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Blurb View:

This is not your typical boy-meets-girl story. Okay, they do meet, but there are some complications. Trish is twenty-eight. She’s unemployed, overweight, single and snarky. She knows all that. And if one more person – just one more person – tries to fix her, she might explode. Sahil is thirty-five. He has superpowers. Well, kind of. He seems to think so, anyway. He’s also hot (in a geeky kind of way, but still). And he plays the guitar, helps the underprivileged and talks about his feelings. Aren’t guys like that supposed to exist only in fantasies? When Trish and Sahil meet, magic happens. Real magic, you know, like fireworks, electricity, that sort of thing. But here’s the problem. Trish doesn’t want anyone in her life. She has enough to deal with – dependent parents, flaky neighbours, bitchy editors, the works. And yet, Sahil is determined to be in her life. From the bestselling author of Just Married, Please Excuse and Sorting Out Sid, here is another zinger of a book.

Review:

Yashodhara Lal is three books old and I’ve read two of them. Much liked ‘Sorting Out Sid’ and picked up this one so that I could read about more such people. This book is about Trish, and she’s completely different from what Sid was. It’s her story, and a strong one, where Trish owns her life.

Trish is fat. She loses her job and opts for freelance. I began reading the book and realised these familiar traits. It becomes easier to identify with the character once you find things similar. But Trish is much more than what I am and I loved the character. The story begins with her woes – career, an ailing parent, her obesity which is the cause of much concern for her friend Akansha and her mother – the list goes quite long. It’s a lone battle against life and things are made easier with loads of humour. Enter Sahil too, though not in a typical boy-meets-girl manner.

I’ve liked Yashodhara’s narration before and this one’s no exception. It is lucid, and commands all your attention. There is the much needed and relevant urban humour, and twists in the plot that you probably can’t predict. It will keep you hooked till the end. I particularly liked Sahil’s character, though a little more of him would have been good for the story. I liked how Yashodhara deals with the much elusive and avoided relationship in Indian English Literature – the mother-daughter convoluted relationship. Steering away from the cliched Mom-is-God to real stuff, for a change. Loved the bitter bits as they’re very real in our lives. Apart from all these, I felt something was missing with the novel. Since I can’t point out what it is, Y gets the benefit of doubt.

Recommended for every 20 and 30-something, you might find a little you in any of the characters.

My Rating: 3.5/5

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About the Author:

Yashodhara Lal is a marketing professional and the mother of three children, apart from being a bestselling author. She graduated from IIM Bangalore in 2002 and manages to balance her professional life with her various interests, including fitness, writing and music. She lives in Gurgaon with her rather tolerant husband Vijay and their kids nicknamed Peanut, Pickle and Papad, all of whom never fail to provide her with material for her entertaining blog at yashodharalal.com. Her first book, Just Married, Please Excuse is a hilarious account of marriage. Her second novel, Sorting Out Sid is the story of a man having an early midlife crisis and, consequently, a divorce. There’s Something About You is Yashodhara’s third book.

Book Details:

Language: English,  Genre: Fiction/Romance

Author(s): Yashodhara Lal

Publisher: Harper Collins, Year Published: July 2015

Binding: Paperback, Edition: First, Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 978-9351771999 , ISBN-10: 9351771997

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