Will You Be My Dirty Little Secret? - Book Review

Will You Be My Dirty Little Secret?
Edited and Compiled By Nehali Lalwani
Review By Ila Garg 

The anthology comprising of 10 short stories, Will You Be My Dirty Little Secret? is published by Gargi Publishers.The printing quality of books by this publication house has always been its strength. All the stories are well written and deal with the hidden desires that one keeps covered up.


Let’s start with the cover - concept wise the cover does speak volumes and is interesting. Dark and intoxicating, just as the theme is with the right blend of colours! The back cover has all the names of the contributors. Next, let’s talk about the stories one by one. As I personally feel that without talking about each story individually, the review wouldn’t be complete and it wouldn’t be a justified review of this anthology. I don’t want anyone to feel left out, so here you go:

1) The Cursed Fate by Nehali Lalwani: This story moves rather fast and doesn't give you a moment to catch a breath. I read the entire story in straight 5 minutes before I reached the end and allowed myself a breath. The tale of little Abhijita being devoured by Mr. Nagarkar for seven long years after being sold by her very own father is indeed heart-warming!

2) Fort Valentine by Akash Rumade: The story has Nikita and Vinit madly in love, where Vinit takes Nikita to the world of fiction and both of them reaffirm their love for each other as he reaches climax. It was overall a nice read!

3) Eleventh Hour by Saravana Kumar Murugan: This story is about a girl Riya, who has been cheated upon by her boyfriend and manages to start her rather hot love story with Ritvik who comes in at the right moment and things turn in their favour!

4) She was Just the Appetite by Riya Kaniyawala: This is the story of a girl Anjali, who is in search of love, respect and understanding, and finally finds that in her friend, Marmik. A simple tale of love and perusal of it - truly reflects on how emotions play a crucial part in our lives!

5) The Seductive Pill by Akash Ramanathan: The story deals with extra marital affair and the complications associated with it. How Tara ends up getting tangled up in love, sex and complications, while cheating on her husband.

6) The Best is Kept Inside by Priyanka Mondal: This story exposes the hidden secrets of a marriage, where Mrs. Naina Talwar tells a straight 'NO' to her husband Mr. Vivian Talwar when she can't withstand the daily sex. She shares her experiences with other women too to help them understand when it becomes necessary to say a clear 'no'.

7) Go Straight by Aakash Raghavendran: This story with Meera as protagonist tells us that our choices make a huge impact on our lives; they decide the fate of our relationships too. How extra marital affairs often make things complicated is also highlighted here.

8) Dare to Bare by Rachna Sheth: This is the story of HIV infected people who are daring to bare it all to unleash their hidden desires. They are not afraid of death that awaits them; rather they choose to live in the moment.

9) The Undesired Desire by Ayush Agarwal: This story of Shalmolee and Anurag will take you into the world of mystery and leave you in tremors. Who is Edmund and what role does he play in their story is what you should look out for while reading this one!

10) My First Date by Nehali Lalwani: Shanaya and Rajiv meet for the first time when their parents wish to arrange their marriage and on their first date, they share some hot and intimate moments just to be sure about each other. And woah! they both do say 'yes' and thus happy ending to the first date!

Overall, the book is a quick read, you can read it in an hour or two. The stories are good, though editing lacks tremendously. The punctuation marks were missing at so many places that after a point, I lost count. The words were merging at other places and in one of the stories, character's name Naina was spelled as Nina. Such errors are a put off! Especially when the book is as short as 99 pages, such errors become more prominent. I wish the editing would have been better. Other than that, the book is enjoyable!

Ratings: 2.75/5

Buying Link: Amazon