A
Cocktail of Love
By Mayank
Sharma
Review
By Ila Garg
A
Cocktail of Love is a crazy romance novel by the debutant writer Mayank
Sharma and is published by Good Times Books Pvt. Ltd. Let’s begin with the
title and the cover. I liked the title before I actually began reading the
book. It sounded interesting and gave a glimpse into the storyline. The cover
is simple, sombre, and very attractive. The glass surrounded by girls with the
guy in the midst, very eye catching!
The author, Mayank Sharma did his schooling from The Aditya Birla Public
School, Madhya Pradesh. After his schooling days, he carried on with graduation
in commerce, but soon his desire to redefine ‘Love’ and ‘Life’ weakened his
interest in bookish knowledge. A Cocktail
of Love is his literary debut.
The blurb reads
as, ‘Love... Ever or Never?
It’s a common riddle with every virgin teenage
heart. A riddle that becomes a nightmare upon first break-up.
Rajeev, a regular teenager with charming looks, is
extremely in love with his school days. His life revolves around his buddies
and on-stage activities at school. Life changes when love sneaks in, like a
perfect example of love-at-first-sight. After a lot of messed up thoughts he
submits his heart to Payal, his junior and a girl of pristine beauty. Love
becomes the only reality in his material world, and to survive in this reality,
Payal becomes his necessity. But misunderstandings, honed by mistrust, consume
his relation. Alcohol, in no time, consumes him.
An emotionally broken Rajeev finds his solace in
bottles and babes that happen to cross his way. Bottles to ease the ache, babes
to fill the space; he recognises no love, no emotions, no friendship...
nothing.
Can a completely shattered guy realise the
opportunity when love knocks again? Or will he let it pass like other times?’
The story revolves around the life of
Rajeev. I liked the way author has begun with the story. It almost moved liked
a Film which pulled my interest and kept me glued. The book is nice and engaging. It is a saga of friendships, love,
infatuations, teenage life, broken hearts, alcohol, and what not! The narrative
skills of the author are indeed commendable. Despite of a few grammatical
errors, the author has managed to write well and keep the flow of the story
intact.
However, I found nothing new in the plot. A guy falls
in love with a girl; they went out for some time till their destiny separated
them. A broken hearted guy goes insanely sad and resorts to drinking. He chooses
alcohol as the escape route and meets a lot of babes to fill the emptiness of
his heart. Everything fails though and his good luck makes him bump into
another girl. And all well that ends well situation is reached. Somehow, in
spite of the ‘not so new’ plot, the readers manage to reach the end due to the
well written plot.
The 190 page book comprises of 26 chapters
and an epilogue. The reason why I loved the book is the writing skills of the
author. The too many dilemmas of Rajeev’s life is just one
of the reasons you want to keep turning the pages to find out what happens in A Cocktail in Love. To find out whether Rajeev
gets Payal or not, what breaks them apart, what makes them come along again, he
gets his true love or not, who he ends up with in the end: Payal, or Shreya, or
someone else; you will have to read the novel, A Cocktail of Love.
Best wishes to the debut author, Mayank Sharma for
wtiting this one. Awaiting many more such stories in future.
Ratings: 3/5
