Review: It Started with a Friend Request By Sudeep Nagarkar

It is the most hyped novel of this year. It is the third novel of author Sudeep Nagarkar. It's been titled "It Started with a Friend Request". There's lot more to it than a title. But has Sudeep Nagakar been able to pull off some kind of a surprise out of the box for the readers or is it going down in the history as another love story? Let's find out. 

A brand new love story from the bestselling author of Few Things Left Unsaid and That’s the Way We Met!Why don’t we feel the moment when we fall in love but always remember when it ends?
Akash is young, single, and conservative with a preference for girls with brains than in miniskirts. One day, he runs into free-spirited Aleesha at a local discotheque. A Mass Media student, Aleesha is a pampered brat, the only child of her parents who dote on her. This brief meeting leads them to exchange their BlackBerry pins and they begin chatting regularly. As BlackBerry plays cupid, they fall in love. When they hit a rough patch in their life, Aditya, Akash’s close pal, guides them through it.
But just when they are about to take their relationship to the next level, a sudden misfortune strikes. Can Aditya bring Akash’s derailed life back on track?
It Started with a Friend Request is a true story which will make you believe in love like you never knew before.

The most exciting book of the season and with an excellent cover and a catchy title. This novel is already making headlines everywhere. The blurb is nothing unusual nor compelling enough to catch the reader's attention. It's about two people Akash & Aleesha who hit cupid and their love story suddenly hits a rough patch and then Aditya comes out all guns blazing and help the two lovers rekindle back their lost moments. So is it enough to hold the fort? Next few paragraphs will carve out the entire image of the novel in front of you. 

The story is a love story with the lead protagonist Akash as a shy and an ambitious and a fun loving person falls in love with Aleesha who is young charming and hot enough to take anybody's breath away in a single glance. They meet by chance, they fall in love. As it is said true love never runs a smooth course so is this love story. There's Tamanna Kapoor the god mother cum sister for Aleesha and a strict and introvert professional for Deep. But she has a dark side to herself. Then's there's Aditya & Kritika who act as supporting pillars for the two lovers Akash & Aleesha. But all fell apart because of a misunderstanding and then it's up to Akash to restore faith in the world and more importantly Aleesha that he is innocent and committed only to her. 

The story in the first half is completely a regular narration with nothing sparkling in it to make it a ever remembering love story. It has glimpses of stories which have been read by readers time and time again in so many books with not a pinch of newness in it. The only saving grace of the story comes in the second half where Tamanna & Deep take charge of the plot and things go haywire from there in everyone's life. It's the only added drama that makes the book a little interesting towards the end. The narration is smooth and reader's won't find it too tiring on them to read. 

It's an easy paced novel with a glimpse of thrill in it towards the end of the book which makes the plot fairly predictable towards the end. The first half generates only a slight interest with only a few parts like the love proposal for Aleesha by Akash which is very unique and fairly a new idea employed in a book. It had been hyped too much and has fallen flat on my expectations. The title just doesn't gets justified by any means in the story. 

It's not worth the hype and a fairly predictable plot and an average looking love story might take away all the charm from it and probably the thrill element comes too late in the plot to make it more effective as a thriller romantic story. It's all too easy and fairly predictable and a very flat attempt at making things interesting for the readers. 

RATINGS: 

2 OUT 5.