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ankitakhataniar's review
5.0
“Trending in Love” is a story set in modern day India. It takes us into the lives of Sanam and Aamir. Their lives could not be more different but a common goal put them in each other’s paths. Sanam hails from Delhi where she lives with her well to do parents. She is from the Dalit community and her parents have done their best to shield her from the atrocities that they had to face as Dalits. Following an incident at a bar, Sanam is determined to gain more power and hence her dream shifts from pursuing MBA to becoming an IAS officer.
Aamir hails from Kashmir, where the situation is terse and riots are a part of his daily life. Even his cousin and father are caught up in the accursed situation. He is advised by a trusted friend to pursue IAS as he continues to bear witness to the situation in Kashmir. At the starting of the book the story shifts from Sanam’s life to Aamirs’s life and vice versa. This continues until Sanam and Aamir pass their exams in flying colours and thus are thrust together at the academy. In the midst of all this, there are glimpses of the current situation in Kashmir.
From this part, there start encounters between Sanam and Aamir and as they bump into each other on various occasions, sparks fly and love blossoms. The gradual start from friendship to love between two individuals with contrasting personalities is a fun part of the book. While Sanam is impulsive and sometimes comes off as a shallow person, Aamir is an old soul, with the ability to analyze things more deeply. I understand where Sanam’s though process comes from. She has had a shielded life until that encounter at the bar and then the discrimination that she faces at the academy. She does her best to prove herself and succeeds in her efforts. Aamir on the other hand, is already exposed to a dangerous and unpredictable life. He has seen the hard side of life. This makes him more mature as compared to Sanam. But barring their differences, they come closer to each other. I did prefer Aamir’s character more Sanam’s. He is more grounded. I will not say the author could have written Sanam’s character better because she needed to be exactly as she is, to be an integral part of the story, the heroine to the relationship to a contrasting hero.
The rest of the story follows how their love invites hardships to their lives, being from different religions, with different beliefs. The author has beautifully incorporated the current scenarios in India into the story and made the love story stand out amidst the scores of romantic stories that are out there. Life at the training academy has also been well described. I found myself re-reading some the parts again after finishing the book.
The title “Trending in Love” refers to social media platforms. In the story, one can find references to social media sites, especially towards the end which makes the title a just one for the book. The narration is kept simple, which makes it a cozy afternoon read, with a nice cup of coffee. The fact that the book has been selected to be made into a web series makes the book more enjoyable to read.
I am impressed with the fact that the author has incorporated sensitive issues and worked them into a love story. It adds more depth to the story and takes the book to a whole new level. An easy read with a beautiful romance, I hope that this book will be in the reading list of all romance lovers. If you are looking for a book to read in a rainy day, look no further than this book to brighten up your reading time.
Aamir hails from Kashmir, where the situation is terse and riots are a part of his daily life. Even his cousin and father are caught up in the accursed situation. He is advised by a trusted friend to pursue IAS as he continues to bear witness to the situation in Kashmir. At the starting of the book the story shifts from Sanam’s life to Aamirs’s life and vice versa. This continues until Sanam and Aamir pass their exams in flying colours and thus are thrust together at the academy. In the midst of all this, there are glimpses of the current situation in Kashmir.
From this part, there start encounters between Sanam and Aamir and as they bump into each other on various occasions, sparks fly and love blossoms. The gradual start from friendship to love between two individuals with contrasting personalities is a fun part of the book. While Sanam is impulsive and sometimes comes off as a shallow person, Aamir is an old soul, with the ability to analyze things more deeply. I understand where Sanam’s though process comes from. She has had a shielded life until that encounter at the bar and then the discrimination that she faces at the academy. She does her best to prove herself and succeeds in her efforts. Aamir on the other hand, is already exposed to a dangerous and unpredictable life. He has seen the hard side of life. This makes him more mature as compared to Sanam. But barring their differences, they come closer to each other. I did prefer Aamir’s character more Sanam’s. He is more grounded. I will not say the author could have written Sanam’s character better because she needed to be exactly as she is, to be an integral part of the story, the heroine to the relationship to a contrasting hero.
The rest of the story follows how their love invites hardships to their lives, being from different religions, with different beliefs. The author has beautifully incorporated the current scenarios in India into the story and made the love story stand out amidst the scores of romantic stories that are out there. Life at the training academy has also been well described. I found myself re-reading some the parts again after finishing the book.
The title “Trending in Love” refers to social media platforms. In the story, one can find references to social media sites, especially towards the end which makes the title a just one for the book. The narration is kept simple, which makes it a cozy afternoon read, with a nice cup of coffee. The fact that the book has been selected to be made into a web series makes the book more enjoyable to read.
I am impressed with the fact that the author has incorporated sensitive issues and worked them into a love story. It adds more depth to the story and takes the book to a whole new level. An easy read with a beautiful romance, I hope that this book will be in the reading list of all romance lovers. If you are looking for a book to read in a rainy day, look no further than this book to brighten up your reading time.
evereadssapphic's review
4.0
Social Media has become an important part of our life but it has done more harm than good, in my opinion. The fake news goes viral real fast than the necessary and essential one. People believe these lies flowing from the whatsapp groups, facebook posts and instagram feed more than anything and that's where the problem lies.
I loved the whole story that I was so hooked from the start. The writing style of the author is astounding, language is simple and lucid, the flow of the plotline was enjoyable to read and the characters were well built. Although I wanted Badal's character to do something, or say something? Like for real. But he didn't. His name came in the book like 7-8 times but nothing much happened in the scenes. Now talking about the cover and the title, one word for them and that is "perfect". The title is really catchy and the cover is something which the reader after only seeing will grab the book without another thought.
However, I liked the way the author has described everything from the situation in Kashmir, to the experiences of Sanam and Aamir with the whole lot of comments on their relationship. The details were impeccable.
It was a great read. I would definitely recommend this book to every romance genre lover out there. Also, I can't wait for this series on voot.
I loved the whole story that I was so hooked from the start. The writing style of the author is astounding, language is simple and lucid, the flow of the plotline was enjoyable to read and the characters were well built. Although I wanted Badal's character to do something, or say something? Like for real. But he didn't. His name came in the book like 7-8 times but nothing much happened in the scenes. Now talking about the cover and the title, one word for them and that is "perfect". The title is really catchy and the cover is something which the reader after only seeing will grab the book without another thought.
However, I liked the way the author has described everything from the situation in Kashmir, to the experiences of Sanam and Aamir with the whole lot of comments on their relationship. The details were impeccable.
It was a great read. I would definitely recommend this book to every romance genre lover out there. Also, I can't wait for this series on voot.
sidreviews's review
4.0
The first thing that jumps out when you finish the book is that the blurb isn’t that accurate to the plot. The book claims that it is the story about undying love in the face of society’s most dangerous beliefs, but as far as I understood, it was a love story, period. The part about the society felt was added as an afterthought, because it had no semblance to the entire narrative. With that part cast aside, the story was quite fresh and the author took time to get the details right. Creating a setting in the IAS Academy in Mussoorie was an interesting POV to use. The storytelling was quite imaginative with the scenes coming out alive as they progress, and I commend the author for such a visual treat. The climax of the story was a tad bit disappointing, with the societal pressure part coming out of the blue.
Coming to the characters in the book, Pankaj has created Sanam and Aamir in mirror image of each other, while one was headstrong and outgoing, the other preferred isolation and solitude. The character of Sanam was quite intriguing with all her character quirks. Aamir was an interesting character study due to his growth as a character during the story. Kuldeep was another quirky character that made the story what it is with his timely interruptions and reactions that added nuance to the plot.
Coming to the characters in the book, Pankaj has created Sanam and Aamir in mirror image of each other, while one was headstrong and outgoing, the other preferred isolation and solitude. The character of Sanam was quite intriguing with all her character quirks. Aamir was an interesting character study due to his growth as a character during the story. Kuldeep was another quirky character that made the story what it is with his timely interruptions and reactions that added nuance to the plot.
_askthebookbug's review
1.0
~ r e v i e w ~
•
Every once in a while, I stumble across a romance novel which reminds me why I stay away from that particular genre in the first place. Trending in Love is as clichéd as any romance novel can get. I wouldn't have minded so much if the story was passable but it didn't hold good in any aspect. It didn't take me long enough to realise that I'll probably come to dislike this novel. While I usually DNF a book if I don't like it, I marched through with this one because it was a review copy.
•
Sanam is born to Dalit parents who struggled to settle in life. Understandably, her father doesn't want the same plight for his daughter and hence brings her up with lavish gifts. After an ugly brawl at a pub with an arrogant son of a minister, Sanam decides that she needs power to teach people like him a lesson and decides to study for IAS exam. When she joins coaching classes, she's met with sexist and misogynistic students and teacher and soon after quits to study on her own. While this happens in Delhi, there's another story unraveling in Kashmir. Aamir is a quiet yet intelligent guy who is troubled by the army and militants clash in his town. To support his family, he takes up a housekeeping job in a hotel and is later pushed to study for IAS by the hotel's owner who becomes his confidant over time. These two meet at the Officers Training Academy in Mussoorie.
•
Like any clichéd story, Sanam garners hate towards Aamir when she notices people flocking to him for attention. She doesn't like being treated second or ignored by people and wants to be the center of attention at all times. But she also finds it hard to resist from looking at him often. He rescues her couple of times like a knight in shining armour and with each time, she realises that she actually likes him. When they finally accept their love for each other, a whole lot of drama unfurls that usually happens with most of the inter-religion relationships. But they somehow have a fairytale ending as most of the love stories do. My problem with this novel was partly because of the language used. It sounded amateurish and almost incomplete; something people use to write in their diaries.
•
The characters lacked substance, mostly Sanam. I also couldn't help but notice how importance was given mainly to the female character's beauty; about how men couldn't stop looking at her and admiring her for the beauty she possessed and the hour glass figure she carried. I was tempted to abandon it more than once but was also hoping that it wouldn't have a predictable ending. Trending in Love is the sort of romance novel that makes me cringe in distaste because of all the predictable and unnatural scenarios that is probably most suited to Hindi soap operas. I definitely do not recommend this.
•
Rating : 1/5.
•
Every once in a while, I stumble across a romance novel which reminds me why I stay away from that particular genre in the first place. Trending in Love is as clichéd as any romance novel can get. I wouldn't have minded so much if the story was passable but it didn't hold good in any aspect. It didn't take me long enough to realise that I'll probably come to dislike this novel. While I usually DNF a book if I don't like it, I marched through with this one because it was a review copy.
•
Sanam is born to Dalit parents who struggled to settle in life. Understandably, her father doesn't want the same plight for his daughter and hence brings her up with lavish gifts. After an ugly brawl at a pub with an arrogant son of a minister, Sanam decides that she needs power to teach people like him a lesson and decides to study for IAS exam. When she joins coaching classes, she's met with sexist and misogynistic students and teacher and soon after quits to study on her own. While this happens in Delhi, there's another story unraveling in Kashmir. Aamir is a quiet yet intelligent guy who is troubled by the army and militants clash in his town. To support his family, he takes up a housekeeping job in a hotel and is later pushed to study for IAS by the hotel's owner who becomes his confidant over time. These two meet at the Officers Training Academy in Mussoorie.
•
Like any clichéd story, Sanam garners hate towards Aamir when she notices people flocking to him for attention. She doesn't like being treated second or ignored by people and wants to be the center of attention at all times. But she also finds it hard to resist from looking at him often. He rescues her couple of times like a knight in shining armour and with each time, she realises that she actually likes him. When they finally accept their love for each other, a whole lot of drama unfurls that usually happens with most of the inter-religion relationships. But they somehow have a fairytale ending as most of the love stories do. My problem with this novel was partly because of the language used. It sounded amateurish and almost incomplete; something people use to write in their diaries.
•
The characters lacked substance, mostly Sanam. I also couldn't help but notice how importance was given mainly to the female character's beauty; about how men couldn't stop looking at her and admiring her for the beauty she possessed and the hour glass figure she carried. I was tempted to abandon it more than once but was also hoping that it wouldn't have a predictable ending. Trending in Love is the sort of romance novel that makes me cringe in distaste because of all the predictable and unnatural scenarios that is probably most suited to Hindi soap operas. I definitely do not recommend this.
•
Rating : 1/5.
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