The Way We Were by Prajwal Hegde
Book Name: The way we were
Author: Prajwal Hegde
Publisher: Hachette India
Blurb:
Bitter rivals.
Reluctant colleagues.
Tormented ex-lovers.
Myra Rai is living her best life. At twenty-eight, she is a prominent journalist at the precipice of dreamy success and her dating life is the envy of the town. After all, jealous heads stir to probe her almost engagement to Ravi Rao, the gentleman heir to a roaring political legacy! Myra is well on her course. Until comes knocking the broad-shouldered, chiselled-face ghost from her past...
Andrew Brown is a headstrong political activist, unexpectedly back in the city after a winning stint in the US. Set to take over as the executive editor of Morning Herald, he is determined to revisit his past and reconnect with that one feisty journalist at work who hates his guts, hates that he is back, and hates that he never called...
Both Myra and Andrew have lost a lot over the years, including each other. But in the fierce race to best one another while pretending not to seethe in the hellfire of jealousy and supressed passion, can they keep their barbs (and hands) to themselves? Right from the centre of a smouldering passion-fest, Prajwal Hegde tugs compellingly at the heartstrings and delivers a stormy rom-com that is all love (AND a whole lot of lust)!
My Review:
Initial Thoughts
First let me tell you my experience of this. I loved how simply story went on with many characters without any hurdles of confusing names or jumping in past and present moment more than required. It's also smooth with the dialogues and have some clever lines in between which I liked. I was enjoying it without any unexpected twist or rolling down laughing event. It's progressing at its own pace. Overall it's a peaceful Romance journey of Myra which I enjoyed.
Story Plot
In the realm of Romance/Fiction, the plot does justice to its genre. The chemistry between Myra and Andrew is charmingly portrayed in the initial chapters. While the narrative continues in a fluid manner, I found myself momentarily lost in the minutiae of Myra's everyday life during the middle section. It resembles the detailed entries in a diary, chronicling day-to-day events. There were parts which were letting us go into past for reference purposes as and when required. I actually enjoyed it but for those who are expecting some intense romantic encounters or triangle, will have to hold their horses of imagination.
Language
The language of the book while describing the details of the places and people was precise and elaborative enough to let us imagine and see through the window of author's words the world she has created. The soothing summary of the walk of Myra with Andrew and her father was perfectly blending with Sun light of Winter, under which I was reading it. It was perfect story in that sense for the cozy Winter read with its warming and soothing pace.
Spice & Tropes
While the story lacks excessive spiciness, it is flavored with witty lines from Myra's thoughts during her moments with Andrew. I often find forced attempts at spicing up a narrative to be awkward, but here, the occasional insertion of a sentence seamlessly integrates with the serious context, effortlessly fading away which looks natural as we have experience similar situation with our thoughts in mind.
The trope of romantic tension doesn't grip me as it wasn't exciting or worrying enough that whom with Myra will finally settle. It's like she wasn't feeling worried herself about any confusion between her Ex and current boyfriend. Her thoughts for the situation were not elaborated enough explaining her worry or doubts or even consideration of the confusion in mind for her love life due to the arrival of her Ex-boyfriend in her life again. I guess she was handling it too much better than my expectations. As I said earlier it's going at its own pace. Everything was chill, relaxed and not at all exaggerated just for the sake of fun and excitement.
Characters
I found the characters development slightly restrained, making it challenging to connect with anyone except Myra. Even Andrew was not easy for me to understand initially. The least focussed character which I wanted to know more about was Ravi. This made me little frustrated with the story as I think there could have been given some more elaborative explanation of his thought on his relationship with Myra and his family. Each appearance of Ravi felt somewhat detached from a deeper connection. Despite this, I liked the other characters, especially friends of Myra, portrayed beautifully with their few funny dialogues and behaviour which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Conclusion
I will definitely recommend it for all those people who actually want to read and chill while enjoying your hot coffee in this winter or rainy season or cold coffee if you are reading this in summer. It's delightful addition to my Romance genres. I'm thankful to Blogchatter for providing this opportunity.
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