Desire: A slow burn, interracial romance – Anna C – #BookReview

Desire: A slow burn, interracial romance

Title: Desire: A slow burn, interracial romance

Author: Anna C

Genre: Romance

Format: Kindle

Price: Rs 125

Link for Purchase: Desire: A Slow burn, interracial romance

Synopsis:

Orphaned heiress Chandni Upadhyay is running from the mother of all cliches – an evil stepmother and a forced marriage with her villainous nephew. Her cobbled together escape plan is limping along until she ends up in the wrong seat on the train.

American photographer Steve Paxton has many secret demons to fight but all he really wants, in that moment, is his window seat. One that is occupied by a very beautiful and very annoying young woman. From unwilling travel partners to unexpected friends and finally, explosive lovers, Steve and Chandni are on the ride of a lifetime.

Steamy daydreams, weird co-passengers and shady hotels are just par for the course. Until the day Chandni’s past catches up with her and drags her back, kicking and screaming.

Will their temporary relationship stand up to scheming family, past grief and their own insecurities? Or will they finally accept that there was nothing ‘temporary’ about them at all?

My Take:

This is a good book, and you can definitely read it once if you are a fan of romantic novels. Of course, some people might point fingers at the fact that it is the same stereotypical story of a distressed heroine meeting a knight in shining armour, falling in love and ending up living happily ever after. But wait! The author has made things very different from the stereotypical stories we are used to.

I don’t want to reveal how that is done in this book because if I do, I would be giving the game away and that would not be fair to the author. The heroine’s transformation from a timid wilted wallflower to a strong-willed woman comes as a pleasant surprise. One must give credit to the author for making an oft-repeated storyline very interesting by injecting sufficient intrigue in the tale.

There is plenty of erotica in some of the chapters which is written very tastefully. The author has written this story aiming at the young adult audience and I am quite sure the book will definitely appeal to youngsters, college students and so on. The story moves at a fast pace initially but slows down a bit in the middle and feels stretched towards the end.

I say that because the hero takes too much time to admit his feelings towards the heroine to himself. I mean this refusal to admit his love for the heroine to himself is not in keeping with the character of the hero the author has painted. It appears a shade incongruous that a man of the kind the hero is, would keep refusing to admit his love for the heroine that too after having a complete relationship with her. This appears contrived and aimed at stretching the story.

The characters of the villains in the story are also aptly brought out. Come to think of it, all the characters in the story stay etched in the mind for quite some time after reading the book. The author has done a commendable job of bringing out the love mingled with lust the hero and the heroine feel for each other.

The story reminded me of the first half of the movie ‘Dil Wale Dulhaniya Le jayenga’ which is devoted to bringing out the chemistry between the lead pair. Of course, in this story the setup is different, and the heroine is running away from home and is in mortal danger, but the idea is the same.

The hero and heroine are typical Bollywood. The hero is six foot tall and handsome, and the heroine is a beautiful young girl. This story could be made into a very good movie and would definitely end up as a blockbuster if directed by someone who knows his job. Kudos to the author for picking up an oft-repeated story and weaving a tasteful tale out of it.

Conclusion:

A big yay! You can definitely pick this book if you like romantic tales. The book is a shade contrived and stretched towards the end but that does not take away from the tasteful writing style.

Rating:

I am going with a 4/5 for Desire written by Anna C. I have cut off a point for some of the negatives I have mentioned above.

Rating Scale:

            1  Poor

            2  Good

            3  Fair

            4  Excellent

            5   Outstanding

This review has been written as part of  Blogchatter’s Book Review Program

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