Title: Bangalored
Author: Gayatri Chandrasekharan
Publisher: Leadstart publishing
Genre: Contemporary romance
First Publication: 2021
Language: English
Book Summary: Bangalored by Gayatri Chandrasekharan
James Rutherford is expecting this Bangalore trip to be much like any other. Fly in, get the work done and rush back home, to England. What he certainly didn’t expect, was to be smitten by an opinionated Indian girl. What was it about her that captured his imagination and would not let go? Had his heart been Bangalored?
The last thing Radha Iyer expects when she does a friend a good deed is to be catapulted into a world of flirtation and adventure. With a handsome man involved, she wasn’t about to complain.
But with romance comes heartbreak…
Book Review: Bangalored by Gayatri Chandrasekharan
Bangalored is a contemporary romance set against the backdrop of the garden city of India, Bangalore, also known as the Silicon Valley of India. It was a sweet, light read; delightful and with one of those perfect endings you dream of.
Inside Bangalored, reader will meet two irresistible characters. James Rutherford is on a business trip to Bangalore, he wishes to return back to his home in Britain as soon as he is done with his work. But an unexpected meeting with Radha Iyer changes his wishes and plans. Heat scorches between these two characters. From first page to last, this book was like a bath of warm water, flowing over with its beautiful narrative of the landscapes of Bangalore to the slowly building relationship between James and Radha. The love story between Radha and James wasn’t always one of butterflies and rainbows. There was conflict that made their relationship more believable.
Of course the eye-locking, time-slowing animal magnetism Radha and James share is more fantastical, and both are great, relatable protagonists. Radha is intelligent and independent girl, has a great friendship with Alex and Lakshmi, and makes mistakes and choices that are rooted in reality. When we meet Radha, she’s worried about attaining a meeting with her friend’s foreign client, and unsure of what awaits her after the meeting.
I think that the heart of Gayatri Chandrasekharan’s story, and what makes her writing so powerful and real, are her characters. They are not mere vehicles for a story – they are the story. The characters are the cog in the wheel that make this story turn, urging the reader to read forward, forming bonds and relationships with fictional characters simply because they feel so real, tangible, and alive. They are all people who might exist in our world, reflections of ourselves and those that fill our lives.
Author Gayatri writes genuine characters – nuanced and flawed – and honest relationships. She shows the different shades to love, be it familial or romantic. And she doesn’t flinch away from the side of loving someone that can be painful or hard – that what we want from people and what they actually are can be different things, and are not always easy to align. In this way, Radha and James are touchingly, and realistically, portrayed throughout the novel.
While the plot of Bangalored is relatively quiet, the story is compelling. I really enjoyed Bangalore as the setting for this book. A great place for the reader to explore along with new-arrival James. From the first page this story pulls you in, and it never lets up. From author’s detailed description of the Bangalorian landscape, to the vivid characters, Bangalored by Gayatri Chandrasekharan makes you feel like you are in the middle of the story.
Bangalored is impossible to put down. It is humorous, utterly poignant and very romantic. It is the type of book that you never knew you needed to read until you read it. Author Gayatri manages to capture the true emotional upheaval of characters, their friendships, relationships, worries, fears, and truths in a way that is touching, bittersweet, and heart-warming.
