Title: The Bestseller She Wrote
Author: Ravi Subramanian
Paperback: 391 pages
Publisher: Westland (October 28th 2015)
Genre: Romance
Read: Paperback
Stars: ***/5
Buy On: Amazon India | Amazon US | Flipkart

Summary:

(Goodreads)

He was a bestseller She wanted him to make her one.

Paperback king, Aditya Kapoor life is straight out of a modern man’s fantasy. His literary stardom is perfectly balanced by a loving wife and a spectacular career. With everything he touches turning to gold, Aditya is on a winning streak.

Shreya Kaushik is a student with a heart full of ambition. Young, beautiful and reckless, Shreya speaks her mind and obsessively chases after what she wants. And what she wants is to be a bestselling author.

What happens when their worlds collide? Is it possible to love two people at the same time? Can real ambition come in the way of blind passion? Can trust once broken, be regained?

Master storyteller Ravi Subramanian, delves into the glitzy world of bestsellers and uncovers a risky dalliance between a superstar novelist and his alluring protege.

The Bestseller She Wrote is a combustible cocktail of love, betrayal and redemption.

My Review:

Note: Thanks BlogAdda and Ravi Subramanian for offering me this book to read and review 🙂

Cover: Bright and Conspicuous

Paper and font: Easy on the eyes!

Readability, language: Easy on the mind!

Why did I choose this book: I was offered this book by Blogadda. Since this was a deviation from Subramanian’s standard writing fare, it caught my fancy.

Shreya wants to be a bestselling author and she will do anything it takes to get that, even destroy a marriage as she comes between Maya and Aditya. But will Bestselling Author Aditya Kapoor be used and abused or can he save his marriage. Shreya can get all she wants without this destruction so why is she doing this? The answers the climax. 😉

The end justifies the title; it’s appropriate and it caught my interest. The cover is bright and conspicuous, it’s one you can’t ignore. As for the blurb, it’s succinct and simple.

I haven’t come across a plot quite like this one before, a story of blind ambition and it’s repercussions, while also dealing with betrayal. At a lot of points I found myself thinking I knew what would come next but Subramanian surprised me repeatedly.

Set in present day Mumbai, the author has woven the city well in his story and the city is always present in the shadows. He has also woven in a lot of pot-shots and truths about the publishing industry. There were a lot of places where I found myself laughing when I made the connection to real life and many a place I was shaking my head at the sad publishing truths.

The book has a large character set, but they all play important roles in the story and take it forward. Aditya, Maya and Shreya are sketched well. I found myself doing exactly what the author wanted, feeling for Maya, hating Shreya while admiring her guts and feeling both love and hate for Aditya. The only character who left me disturbed was Sanjay, his involvement has me still confused; I can’t find them but there seem to be loose-ends there.

The story is well laid out, though the pace slows down a bit and gets draggy toward the end. Almost as if the author was implementing his advice from the book on words per book. The story builds up well toward the climax and takes you by surprise. All loops are tied up though the Sanjay threads are a little twisted and knotted up for me, his plot didn’t sit too well in the jigsaw for me.

I enjoyed Subramanian’s style of writing, his snide remarks and tongue-in-cheek sense of humour. His Hinglish (which I particularly loved) is simple and easy to read and I didn’t once have to reach out for a dictionary, which was refreshingly nice!

Not just a story of blind ambition and betrayal, The Bestseller She Wrote is also the current state of India’s publishing industry – from author antics to emotional blackmail, Facebook fiascos to newspaper scandals, anything goes and it’s all in the book. For YA and above. Recommended if you are looking for a fast mindless read!

Buy On: Amazon India | Amazon US | Flipkart

About the Author:

Ravi Subramanian is an alumnus of IIM Bangalore and author of seven previous commercial novels. Having been a banker himself, he has a unique insight into the industry he writes about.
Ravi lives in Mumbai with his wife, Dharini and daughter Anusha.

Author Links:
Website │ Goodreads │ Twitter │ Facebook

😛 Compulsory Text: I am reviewing ‘The Bestseller She Wrote’ by Ravi Subramanian as a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

Indian Reads… #1: Talking with Nina Sengupta about her book ‘Edible Weeds and Naturally Growing Plants in Auroville’

This is a whole bunch of firsts, my first author interview, my first colouring book, the first colouring book from India,.. to name a few.

I set out with a lot of nervousness, I’d never interviewed someone before and this was to be over a telephone call. And what after the interview, I’ve not ever used editing software, how was I going to finish this. But baby steps I told myself and the result was so much fun.

I’ve enjoyed this so much I think I’m going to this again. Putting together questions, talking to Nina about her book and publishing experience, learning iMovie and actually using it, was an adventure and here’s the result.

Please do give it a listen and tell me what you think in comments? 🙂

In this interview Nina talks about –

– her life in Auroville
– why she choose the theme of weeds
– creating a colouring book
– her journey from an idea to publication
– themes and next books in the series

You can buy Nina’s book at www.Auroville.com

My Review of Edible Weeds and Naturally Growing Plants in Auroville