It's All in the Planets by Preeti Shenoy

It's rightly said "Never judge a book by it's cover" and soon you will discover why I'm starting my blog with these lines..

To be honest I was really fascinated by the cover of this book and it's name which lured me into buying this book. If you are a non-believer of destiny, then It's All in the Planets is a book that will make you want to believe in destiny and that nothing happens without a reason. It was my first book of Shenoy and to be honest I didn't like it much. I found it to be extremely and unnecessarily elaborative. The book speaks of four characters-

1) Aniket, a 27 year old techie
2) Trisha(Trish), a supermodel and Aniket's love interest
3) Nidhi, a 34 year old woman who quits her job to pursue her passion in pottery and writing
4) Manoj, Nidhi's fiance` who earns well and is upset about Nidhi quitting her job and following her passion

The two love stories go on simultaneously. The book is written in dual perspective(Nidhi's and Aniket's) and hence initially same situation and dialogues are repeated twice which, I suppose, is redundant. 

Throughout the story Aniket remains awestruck by Trish's beauty and Nidhi seems no longer happy with her then lover and now fiance`. Nidhi and Aniket started off as complete strangers to each other on a train journey and soon become good friends. The audience is left to wonder how one thing led to another and what happened when is all a game of destiny. Darshita Sen is an extremely popular astrologer. Her role play in the story is short yet significant. Subbu, Aniket's best friend, also plays a important part in the story.

The story ubiquitously revolves around the title of the book. Every chapter of the book is a narrative  from Aniket's and Nidhi's view alternatively. And I quite liked it how each chapter started with a horoscope prediction which gave us an idea about what might happen in the chapter. Having heard and read so much about the achievements and acclamations of Shenoy, I really wanted and wished it to be a great read but to my dismay it wasn't. I really wanted to quit reading it midway but I read it until the end just for the sake of completion. Amidst all the boredom aroused by the book, there is an interesting twist in the second half of the book which leads to 'still-a-much-predictable-end'. 

Some points that Shenoy was successful in delivering through this book were :

• It breaks the stereotype of the society- women being younger to men in a relationship.
• A very warm and beautiful relationship is depicted between Nidhi and her step-mother.
• Through Nidhi,s character, Shenoy inspires us to follow our passion and not just simply earn money by draining our energy into something we don't love.
• Also the book makes us recognize the difference between a lover and a soulmate.

To conclude I would say, the book hasn't failed to struck the chords of disappointments in me. But if you are new to reading novels, then you might enjoy it as the language used is extremely beginner friendly.

To grab your copy, Click here.