Book Tour
With You I Dance
by
by
Aarti V Raman
My Review
Blurb
The
story is about Meera Sagar, the elder child of Ashok and Sarita Sagar. The
parents find their daughter unreasonable and stubborn, especially her mother.
In our society, it’s expected of a girl to prepare herself to become a
housewife all through her growing years. She may study, go to work – yeah, we
have evolved that much – but at the end of the day, she’s meant to get married
and reproduce. The ultimate goal of a woman!
Meera
doesn’t care for that. It’s not that she’s against marriage. It’s just that she
wants to make something of herself. Being stubborn, she gets her own way when
she insists on moving to New York to study ballet at Juilliard School. She ekes
an existence for herself there, getting to be an understudy of an understudy.
As luck would have it, with both the artiste playing the main role in Swan lake
and the understudy falling ill, Meera
gets the opportunity of a lifetime, getting to be under the limelight.
But
what does Meera do with this chance? She freezes on stage before throwing up
her lunch. That’s it! Her career is over. Finito! She rushes back to India with
her tail between her legs. At this point she’s not only messed up her career
but also her love life. Yeah, her relationship with Abeer!
Abeer
Goswami is a hotshot lawyer and in love with the difficult Meera. But when she
disappears from New York, he believes she’s dead to begin with. Later, he finds
out that he’s been dumped without a bye-your-leave. That too, immediately after
he proposed marriage. The shattered Abeer moves to Mumbai to continue to build
his career, working long hours.
Meera’s
back and her parents want her to get married. But is the headstrong woman ready
to listen? Not at all. She wants to set up a ballet school in Mumbai. Sarita
loses it while businessman Ashok makes a deal with his daughter in the pretext
of helping her. Then there is Niketu aka Bullet, her younger brother whose
actually the wiser one.
Abeer
and Meera’s paths cross again, but it looks like he’s in a relationship with
her best friend Zoya. At every point, Meera’s life seems to get worse than
before. Will she bounce back and find herself? Will she ever live a happy life?
The
book is all about Meera’s journey in finding herself and has been beautifully
narrated. I liked the way the author has touched upon ballet, a young girl’s
dream to learn this uncommon dance form. Well-researched and presented, I must
say. Not saying too much or too little, it’s just right.
I
liked Meera’s characterisation the best. Abeer was her perfect partner. Zoya’s
character was well drawn, as were Sarita and Ashok. Bullet brought with him
many light moments and he’s a wonderful brother, even while being his wild
self.
The
title is perfect for the book. The language is excellent and the proofing is
near perfect. What more can a reader ask?
No,
I couldn’t think of any negative points in this one. I finished reading it with
a wide smile on my face. A beautiful romance indeed!
VERDICT:
I loved the book.
Disclaimer:
I received a paperback of this book from the publisher via The Book Club in
return for my honest review. I received no monetary compensation for the same.
Blurb
Meera Sagar had everything—the perfect job as a principal ballerina (for a prestigious New York ballet company) and a man who loved her as much as she loved him. But tragedy struck on the night before her biggest performance, forcing her to do the one thing she never wanted to do—come back home. To Mumbai.
Now, a year later, Meera is still trying to pick up the pieces, while fending off marriage proposals from her well-meaning but traditional Gujarati family, and figure life out all over again. By starting a ballet school in Mumbai. But she has two problems. One, she doesn’t know anything about running a business. And two, she can’t dance. Not anymore.
Enter . . .
Abeer Goswami. Hotshot junior partner at a South Bombay law firm and a man nursing a broken heart. When he meets Meera again, the woman who left him, he tries his hardest to be her friend, to help her . . . and not let the past get in the way.
And then . . .
There is the sexy Zoya Sehgal. Meera’s only friend in the city and the woman Abeer is currently seeing. They say triangles have pointy edges, for a reason. Will Meera find a new dream in her ballet school? Can Abeer and Meera find their way back to each other again? And, most important, has Meera danced for the last time?
With you I dance is a warm, funny, at times heart-rending, love story of second chances, true love, and finding yourself when your dearest dream has vanished.
Now, a year later, Meera is still trying to pick up the pieces, while fending off marriage proposals from her well-meaning but traditional Gujarati family, and figure life out all over again. By starting a ballet school in Mumbai. But she has two problems. One, she doesn’t know anything about running a business. And two, she can’t dance. Not anymore.
Enter . . .
Abeer Goswami. Hotshot junior partner at a South Bombay law firm and a man nursing a broken heart. When he meets Meera again, the woman who left him, he tries his hardest to be her friend, to help her . . . and not let the past get in the way.
And then . . .
There is the sexy Zoya Sehgal. Meera’s only friend in the city and the woman Abeer is currently seeing. They say triangles have pointy edges, for a reason. Will Meera find a new dream in her ballet school? Can Abeer and Meera find their way back to each other again? And, most important, has Meera danced for the last time?
With you I dance is a warm, funny, at times heart-rending, love story of second chances, true love, and finding yourself when your dearest dream has vanished.
Grab your copy on
About the Author
Aarti V Raman is an established novelist in the romantic thriller genre (White Knight, Kingdom Come) with her third book, a contemporary romance titled “With You I Dance” out soon with Fingerprint Publishing.
29 years old, she graduated from Mumbai University in 2007 with a degree in Mass Media focused on Journalism, which provided her the perfect background for conducting sound research on any project. She then went on to study Creative and Professional Writing at Deakin University in Melbourne for post-graduation in 2008. It was there that she learned to hone her craft and lifelong ambition of writing romances that had strong characters and stronger stories that remained etched in the reader's minds.
While waiting for her big break, Aarti pursued commercial writing and gained a vast amount of knowledge (from fishing tackle to soft toys) that she claims have helped her with molding better stories. Her first novel "White Knight" was published by Leadstart in 2012 and gave her the impetus to continue writing. In 2013, her work was excerpted in the Tamil Edition of Mills and Boon novels. And in 2014, her short story "Post-Coital Cigarette" was chosen to be part of the Rupa Romance Anthology "An Atlas of Love" curated by bestselling author Anuja Chauhan.
Her latest novel "Kingdom Come" (Harlequin MIRA) has enjoyed a brief stay at the bestseller lists in Amazon India. Her work is represented by Red Ink Literary Agency, Delhi. And very recently, she was a speaker and panellist at the Goa Arts and Literary Fest 2014, Vth Edition.
She is currently expanding her skill set to include copy editing, content marketing, and creative writing workshop that help her explore the wonderful world of words in various forms.
29 years old, she graduated from Mumbai University in 2007 with a degree in Mass Media focused on Journalism, which provided her the perfect background for conducting sound research on any project. She then went on to study Creative and Professional Writing at Deakin University in Melbourne for post-graduation in 2008. It was there that she learned to hone her craft and lifelong ambition of writing romances that had strong characters and stronger stories that remained etched in the reader's minds.
While waiting for her big break, Aarti pursued commercial writing and gained a vast amount of knowledge (from fishing tackle to soft toys) that she claims have helped her with molding better stories. Her first novel "White Knight" was published by Leadstart in 2012 and gave her the impetus to continue writing. In 2013, her work was excerpted in the Tamil Edition of Mills and Boon novels. And in 2014, her short story "Post-Coital Cigarette" was chosen to be part of the Rupa Romance Anthology "An Atlas of Love" curated by bestselling author Anuja Chauhan.
Her latest novel "Kingdom Come" (Harlequin MIRA) has enjoyed a brief stay at the bestseller lists in Amazon India. Her work is represented by Red Ink Literary Agency, Delhi. And very recently, she was a speaker and panellist at the Goa Arts and Literary Fest 2014, Vth Edition.
She is currently expanding her skill set to include copy editing, content marketing, and creative writing workshop that help her explore the wonderful world of words in various forms.
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