‘Oh! We do not read romance.’
That’s the common reaction I am greeted with when I tell people that I write romantic fiction. There are a variety of reasons they quote;
‘it’s unrealistic’ Hello! it’s fiction.
‘It sets the wrong idea in women’s heads’ Yes! And reading a murder mystery plants the idea of the perfect murder.
I’ve had one person even come and tell me – ‘it’s not difficult to write a romance because all I needed to do was get a girl and a guy and throw in some sex scenes and I’ll get a book’ Eh? *#facepalm moment of the decade*
Most of the time I leave it at that — it is, after all, their choice. But I hear them sometimes through blogs and social media and then it makes me wonder. Back home, when I whine about the ‘unfairness’ of it all, my darling father reminds me that ‘thriller and crime’ was always my favourite genre and maybe I should have written in that genre.
Now, of course, I cannot go back and change my genre (pssst... I do not think I have the imagination to write a murder mystery), so here I am writing a blog to convince why this book is for everybody.
Five reasons why you should give ‘Unloved in Love’ a chance:
1) Read it for its characters – the imperfect, flawed, occasionally self-centred and entirely lovable protagonists. You’ve seen these characters exist, in your circle, in your life. A girl who is smart, opinionated and is on the path of starting her own business yet jumps head along into things, a boy who wants it all and yet hates any form of conflict, another who is stuck up with his own thoughts and ideologies and deals with issues by running away from it.
2) Everyone is Unloved at some point – they say you need a village to grow up, UIL talks about the village. The relationship with your parents, your siblings, your friends, colleagues, these multitudes of relationships decide your Love quotient. If you’ve ever felt unloved in any of these relationships then this is the book for you.
3) Choices – love them, hate them but can’t do without them. We’ve all had to make them, love or career? Family or boyfriend? To leave or stay? If at any point in your life you’ve gone back to the crucial juncture in when you chose the red pill, then UIL is for you. It’s a journey of its protagonists making seemingly ‘right choice’ and dealing with the repercussions.
4) It’s a thriller masquerading as romance – gotcha! On a serious note, this is a fast-paced read. Once the characters are introduced, the book moves at a breath-taking speed. This is as much a story of impulse and pride as it is love. There are twists and turns which keep you guessing and searching for clues to the end. ‘Unputdownable’ is how non-fiction readers have described this book.
5) An ode to Human Nature –The love stories where an unbelievably beautiful ‘damsel in distress’ falls in love with a ‘tall, dark and handsome’ billionaire? Well, UIL is not that. It’s a story about real people, told from their perspective. The first-person narrative helps you identify with the characters. Their reason for the decisions, their feelings for each other, their wrongs, their rights! Love is the underlying theme but the depiction is relatable, read it and you’d feel instantly connected to their insecurities, their dilemmas, and their life. You’d see a bit of you in them.
‘Unloved in Love’ is my humble attempt to give the world a love story that is not stuck in a rom-com model of picture-perfect lives, it’s a story where a common, modern people fall in love. 'Unloved in Love' is a culmination of two years of hard work, sweat, and grime, a coming of age story about choices and their impact on our lives.
Now you, my readers have a choice and I hope you’d make the right one.
'Unloved in Love' is available online and in all major book stores.
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