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Spice Up Your Valentine’s Day with These Romantic Reads!

Love is in the air, and our curated collection of romance books is ready to steal your heart this Valentine’s Day! From sizzling meet-cutes to soul-stirring tales of love lost and found, these books are bursting with passion, drama, and everything in between. Get ready to fall head over heels into a world of romance like never before!

 

Fool Me Twice
Fool Me Twice || Nona Uppal

Set in New Delhi, Fool Me Twice is an unconventional story that will stump readers expecting a good, old romance trope. We meet and fall in love with a young couple planning their futures together when life rudely hijacks the steering wheel. Exploring the ways a twenty-year-old navigates grief and life after a loss that shatters most fifty-year-olds, Fool Me Twice looks at the complexity of falling in love ‘again’ at an age where most are falling for the first time, and what it feels like to move on from mourning one great love to make room for another.

 

All That Sizzles
All That Sizzles || Sakshama Puri Dhaliwal

A spicy meet-cute that will delight your rom-com palate!

Wedding planner Tanvi Bedi is all fired up about her latest project, the $100 million wedding of a media heiress. The only hitch is her high-profile client’s wishlist chef, Nik Shankar. Weddings are a complete no-no for Nik, but there must be something—or someone—he can’t resist.

Nik Shankar’s lifelong dream of inheriting his ancestral home is in jeopardy due to his estranged grandfather’s absurd caveat—Nik must get married to claim the property. When Tanvi storms into his office, an inconceivable solution presents itself: Nik will craft the wedding if Tanvi pretends to be his fiancée.

What starts as a recipe for disaster whips up into a delectable feast of simmering chemistry and fiery passion. But as the line between fake and real blurs, Tanvi and Nik must confront their inner demons before their charade goes up in smoke.

Could love be the secret ingredient they need?

 

All He Left Me Was a Recipe
All He Left Me Was a Recipe || Shenaz Treasury

Part fact, part fiction, All He Left Me Was a Recipe is a never-ending pursuit of love, a quest for the ever-elusive ‘Mr Right,’ all while kissing the ‘Mr Maybes’. It’s a rollercoaster ride through the fabulous and often hilariously complicated world of modern dating where love, lust and culinary metaphors are on the menu.
From ‘a-ha’ moments to giggles and even some epic heartbreaks with a fair share of tear-shedding, this book is a VIP pass to Shenaz Treasury’s heart in all its shapes and forms over the years. Every story wraps up with
a recipe—a memento from each of these unforgettable encounters—along with some timeless life lessons.
So, pour a glass of wine, get comfy and dive into a world that’ll make you laugh, shed a tear or two, and who knows, you might just find yourself along the way.

 

 

The Henna Start-up
The Henna Start-Up || Andaleeb Wajid

Abir Maqsood is angry.

She has things to do: a career to carve, money to earn, and, in the small stuff, a dining table to fix. But there are many obstacles in the way: lack of money, her parents’ over-protective attitude, and a most annoying distraction in class called Arsalan.

When her mother is not paid her dues for her henna service, Abir resolves to help her by creating a henna app. Her college is also running a programme for student start-ups so things look most fortuitous. But the path to getting funding is littered with more thorns than roses.

As Abir navigates through college, friendships and social pressures with determination, will she find the freedom that she is truly looking for?

 

 

Zen
Zen || Shabnam Minwala

In this deeply addictive, sweeping book about the life and times of the two Zainabs, is captured a short history of Mumbai, and of India. Of what we were and what we have become.

Zipping between the past and the present, between midnight’s children and millennials and getting both right, Shabnam Minwalla has crafted a page-turner whose heart is open, inclusive and populated by a host of memorable characters. -Jerry Pinto

 

Terminal 3
Terminal 3 || Debasmita Dasgupta

It’s August 2019 and Khwab Nazir is waiting to board the plane at Terminal 3 of New Delhi International Airport. Set to represent India at an international jiu-jitsu tournament, Khwab nervously looks towards her unknown future. She also reflects on her complicated past-of growing up against the insurmountable difficulties
of life in Kashmir.

Between happiness and emptiness, desire and grief, penance and peace-Khwab has endured. She has a dream that life will be a paradise, one day. Breathing against the backdrop of conflict, Terminal 3, is the story of the everyday people striving to live their dreams in the Valley.

 

The Girl Who Kept Falling in Love
The Girl Who Kept Falling in Love || Rheea Mukherjee

Told through the lens of urban myths, accounts of past lovers, bared confessions and half-truths that make up Kaya’s world, The Girl Who Kept Falling in Love dives deep into the futilities of being attached to global aspiration and fighting institutionalized hate while chasing a universal need for love and acceptance.

 

It was Always You
It was Always You || Sudeep Nagarkar

Have you ever regretted a lost love?
Karan and Shruti are a happily married couple. Until Karan’s ex resurfaces into his life one day. Soon Karan finds himself getting nostalgic over matters of the heart and thinking fondly of his first romance. Will he put his steady and seemingly perfect marriage at stake for his ex-girlfriend?
Meanwhile his best friend Aditya finds his own relationship with his wife Jasmine going through an emotional turmoil. Will both friends work towards keeping their marriage afloat, or make a decision they would later regret?

The Perfect Us
The Perfect Us || Durjoy Datta

Love is not having to hold back . . . but will she ever truly let him in?
Avantika is an investment banker, an ambitious go-getter and the exact opposite of Deb-a corporate professional turned failed writer, turned scripter of saas-bahu serials.
They’ve been together for ten years, surviving everything from college to rave parties to annoying best friends, including Shrey, who has no respect for personal boundaries, and Vernita and Tanmay-the annoying yet enviable ‘it’ couple who seem to have it all.
Now Avantika wants to take the next step. But will Deb be able to catch up? Or will it rip them apart? No matter how hard he tries, Deb can’t convince Avantika that he’s the one for her. Not as long as she is broken and her past looms in the background-pushing her, troubling her, goading her to question if their love is enough.
Will Deb be able to find their perfect place?
The Perfect Us is love’s struggle to find a happily ever after. . .

 

Heart Tantrums
Heart Tantrums || Aisha Sarwari

In order to be able to survive, Aisha Sarwari was told, love and devoted acts of service will always light the way. These however, become the very reason of her complete unravelling.

In this large and messy voice of a memoir, Heart Tantrums artfully describes the scatter of catastrophic losses-the loss of her father in early adolescence; leaving behind her family home in East Africa; and trying to fit into a completely different culture in Lahore after marriage. In 2017, when Aisha first held her husband Yasser Latif Hamdani’s brain MRI against the light, she began to also lose the man she loved to a personality-altering brain tumour.

 

 

I Too Had a Love Story
I Too Had a Love Story || Ravinder Singh

Do love stories ever die?. . . How would you react when a beautiful person comes into your life, and then goes away from you . . . forever?Not all love stories are meant to have a perfect ending. I Too Had a Love Story is one such saga. It is the tender and heartfelt tale of Ravin and Khushi-two people who found each other on a matrimonial site and fell in love . . . until life put their love to the ultimate test.Romantic, emotional and sincere, this heartbreaking true life story has already touched a million hearts. This bestselling novel is a must-read for anyone who believes in the magic of love . . .

 

Something I Never Told You
Something I Never Told You || Shravya Bhinder

When in love, you tend to take each other for granted, and sometimes, that can cost you a lifetime of togetherness . . .
Ronnie knew that his first crush was way out of his league, and yet he pursued and wooed Adira. Shyly and from a distance in the beginning, and more persuasively later. He couldn’t believe it when the beautiful Adira actually began to reciprocate, falling in love with him for his simplicity and honesty.

Slowly, as they get close and comfortable with each other, life takes on another hue. From truly magical it becomes routine. There are fights and then making-up sessions-a clash of egos and doubts.

Things begin to change for the worst.

It is too late.
Ronnie and Adira will probably never find their forever after . .

 

Something I'm Waiting to Tell You
Something I’m Waiting to Tell You || Shravya Bhinder

‘Letting go of her was not easy but winning her back was harder than anything I could have ever imagined’

After nearly losing the love of his life to a terrible accident, Ronnie realizes how much he loves Adira and what an idiot he had been to hurt her. What’s more, her overprotective mother now takes care of her, and does not like Ronnie being anywhere near her daughter.
He’s going through hell-unable to go back in time and fix things, unable to say what he missed saying to her, ‘I love you . . .’
All he wants now is a second chance, to trace his steps back into a loving relationship and win Adira over. It will not be easy because life is tough; love, even tougher.
Something I’m Waiting to Tell You is the sweet, intense conclusion of a story that started with Something I Never Told You, a book that will teach you a thing or two about soulmates.

 

Make A Move
Make A Move || Stuti Changle

Join rising YouTube star Alara, struggling but hopeful stand-up comedian Aarav, and zany but zen beach shack owner Ricky on a quest for the truth in You Live Only Once.
Discover yourself with Myra, Kabir and Sandy, three individuals who refuse to give up on themselves as they make life-changing decisions, in On the Open Road.
Embark on the adventure of growing up with Iti, Nishit and Shelly in Where the Sun Never Sets.
Bestselling author Stuti Changle’s trio of novels are life-changing stories of human relationships, of introspection, and of having the courage to follow your dreams.
Now together in this boxset, they promise to entertain, inspire and, of course, compel you to Make a Move.

 

World's Best Girlfriend
World’s Best Girlfriend || Durjoy Datta

When he turns, I see his eyes. There’s a sense of surety in them, a sense of danger, a sense of entitlement and definitely, arrogance.’

Daksh and Aanchal meet under improbable circumstances in the most unlikely of places-a posh resort in the Andamans. While Aanchal is fighting hard to escape the shackles of a lower middle-class existence, Daksh is aimless and unsure of what his future holds. Strangely, they are drawn to each other.

‘My gaze drifts to her exposed back, and the tiny knot that secures her shimmering choli in place. Emotions of anger mix with a strange desire in me.’

Four years later, when they meet again, Daksh’s world has crumbled around him. The burden of caring for his sick father and six-year-old sister has left him with little time for anything else. Yet, despite their diverging paths, Daksh and Aanchal find themselves reconnecting in unexpected ways. Their mutual attraction deepens.

Till now, fate has been pushing them together, but what will happen when they decide to take matters into their own hands? Will life be as they’ve imagined, or will destiny take even that away from them?

 

World's Best Boyfriend
World’s Best Boyfriend || Durjoy Datta

Hate, is a four letter word.
So is love.
And sometimes, people can’t tell the difference…

Dhurv and Aranya spend a good part of their lives trying to figure out why they want to destroy each other, why they hurt each other so deeply. And, why they can’t stay away from each other.
The answer is just as difficult each time because all they’ve wanted is to do the worst, most miserable things to one another.
Yet there is something that tells them: THIS IS NOT IT.
If you want to know the answer to it all, read the book.

Bookish treats for Valentine’s season

Nothing says ‘romantic’ quite like a book lover during Valentine’s season. We all agree that books never disappoint, always keep us company, and are always happy to be taken out and read again and again, right? So get cozy with a good book in this month of love with these sixteen page-turners!

 

Victory City by Salman Rushdie

Victory City
Victory City || Salman Rushdie

From the transcendent imagination of Booker Prize-winning, worldwide popular novelist Salman Rushdie comes the magnificent tale of a woman who creates a whimsical empire only to be overtaken by it over the years. This chronicle of love, adventure, and myth is brilliantly designed as a retelling of an ancient epic, and it is a monument to the power of storytelling in and of itself.

 

Unsung by Arunoday Singh

Unsung
Unsung || Arunoday Singh

Unsung, Arunoday Singh’s debut poetry collection, includes a selection of his most popular pieces as well as new poems in which he goes within and explores topics of love, grief, and yearning that ails the human heart. The poems are deceptively simple but cutting. They are separated into four sections that each examine a different theme, such as the self, the elements, breaking and healing, the search for divinity, and the brightness and darkness of the spirit.

 

When I Am With You by Durjoy Datta

When I Am with You
When I Am With You || Durjoy Datta

Crazy, quirky and so utterly romantic, Durjoy Datta’s When I Am With You is the ultimate relationship roller coaster and is just the ideal book to cuddle up with on Valentine’s Day!

 

The Newlyweds by Mansi Choksi

The Newlyweds
The Newlyweds || Mansi Choksi

Choksi illuminates three young couples who defy patriarchy-approved arranged marriages in the search of love through colourful, lyrical words, depicting the struggles, victories, and losses that await them. The Newlyweds is an engaging and touching book that tackles universal concerns such as what we are prepared to risk for love. Does finding it transform us if we’re lucky enough to find it? Is it for the better? Or is it for the worse?

 

It Was Always You by Sudeep Nagarkar

It Was Always You
It Was Always You || Sudeep Nagarkar

Karan and Shruti have a happy marriage. Till Karan’s ex reappears in his life one day. Karan soon finds himself becoming sentimental about matters of the heart and remembering his first romance fondly. Will he jeopardise his seemingly ideal marriage for his ex-girlfriend? Meanwhile, his closest friend Aditya is experiencing emotional trouble in his relationship with his wife Jasmine. Will both friends fight to keep their marriage afloat, or will they make a decision they will later come to regret?

 

Tejo Tungabhadra by Vasudhendra and Maithreyi Karnoor

Tejo Tungabhadra
Tejo Tungabhadra || Vasudhendra and Maithreyi Karnoor

Tejo Tungabhadra‘s story is about two rivers on opposite continents whose spirits are linked by history. Bella, a young Jewish refugee, and her family confront daily dangers to their lives and dignity from the strongly hostile society that surrounds them on the banks of the Tejo River in Lisbon. Gabriel, her lover, sails to India with General Albuquerque’s fleet in search of fortune and a secure future. Meanwhile, on the banks of the Tungabhadra in the Vijayanagara Empire, the young couple Hampamma and Keshava are caught in the eye of a storm of religious fury and the harsh rigmarole of custom. In Goa, the two storylines collide with all the thunder and flow of colliding rivers.

Tejo Tungabhadra is a vast narrative of love, ambition, avarice, and a deep enthusiasm for life over the tossing seas of history set in the late 15th and early 16th centuries.

 

The Penguin Book of Indian Poets

The Penguin Book of Indian Poets
The Penguin Book of Indian Poets

Compiled by Jeet Thayil, The Penguin Book of Indian Poets is an anthology of Indian poetry in English. This two-decade-long project brings together writers from over the world, a plethora of voices-in dialogue, soliloquy, rhetoric, and play-to convey an enormous, all-encompassing vision of what it means to be an ‘Indian’ poet.

 

A Thousand Kisses Deep by Novoneel Chakraborty

A Thousand Kisses Deep
A Thousand Kisses Deep || Novoneel Chakraborty

A Thousand Kisses Deep, a literary romance thriller by Novoneel Chakraborty, is an emotional storm representing modern multifaceted relationships, lost love, life, and fate. A sequel to the popular book That Kiss In The Rain, this book is filled with thrills and suspense. This terrifying tale follows four protagonists, Haasil, Palki, Pallavi, and Swadha, as they seek life lessons and calm, only to learn that love has not done with any of them. If you appreciate reading romance and mystery thriller novels, this is a must-read full of unexpected twists.

 

Heart on the Edge by Novoneel Chakraborty

Heart on the Edge
Heart on the Edge || Novoneel Chakraborty

Shravan, Naishee Kamaraj’s younger brother, shares a special affinity with her. When he suddenly goes away one day, everyone assumes he went on his own will, but Naishee knew her brother better than anybody else. She suspects there has been wrongdoing. And her worst fears are realised when she obtains a used phone containing a video of her brother being held captive. She engages in some heinous acts in order to save her sibling. As time passes, Naishee realises she will emerge a completely different person at the end of it all.

 

Cross Your Heart, Take My Name by Novoneel Chakraborty

Cross Your Heart, Take My Name
Cross Your Heart, Take My Name || Novoneel Chakraborty

Cross Your Heart, Take My Name is a captivating story about urban loneliness, fickle relationships, and our need for company, depicted through the tortuous journey of two people caught up in their own emotional crisis, blurring the borders between crime and sin.

 

Our Impossible Love by Durjoy Datta

Our Impossible Love
Our Impossible Love || Durjoy Datta

Aisha, a late bloomer, must learn what it means to be a woman and to be desired. Danish believes that time is running out for him and that he will end up like his overachieving, driven younger brother.
Danish, the bewildered idiot, is appointed as Aisha’s student counsellor, and her life takes an unusual turn. They must discover out love, life, friendship, and, most importantly, themselves. And it’s not turning out to be… easy? Our Impossible Love depicts life as it is and love as it should be.

 

Undying Affinity by Sara Naveed

Undying Affinity
Undying Affinity || Sara Naveed

Zarish, a twenty-two-year-old woman, has all she could ever want in life. She is wealthy, beautiful, and well-known. She and Haroon, her attractive childhood sweetheart, are inseparable until a new finance professor, Ahmar Muraad, joins their institution. Every lady at the campus has her sights set on him. He is appealing, personable, and intelligent. Zarish is charmed to his smooth personality as well. But would he ever show any interest in her? Zarish, caught in a web of passion, has no idea that one person may entirely shift her outlook on life. Undying Affinity will stick with you forever because it is filled with romance, drama, and sorrow.

 

Half Torn Hearts by Novoneel Chakraborty

Half Torn Hearts
Half Torn Hearts || Novoneel Chakraborty

Half Torn Hearts is a coming-of-age story about three-layered people dealing with their first loss, which reveals the demon that we all have but are afraid of confronting, and which ultimately becomes the cause of our own demise.

 

The Secrets We Keep by Sudeep Nagarkar

The Secrets We Keep
The Secrets We Keep || Sudeep Nagarkar

Rahul, an intelligence officer on a secret mission, falls in love with the major’s daughter, Akriti, and decides to hide her at his parents’ house. However, when Akriti goes missing, Rahul realizes she is someone familiar and is faced with the biggest shock of his life.

 

Till the Last Breath by Durjoy Datta

Till The Last Breath . . .
Till the Last Breath || Durjoy Datt

Will your heart skip a beat when death is so close? Two patients have been admitted to room 509. One is a bright nineteen-year-old medical student who is afflicted with an incurable, terminal sickness. Every extra breath she takes is a blessing. The other person is a twenty-five-year-old drug user whose organs are failing. He is eager to get rid of his body. He believes that the sooner the better.

Two reputable doctors, each suffering their own demons from the past, are doing everything they can to keep these two patients alive, even risking their medical licences. These final days in the hospital have an impact on the two patients, their doctors, and everyone else around them in ways they could never have predicted. Till the Last Breath is a truly moving narrative about what it means to be alive.

 

Eleven Ways to Love

Eleven Ways to Love
Eleven Ways to Love

This is a book of essays that shows us, with empathy, humour, and wisdom, that there is no such thing as love that dares not speak its name. It is pieced together with a dash of poetry and a whole lot of love, including a variety of voices and a cast of unexpected heroes and heroines.

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