, a good read that you could
associate with if you are a romance lover!
WHAT I LIKED:
·
The character of grandmother
(Ammamma)
·
That part of the story set in Dubai,
the initial days.
·
The special twist with that one
character in the end – the most unpredictable element in the book.
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER:
The language seems a little archaic
with some phrases seemingly of a different word order than is normally used.
This is sometimes confusing.
VERDICT: A
pleasant story of love and its many trials and tribulations.
RATING: 4/5
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Preethi
Venugopala always liked stories. When alone, she would create stories in her
mind but never thought about penning them down until a break from her regular
job as a Civil Engineer prompted her to take up blogging.
Flash fictions written for various prompts, winning story writing competitions led to publications of short stories in various anthologies and then to her first full length novel 'Without You'.
She currently lives in Bangalore with her husband, son and an ever growing collection of books. When not penning down the stories of the voices in her head, she can be found curled up on a couch with her favorite book.
Flash fictions written for various prompts, winning story writing competitions led to publications of short stories in various anthologies and then to her first full length novel 'Without You'.
She currently lives in Bangalore with her husband, son and an ever growing collection of books. When not penning down the stories of the voices in her head, she can be found curled up on a couch with her favorite book.
EDITIONS AVAILABLE: Kindle
PRICE: $1.45
for Kindle
BOOK LINKS: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B015TJJOJE
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