Embraced in Love Forever: Jab Arjun Met Adaa

There is something special about love stories that no matter how many you read, you still yearn for more. This title is a book that whets the appetite of the readers.

The story starts with four friends visiting Kashmir.

Protagonist, Arjun, falls in love with the beautiful landscape and desires to settle down in Kashmir. But he has no idea that it’s not just the place that would steal his heart. There is also a very special lady waiting to ensnare him for life.

The friends come across the mesmerising Adaa, a talented young woman who sings amazingly well and paints beautifully too.

Arjun, the handsome hunk, who has turned down every girl who has ever offered him love, is smitten by Adaa.

He goes up to her take her autograph but Adaa is in no mood to oblige.

But Arjun refuses to give up so easily and he has his loyal friends with him in the love mission.

In India, at least, it seems as if the main villain in most of the love stories is religion.

Here too the Hindu-Muslim card has been used to bring in the conflict.

A dutiful daughter has to decide if she wants to hurt her father or her beloved. On the other hand, Arjun has settled the matter with his parents. So it all rests on what Adaa decides.

And the decision she takes is what the changes the course of their fates.

The story flows smoothly and it makes the readers empathise with the characters.

Different levels of friendship and relationship are the pillars that prop up the story line.

Unfortunately, there are a few errors that a bit more careful editing could have set right.

There are several places where the use of “he” and “she” are wrong. And, in one place it is said that the 'ligaments' in the brain are torn. Well, we don’t have ligaments in the brain—that’s school level biology.

While writing a novel, imagination is important but imagination needs to be judiciously supported by facts.

I would urge the author to be more careful while writing her next book.

But overall, 'Embraced in Love Forever' is a pleasant romantic novel that is likely to have a strong following, especially among teenage readers.

(Reviewed by Priya Das)