Sunset by the River by Sameer Saxena (Book Review)

It is a coming of age contemporary romance, with a hint of spirituality, mental health awareness, and mystery.

The story based in Japan opens in an office meeting, where the protagonist, Ayaan is being called by a lady. Ayaan works in a company in Japan, he is an engineer. The story begins with him talking to, to Hiteish, about the lady who calls him. He talks to Hiteish about flying back to India to resolve his issues with Manisha the lady who calls him.

The story, though starts in Japan doesn’t feel like it needs to be there. I could not imagine the setting of japan as there was nothing regarding, how daily life in Japan would look like. The conversation between most of the characters feels the same. The conversation of the protagonist and his friend Hitesh and Monisha look similar. In the storyline, another character is introduced, named Tripti( more than perfect in everything), on whom he had a major crush, and was the daughter of police. Tripti and Ayaan started hanging out together and Ayaan started growing feelings for her and proposed to her on her birthday and got rejected.

The character turns toxic when Tripti rejects him. and then even Monisha and he has a fight related to that. The story then moves to Ayaan returning from japan knowing that Tripti has been missing for the last few days and he ventures out to find Tripti and solve her past mystery, that you must read to find out. The story gets really intense in the second half and especially when it is revealed what happens to her on the night of her 13th birthday!

Skip this book if:

You are an avid reader
you don’t like the genre contemporary romance
you like read hardcore mystery novels

Read this book if:

You are a new reader
Want to read something in simple English
Like light-hearted romance with some twist
Special importance has been given to mental health