Plot:

The story follows a young and passionate girl, Maahi who discovers love and more in the unexpectedly intimate treasures of a baker’s hat.She has emerged from a heartbreak that left her shattered four years ago. And she s found peace and joy a career and love. But when the past comes knocking on her door her life is turned upside-down once again. Charged with emotion and romance Like a Love Song is talking the sort of love that consumes and sears and takes you over … 

About the Author:

Nikita Singh is the bestselling author of eight novels including After All This Time The Promise and Someone Like You as well as a contributing author to books in The Backbenchers series. In 2013 she received a Live India Young Achievers Award. She is currently an MFA candidate in Creative Writing at The New School in New York City.

This was my first read from her collection and I am able to see that there’s something in her work that had made her successful, but still I can feel the beginner thing in her which is good if it keeps the childishness and experimenting alive, but bad if it keeps her from solving the major problems.

What’s wrong with it?

This is the actual spoiler part and if you have already read this book, you may relate to the list of things I find wrong with #LikeALoveSong. And if you are related to writing stuff, maybe Nikita herself, then you will find out where this story lost the game of becoming a great story.

The writing style: It couldn’t keep me connected to it which also gave birth to a thought that she was writing out of her comfort zone, which is eventually good, but not right now. The style made me feel that there was a lot of repetition of stuff so I didn’t mind skipping some of the sentences.

I liked Laila’s character better than Maahi’s: Maahi who initially interested me came out to be slightly dull when Laila was around. Her character seemed more powerful, kind and eventually better than Maahi. I also feel that if the author had given Laila’s tale a space in the book, it would not only make her actions and moody, but sweet nature justified, but also maybe made her equal to her. I mean I just couldn’t figure out why she was like she was which anyhow made her more interesting than Maahi.

The Ending: I personally feel the ending being quite short, unmatched with the concept and irrational. I mean, when the whole story moved around the two things Love and Passion how can the end distort one of them so easily. Maybe Nikita could have done justice with it too just by extending the story a little bit or show something, maybe as a bonus chapter, to express the other side of the story, the Siddant’s feelings.

Why was it good?

Here’s the list of the things which I think made this a good book:

Great Concept: Though both topics were not new individually, but the context in which the author connected them made them feel more realistic even in the fiction world of books. It was just like the real life. I could feel the struggle to be good in the parents eyes, while trying to find and follow your passion, along maintaining the most important feeling: Love.

Short, Sweet & Enjoyable (SSE) : Though I feel that an extended version with Siddant and Laila’s tales in it would be a lot more enjoyable. The original text wasn’t the less. I find the story to be a light and sweet story, but not like a love story if you are wondering. In context to realism, it is a great try, better than all my real-life related stories till date.

Interesting Characters: I really like Nikita Singh for what she was best at in this book and also hate her a bit for the same along being jealous. She has an incredible talent to develop interesting characters which I believe everyone will love. From Sarthak, his mom and Laila to the Maahi’s boss CJ, everyone was unique and interesting in a way. But I don’t like that their individualism was not celebrated. I loved it when the story had a part where it focused on a personal life of Sarthak, Laila and Siddant, but that too was a bit short which I’m sorry about.

I also liked the thing that people here are chasing their dreams which is a quite awesome thing, right? In India, Yep it is!

Conclusion

Overall it’s a common story of a girl, fighting the world to get her own identity in the middle-class Indian Family while finding her true love.

Who should read it? I would say anyone who needs some inspiration and tips about following your passion when the society and your own parents are driving you crazy. I personally made some notes from Maahi’s dialogues which I know I will have to use sooner of later.

Did I love it? Yes, I love the most of the books I read, because I choose them wisely. But I actually thanked my friend Riya for recommending this book to me. It not only opened a girl’s viewpoint about love and career which is quite similar to the boys but also helped me learn a lot from all the characters including Kishan who told me it’s important to make time for the important people and love them for the individuality, without changing them.