Like A Love Song; Book Launch Event With Author Nikita Singh

 Author Nikita Singh speaking at the event

In the young and bustling arena of Costa Coffee in South Extention-II in Delhi, another youngster made her presence felt yet again, by launching her latest novel, 'Like a Love Song'. The author in question is Nikita Singh, who has previously penned 8 other books, including the titles like After All This Time, The Promise, and Someone like you. With a visibly packed audience, Nikita was generous enough to read a bit from the novel itself, and cater to the queries of the audience in attendance. Some poetry, some laughs, some cheeky worded compliments, and some great Latte later, it turned out to hit the right notes most accurately. 

Nikita Singh explaining the journey

This multi-talented writer-student has already built upon quiet a collection of novels to her name. So much so, a few people even attended the event, packed in with a copy of her previous novels, eagerly waiting to be autographed. Being an experienced author so early, there was the obvious inclination to ask, how she ever coped with the common problem of Writers' Block? She quipped, "I generally did not face writers block per say. When I felt like writing, I ensured I gave it a couple of hours atleast, and doing so almost everyday. But yes, I do admit to redoing drafts of the book if I have the need to change."

Like a Love Song, by Nikita Singh

Coming to the book itself, Like a Love Song cannot be put into the 'classic love story' slot. The story revolves around the principal character Maahi, who is a Delhi based girl, seriously  going through a crisis of coming to terms with a broken relationship, and also a tough time completing her Engineering degree. Unlike her brother, she never was at ease with the subjects she was forced to study in college, and it was only a matter of time when things fell apart. She quit her college, worked in customer-care for an app developing company (which made weird lifestyle apps including one that predicted bowel movement), and when her parents forced her to go back to college, for another graduate course, she ended up working in a coffee shop where she meets, Laila, her best friend and mentor. Together, having worked together, form a very close bond, and eventually go on to float their own cookie and cupcake making venture, which happened to be called 'Cookies+Cupcakes'.

Back cover of Like a Love Song

Along the journey, she meets another man, Siddhant who cares for her, and the relationship is for the long haul. The older boyfriend, Kishan makes a return suddenly, and wrecks havoc in the current relationship, and the lifestyle of Maahi, who is battling on multiple fronts to be self-sufficient. The whole lineup while sounding very real, which makes it touch a chord with the young bunch of readers, and the fact that the novel is set in Delhi, could well be a selling point, but there is somehow a lack of creative satisfaction for the reader, at the end of it all. All meaning well, simply written for easy grasp, but fails to evoke a sense gripping interest in the story line. In short, when one is looking to let hair down to read and satisfy literary cravings, this is the book to go for. 

Book available for a price tag of Rs. 175 from Harper Collins Publishers. 

A cozy literary corner at Costa Coffee