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Wild Card — by Asfiya Rahman(Author), Chetan Soni(narrator)

Publisher: Half Baked Beans

Pages: 170

Price: Rs. 125 INR(Paperback), Rs. 49 INR(Kindle Edition)

ISBN: 978–9384315429

Buy here: https://amzn.to/2NwCnRJ

Karan Mehrotra thinks he has it all. He is about to marry the love of his life, Riya and is on his way to win at Wimbledon, fulfilling a childhood dream of his. However destiny has other plans for him and he is forced to put aside his dreams when life throws a wild card at him. Eight years later destiny coyly lays another opportunity in front of him. Does he finally get another chance to fulfill his childhood dream or will he let his fear stop him from taking up the challenge? Find out how a tennis champion is forced to step away from his fame into obscurity and how a bossy little girl forces him to take up one of the hardest challenges of his life and face the life he had left behind.

About the author:

Asfiya Rahman, a management graduate, is a language teacher by occupation and a writer by inclination. She is fluent in French, English, Hindi, and Urdu and hopes that genuinely qualifies her to be called a polyglot. She has published many short stories and been associated with writing workshops and literature festivals.

She loves to read and can often be found curled up with a book or daydreaming about the perfect library she hopes to own some day. She also loves to travel. To find out more follow her on instagram and twitter @doonwriter

My take on the book:

Karan the star tennis player from India, is aiming for the next Wimbledon match, the only grand slam he did not win so far. Life turns as unpredictable as it can, when he loses his pregnant wife Riya in a tragic accident few days before the match, and his baby Roshini is born a paraplegic. The twin tragedies leave Karan shocked as well as blaming himself for this sudden loss, and distances himself from tennis, making Roshini his whole world and caring for her his only purpose in life. But is this the end of career of Karan as a tennis star? Does destiny has other plans for him forms the rest of the story.

The first few pages of the book give a quick glimpse into the past life of Karan and his unfortunate exit from tennis when at the peak of fame and success. The author thus has a challenging task at hand to engage the reader in the remaining book when the initial pages give away the plot. The story however succeeds in weaving a beautiful plot around tennis, friendship, and majorly father and daughter relationship between Karan and Roshini. As in most sports based stories, the story does get predictable at times but the writer keeps the reader hooked till the end with a strong narration and even more stronger characters. Keeping the number of characters to minimum with only those required for the story also keeps the story clean and interesting.

A lot of sequences involving the sport towards the climax give the reader a feel of watching it live. The book is especially unputdownable in the second half, with almost nail biting sequences. Since there is a sequel on cards, the ending is kind of left open to be explored more in the next part. This one is a must read for all sport enthusiasts, especially for tennis lovers for the sheer love of the sport and for the beautiful portrayal of human spirit and emotions.

My rating:

4/5.