#BookReview :: Fade Into Red by Reshma K. Barshikar

Ayra always wanted to be an Art Historian. She saw herself flitting between galleries, talking Michelangelo and Dali with glamorous ease. At twenty–nine, life has decided to make her an underpaid investment banker juggling an eccentric family, a fading career and a long–distance relationship that is becoming a light-year one. 

On a monsoon day in June, she is suddenly sent packing from Mumbai to Tuscany to buy a vineyard for a star client. What should have been a four day trip turns into a two week treasure hunt that finds her in the middle of midnight wine deals, dodgy vintners, rolling Tuscan hills, a soap opera family and one playboy millionaire who is looking to taste more than just the wine. Towards the end she finds that the road to true happiness is almost as elusive as that perfect glass of Chianti. 



Welcome  to Arya’s  life. Arya, who dreams of becoming an Art Historian but is an investment banker instead. She is successfully juggling her family, her career and her long distant boyfriend. While her family wants her to get married off with her boyfriend, and both the families decide to meet, Arya takes off on a short trip to Tuscany to buy a wineyard for a star client. It was supposed to be a short hassle free trip that turned into something more. Dodgy dealings and a playboy interested to taste more than just wine is thrown into the mix. So, will Arya’s  life ever settle down and will she find happiness in it?

Italy is the top thing on my bucket list. I want to visit that country so bad! So I pick up any chance to know more about it – whether through a book or through a movie and that was the main reason I decided to pick this one up. After, Rome, Venice and Milan, Tuscany is also a place I would dearly love to visit for its beautiful landscape and awesome vineyards. Set in the backdrop of Tuscany, the author gives us a tour of the city through her work.

Arya is a typical modern day girl. Smart, intelligent, ambitious and secret desires, she is living the life of her to its fullest irrespective of all the compromises she had to make. She is like majority of the people, both men and women included, when it comes to her career. She is obviously stuck in one underpaid job while her heart wants something else on the whole. Ishaan adds colour and flavor to her life. Both hating each other from the beginning, their bantering is entertaining. I also loved Arya’s friend and family who provide a certain amount of stability to her life.

While the plot is obviously predictable, the author captures the readers’ attention with her narration style, simple language and a deep look at Tuscany and its numerous vineyards. Definitely entertaining read!