Love Under Cover by Aastha Roy
My take on the book:
Six years ago, Ananya Tripathi moved from Banaras to Mumbai to chase her dream of becoming a fashion designer. But after getting fired and facing a string of rejections, she is desperate for a win. Failure means going back to Banaras, where her parents are eager to marry her off to a family friend. When she arrives at House of Advani (HoA) for an interview, she discovers the assistant role she wanted is already taken by the COO’s preferred candidate.
A chance meeting with Rekha, the COO’s mother, changes everything. Rekha offers Ananya a temporary role as an assistant to her son Jai Advani, promising it will lead to her dream design job later. But the deal came with a condition; Ananya should secretly report Jai’s daily work, meetings and his projects to Rekha, as Rekha thinks Jai who recently became the COO is new to the role and there have been discrepancies at HoA. Desperate to stay in Mumbai, Ananya accepts Rekha’s offer.
As she begins working as assistant to the handsome, confident and hard working Jai, will Ananya be able to spy on him as his mother expects, forms the rest of the story.
What follows is a slow burn workplace romance layered with secrets, family expectations, and the curiosity to know where Ananya’s character will reach. Ananya is a likeable, relatable protagonist, who is ambitious but not ruthless, torn between the practical need to survive in Mumbai and the growing guilt of deceiving a man she is starting to fall for. Jai is written with enough depth to avoid feeling like a serious boss character as he struggles to prove himself as the new COO and step out of his family’s shadow that give him real stakes beyond just being a love interest.
The office setting works well as a backdrop for the romance, letting the author build tension through stolen glances and forced proximity. The subplot with Rekha adds an interesting moral complication and depth in the climax when the real reason for her actions are revealed. Where the book really shines is in the pacing of the reveal. The reader knows from page one that Ananya’s secret cannot stay buried forever, and the author does a good job of drawing out that inevitability without making it frustrating. When the truth does come out, the fallout feels earned rather than rushed, and the path to reconciliation is satisfying.
If you enjoy office romances with a dash of family drama, a girl you can root for, and a man who is more than just a pretty face in a suit, Love Under Cover is a fun, breezy read. It does not reinvent the genre, but it delivers exactly what it promises, charm, chemistry, and a happily-ever-after worth waiting for.
My rating:
4/5.