Lost In Love - Review

Neil had many questions related to his life. Having suffered a total eclipse of the heart, dumped by Arya, he had nowhere to go. He was completely shattered. Till one fine day, when his friend Gauri, who had a crush on Neil ever since her childhood, comes into his life and they begin their journey of love, romance, fantasy and fairy tales. 
Not for long, as their world comes crashing with a tragic, life-turning event. This is a heart-wrenching romance thriller that is bound to move you and hit your soul as you take a plunge and get Lost in Love.

About The Author
Arvind Parashar is a bestselling author of two books, and a well-known motivational speaker.

‘Lost In Love’ is the second part of the ‘Messed Up’ Trilogy. Since I had not read the first book of the series, I wasn’t sure whether I would be able to follow up with the plot. However, the good thing is that you can take it up both as a continuation and a separate book, the latter working well for me.

The ‘Messed Up’ trilogy belongs to the genre of romantic thriller, something that is always a delight to read, and equally difficult to execute. While many authors have done justice to this genre, a larger number has disappointed, trying to establish a plot, but then falling prey to the clichés. To which category, then, would I place ‘Lost In Love’?

The book starts on a highly expectant note for me. Gauri, live-in partner and girlfriend of Neil, goes missing one fine day, and our protagonist Neil is caught in the midst of the investigation. He is questioned, fingers are pointed, and the story looks promising. At this point of time, I couldn’t avoid comparison with Gilian Flynn’s masterpiece ‘Gone Girl’, and was eager to turn the pages.

However, what could have been a racy and gripping thriller quickly fizzles away. There were some moments of suspense, true. There were a few twists here and there, true. Arvind does have power in his words, true. But what lacked was the most important ingredient of any book – a coherent storyline.

Arvind establishes the plot based on a loose outline. The characters are hazy, and come in and out of the frame. Even the protagonists are not introduced in a proper manner. Neil’s personality remains vague throughout the novel. His feelings are confusing, and his memories of Arya seems unconvincing. His conflicts with Arya don’t help either. The characterization of Gauri, the female lead, is left to readers’ imaginations. There is no description of her nature; the only point being reiterated after every few pages in the novel is that she is a beautiful girl, nothing more. The other characters too fall prey to a seeming lack of identity. They don’t leave much of an impact, and we fail to relate with any of them.  It is like a bunch of Lego blocks that a reader has to arrange to give a proper form to the characters.

Another big disappointment is the poor depiction of intimate scenes. The description is graphical rather than sensual, which proves to be a letdown. There is no art, or literature, and the whole love making scenes turns out to be shallow.

However, credit should be given where it’s due. I have seen a large number of new age authors coming up with books featuring grammatical errors. Arvind, and the editorial team, ensures that there are no lapses on that end. Arvind’s language is crisp, his writing fluent, with hardly any silly errors. If Arvind is able to bind the plot together and weave a stronger storyline in his subsequent novels, he can be a name to reckon with in the literary industry. The author does have the flair; he only needs to execute it well.

The cover of the book is bright and appealing, something that would soothe your senses. Srishti Publications have been nurturing young authors and giving them the platform to showcase their dreams. The onus, now, lies upon the authors to do justice to the stage.

Title: Lost in Love
Authors: Arvind Parashar
Publisher: Srishti Publishers & Distributors
Publication Year: 2018
Language: English
Binding: Paperback
Genre: Fiction, Romance
No. of Pages: 176
Price: Rs 175
My Rating: 3/5