Book Review: No Strings Attached, by Sheila Kumar

Reading a Mills and Boon novel has been on my bucket list for the last twenty years or so, ever since I knew enough about books to be snooty about them. No, No Strings Attached has not been brought out by Mills and Boon, far from it, but hey, I can recognize the real McCoy when I run into it, especially because the author Sheila Kumar has dedicated her latest book to her M & B gang.

Keep your prejudices aside, I had strictly instructed myself before I waded in and was hit with two perfect human specimens. Half English Nina Sabharwal is everything a hetrosexual man would look for in a woman and Samar Pratap Singh is a case of Adonis meeting a young version of that chap from Bridges of Madison County, with a big dose of royalty thrown in. Yes, Samar Singh, aka Heartbreak Singh belongs to a royal family from Jaisalmer and is rolling in money and does not really have to work hard for a living (as a world famous photographer), but he does.

At times I did wonder why two perfect human specimens who are engulfed in love, desire and admiration for each other have to put themselves through so much trauma and grief, delusion and self-deprivation before they do the only sensible thing in the given circumstances, but hey, love does conquer all, but one should expect hurdles on the way. A lot of hurdles.

No Strings Attached is written in simple English, without too much frills, the sort which gets you to the meat of the story, very much akin to the way Samar and Nina strip each others’ clothes off and ….

I believe Sheila Kumar used to be a full-time journalist and No Strings Attached is set in the world of Indian journalism. If you are familiar with this world, you may recognize a few characters, but that shouldn’t distract you from enjoying this splendid romantic thriller, which is dying to be made into a classy movie, a Hollywood movie - the sensibilities are too sophisticated for Bollywood.