Book Review-"Live From London" by Parinda Joshi

It’s been a long long time since I have read a good chick lit book. I have been sticking to the James Patterson series for some time now. So when Blogadda put up “Live from London” by Parinda Joshi for review under the Book Review Program, I registered for it excitedly. And boy, am I glad that I did it, because I just loved this book. In fact it’s one of the best chick lit books from an Indian author after “Almost Single” by Advaita Kala. But of course I have always been a huge fan of this genre, so this book was like a treat to me.

The main protagonist in the book is Nishi Gupta, a twenty one year old girl, living in Richmond. Nishi plays the guitar well and is also an aspiring singer. But she has always taken this to be her hobby and has never seriously considered a career in singing. When her friends dare her to appear in “Britain’s Got Talent” reality show, Nishi strums her red beauty guitar and gives it all she has. But unfortunately she fails to impress the judges and the audience and her act falls on its face. After this horrible stage debacle, Nishi gathers her confidence and instead of moping around she hatches a plan. A plan to join a recording company and find a god father who can give her a break in the music industry. But what she fails to include in her plan is the sinfully handsome Nick Navjot Chapman, the runner up of the previous season’s American Idol. All though Nishi is skeptical of Nick because he appears to be very high-handed, she cannot help but fall in love with him. Nishi and Nick have a clandestine relationship but Nishi’s close friend Sarah does not approve of this relationship. Things turn around when Nick wants Nishi to sing a couple of songs in his debut album in the UK. Nishi cannot believe her luck when she gets everything that she ever aspired for. She has a budding career in the music industry and she has a sweet, loving and caring boyfriend. But as something unimaginable happens, Nishi’s world comes crashing down. She loses the two most important things in her life, her boyfriend and her job. Dejected, Nishi moves to India, where she plans to start her life anew. Will Nishi finally realize her dream and make it big in the Indian music industry? Does Nick come back in her life? Read the book to find out more.

The book has everything that a good chick lit is made of, there’s love and romance in abundance, there’s friendship, there’s heart break, there’s humor, there’s ambition. The book has all the ingredients of a typical masala Bollywood movie and I wouldn’t be surprised if some producer/director got the rights of this book and made it into a movie. It also showcases how most of the youngsters today shun regular mundane jobs in engineering or medicine but look towards newer and exciting career options. Be it the music industry or the fashion world, radio jockeying, the entertainment industry, it’s a whole new world of possibilities. Getting a foothold in these industries has become easier thanks to the countless reality shows. This book gives a glimpse into the contemporary India.

The author Parinda Joshi has a very chic and sophisticated writing style which gives the book a whole new refreshing feel to it. A little bit of more humor in the book would have been appreciated, but overall a pleasant weekend read. Definitely going to recommend this book to all my girlfriends.

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!