Married in Hate: Dynasty Rebels Book1 by Shilpa Suraj
My take on the book:
Dr. Priyanka Kodela, the daughter of sitting Chief Minister and Aarush Reddy, the son and heir of Laxmi Builders have been best buddies from childhoods, owing to the decade’s long friendship of their fathers and hence their families. Priyanka and Aarush only had eyes for each other growing up, but before they could take their relationship to the next level, their fathers had differences that cropped up due to business dealings gone wrong.
Left with no choice, Priyanka and Aarush decide to elope to get married; as Priyanka waited in the wee hours of morning in a bus stop far away from the city and eyes of her father’s security, few hours later Priyanka is left heart broken when Aarush did not turn up at the bus stop, as promised. While Priyanka managed to go back home without her family realizing she was absent for few hours, the incident broke her permanently, as she heard from her brothers that Aarush left for the United States on the same day.
Four years later, Aarush is back in Hyderabad and when their families bump into each other in a function, their fathers bury the past with an elaborate show of friendship and the next day, Priyanka’s marriage is fixed with Aarush. Though this is a master stroke by their respective fathers for their political gains, Priyanka had to agreed half-heartedly as her father always dictated everything in her life; choose a life partner who ditched her once and never looked back or explained his actions.
Will this marriage ever bring back Priyanka’s lost love after the years of hatred, forms the rest of the story.
Lovers turned enemies turned spouses, against the backdrop of powerful political and business families — the backdrop is intriguing and has enough scope for drama. The author Shilpa has retained the reason behind Aarush dumping Priyanka till almost the climax, hence keeping the reader guessing. The essence of politics in Telugu states and how such families decide marriages and other ties for their children based on their power games is well captured.
The conversations are realistic, and the addition of Telugu words adds to the authenticity; Priyanka’s mothers’ way of convincing her for marriage or stating how the family jewels are meant for the daughter-in-law so they stay within the family, are conversations Telugu girls definitely had with their mothers at some point in life.
I could also relate well to Priyanka’s character as someone who lets her family make the key decisions for her but pours out her emotions when they become overwhelming; her outburst in the climax opens up all her hidden emotions of the years. Priyanka is definitely the right mix of vulnerability and strength.
Aarush gets the meatier role of the two, torn between his love for Priyanka and the current circumstances. The way he stands up for her life choices to his parents did feel fictitious; come on Telugu men never stand up for their wives especially if it means speaking against their parents.
The characters of the siblings are also well crafted, Aadhya playing a major part in the twists in the story, so did Agastya and Harsh. All three of them bring forth that contrast between their parent’s generation and theirs, while being respectful to their parents but still looking out for their siblings. I am also looking forward to Agastya and Veda’s story in the next book in this series.
If angsty romances with family and politics as backdrop intrigues you, then pick this one, as it is an absolute page turner.
My rating:
4.5/5.