Stuck In The Moment - Book Review

Stuck In The Moment

By Shradha Nanchahil

Review By Ila Garg

Love Stories are ruling the market now - a - days.  It’s a favorite subject among both readers and writers. Love stories vary in their flavors, some are happy, some are sad, some are complete, while others are left incomplete unfulfilled. Whatever may be the end or beginning, the genre of romance is always on top! Stuck in the Moment, is yet another story of love.

The 63 page book, Stuck in the Moment, has been published by Notionpress which is a self-publishing firm. The writer Shradha Nanchahil’s debut book, ‘Stuck in the Moment’ is a very quick read as you can make out from the number of pages.

It is not always he left you or you left him, it's simply some times, destiny left us. There comes a time in relations that you just *don't* or *can't* be together. There may be family problems OR there can be future insecurities OR when you have had too much of each other OR fading trust OR even long distance troubles. The reasons of breaking apart are a lot more than one can imagine. Love is a wide term, where in you may still love the person but you just cannot opt for being together with them, for the betterments in future of lives the departure seems better. Those make as incompletely, complete love story. Where you are still in love but just not together. You have an assurity that the other person will listen to all that u say, you still know just a text and all would be back on track, you still know how late it gets in night your one call and they'll receive, you still know the restrictions would still be accepted, you still know how hard it gets they'll still care. But you know an extra point, that you still have lost all the rights over that person.

At this point it's better to back off for the happiness of the other and a complete belief that the love was so pure. Those all love you's were the most honest and from the bottom of the hearts. It's better to part with a feeling that no one could love you the way he did and vice versa than to face the destiny's call. The more you'll be together the more tough it will get to move on. Not that this reduces the moving on *pain* but it surely gives you courage to know you cared more for his happiness then your happiness in him. True love never dies. And it’s all fine to have an ending where it’s not happily ever after but happiest for whatever you shared together.

I loved the cover and the title of this book. It attracted me in the first look as I tore off the courier package. I was eager to read it at that very instant because of the cover which has a mysterious touch to it and the short length of the book. Plus the blurb sounded interesting too.

But as I began reading I was disappointed at first. Initially the book that seemed to be so extraordinary from its cover had nothing new to offer in the inside. First few pages are a bit dragging as it had several poems which didn’t seem original. But slowly as the actual story began, it felt good.

The story revolves around the two lovers, Shivi & Paras, describing how they fell in love at first sight which transformed into a life time commitment to each other. But soon the problems grip them as the old beliefs force them to separate from each other. Shivi being a manglik decides to part ways from Paras in order to save his life but ends up changing everyone’s lives. It's about incessant love for each other, strong bond and commitment as someone dreams of when they arrive on earth. It's also about pain and moments which haunt you for life when the person you love the most leaves you altogether and you are left all alone. 

I liked the book, the story, cover, title, blurb, but the only thing that made me cringe and acted as a turn off was the poor editing. The book is full of errors; grammatical errors, use of sms language, missing punctuations, spelling mistakes, for e.g.: diary is spelled as dairy. It made it very difficult to read.  The poems could have been easily spread out at various places in the book instead of putting them all together right in the beginning. Also, the word count could have been increased. The descriptions should have been longer.

It's the shortest novella with a good story line and nice poems. It explores human emotions with a lot of simplicity. The Punjabi added in between give it tinges of reality. Just one suggestion: Please hire a good editor next time. Best wishes for your future ventures!

Ratings: 3/5