Book Review - The Secret Proposal by Aniesha Brahma

THE SECRET PROPOSAL

Author: Aniesha Brahma

ISBN: 9789380914237

Binding: Paperback

Publishing Year: 2012

Publisher: General Press

Number of Pages: 208

Language: English

Genre: Fiction/ Romance

Price: Rs. 125 ( I received a review copy from the author)

About the Book: 

       Eight years ago, she was the teenager he would use to get out of boring parties. But now, he is stunned to see her grown up.

       He decides to delay his marriage by getting into a false engagement with her. Then he falls in love with someone else and she forces herself to move on. He comes back to her, but she's determined not to take him back. Will she ever get over her unrequited love for him?

      Would a grand gesture from him make her believe otherwise?

      And how do you know that your knight in shining armour has been standing right next to you?

      Join Tanveer 'Veer' Bhattacharya and Larissa 'Jasmine' Chroborty as they embark on a journey which questions relationships, friendships and makes one wonder...

    how long would it take for love to eventually find a way?

About the Author : 

       Aniesha Brahma, currently a Masters student in Jadavpur University, is pursuing a degree in Comparative Literature. She was born and brought up in Kolkata, West Bengal.

Aniesha can be contacted at her website : www.anieshabrahma.webs.com

Swarnali Speaks :

       First of all, I would really thank Aniesha for the personal note she added on the first page. Gestures like these make the reading experience better :)

  Coming to the book, the cover is really pretty and the picture prepares us for the fairy tale romance world that we are about to enter as we read the book. As you can read from the back cover of the book, this is the story of Larrisa a.k.a. Jasmine and her childhood crush Tanveer a.k.a Veer.

For starters, almost everyone would identify with the protagonist of the book, Larrisa for we've all had our shares of crushes, those innocent stares, the light-headed feeling when your crush looks back at you and smiles, the unending daydreams and what not. I don’t have a particular love for romances, but this book was a pleasant change from the same old stereotyped campus romance tales that I’m tired of reading. Another thing that I particularly liked was the absence of grammatical errors. I didn't notice any in the book (I don’t remember having come across typographical errors either but I’m not very sure about that). The language is simple and lucid and the story flows smoothly. I loved the narration where the author describes the festivity and mirth that envelops the City of Joy, Kolkata and its inhabitants during Durga Pujo. The celebrations and ceremonies are immaculately described.

Of all the characters mentioned in the book, I loved Larrisa’s best buddy Meghan a.k.a MM the most. She is the perfect best friend who is always there to help Jasmine and fixes all the mess ups she does. Everyone needs a bestie like her :D Veer is the very handsome knight in shining armour that our heroine has been crushing after since she was a teenager. He is omnipresent and arrives at the right moments to save our damsel in distress.

A few things I didn't like much in the book were the repeated use of phrases like “bridal style”, and “chocolate brown eyes”. The novel seemed to be filled with parties of all kinds happening over and over throughout the course of the book. Larissa seems to be too weak, fainting multiple times.

Apart from these minor glitches, the book is a really pleasant read, perfect for those days when you want to just sit down and relax with a light breezy book. A really good debut novel. If you are a chick-lit fan, you'll really like this one. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series (with Meghan as the protagonist) that Aniesha is planning to write next.

Rating : 3 / 5