Book Review: Loving You by Andaleeb Wajid

Book: Loving You

Author: Andaleeb Wajid

Genre: Romance

Pages: 182

Price: ₹150 (Kindle edition)

Andaleeb Wajid is a very experienced, prolific writer. She has written 29 books so far! She mainly writes romance and horror.

★★★★★

"Sometimes, right things happen to us in all the wrong ways."

Loving You is, of course, a love story. And a very interesting one.

Hamza doesn't believe in successful love marriages, mainly because of his twin brother's failed marriage. But he is awed by his brother's successful second marriage that has been arranged by his family. The way his brother and sister-in-law are madly in love with each other makes him wonder if he could fall in love with someone like that. And that's why he's ready for an arranged marriage with Mahrukh, a much younger girl.

But the thing is, you just can't decide to fall in love with someone. Love just happens. In Hamza's case also, it just happened. Not with Mahrukh. But with Noorain, Mahrukh's divorced aunt, who is smart and independent woman and very close to her niece, Mahrukh.

By the time, Hamza realizes his feelings for Noorain, he is engaged to Mahrukh. The problem is, he doesn't feel anything for her and can't stop thinking about Noorain.

So, how is he going to deal with this complicated emotion and situation? Does Noorain feel the same? How would their family and Mahrukh react when they come to know about this? And most importantly, what's the destination of this complicated relationship?

To know all the answers, you will have to read the book, and if you enjoy reading love stories, you won't regret it.

It's my third book by the author. I really like her writing style: it's light and she places humour in a very interesting way. Loving You is my favourite by this author so far (I have another book by Andaleeb on my Kindle, which I am looking forward to reading).

The main reason I liked this book is its main protagonists. For me, characters are the backbone of the story. I don't like a book if I don't connect with the characters, no matter how interesting the plot is. I really liked Hamza and Noorain and their bonding. You could see them fall in love, slowly and surely, which I really enjoyed. 

Apart from the romantic angle, the story deals with some important social and relationship issues: remarriage, stepping out of an abusive relationship, compatibility in a relationship, how being a single woman is still a taboo in our society, importance of financial independence of a woman, physical disability etc: but the author has managed to incorporate these issues in a very subtle way that they don't seem preachy. They seem like part of the story.

Not just protagonists, even the secondary characters are interesting and significant. Hamza's twin brother Hamadaan and his wife Ghazal have very important roles and they play (or I should say the author makes them play) it really well. Nani is a very interesting character.

Just two things bothered me-

first: the sex/intimate scenes between Hamadan and Ghazal. I thought they were kind of unnecessary, mainly because of the way those scenes are written. It felt a bit...not sure what to say but it didn't work for me.

Secondly: 'she licked her lips.' this line appears so frequently that it eventually started to annoy me. But then it's an editing issue, so I'm not really complaining.

Nevertheless, it was a quick (because it was engaging), interesting and exciting read.

You can buy the book HERE

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