Review: Love Story? Seriously!

Love Story? Seriously! by Shivi Pandey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

BookLysis of Love Story? Seriously! By Shivi Pandey (My Rating: ***½/5)

I have finished reading the second title published by Petals Publishers. The first book I read by same publishers was Heart of Bullets by Nikhil Kushwaha. Today I am sharing my
BookLysis of Love Story? Seriously! by Shivi Pandey.

BOOKLYSIS of Love Story? Seriously! By Shivi Pandey

COVER AND TITLE: Love Story? Seriously! is the catchy title in itself. The use of question mark and exclamation mark create curiosity among readers. A man is covering his face with his both hands who is looking desperate on the front cover. Back of a couple sitting near trees can be seen on the front cover. The book title is printed at the center of the cover. ‘L’ of ‘Love’ looks like slept ‘T’, ‘O’ in ‘story’ represents broken heart. Opening end of ‘S’ in the ‘Seriously’ looks like a mouth of a black snake. Grey, Red, Black and White colour combination of front cover perfectly attract readers and gives the hint of different themes like friendship, attraction, love, betrayal, one-sided-love and humour. Overall Jimmyeric Films & Media designed one more perfect cover.

SETTING: This Love story seriously runs across Kurseong, West Bengal, Delhi, Noida, and Tirrupur. Author Shivi Pandey describes brief but enough historical background of Meenakshi temple, Madurai, and the city Coimbatore.

LANGUAGE AND WRITING STYLE: Author uses quite a difficult language in the novel. Use of capital fonts does not seem good to stress words as compared to italic fonts. Author’s language Bengali’s impressions appear in his writing. Author Shivi Pandey uses first person narrative technique but it feels like reading a diary. Author elegantly avoids bold words like f**k or hell replacing dots which shows character’s frustration and anger. I see my own writing style in one to one conversation held in the novel by the young author Shivi Pandey. I like author’s imagination in one scene where he writes H I J K L M N O to mention the formula H2O.

CHARACTERISATION: Author Shivi Pandey portrays Samar Singh as the protagonist whose love story it is. The story reaches to readers through Samar’s point of view. Sayan aka Sam’s character is gracefully sketched as Samar’s friend. Samriddhi Dwivedi and Surbhi are two female protagonists in the novel. Shivi introduces Kajal as a beautiful Nepali girl. Readers meet some other characters like Rahul, Jyoti, Sapna Pradhan, Ujjwal, Miss Deepa Roy, Shekhar Tiwary, Aniket, Anup Saha, Amit Soni, Shrija and Aadhya etc while going through this love story.

PLOT: Samar’s love story begins in Kurseong where readers get some glimpses of students’ boarding life. The beginning of the first chapter bored me but it turns interesting with Samar’s humoric comments on girls and Rahul’s look. I feel fourth chapter boring again because the chapter is stretched. The scene of question paper stealing reminds me the same scene from the novel Heart of Bullets though my intention to compare both books here is not at all. The author remarks his comment on cheating in board examinations. He also remarks his sarcastic comment on educated peoples who take medicines without doctor’s prescription. ‘Freshers’ is my one of the most favorite chapters from the novel. The ending of the ninth chapter ‘Mad For You… come have a look’ touches to my heart. I like Samar’s comment on arrange marriages. The author beautifully scribbles the intimacy scene. However, I don’t understand the logic and need behind author’s experiment/theory to prove the connection of the word ASS with the names of Samar’s friends Anup Saha and Amit Soni. I don’t have any intention to extinguish Shivi Pandey or any other author from making experiments in the novel. Unique experiments are welcomed in the literature but authors should understand what kind of experiments have to be done. Humour ke liye kuchh bhi nahi chalta. The author has done one more experiment in the twelfth chapter where he relates Samar’s life events to the numerology and I would really applaud for this.

QUOTES:
1.“Past is the most gifted possession, it is something not to relent upon but to be looked upon as a process to success.”
2.“Love doesn’t come your way, you have to reach for it and even if it does, in whatever form you have to accept it.”
3.“After every worst time there comes good time and after every great time there’s a worst.”

HEART BREAKING CRITICISM: After reading two titles by Petals Publishers, I have come to one conclusion- Petals is the well-known and prestigious publisher in the industry of Hindi and English books publishing, but their editors and as a publisher Petals itself needs more hard work, put a lot of efforts and be careful to make their titles error free. I would like to note some simple printing errors from the book which could have been avoided for the improvement of the book- Rememberd (Remembered), Divedi (Dwivedi), and planed (planned) on page numbers 75, 79, and 133. After an introduction of Aadhya’s character, her name is misprinted everywhere in the whole book. Further so many punctuation marks are missing in the novel. Some words faint in the book. Though the price Rs.175/- is not too much, it becomes expensive a bit for the book having major drawbacks like this.

REVIEWER’S VERDICT: “After reading the novel, a first thought appeared in my mind was, is it a Love Story? Seriously! Aisi koi love story rehti hai? You too might have asked same question. And my answer is- No! This is not a typical love story we read everyday because this is somewhat unique, a fresh love story with humour and lot of experiments by the author Shivi Pandey. Some scenes relate to my own past life and reminds my someone close while reading the novel. Though 168 pages are not too much I feel the story stretched by the author and I think the novel could have been much better if author Shivi Pandey would have escaped some unnecessary experiments. Otherwise, Love Story? Seriously! is the good choice for one-time reading.”
I would have given more rating for the beautiful plot by the author but due to the bad editing of the book, I would give 3.5 out of 5 stars to the Love Story? Seriously! by Shivi Pandey.

Disclaimer:
The Signed Paperback copy of Love Story? Seriously! was sent to me by the author Shivi Pandey for an honest Booklysis.
This is Reviewer’s personal opinion about the book Love Story? Seriously! by Shivi Pandey and your views may be vary.

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Review: Falling In Love...

Falling In Love... by Neeraj Mishra
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Let’s ‘FALL(ING) IN LOVE’ with the debut novel by Neeraj Mishra (Book Rating: 3.9*/5)

Did you ever fall in love? Doesn’t matter whether your answer is Yes or No. But if you have fallen in love, or even if you haven’t; let us Fall(ing) In Love… Yes! Falling In Love… This is the title of the debut novel by Neeraj Mishra which I am going to review

Catchy Cover and the Lovely Title:

Cover in Red colour perfectly suits to the romantic genre of Falling In Love… One can see a girl holding her boyfriend’s hand. ‘In’ in ‘Falling In Love…’ is printed into a shape of a heart which looks like a cherry on the cake. Overall Rashmita Jha has designed an attractive cover.

Setting- Story of Falling In Love… runs through several locations like Patna, Rajgir (100 km far from Patna) from Bihar, author beautifully illustrates the metro city Bangalore. The story has a foreign touch of Bahamas in North America.

Themes- The novel Falling In Love… by Neeraj Mishra covers various themes like romanticism, comedy, love and e-love etc.

Language and Writing Style- Author Neeraj Mishra uses very simple and lucid language so one does not need a dictionary. He even wins my heart in his ‘Two Words’ in the beginning of the book. Editors have formatted italic fonts in a proper way but I think italic fonts could have been much better. “Naanu ninna preethi suthene.” Confused? No! I didn’t abuse you. This is the Kannada translation of English phrase ‘I love you’. So author also uses some regional phrases and words. Beginning chapters of Falling in love… are written in a diary style without mentioning dates. All the chapters are narrated in a fast pace so a reader doesn’t feel bored while reading. The author uses first person and past tense to narrate the story and this technique works fantastic.

Characters- Manav Goswami and Sriti Agarwal are the protagonists in this story of Falling In Love… Vikas Nandan and Ashish are super seniors of Manav. Mr. Subramanyam and Chef Chatterjee represent Manav’s college as the director and first-year teacher for kitchen training respectively. Sriti’s best friend Pooja aka dashing_poo’s character is portrayed beautifully. I am really impressed with the character of Sriti’s father Ghanshyam Das Agarwal- a businessman of plywood and timber at Agarwal Timbers Pvt. Ltd. Sriti’s mother Laxmi’s character represents typical housewife. The author also introduces about Sriti’s brothers Aditya Agarwal and Adarsh Agarwal. Mr. Suri’s character is also sketched gracefully. I liked all the characters portrayed in Falling In Love. But I really missed one character. Author Neeraj Mishra talks about Manav’s father in beginning, but a name of his father and description about Manav’s family is missing in the whole book. So I would have liked more if the author would have described Manav’s parents as he influenced on Sriti’s family.

Lovely Plot:
First chapter ‘Welcome to Bangalore’ begins with Manav’s admission to college and introduction about his college rules and regulations. Beginning of ‘Falling in Love…’ commemorates me the beginning of You are the Best Wife by [authior:Ajay K Pandey] as both love stories start with the college admission. Cute_Manav and sriti.agarwal’s chatting is just realistic as we do nowadays in our own life in the virtual world of the internet in the second chapter ‘And She Came Online...’ First chatting scene between Cute_Manav and sriti.agarwal in the third chapter ‘The New Approach’ is really funny. I would like to mention Sriti’s definition of Dumbo “Dumbo means you! The person who has little malfunction on upper floor is called dumbo.” Manav’s theory of difference between chatting and talking is really logical and brilliant, I won’t wonder if prestigious dictionary like Oxford approves his theory of difference chatting and talking; “Let me tell you the difference between chatting and talking! See, when you think something in your mind and you want to express it to another person then with use of hands you type on the keyboard and your message travels via computer’s binary language to the other person and the person receives your message and then responds to your message via the same procedure! This time consuming utterly slow paced conversation is called chatting while vide hearing the voice over telephone or mobile instrument or face to face is called talking where the conversation is fast paced and filled with real emotions!” Author comments on friends who poke their nose in every matter of friends and interferes in their life. Manav and Sriti’s first chat in the fourth chapter ‘From Online To Offline!’ on love and other funny topics reminds me my chat with my FRIENDS. Fifth chapter ‘Listening to Her’ touches to my heart and let me back in the memory of my someone close. The ending of this and eighth chapter made my cry literally. Sixth chapter ‘The Rendezvous’ brings so many twists in a relationship between Manav and Sriti. Author comments on girls’ modern dressing fashion in the seventh chapter ‘New Beginning.’ Manav’s experience of a ride on Sriti’s scooty commemorates me my own experience of a ride in the back seat of my best friend’s scooty (heheheJ!!! Oye Hello! Dirty minds, didn’t I write FRIEND??). Sriti’s birthday event and Manav’s ‘zid’ to wish her is described beautifully in chapter eighth ‘Her Birthday…’ Author comments on Marwari’s misery and pundits’ prediction of future. The author gives brief but enough information about American chop suey and dry baby corn Manchurian (Naam padh ke hi muh me paani aa gaya na?? Mere muh me bhi aaya…). In the ninth chapter ‘The Bad Days And Good Days’, author scribbles that how one phone call of friend’s interference can create misunderstanding and how the relationship can go to a sad end (No! I am not sharing the climax you fool..!) I myself commemorate me the same phone call when Pooja calls Manav to forget his love Sriti. Eleventh chapter ‘The Mission’ tells everything about author’s deep observation and satiric comments about Marwari community when Manav quotes “The smell of business to a Marwari is just like the smell of biryani to a hungry man!” My mouth watered while reading names of various delicious dishes cooked by Manav in the kitchen on Sriti’s home. Knowledge of cooking studied in Hotel Management is elegantly used in the novel by the author Neeraj Mishra. The author also shares some useful ethics of business. So, this love story was formed in the virtual world of internet. We are aware of the future and reality of relationships formed on the internet. So, what happens next? Do Sriti’s parents refuse Manav and Sriti’s relationship? Or they accept them? Does this story ends to a happy end or fails like common e-love stories at a tragic end? I won’t share the climax but you must not miss the novel ‘Falling In Love...’

Quotes from Falling In Love…

All the quotes and one-liners from the novel ‘Falling In Love…’ touches to my heart and relates to my own life.
“Telling a lie does not make you cool! You become cool only when you are truthful and when your heart speaks truth. A friendship is based on trust and if you lie, the trust breaks and without trust any friendship cannot sustain.”
“You know sometimes it happens that someone else knows about your heart better than you, because your heart doesn’t remain with you, it belongs to that someone.”
“Value Of Relation” Is Not That How Much You Feel Happy With Some One. But It Is That, How Much Some One Feels ALONE Without You J!!”
“Never regret a day in your life. Good days give happiness, bad days give experience, worst days give lessons, and best days give memories!”
“Memories are always special. Sometimes we laugh by remembering the days we cried and we cry remembering the days we laughed.”
“‘Life is everything’, when the person you love misses you in your absence. But ‘life is nothing’ when they miss to understand your importance in your presence.”
“Love happens only once and rest is just compromises and then life goes on and on.”
“Love makes you do everything that you never imagined doing.”

Oops Factors of Falling In Love…

Improper Typing and Editing: Sriti.agarwal is printed instead of Cute_Manav on page number 50. Space is printed between ‘w’ and ‘hy’ (i.e.: w hy for ‘why’ on page no. 103. Double inverted comma opens which should be closed in the last paragraph on page 108. I am highlighting misprints with strikethrough effects- may, Maam and Srits’s instead of my, Ma’am and Sriti’s on page numbers 134, 160 and 211. I would say that editing could have been much better than what it is now.
Header margin is too much and footer margin is very less, so lines are printed to the footer line.
Though the light weight of the book is plus point, we can’t ignore very cheap quality of pages.
Price Rs 175/- is too much for the book when we compare with poor page quality.

Reviewer’s Notes-

“The story and fast pace of author’s writing style keep you hooked with the story of ‘Falling In Love…’ and won’t let you put down the book. I can consider Falling In Love in my all-time favourite love stories. Author Neeraj Mishra may claim ‘Falling In Love…’ as his story but this is my and everyone’s story who have TRULY LOVED even once in ANY RELATION. I have mucked almost every page and every line of the book. My friend Trupti almost finished the whole book in one seating and I too finished the book in two seating. I feel the climax scene short in length, so I would have liked more if author Neeraj Mishra would have stretched the climax scene with more thrill. Otherwise, Falling in Love is the perfect love story which will make you smile, laugh and cry at the same time. I would recommend it to every student of Hotel Management, romance lovers, and businessmen. I would rate the book 3.9 on the scale of 5 stars.”

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