My Suitcase Heart
Summary
What happens when the dynamics within a group of best friends change forever? Maahi, Samar, Ahana, Aadi, Hiya, Mayank and Poorvi are BFFs, while Ishiqa is a late entry into the group. Ahana is Samar’s little sister and plays cupid to Samar and Maahi. Unfortunately, Samar and Maahi’s paradisiacal bubble is burst as differences begin to surface. Mayank and Poorvi’s relationship is in jeopardy when Mayank falls for Ishiqa. Poorvi fights back, Mayank and Poorvi end up marrying eventually. Ishiqa gets hitched to a wealthy NRI, but her marriage is doomed from the word to go. Hiya, meanwhile, finds a soulmate who helps her heal from the scars of a traumatic childhood. Ahana and Aadi also tie the knot. While on the surface they are an ideal couple, something seems amiss. These friends reunite on a cruise more than a decade later and sparks fly. However, the outbreak of leads to an abrupt end to their vacation. They return to their respective lives, but nothing will ever be the same. Debutant author Deepti Singh Gupta creates a delectable melange of love, longing, ecstasy, agony, intimacy and heartbreak.
Sometimes in life, all it takes is a rustle of a passing breeze, a tiny whisper, an old yet vivid
memory, a small yet subtle voice of your true inner calling….to acknowledge and come to terms
with the true love of your life…
Truly, all of us surely shall agree with the above. A small yet powerful nudge and we are sorted! onto the path towards the love of our life. It could be something as trivial as a loved one’s favourite colour or song but once there you can’t help but be back to being in the ‘Smitten land’.
Our title in review today is such a romance that examines the strength of such relationships, the sheen of which even time failed to dim out. My suitcase heart by Deepti Singh is a romantic novella, written to pack a basketful of emotions and experiences which the main characters Samar, Mahi, Mayank, Ishiqa, Poorvi, Hiya, Ahana, Adi, Zorawar and others encounter during their life. The story which proceeds with flashbacks gives us a deep insight into the lives of each of these characters right from high school and how each of their stories proceed and culminate, thanks to the choices they make in life. When years later, they reunite on a cruise planned by one of them, it is nothing short of fireworks. This is because most of them realize what they have been sitting on all this while and thus they gear up to pull their shoestrings and straighten their disarrayed lives back together. However, what none of them was prepared for was the onset of the pandemic COVID 19, which strikes leaving them all in a frenzy and even more confused than ever before.
Will they bounce back or fall deeper down in this deep abyss of emotional turmoil and tribulations fate has planned for them?
It is a refreshing read as the narrative is not only crisp but also very vivid in terms of picturesque depictions of places the characters are a part of. It actually felt like I was one of them, travelling with them, thanks to such elaborate descriptions. The characters are created meticulously given utmost care to the main plotline. Be it Poorvi who is the fierce possessive lover to Hiya, the demure one or Mahi, the one we see transitioning out through the course of the book, all have been sketched keeping in tandem with the core idea of the story.
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What surprised me pleasantly was that in spite of being a novella, Deepti has managed to pack in such a fantastic narrative with exhaustive details, without it becoming boring or redundant. Their experiences feel like slices out of someone’s real life and also the bits of travelogue data add to colour and spunk in the story. Deepti Singh, the author who also has her own travel blog, has surely added a fine, personalised element of her work and personality through many bits throughout, I feel. They make up for a very lively read alongside the main story. More so because of the COVID 19 pandemic, I feel since we have become confined quite a bit more than before, this piece of writing shall get its readers the much-needed respite and relief they need and hope for.I mean, it makes up for interesting reading, love stories culminating into happy endings and closer to life portrayal of characters alongside “cruising along” them in this journey.
Overall, it is a very good entertaining, light romantic novella, one which you shall relate to, one which is a part of each of our lives in one way or another. A superb debut I must say. A romantic fiction you shall surely enjoy and must indulge in.
Waiting to read Deepti Singh’s next piece of work.