I SHALL ALWAYS LOVE YOU BY SHILPA JAIN

TITLE- I shall always love you
AUTHOR- Shilpa Jain

GENRE- Indian contemporary,
FORMAT- Kindle E-book
NUMBER OF PAGES- 168
PUBLISHER- Srishti publishers

About the book-

Shiv Sanyal is a celebrated artist. When he meets an enigmatic woman, he creates a sculpture of her, his masterpiece. He is shocked when he is publically humiliated for copying a Khajuraho figurine that looks just like this mysterious woman. He decides to visit Khajuraho to unveil the truth.

Stumbling upon revelations and facts long hidden, he discovers his connection to the glorious past of Khajuraho. Unexpected events in Khajuraho and Mumbai force him and his friends to go on a quest to find a hidden treasure with clues in a missing Khajuraho sculpture. They travel across India and visit various ancient temples to find clues leading to the treasure.

What is this treasure? Who is compelling them to seek it? Who is Shiv’s friend and who is his enemy? How has the universe woven the lives of his friends into his life?

“I shall always love you” is a thrilling tale of love that never dies, treasure that lay buried and truths that go deeper than the seas.

My rating- ★★★☆☆

My review-

Following the new trend of adapting Indian mythology in their stories by Indian fiction writers, this novel, I must agree has turned out to be quite good. I was not really expecting it to be this good, but yes it was satisfactory.

“I shall always love you” is the story of Shiv, his best friend Arjun, his childhood friend Saloni and his love interest Nysa. The plot-line revolves around the connection each of the characters have with each other in not only the present life but also in the past lives. Among the chaos and danger created by a treasure hunt (forced onto Shiv and his friends by an unknown enemy) the four of them find themselves in the face of their past lives and discover their connection to each other and to Khajuraho- a place where destiny had merged all of their lives in the previous birth and taken a turn, paving their way into the next birth.

An amalgamation of passion, loyalty, suspense, mythology, humor and timeless love, this story, undeniably, has substance to offer to the readers. The accurate descriptions of the sculptures at Khajuraho, the insight with which the story of the previous birth has been connected, the comic timing and the emotions the characters feel towards each other are worth pondering over.

However the story seems to be told in a rush, elaborative only at a few places. A few details at other places would have added to the charm. Also the characters seem to be very poorly developed. A lot seems to be focused only on their external appearances and not on their innate character which, according to me is one of the main flaws as the love story supposedly spans over lifetimes. Also this particular story has less amount of Bollywood influence as compared to my previous reads.

Overall it was a pleasant read and I would recommend it to people who love stories with mythology and suspense in the backdrop of a love story. Glad that it was beyond the mushy stories so popular these days. A noteworthy attempt to punch together several themes.

Characters-

Shiv- the son of a multi-millionaire, belonging to the Sanyal family and well celebrated artist is the protagonist of the story. Blessed with charming good looks he is the first one to become aware of his identity from  his previous birth.

Arjun- Shiv's best friend and the one who manages everything for Mr Sanyal. He had been associated with Shiv even in his previous lives.

Saloni- She is Shiv's childhood friend and seems to have a strong liking towards Shiv. Even she was associated with Shiv in his previous lifetime.

Nysa- She is the love interest of Shiv in every lifetime. It is the love of Shiv and Nysa which has to survive lifetimes.

Writing style-

The plot development is gradual, writing is lucid and some parts especially those from the characters' past lives are well detailed. The author has done absolute justice while writing about Khajuraho and the Indian history revolving around it.

However the story lacks details at times.Also certain important conversations are made in indirect speech making them less relevant.The characters are not as well developed as they should have been.

 Overall the story line is maintained till the end, comic timing is apt and the suspense is revealed only in the end.

About the author-  

Shilpa Jain is a doctor with over twenty years of experience in medical practice. She also has wide experience in medical writing and editing. She has worked as a corporate medical officer and counselor.

 Over the period of last three years , she has developed a keen interest in creative writing and began writing her novels

I would like to thank Shilpa Jain, the author of this book for providing me the opportunity to share my honest review in return of the kindle edition of this book.