Call Me Saaya – Book Review

Author: Zoe M
Genre: Romance fiction
Print Length: 256 pages
Sold by: Amazon Asia-Pacific Holdings Private Limited
Language: English

BLURB

Shamsher Singh Rathore has it all. A job he loves and a life he lives every moment. Until an untimely call from home embroils him with a woman called Saaya who proceeds to turn his orderly world upside down! The only interest Sayana Singh Rajput had in him was the prized Sheesh Haveli. She had never believed in love until destiny threw her this impossible challenge.
What do you do when all that you believed in turns out to be a lie? Will Shamsher be able to save his world? Will Sayana believe in love or will she allow avarice ruin it all? What about Saaya? What happens when desire meets destiny?
Set in idyllic Rajasthan, Call me Saaya is the story of two souls in pursuit for true love while destiny has other plans for them.

REVIEW

The book kickstarted with a dreamy Shamsher traveling by a sleeper class train and then bus to reach his palatial house, the magnificent Sheesh Haveli. The beginning itself was terrific that made my jaws dropped with every bit of detailed description. I could easily visualize myself in a typical scenario of Indian transportation. I had developed an instant liking to Shamsher who loves to wander across the globe. The traveler in me found a friend in him.

The story proceeded and there enters Saaya in the picture. Hold your breath because not every day you get to communicate with the shadow. Sayana lives with this name given to her by her father along with a good amount of venom fed to her naive brain. They quickly struck a chord and a story begins to let you wade through the narrow streets of Rajasthan where the women work and earn while the men are busy spending the money on his heavenly pleasures. The plotline introduces you to the traditional village of India where people are slowly coming to terms with the modern culture. Both the protagonists spend a good deal of time together filled with their witty answers and genuine affection to culminate in a horrid scene in the end. But hey! this isn’t the end because this marks the beginning of a saga! There on, layer after layer truth comes to the light, hatred builds up in the young hearts, remorse fills the emptiness, separation takes a toll on the relationships, grief hangs in the air and finally, love bridges all the gaps.

To be honest, I found the revenge sequence of Saaya a bit too dramatic for me to relate to the story. She spats in the face of Shamsher who listens to the accusations like a wax statue. Back home, a letter is waiting for her to acquaint her with the fallacies she has been living. The narrative kept me intrigued right from the beginning but I lost it somewhere in the middle. I had to bring myself to the table to keep reading it.

Saaya’s character didn’t fascinate me much. The shadow lingering around her made me wonder as to what could be the reason behind a cold demeanor but it wasn’t enough to connect. As Shamsher says in the book that even if she was kept away from the truth, she had ample opportunities to dig the truth. She was mature enough to differentiate between the right and wrong. But perhaps, she was too innocent for this. However, I am deeply satisfied with Shamsher’s characterization. He has wits, humor, intellect, ambitions, and a pool of emotions to make him my favorite character. Though he appears to have a cold shoulder in some instances, his intelligence balances it in the end. He is determined to fight for his love as he believes that healing is best done with love.

I loved the narration a lot. Though the story wasn’t something very engaging, the narration kept me going. I wanted to reach the end to see how the efforts of Shamsher in changing Sayana would pan out. A simple story has been woven beautifully to make your heart flutter and skip a beat every time love takes the stage. The cover of the book is beautiful but it doesn’t go with the story. Call Me Saaya is a lovely breezy read to keep you occupied in your free time.