Can’t Help Faking in Love by Swati Hegde
My take on the book:
Harsha Godbole returned back from the US three months ago, after her graduation, to pursue a career in freelance photography in Bangalore. While she struggled to find work opportunities, she was happy in her relationship with Shashank — handsome, educated, smart and the perfect man, until Shashank broke up with Harsha to marry a girl of his parent’s choice. Before she could nurse her broken heart, her cousin Neha spotted her with a barista Veer and assumed he was Harsha’s boyfriend.
Veer Kannan aspired to be an actor until his sitcom got shelfed after shooting few episodes; unable to crack any auditions for ads, he decided to work as barista at Sunstag to support his family. Harsha who is supposed to attend Neha’s parents’ twenty-fifth anniversary and Neha’s marriage in the coming six weeks, decided to play along with Neha’s misunderstanding and take along Veer as her boyfriend.
What personal constraints force Harsha and Veer to fake their relationship and will they succeed in convincing Harsha’s family forms the rest of the story.
Fake relationship is a trope that is very popular in romance novels and is also one of my favorites. The circumstances that lead to the fake relationship are what sustains the reader’s interest and, in this story, along with this aspect, the chemistry between the protagonists is the highlight. Harsha and Veer are realistic and flawed characters, but I liked the way the author slowly builds their relationship.
The romance is subtle and about the simpler moments, hence does not feel forced. The family dynamics of Veer and Harsha are well contrasted, establishing the reason behind their behavior and decisions. There are not many supporting characters and all of them justify their presence and help the story move forward. The conflict in pre-climax could have been better as the ending is predictable.
I stayed away from reading romances for more than six months as this genre is saturated in Indian fiction space, but this one felt like a fresh feel-good story that enjoyed thoroughly.
My rating:
4/5.