Review- The Morning After by Kamini Patel

The Morning After on Goodreads

 BOOK SUMMARY:

One for heartache Two for boys Three for cocktails Four for joy Meet the fabulous four, Neha, Sanya, Lara and Palak-Young women, who love their drink as much as they love each other! Neha doesn't care much about her career and is not sure if she even fancies her clingy, judgmental boyfriend. Will she ever find true love? Luscious sex goddess, Sanya-- a man-eater with a hard as rock heart. But what will happen to her when her heart's defences are breached, and by a man who isn't worth it? Lara, engaged to the love of her life, but trying desperately to survive her monstrous in-laws to be. Will her marriage break even before it happens? Step-by-step life planner Palak is in a perfect, almost dream-like relationship. But will her promotion and transfer shake the very foundation of her life and love? In Goa to sort their heads out, the girls realize that there's nothing a little chocolate, cocktails and margaritas can't cure!

Release date: June 8th 2012

Published by: Penguin Metro Reads

Page numbers: 224

REVIEW: 

Author Kamini Patel's The Morning After is a book about four high society Mumbai girls who are trying to find love. Neha, Palak, Lara and Sanya have been the closest of friends since forever and their friendship is everything. From discussing boys to getting drunk to gossiping; they're always doing it all together. A very fun, quick and exciting read, this book is also very difficult to believe because of the very obnoxious and tipsy portrayal of most of the characters.

The Morning After goes from Neha's point of view, who is the main protagonist, but her friends Palak, Lara and Sanya play just an important role because we get to know everything about them and their lives as well. The friendship between these girls was very strong and that made the book very fun and interesting because when there is so much drama happening, it's difficult to put a book down. The way these girls grow up emotionally and mentally together was portrayed in a lovely, although sometimes unbelievable, manner.

Coming to the characters, Neha is a simple girl who lacks ambition and confidence, but she's happy where she is and doing what she is doing. A very conscious yet clumsy girl, she takes a long time to find her perfect match, but when she does, she is just normal and raw it's hard not to appreciate and relate to her. Palak is a very determined and extremely well put together girl who is also very emotional. Lara is honestly the most relatable of them all because she is calm, cool and will do whatever it takes to keep the ones she loves happy. Sanya, contrary to all her friends, is a free bird who lives life on her own terms. She screws up but she puts herself back together which makes her very strong and likeable towards the end.

While it was fun reading about the four main girls, some of the side characters were portrayed as extremely pathetic and not a frequent traveller, nor very knowledgeable about the South Bombay or SoBo scene, it was difficult to accept them for who they were because honestly, they were just plain dumb. The girls' guys, however, were all dreamy and nice. It, of course, took them long to find their perfect guy, but once they did, it was all roses.

The stress on marriage, the subtle hints of sexist realism and borderline alcoholism made the book slightly frustrating at times, but because it's all very subtle, it's easy to overlook it all; especially for the normal eye. Overall, an extremely fun, fast-paced and frolic read, The Morning After is a nice one-time weekend read that keeps the reader engrossed.

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