Book Review by Anurupa - Unchain My Heart by Sharika Esther Sharma

📙BOOK: Unchain My Chain
📘AUTHOR: Sharika Esther Sharma
📗GENRE: Contemporary Fiction 

📝RATING:

⚡️Storyline: 3.9/5
⚡️Literature: 4.2/5

📖PLOT:

4 strong and independent women who are braving the oddities of the world on regular basis are subjected to their insecurities bred in their own mind.

🦋Alya, a successful Bollywood starlet, frets over the idea of losing the top spot.

🦋Malini, a privileged individual, is navigating her way after marrying lower down the station in terms of money.

🦋Reena, an enterprising and assertive woman, is plagued by her looks and marriage prospects. 

🦋Eisha is superficially happy after marrying into a rich family only to realize that life is not bed of roses.

✒️VERDICT:

🌟I am a sucker for stories having self-assured femme fatale line up. I loved the way the author accorded proper justice to each character bringing out their flaws as well as their self-realization. I liked the way the author gave space to each character to develop without making any of them feel like a villain to their own story. 

🌟Even Alya who would go to any lengths to maintain the numero uno status quo had her heart in the right place despite her questionable methods. Generally stories tend to make a villain out of women who do not 'adhere to the characteristics deemed fit by the society'. I am glad that the author wrote in grey shades rather than painting things back and white.

🌟I loved Reena's character who lost her way as a teenage wild-child, bounced back as a responsible adult handling her father's business and stuck to her guns of not marrying male chauvinistic families. I commend the way the author showcased Reena's character as a mirror to the  women in the society. We start doubting ourselves if we don't land a man for marriage even if its no fault of ours. If we earn our money we are labelled too career-oriented. If we don't earn our keep in the family we are termed as gold diggers and do not receive the respect as a human.

I was rooting for Reena and was glad that the universe conspired to give that one piece of happiness that Reena was missing.

👉My only complaint is that there are multiple transitions among characters and timelines. I wish those transitions could have been smoother as sometimes I used to get confused while correlating the sequential events.

🌟Overall, Unchain My Heart by Sharika Esther Sharma is an engrossing read which will leave you with flavoursome food-for-thoughts.