Review: Love, Marriage, and Other Disasters by Shilpa Suraj

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Alisha Rana is not your typical single desi girl. For one, she is on the wrong side of 30. For another, she is divorced. Alisha doesn’t want much. But what she does want is that elusive thing all women search for – A man who gets her…but a man who gets her hot! She calls it “feeling the squiggle.”

Enter Dr. Vivaan Kapoor, cute, hot, squiggle-worthy. The younger brother of her cousin's prospective groom, he’s got the squiggle factor in spades. The only catch? He's never been married and is years younger than Alisha. Basically, completely off-limits.


The story starts with a date going very wrong and I immediately felt a kinship with Alisha who still managed to keep her sense of humor intact, even if it borders on sarcasm. But to be fair, the world deserves it most times. Her relationship with her best friend, her colleagues, and even with the girl who is so mean to her, all reflect her good nature and sensibility. She has an excellent rapport with her parents and relatives too and maybe that is why I also understood her doubts about the one guy who makes her feel special but in her head, he is totally off-limits. 

Vivaan is an early-achiever, kind, fun, and charming person who falls in love with Alisha from the first time he sees her. It is really bittersweet to see him try to woo Alisha every possible way and still be rejected only because Alisha has convinced herself that Vivaan is not the right person to marry even if he is the one guy who makes her "feel the squiggle".

Love, Marriage, and other disasters is a very realistic and appropriate story of love & marriage as perceived through society's glasses and how it shapes people's choices. It is a story of how past relations can make us unsure of our decisions in the future for a long time but accepting and acknowledging the same is the first step to be free. There are lot of small scenes in the story which are very commonly seen and heard in real life and they drive the story forward beautifully. 

I really liked this story and would love to read more about one of the characters in the book that plays a very pivotal role in cementing the love story of Alisha & Vivaan. 

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Milan: A Wedding Story, by Simi K Rao

A simple story can still be interesting if the plot is executed nicely, and the story of the characters engages the reader. Love stories even more so. In India, though love marriages do happen, arranged marriages still rule the roost.

I'll start by applauding the cover design, which is quite grand, like a wedding. This story is of a marriage, where the characters Mili and Ahaan meet after years, slowly fall in love with each other and then get married. The story doesn't have any big twists and turns and flows well. The descriptions are appealing, and does its part to make it easy to imagine the setting.

There is something to like about each character, but that seems to be balanced by some things that don't quite feel enjoyable. Mili's character is fun. She's portrayed as a bubbly girl, with ambitions in a field that's not quite usual. She's a loving daughter as well. Somehow, there's a mystery to her too, and one that could have been a good platform to make the story much more interesting. Instead, the character doesn't get a complete makeover, and feels incomplete. While her dialogues and insecurities feel realistic, they also go beyond a level where the character begins to irk me, and tempts me to skip in between. Ahaan remembers Mili and falls in love with her at first sight, even before meeting her in person. His character feels sweet and determined too, and even at the end, the prince charming who comes gallantly to the rescue. But other than his love, true as it seems, for Mili, not much is revealed of him.

Plot lines that begin for the other smaller characters also feel like they are left open, which is a shame as their characters were interesting too. The parents who want the best for their child, but aren't that forceful when it comes to their vision of her future. The friends who support her, and the story that runs in that small town. The plans the couple have for after marriage.

I didn't finish the story in one sitting, as I thought I would, but it did keep me engaged. Milan is a wedding story. I can't help but wonder if we might see a sequel that reveals more of Mili's life post marriage, and closes those threads that are still open and make me curious to know about them.

I rate it 3 stars.

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Rating: 3 Stars

Reviewed by: Vinay Leo R.

Genre: Love Story

Book Source: b00k r3vi3ws blog tour

This is not a paid review. The opinions expressed are my own and unbiased.