Radhika MundraBook Review: Secretly Yours
Author: Vikrant Khanna
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Price: Rs. 145/-
Genre: Romantic Thriller
Rating: 1.5/5
ISBN- 9780143425915
Every once in awhile, I read a book that makes my mind go haywire, and clearly not in a good way.
The book that bagged this award this month is ‘Secretly Yours’ by Vikrant Khanna. Read the ‘Secretly Yours’ book review to know why:
Back Blurb from the book–
Everyone has secrets but is hers the most shocking? Orphaned at birth, seventeen-year-old Sahil has always blamed himself for his parents’ death. He has little interest in life until he meets the enigmatic Anya in a chance encounter during the Shimla fest. Soon he falls head over heels in love with her, but Anya doesn’t reciprocate his feelings.
An accident leaves him in a coma and when he wakes up he makes a startling discovery-he can read minds! Now he can find out what goes on in Anya’s mind and maybe, just maybe, make her fall in love with him. But is Anya all she seems? Or is she hiding something? Deliciously plotted, full of morbid secrets and startling revelations, Secretly Yours will make you question what you see and who you trust.”
Plot- The 17-year-old protagonist, Sahil’s life is the living example of Murphy’s Law. Everything that could possibly go wrong in a teenager’s life has gone wrong in his and he takes to self-harm, smoking, and alcohol to momentarily forget the pain.
Sahil is not sure what his career would be, for he undecidedly thinks of being a musician, a guitarist until Anya, the female lead, enters. Anya enrolls in the music academy where Sahil is a student. The instructor there is too busy to attend to new students that he leaves the beginners to be taught by other students. Sahil teaches Anya how to play the guitar while falling in love with her hair, which he is obsessed with, and her. Anya, though gives Sahil all the signs of falling in love, rejects him when he tells her so which brings out the writer in Sahil and he gets halfway through his barely written book.
Amidst this half-baked love story, comes the thrill of a serial killer on loose committing murders and secret disappearances of Anya along with the unexplained behavior of her friends.
His Grandma, who unapologetically blames him for the death of his parents dies in a car accident (guess who was driving the car?) and Sahil, who goes into a coma for a month after the accident, acquires mind reading skills but he is no Edward Cullen. For his skill to work, he has to be in physical contact with the person he wants to read the mind of.
Will Sahil be able to find out Anya’s secret and save her from the impending doom? Will he be able to sort out his upturned life and his relationships? To find out, grab the book, but at your own risk.
Buy the book here:
Pros:
- Short Chapters.
- Coverage of teen turmoil.
- Various Plot Elements.
Cons:
- Number of Clichés more than the number of Chapters.
- Misleading Blurb.
- Unwanted Explanations.
- Poor Character Development.
- Predictable Ending.
- Editing errors.
- Poorly Titled Chapters.
Vikrant Khanna is a captain in the Merchant Navy. He is the bestselling author of When Life Tricked Me and Love Lasts Forever. Apart from writing, he is fond of composing songs and playing the guitar. He lives in New Delhi.
Personal Opinion: I never pick up books by Indian Authors unless the blurb is exciting enough to arouse my curiosity, and that is a very rare occurrence. The redundancy in plots and lack of innovation are visibly hurting the Indian writing community. People keep to the basic clichéd love stories adding an easily predictable twist.
If you noticed, I try my best to level the number of Pros and Cons in my reviews but this one just wouldn’t let me. I think that says it all.
Haven’t read the author’s bestsellers but this was surely not the best he can do. From the way he writes, he could have done a lot better than this.
So this was ‘Secretly yours’ book review. Pick up as per your judgment!
Until Next Time,
Be kind to one another.
Bye Bye!
Thank you for the warning. Will stay miles away from this one! As it is teen love stories get me nauseous and now your review puts the final stamp of disapproval.
Wow it sounds like there's a lot going on in this book…maybe to much….that's scary to think someone could read your mine.
Sorry to hear it disappointed you.
Wow it sounds like there's a lot going on in this book…maybe to much….that's scary to think someone could read your mine.
Sorry to hear it disappointed you.
Only the mind reading part got me to pick this book up and guess what, there's barely 4-5 times he does that! Fairly unused skill. Extremely misleading blurb.
Anyway, putting too many element can be good if you know how to present all of them in harmony. Have a good weekend! xx
Yes, it does sound very interesting but you'd be in for a very nasty surprise that has very little to do with this superb skill.
Exactly! He took too many plot elements but couldn't balance them. Thanks for stopping by, Bushra! 🙂
But Vishal, what is new in this? It's the story of every other book you pick up! For once, I'd find it refreshing if Indian authors can sideline love. Anyway, thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Yes, Rajlakshmi, it did seem interesting but it soon turned out to be, well, quite mundane.
Very candid review. Blurb seems interesting but its dissapointing as you say it's misleading.
Thanks for the straight honest review..I haven't read his books but here it seems he is lost in multiple overlapping themes with nothing new to offer to the reader.
I love the story idea which I feel is awesome on what every teenager goes through and rejected in love. It's so relatable to us:)
thanks for the honest review. The plot though seems very intriguing … love, murder, psychic powers!!
Same here… I was delaying tge review because I never wanted to be too callous. But the truth is better said
The plot made me interested, very nice review, would love to read this book.
The plot seems interesting. Nice reviews and i like the you putted those pro and cons. I would like to give this book a try.
Ah! I was tired of 4-5 stars ratings on Amazon. Very honest review! And, you have covered everything that I felt while reading this book.
It was a pain to finish this book. I usually leave a book unfinished if it doesn't grip my interest in the first 50 pages. But, it was a review copy and I had to go on…
Ah! I was tired of 4-5 stars ratings on Amazon. Very honest review! And, you have covered everything that I felt while reading this book.
It was a pain to finish this book. I usually leave a book unfinished if it doesn't grip my interest in the first 50 pages. But, it was a review copy and I had to go on…
Thanks for this honest review!
Haha, better tell the truth than having people blame you for recommending such books!
You've made a brave choice! Let me know how you like it! 🙂
I've always done reviews like this, thanks, Haresh! Do let me know how you like it once you read it. 🙂
Haha, I can understand, Tarang! I was quite shocked to find 4-5 star ratings, myself but, I've done this before, and I did justice to the review. 🙂
You're welcome, Damyanti! 🙂