#BookReview :: Once Upon A Crush by Kiran Manral

Rayna De has a lot of things going for her. Not that they're necessarily going well, of course. Her thirties are approaching fast, and her boss could give Satan a run for his money. Her romance life, well, that's non-existent. When Devan Ahuja enters the workplace, Rayna quickly falls head over heels for him. She tries telling herself otherwise, that he's out of her league, but it doesn't work. Why would he look at her anyway? He does have a model-turned-actress for a girlfriend and they seem to be quite happy, what with the page three supplement articles which claim so. Her parents aren't helping, not in the least by waving the photographs of Sid Bose in her face, multi-zero salary package, three bedroom house et. al. Rayna thinks things couldn't get more confusing. She needs to think again, for fate has other plans.




Once Upon A Crush takes us on a journey that is Rayna De’s life. At twenty nine, she is stuck at a stagnant job with the devil himself for a boss, her love life is virtually non-existent and  though she is still on the right side of thirty (not for long though) she feels her life is going nowhere – atleast nowhere near where she wants it to be. Then things start to happen. Her friend runs away from home for a break and puts up with her. A new face is added to her list of colleagues and while Devan Ahuja quickly baits her heart, he has a supermodel of a girlfriend and gives off mixed signals. To top it all, her family introduces her to a prospective groom – Sid, a poster boy for eligible bachelors. What does Rayna do? How do these twists change her life?

The plot is a recycled one… But don’t let that deter you from reading this book as the author narrates the story in a refreshingly straightforward manner and infused with doses of wit and humour. There are lots of drama and confusion going on in Rayna’s life that makes it a colourful story for us readers. But the best part is that Rayna herself is your girl next door whose life resembles yours. There’s no over the top situations or larger than life people involved and so it is easier to relate to… After all, for a certain period we all have had a crush in the forefront of our lives. But does Rayna end up with Devan or with Sid?? Read this book to find out.

Overall, a fast paced chic-lit that will claim about a  couple of hours of reading time.