‘Is This Love’ tells the story of true friendship and platonic love of Sheetal and Vishal who share a flat in Mumbai. They promise to be friends forever but gradually they start to feel differently for each other yet unable to express their feeling. It is a story of struggling with one’s feelings, heartbreak, misunderstanding, sacrifice and above all, true friendship and love.
I’ve read some creations of Arti Honrao on her blog 'Straight From The Heart, and liked them as she has a neat style of writing and this one is also well-written. I liked the character of Vishal.
Autumn: The last leaf is an eccentric story blended with love, friendship, a murder and mystery. Neha often sees dreams that come true. She gradually starts to love her best friend Vishal and before she plans to confess, he is married to Sheetal. Then something happens that completely upends the story. The end of the story is totally unpredictable and gripping.
This story is also nicely written but I did not like the idea of keeping the same names of the characters. Initially, I presumed it the sequel to 'Is This Love'.
It bothered me immensely that the publisher has wasted so many pages. Also improper punctuation marks disrupt the flow of the story. But I liked the cover and title of the stories especially ‘Autumn – The last leaf.’
Overall for me, it was a simple, quick and really nice read.