Genre – Short stories , Fiction
Format – Kindle e book only
Price – Rs 50/- , Free with Kindle Unlimited
The Author – Ritu Kakar
Ritu Kakar is an avid reader herself and has earlier authored the paperback “Love Unexpected “ and “One Precious Moment “. This is her latest work of fiction and consists of short stories.
The Book – Love, Loss, Life, Laughter and More
The pictures at the start of each sort story are beautiful. They have a mellow quality to them and leave a lasting impression while setting the tone for the ensuing story. I wish Ritu had made the cover as appealing if not more than the pictures inside.
Coming to the stories ,the title sums it up for you! This book takes us through the myriad emotions that life and living brings.
While “Love me … before you” underlines the importance of self –love.
“One memorable Night” recounts a torrid and pulsating night of passion between two complete strangers, Abir and Rami, who are hopelessly attracted to each other.
But the surprise package in this short story collection was “My beautiful Thief “, it really had an unexpected twist at the end which was quite interesting.
“Sex in the city” starts on the very bold premise of a wild Bachelorette party starting with a Couple Striptease , but after building a tempo, the author seemed to develop cold feet and ended it in quite an expected manner, on a demure note.
Ritu Kakar in“Blind date”takes us on a date between a visually challenged young girl and her boss.
“Stolen moments” dwells into an unconventional extra marital relationship.
There is another story here with the title “B.O.B.” that stands for Battery Operated Boyfriend ! I will leave the rest to your imagination!
Out of these ten stories ,I loved the story “Second Chance “ , it is an uplifting story of hope and resurgence and rebuilding life brick by brick by an abused woman.
In the story “Full circle “, life comes full circle for Rishita when her estranged son comes back to her after years of ignoring her.
Among the ten stories, “Soul mates” was the least engaging story for me because it was quite predictable throughout and ended on the same note, I feel short stories should always have a strong ending so this one was a bit of a letdown as this was the final story of the collection.
Ritu Kakkar has an easy to comprehend and fluid writing style. Her characters are very realistic and relatable. Being a homemaker, wife and mother herself, I imagine she could effectively grasp and express the struggles and identity crises that a woman in the city has to face every day. These stories could be the story of any woman you and I know. There comes a time in every person’s life when one has to face some really difficult moments ,when one is at a crossroads and has to make the decision about which road to take. Ritu’s stories instill the hope and confidence that there is always light at the end of the tunnel even when the going seems tough !
Final Verdict
To sum it up for my readers, when you pick this book up, you would seem to peek into the life of the woman next to you and maybe next time when you see a woman, you would definitely be tempted to look beyond the exterior and wonder what her story is!
This book makes for a feel good read, something that is a little thought provoking, gently prodding you into thinking but not so dark that you are left shaken. I would take the liberty to say in James Bond style it left me” Stirred, not shaken! “.
20 responses to “Love, Loss, Life, Laughter And More”
I like good feel books. This seems like a good bedtime book I could read and sleep with happy feelings.
The plot of this book sounds interesting and relatable. Will check out this for sure. Thanks for sharing your honest opinion.
i think short stories are the ones that are doing well in the market because people want to read but have less patience to read the fat novels. BOB hahaha. im wondering what that is. I heard HP has also shrunken each of their books.
I really like to check this book as you mentioned this will make me feel good. Liked the honest review!!
I really like reading short stories, as they do not take much of your time and if its a good read than your day is made. Thanks for the review..will give it try.
Great review! I have read Ritu's book – Love, Loss, Life and Laughter. She is a fantastic writer and her stories are very relatable. I also loved reading Second Chance :).
Quite a different selection of characters and storylines here. I like reading short stories and will keep this in mind when I go book shopping next time.
This seems nice and real, I would love to read such books that make you introspect our life choices. Will surely check it out.
That's an honest review. I agree with your take on cover. Guess have seen it recently popping on my kindle shall check it out after current one.
I liked the candid review.It tells u what to expect.And as u pointed out every woman has a story to tell and appearances can be so deceptive. One never knows what pain lies below the smiling demeanour
I really like the way you have reviewed this book. I have heard about Ritu Kakar but haven't gotten a chance to read any of her books. This one with such interesting short seems like a great read.
Book with short stories collection is always good to read, liked your detailed review of each story and with many impressed you then this book is worth a read once.
That adds up to be a good book that can be picked up by me pretty soon. I quite enjoy subtle soul stirring books.
I enjoyed reading your review – you have me intrigued to know how the stories end, what is the twist and to see the pictures at the start of each story 🙂
Thats a wonderful review .I really like reading short stories, as they do not take much of your time .
Your review makes the book an interesting read. The stories and chaseem unique. Adding it to my TBR list.
– Ujjwal Mishra MywordsMywisdom
I really like reading short stories and this one sounds great. The storyline sounds quite interesting. I will definitely give this a read soon. thanks for sharing the recommendation.
I am intrigued buddy, such a beautiful bouquet of stories, will be picking it up very soon.
A good review. Her book is in my to-read list. I love reading Indian authors. The content is so relatable.
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