Interview: Sonia Kundra Singh

Hi! Today on my blog is Sonia Kundra Singh, author of "Love Me In The End" which I reviewed here a few days ago.

1. I'd like to begin this interview by asking you what kind of books are there on your bookshelf? What books are you reading right now? Which genre of books do you generally read? Which books do you re-read again and again?
 My bookshelf is filled with romances, starting from Mills and Boons to Judigth McNaught. There was a phase in my life where I spent all my allowance collecting each and every book of my favourite authors. But I have moved on a little to thrillers and memoirs now and have added them when I need a distraction. However, even now if I see a romance I can’t resist the temptation. I do read the books by Diana Palmer again and again.
I am reading The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown at the moment and just moved enough to answer your questions.

2. Tell us something about your work before "Love Me In The End"?
I write blogs and love penning down short stories and little titbits about my life. You can find me here http://soniakundrasingh.blogspot.com/.

3. Did you always want to be a writer? How did you get into writing? What inspired you to write "Love Me In The End"?
I never thought of a side-line career and thanks to the support of my parents I could pursue it full time. Writing romances had always been highpoint of my career and I am loving it. I remember my mom giving me an age-old typewriter after I began scribbling like mad at the back my notebooks. I began spending all my free time on writing then.

Love Me In The End happened after a series of mishap novels (that is only for my private pleasure). I began spending a lot of time on my characters and surprisingly felt more than I could think. Inspiration would be a lonely night and lots of coffee.

4. What kind of people do you think this book will reach out to?
Love Me In The End, being a romance can be read by almost anyone and I am not really targeting an audience here.  If you love a good romance with all the right spices- This book is for you!

5. What is your favourite thing about books and reading? How have books made an impact on your life?
It signifies so much more than just words for me. A world of its own it makes me just want to forget all my woes and become this person who is nothing but an onlooker.
It is very difficult to decide how many books have made an impact on my life but I can name a few. Mitch Albom’s ‘Seven people you meet in heaven’, Robin Sharma’s ‘Who will cry when you die?’ and then there are many romances that have made an impact on my writing Shashi Deshpande’s works, Diana Palmer’s ‘Long Tall Texan’ and Judith McNaught’s historical romances.

6. Quick take. Answer the following with the first words/phrase that comes to your mind, in five words or less:
- Love – An illusion of a fantasy you want to live with forever

- Life – Happens. Deal with it.

-  Arranged Marriage – A preview of an upcoming romance

- Arman  (the character) – Love him, Hate him but such a man exists

- Books – My own personal world of paradise.

Love Me In The End by Sonia Kundra Singh

Love Me In The End was not what I expected.

Perhaps a little context is required - most love stories I've read, especially the ones by Indian authors, ignore the concept of lust. So no one is ever physically attracted to anyone, no one ever seems to sleep with anyone at all, and while the hero and heroine always look absolutely gorgeous and flawless, no one ever seems to like them for the way they look, because that would just be too materialistic and detract from the idea of the great Indian love story. Over time, I have come to find this irritating - especially when the love story seems based on lust anyway, and the author is just unwilling to acknowledge that. And here's what I can say for Love Me In The End - it definitely doesn't do that. Catering to Gen Y, the book is refreshingly open about sexuality and relationships - in fact, if you're uncomfortable with that then I would definitely not recommend this book for you. As far as I'm concerned, this is a very open book (in fact, the last book like this was Nikhil Mahajan's "My Love Never Faked" - reviewed here - which, if you recall, had a main character who cheated, watched porn and got the girl from the porn he was watching  and with whom he was cheating on her girlfriend to tattoo her name on him) but I was quite okay with that.

That is not to say that I enjoyed everything about this book. I did like Ria though - the main character - because she was fun, fiery, and definitely not perfect, and she was making more sense than anyone else in this book. Because I certainly could not understand the motivations of many, many people - Amitab, Ria's father, behaves like he lives in the previous century (engaging her with a guy she's never met and then blackmailing the guy into marrying her), her supposedly modern mother (who is divorced and remarried to Amitab, who is also a divorcee) is upset that her daughter is unhappy with her father's choice but still seems to blame it on her daughter for being 'pig-headed' (which seems like a joke! I consider everyone else pigheaded) and last but not the least Arman, Ria's fiancée who's motivations - both emotional and physical, I fail to understand completely. Also, his hypocrisy made me really hate him! (You will understand once you read the book. Nothing could be as annoying.)

The plot is, as I've explained above, not for everyone. On the other hand, if you're a fan of romance, (this book is reminiscent of Julia Quinn - read here) and you're okay with it, it is quite likely that you will really enjoy this book. Its fast-paced, modern, fun and reasonably well-written - none of the careless grammar and writing that so frequently destroy good stories these days. There are passages in this book that are funny, touching, and incredibly passionate - which is, of course, what all books should aim to do - and I feel the book succeeds in that.

Final thoughts: Its fun, and modern - definitely for the new Indian generation. Give it a miss if you dont like the concept, because its based pretty heavily on that.

Other thoughts: I've been reading a lot of books lately that I haven't got the time to review - like Eric Segal's "The Class" and the first Percy Jackson book, as well as a re-read of the Vlad Taltos series. Expect more reviews soon! Also see my interviews of Anurag Anand, Nikhil Mahajan and Sonia Kundra Singh here soon! Also, its about time for the Book Reading Challenge 2011 and The Book Giveaway of Stilettos in the Newsroom to End - get on it!

(Financial disclosure: Book source is the author.)