Someone Like You by Durjoy Datta and Nikita Singh!!!

            It has been a long time since I have read a book. A week or two. Even when I have my Unit Test exams tomorrow, I read Durjoy Datta/Nikita Singh's "Someone Like You". There's something interesting about these writers. The way Akshay Kumar lines up his movies at the period of 3-4 months consistently, Durjoy Datta and Nikita Singh do not fail to publish a new book every 4-5 months. Their fans would be the most satisfying fans in this country as they get to read their favorite author every time they just start missing them. :-) There's something interesting about this book too. It is not the way all the books of Durjoy Datta has published. First of all, this book is not by his own venture- Grapevine Publication but by Penguin India. He has just made his brand name more bigger. This book does not have a very shiny cover page like every book of his. This book is also missing a tag line that every title of his book carries. And the way both the authors have promoted this book is different than the way they do. And as I am done reading this book, they have also changed their writing style by leaps and bounds. 

            Someone Like You is the story of Niharika Singh. A girl who never thought that she is beautiful until she was in school. She didn't exist for boys and other entities whom every girls want to get an attention from. Then her sister- Simran does a whole make-over which helps Niharika to realize that she is as beautiful as every another girl whom she feels is beautiful than her. She goes to a totally new city for her college. There she meets 3 different boys- Tanmay, Karthik and Akshat. Tanmay ends up being her best friend. Karthik ends up being a mysterious guy in her life about whom she always remain confused. Akshat turns out to be her sister- Simran's ex because of which she finds weird to date him. Pia turns out to be her room-mate and lately, she also becomes her only friend in this new campus. Tanmay starts falling for Pia. Pia also starts liking him in spite of being in a long-distance relationship with Vishal. But, does the book ends with love sagas of all these characters? No!!! It has much more in it. At least 10 times more than what I have described above. I can not talk about them as I don't want any spoilers in this review. Do read the book to enjoy one of the best works in this genre of fiction.

               Coming to both the authors first, I must say that Durjoy Datta is finally changing his writing style with every book and delivering something which I always wanted from him rather than the same sex saga that he used to write. His last book "Till the Last Breath" turned out to be one of my favorites and with this one, he has just matured enough. I am just excited for his next book now. As I, myself, blamed him for over-excessive use of sex in his books, his last book didn't have much of it and this one does not have the word itself, as per my memory. I am too happy to witness this change. And as usual the selection and choice of words that the writer implements in his writing is magical. Just for that, he remains to be my favorite. Coming to Nikita Singh, I didn't like her previous works much but with this one, I can easily say that she has learned quite sooner. I hope she keeps this magic alive and write such character-based stories than sex-related ones. Both of you have already given that kind of book in bulk to us (:-)), now its time to give us such soulful books like "Someone Like You".

              I, generally, write the best scenes that I fall in love with while reading a book. But with this book, it's hard for me to categorize some events than others and term only them as my favorites. Right from the first word till the last, I was intrigued in the story like anything. It's good that people trusted this book and just on the pre-ordering basis, it entered the Bestseller's chart at No. 3 below Amish's Shiva Trilogy. Initially, the way Niharika gives her introduction is lovely. Even Simran is described lovingly. I fell in love with both the sisters initially itself. :-) Then the entrance of boys in Niharika's life is shown neatly without any illogical quotients as it normally happens with love stories. But this book is not just a love story. It is a purely character-based story where each person has a totally new personality, background, thoughts and approach towards life. How they end up being in a single plot is what makes a reader like me excited to turn pages. 

              Later, the hospital scene gave me thousands of goosebumps. The climax is as beautiful and balanced as the whole book is. The entrance of Pia in the book gives a push to the story in the first half. I.. I... I.... actually can't point such incidents anymore. The whole book is perfect. The second half is something I never guessed that the intense level would be such. Someone has said it right- Don't judge a book by its cover page. I would ask all of you to purchase it and keep it with yourself. Whenever you feel low, just pick this book up and you would lose all your tension and frustration. But this book also sends a message across that not everyone can be trusted without much experience and reason nor we should blame someone without knowing all the facts-hidden and obvious. We may never know the gray shades of some, blacks of some and whites of some. I don't know if I should even rate this book but undoubtedly, this is better than most of the book that I have read. I give it 4.75/5. Yes. Believe me. Purchase it right now. And yes, the only drawback that I can point is, no humor-filled one liners. :-(

 Thanks.

  ABHILASH RUHELA - VEERU