A sizzling chemistry brings together solemn Aditya Khamankar and glam babe Vaani Jaishankar
An experienced author captures the reader in the opening para, and Shilpa Suraj does that with Flawed. The first book in the ‘Disgrace’ series, Flawed is a contemporary romance that follows the hot love story of Aditya and Vaani in old-school Hyderabad.
They say opposites attract, and that’s what the anchor of this story is, like most romance novels. A stable Aditya, immersed in his chartered accountancy and career, meets sexy Vaani in the most unlikely of circumstances. She is 23, his partner’s daughter, and he is 35. A perfectly flawed spicy love tale.
A rebel with a cause, or so she says, Vaani had stormed out of her parents’ home to make a career as an actor in Mumbai. She does become a minor celebrity and her plans to make it big are thwarted. She has not been to her parents’ home for three years, not even responded to her mother’s calls. Only her brother Rahul, who is in the Navy, is in touch with her. Now, she’s broke and without work and back home till she finds her feet again. It’s a typical scenario where the hot blood of youth rebels to live their dreams, albeit with little practical sense. Of course, they learn things the hard way. Vaani’s perceptions also change as the story progresses.
An ad professional, Suraj gives the story a kick with the colour pink and a very embarrassing, yet catchy opening scene. A broken suitcase, a sexy pink bra on a man’s shoe, and that man glaring at this damsel in the middle of the driveway. She looks at this man standing impatiently over her fallen clothing, viewing him as a nuisance. Aditya turns out to be a junior partner in her father’s accountancy firm.
All romances have a certain flair of the real, and this story too sounds real. After seeing the movie, Jab We Met, a lot of girls emulated the spontaneous Kareena Kapoor. When I read the blurb, I thought it had shades of actor Neena Gupta’s life, as she is married to a chartered accountant now. The career choices were the only similarity.
Vaani, the arrogant girl, hellbent on achieving her goals at any cost. Aditya, the man who works systematically on accounts, looking to forward his career in this strong financial field. He is ethical and disciplined. She is whimsical and flighty. Yet, the duo has grit and determination as their core values. They stand by their loved ones and that’s what finally glues them together. Along the way, they shed many layers of their personality. Aditya helps Vaani find her strengths, makes her strive for alternatives. She walks over his fears and turns them around with flamboyant love.
Living up to its name, the book shows us a life full of flaws. Aditya’s family has a history of schizophrenia. His mother and younger brother are both affected by this. In fact, the brother has to be rehabilitated in a hospital. Aditya is living a depressing life with dark secrets. Vaani’s father is a curt man, whose bark is worse than his bite. Vaani is a modern, unscrupulous girl in many ways, who thrives in front of the camera.
The good part of this romance is that there aren’t many characters. So, you tend to keep the sizzle in focus. The dialogues are bold and satirical. The scenes and settings, values and hidden emotions are all relatable. There are some spine-tingling moments in this romantic journey.
If you curl up on your reading chair with a cup of coffee and popcorn, you can finish the book in three hours flat. So, go ahead enjoy the turbulent love in this chick lit, for the end will make you wait for next book in ‘Disgrace’ series.
Book Details
Kindle Edition
Language: English
Print length: 257 pages
Price: Rs 199
This review is powered by Blogchatter Book Review Program.
Queen of Treasures 
I like your review a lot, though I am not fond of romances for the simple reason, that they have a predictable ending – boy meets girl and they live happily ever after of course after a few hiccups or it ends in a realistic heartache which leaves me pretty sad. I like that you pointed out that because of the limited number of characters the characterization is better and the reader is able to remember the plot. Yes, the plot reminds me too a lot of the movie- Jab we met.
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Actually just the main.traits could be called similar to Jab We Met..but I.liked the acceptance of reality in this book
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Interesting review indeed. I am intrigued by the character sketches of Aditya and Vaani and I am a great sucker for romances. Will surely pick this up, thanks for the review.
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Aditya and Vaani seems like interesting characters and the plot of book is also intriguing. I love to read romance theme novels and books, if they have some USP factor either in plot or characters. would love to read this one, your review has made me curious to read it.
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I, somehow don’t like romantic books but the characters and plot look interesting, Thanks for such an honest review. Will gift it to my sister she would love this.
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I read this book and shared my review too. Loved the story line and finished reading it in one go. Would recommend this book who love romance.
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The plot of the book seems interesting. The cover of the book paints a different picture as at first glance I thought that it is a thriller. Thanks for such a detailed review.
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Engaging review of “Flawed” by Shilpa Suraj! Your post beautifully captures the essence of the story – fiery chemistry, realistic characters, and relatable flaws. The crisp narrative and relatable emotions make this contemporary romance a delightful read.
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I am a huge fan of such writing and this is my genre. My first solo e-book was also love stories with some sizzling spicy chapters. Definitely picking this one, thank you for the crisp review. It piqued my interest so brilliantly.
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Romance has that everlasting flavour. It always brings a smile.
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I personally lost interest in reading romance genre as mostly I found them to be X meets Y type plot. But recently few romantic books I came across and Flawed is among them having an engaging plot. I found this book to be much different from the regular ones and loved it honestly. As the book was available on Kindle So I completed it while I was traveling and it took me some 4 hours … with some food breaks in between. But this book is worth a read. I recommend it strongly.
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Looks like a story worth a classic Bollywood plot. As highlighted by you, looks like there are all essential ingredients in the story worth grabbing our attention. Let me add this one to reading list .
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I need to pull out the 3 hours it seems buddy, the flaws are worth giving a read probably due to your real-time examples of Neena gupta or say Geet from Jab we met, I want to read the author’s adaptation now.
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I have read another book of hers and loved the simple way in which the story was narrated. Will surely try and get this too. I love easy reads.
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