On the Jacket:
One phone call changes it all for him. Her phone call. After one full year. She is in the US, informing him about her marriage. She wants to meet him.
He had moved on, at least that’s what he had made himself believe. Unsure of everything, he books a flight from New York to Carolina to give his past the final closure.
The journey brings all the painful memories back to him. They have both come a long way since they first met as kids and then again as adults, before parting ways and … moving on.
But flight 1549 is not destined to reach its destination. Unaware and oblivious, he is lost in his memories of her.
Ambala. New Delhi. New York.
Love. Career. Distance. Longing. Separation.
Will he realize her importance in his life? Will she ever find out who she is actually meant for?
What if he doesn’t live up to the day to meet her one last time?
Shelf : Fiction, Romance
Verdict : Grab a copy !
Review:
One Last Time is the second novel by Shubham Arora, which was published by Paper Clips. The book takes the reader on a journey of its own, travelling from Ambala to New York via Delhi.
When I first grabbed the paperback, it turned me a little off to see that the novel has been set up at three different locations. Since all the other novels that I have read in the past with this same pattern were a huge disappointment. But as soon as I started reading the book, the author proved me wrong by taking me in a different word of his work. All the three sections: Ambala, New Delhi and New York have been written with utmost sincerity and as a reader it was a pure delight for me to read the elucidations and intriguing details of each and every time frame of the protagonist’s life as he goes through with different notions of it at various locations.
Each city had an essence of its own, and one can observe the transformation of the protagonist’s maturity level while flipping through each and every page of the book. Although, I had no complaint with either the narration or the writing style of the author, but the ending of the novel left me waiting for more; May be because it was written so well, that I never wanted it to end. I meticulously enjoyed reading each and every section of it, but it was the Delhi section of the novel which stole my heart away. I’m not at all a romantic guy, but the teenage budding and unadulterated romance literally took my heart away.
Shubham Arora really knows how to write a heartfelt and gripping piece, having the competence to hold the interest of its readers right till the last page, with words weaved together so flawlessly and an elucidation to die for! The best part about the novel was its realism. There was not even a single scene which I thought could be unreal. There were no over the top dialogues, any unwanted scene or over – stretched conversations. Author conveyed a very simple and profound story in the most poignant possible way.
I would gladly admit that Shubham is an Indian writer with an international calibre! Next time, when you visit a bookstore, do not forget to grab a copy of One Last Time!
~ Bhavya Koushik
@ LiveWire 