Tanya SachdevI’m very sceptical when it comes to Indian authors, thanks to Chetan Bhagat. I so much don’t want to read him anymore that the copy of his latest, ‘Half Girlfriend’ is lying flat at one corner without any attraction. Mr Bhagat, you can keep on writing for block busters and give all emotional angles, I don’t care. But when the newest author on the block approached with her first baby, I couldn’t say no because not only she turned out to be a long lost friend, her title of the book deserved a read. With my hesitation, I did say a yes, but after the first page, I just kept on reading till I finished the entire story. This review is from the heart without any intention of pleasing the author aka the long ‘lost and found’ friend.
Book review: He Fixed the Match She Fixed Him
The book starts with a very familiar topic of finding a match through the arranged marriage route in this e-age world. The sound of Delhi and Bombay, Kohlis and Kharbandas shout out the familiar Punjabi-ness since beginning. I’m from Delhi and a Punjabi so I could relate to every aspect and it felt the characters were living next door. One can relate to the story since beginning and can see resemblances from one’s own life or people around. All the characters are walking and talking out of flesh.
This is not a love story nor a story about failed love. This is a story of twists and turns, where a woman is made a pawn by the very man she eventually marries. Like the title, this is a story about a strong woman who not only mends her marriage but the man too. But will the story have a fairy tale ending? Well, this is the only question that takes one through the final chapters in full frenzy. Author Shikha Kumar has done a fantastic job in pulling all the characters and situations with delicate handling and given every situation its full due. Kudos to her.
Pace of the novel: Fast, racy and very catchy. You can’t stop turning the page. Though in the middle, it becomes predictable like a hindi movie tale and one can start expecting the obvious. But then again comes the jerk and you are transported to an amazing turn just round the corner. Shikha manages to surprise time and again.
Emotions: The novel is but a vortex of emotions. It takes you through a journey of suspense, revenge, attraction, agony, repentance, realisation and romance through and through in 300 pages.
Use of language: Easy to comprehend. The tone is direct and full of pace. One gets under the skin of each character and feels the pain and range of emotions with every page.
The excessive use of some brands on the face was the only thing that hit me time and again but I guess the sponsors got to have their share too. The last 30 pages could have wrapped up early.
Final Word: A witty read that will grab you from start to finish at one go.
LE recommends or not ? YES, please pick your copy from the nearby book store or order online here. Shikha, you made me proud and I’m glad I found you again.
Click on the amazon links below to grab your copy.
By now, most of you would have grabbed your copy. Incase, you haven’t, here is a chance for you to win it.
Shikha has been kind enough to extend 10 copies as a New Year Giveaway.
How to win this Blog giveaway? Simple. Just follow these easy steps.
- Like Let’s Expresso on Facebook here (If you haven’t already).
- Like Author Shikha’s page on Facebook here.
- Know the latest by subscribing to us on the right side panel on this page.
- Answer the question in the comments below: “What makes your relationship different?”
The Contest Giveaway opens today and will close on 10th January 2015. Open to Indian residents, the winners will be informed via email and will be declared on this page aswell. For any query, you can mail me at t4tanya@gmail.com and I will respond at the earliest. Have fun with these online giveaways. All the Best.
So what are you waiting for? Share this with your cousins and friends who you think will really love this giveaway and just head over to our Facebook page to like and share!
Winners: Bhavna M Dedhia, Meena Gulyani, Geeta Nair, Nikita Shende, Ekta Ekku, Seema Rastogi, Pallavi Rohtagi, Diya, Anu Nisha and Shweta.
Tanya Sachdev
23 comments
Hi Tanya,
Thanx for Awesome review. I’m tempting to read. Wld for sure order a copy of it asap 🙂
My pleasure. Do drop in your take on the book once u finish reading it.
Dear Tanya, Just dropped in to let you know its equally my pleasure to have found a “lost friend” & so proud I am to see your great work. Keep it up! you & your success is very inspirational.
Thanks for the kind words Shikha. Wish u the best for your next one!
How is my relationship different? Thats a tough one. I am an author and my bae does not read books at all. In fact he hasn’t finished reading my debut book till now. But the good thing is we always go to book cafes and book fairs.
The fact that he lets me be me makes all the difference and I love it.
Although it would have been better if he could at least my book 😛
Hello, your review seems quite awesome and motivates me to go through it.
Hi Tanya
Thnx for a wonderful giveaway once again…
I believe every relation in world is different from the other…It is not because of the people but the reason is the feelings of one towards another…I am living a happy life with my hubby for the last 30 years and the reason of my happiness is the understanding we developed over the years…Now we are so mentally connected with each other that we can actually understand views of each other…Time has a great role played between us…Being together in the hard and happy times bring us more closer to each other and this genuine friendship,love and trust makes our relationship different from others…
Well.. I read this post yesterday and could not get the title itself out of my mind till this moment and decided to leave a comment here. I found the title itself quite interesting and the words ‘SHE FIXED HIM’ are enough to tempt me to read this book 😛 . Well am a single yet..(hence can’t answer to the question what makes my relationship different) will be married soon as my parents are looking for a perfect match for me.. and hope I will fix him too.. eee 😀 will definitely read this one.. Thankyou for the reviews.. 🙂
Good luck Bhavya for your new journey. I look forward to hear your response to this question few years down the aisle. Stay blessed.
Trust, Understanding, Respect & Compromise are the four strong pillars in my relationship. These pillars not only makes my relationship perfect but also brings us closer to each other every day. Marriage was just a seed sown but these pillars were like water to it. Day by day love blossomed & turned it into a Happily Married life.
Hello Tanya
Thanks for the wonderful giveaway.
Well..what makes my relationship different is our comfortability, understanding with each other.like shahrukh saying.. Love is friendship :-p ..we were best friends from last 9 yrs..went through many ups and downs in life but our relation never get affected..in fact we got more closer and finally we are getting married In 2015.
liked both pages and subscribed too 🙂
Our relationship is kind of different from those of my friends and family because my husband and I come from different backgrounds/upbringings. I came from a very career oriented, educated, upper middle class family. I was a straight A student and went to a top college. In contrast, my husband never went to college, doesn’t have an impressive career (though he enjoys it and makes good money), and comes from a family with little money. At first my family and some of my friends couldn’t understand why I wanted to marry him, but there’s more to life than education, impressive career, and money. They now see what a great guy he is.
Our relationship is also different from most of my family’s in that we actually get along. There are so many dysfunctional relationships in my family, and we seem to be one of the few couples who gets along well and rarely fights.
My relationship is different because we give each other space that is essential for every relationship to last. we trust each other and there is respect which makes our relationship stronger.
The day we joined in wedlock we vowed –
To stand by each other in thick and thin
To give each other their space.
To motivate each other to excel
Not let our ego raise its ugly head
Trust, be patient and above all acknowledge each others strength and work on their weakness.
29 years down the road
The vows have not been forgotten, they have been kept.
Let’s expresso thankyou for a perfect giceaway.I’m an English hons.student and bored of my course novels and books.This new one “He Fixed the Match She Fixed Him” seems to be quite amusing and attractive too.
Though I’m still a student and its quite a couple of years for me to get married but if I talk of my parents I feel it is normal for couples to have ups and downs. To meet these challenges, and to keep your relationship healthy and happy, you need to work at it.They are very supportive to each other,even after arguments respect each other’s opinion and try to resolve,and most of all even after 20years of an arranged marriage treat each other like friends with no secrets,full of support & trust.This is what makes my parents “relationship different”.I aspire a successful married life like them ☺
Eager to read this book.
Happy new year to everyone ☺
Hi Tanya, thanks for this giveaway. I love reading Novels and would love to read this one too !!
In relationships its always the lil lil things that counts.Like We ( me and my boyfriend ) always take a moment to let each other know how much we love each other.A simple “ï love you”can go a long way We always appreciate each other. We never take each other for granted.We respect each others privacy:) No matter how busy both of our lives are,v make sure 2 commit at least an evening every week or two to be alone together. Have new experiences, share our stories, and just generally enjoy each other’s company. These lil things makes my relationship different !!
hey i have liked both the fb page and subscribed to ur updates thanks
Firstly i dont have any1 spcl,But i wanna hv some spcl in my life.Apart from loving and caring for each other i would like to fight with him…get angry at him….and vice versa.This is cos thats when the true personality of a person comes out.Also,i wil show attitude to him n he can too….cos thats when all the dirt from our heart comes out and we will be able to love each other truly with clean hearts….At the end…accepting the person as he is …is truely essential…Love n respect comes with acceptance.:)
Thanku so much for the wonderful giveaway.i really wanna read the book of Shikha cos it has got me intrested after reading abt it on ur blog. and i m also fed up CB novels 😉
Wishing all the best for finding your Mr.Right. I hope all your ideas of love work & your answer this giveaway question to mer personally with great experience few years down. Stay Blessed!
Thank you dear for the awesome giveaway
Thank you Tanya for this wonderful giveaway… 🙂 This one is exactly of my type.
Every relationship is different in its own. We cannot
understand others but I do know what makes mine so
very special and different 🙂 We are two extremely
different people. But still complete each other in some
sense…life just cannot be imagined without him. No
matter how far away he is…he still tries to be a part of
my life..no matter happy days or not. We have had real
big BAD fights!!! Even have threatened each other that
you will have to live alone if you don’t quit any bad habit.
But somehow after the fight ends….it increases the care
and understanding multifolds. I know I’m selfish at
times….but it is only him that can handle my stupid
tantrums. He is my best friend…will always be. But the
main fact that enthrills me about him and the little
relation we have is his respect for his family. It is real art
he way he handles demands and requests from both
ends. The combination of his love for me as well as for
his parents is what is making what we have real different
from others’ I have seen 🙂 🙂
Hey!!
I feel every relationship has sort of an x factor or something that makes it different from others…Not that anyone tries to do that ( or may be they do by making certain rules). Our relation is different due to our boiling and cooling timings 😀
Yeah, its a blessing in disguise!! If he is angry and speaks about it, I’m usually calm and composed but by the end of his rant when he cools off I go mad.
He calls me a tubelight for that. Thankfully that avoids a heated argument as the person listening can understand other’s opinion and not just attempts to win the argument.
Liked and Subscribed!
Every relationship has its own set of up and down times. Me and my ‘special’ friend are poles apart yet it is this difference that gets us attracted to each other. Both of us accept each other as we are with all the qualities we have- both vices as well as virtues. No relationship can ever be completely perfect, how can it be when we humans are imperfect. I ignore him deliberately when he tries to be over confident and a bit bossy, he understands this after some time and comes back to normal state. When I get too emotional or stressed he teases me and makes the situation a bit lighter to revive my mood. A concoction of maturity and childish nature in our unspoken words makes our relationship different.