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MATCHES MADE IN HEAVEN Book Review

By on Friday, January 30, 2015

Short stories are always fun to read and usually the stories are a mix of various themes and genres. When Sundari offered her book of short stories for review; I was quite excited to read a book full of just ‘love stories’. The cover with the wedding bands and the wings on a pretty pink cover sets the tone of the book; it has a new love in each story. 

I found it a bit odd that the story has a lot of characters with ‘blue eyes’; rather uncommon in India with the grey and green being more dominant! The plot, narration, story-line and the surprise or twist in all the stories have been excellent and add a lot of depth to these love stories.

I have read and reviewed all of Sundari’s books and I have openly confessed my love for her writing and love stories with a very earthy and Indian flavour. She does not disappoint here too; as each story is different from the next. The theme is love but each time love is in different garb. 

All the stories are easy to read and since they are stand alone and the best part of short stories so they can be read anytime and whenever you  want a mood up lifter.

Of all the stories there are bound to be favorites and I found Beauty Is But Skin Deep  to be so relevant and direct as well as being a story rooted in our present day society. The Reluctant Bride & Shweta Ka Swayamvar   reminded me that this is the age of strong women who know what they want and how to get it!! What fun to read too 😉

The stories like Groomnapped, An Arranged Match, Red Rose Dating Agency,  Chahti Hoon Tumhe   and  Soul Mates  were cool reads reminding me that love exists and thrives in the unlikeliest of places. All of us need love in our life, the question is how much are we going to work for it? Yes love is not easy, it needs nurturing, dedication and lots of effort.

 Madeinheaven.com  had the pulse of today’s youth and  Rahat Mili  took me in the days when just looking at each other was enough to proclaim love. Reema’s Matchmakers ; a story so relevant today and required too.  Finally Love Match For Velan had a twist that reminded me of the stories from mythology ; in fact it read like it was just transported from the ages bygone.

Pappa’s Girl was a delight to read and I loved it narration too! From start to finish these little love tales brightened my day, lightened my mood and my heart blossomed reading about so much love.

Wouldn’t you love to read about some good things and romance in this gritty world.

Pick the book, pick you story and pick your time – just enjoy.

PS : 13 is a charm here!! 😉


MATCHES MADE IN HEAVEN


1. Groomnapped is Ameya-Surekha’s story as a light romantic take on the serious issue of groom kidnappings.
2. Dark skin on a woman puts off men in general or so says the society. Beauty Is But Skin Deep is Nitin-Simran’s story that proves it wrong!
3. Ritu is twenty-five and wants to wait for her Prince Charming but her parents are desperate to arrange her wedding. Does she find her prince in An Arranged Match?
4. Dating Agencies are doing their best to get young people together to tie the knot. My friend Diti runs an informal one; inspiring the Red Rose Dating Agency.
5. A guy’s complaint about his fiancée of a few years dumping him after becoming successful in her film career felt like a rant to me. Chahti Hoon Tumhe is an ode to the successful actress.
6. Soumya actually lives life like Soul Mates but how many have the guts to? This, incidentally, is the first short story that I ever wrote.
7. Does Madeinheaven.com help bring Menka & Jeetu together with technology driven Matchmaking website?
8. I originally wrote Rahat Mili for an anthology; Rahat means ‘relief’ and is a name too. Read the story with the word in mind and it will fall in place.
9. Reema’s Matchmakers brings Arjun and Prisha together at a get-together through a matchmaking network. But will they get married?
10. Nikita wants Krish for a friend and not her husband. As The Reluctant Bride she manages to have her cake and eat it too.
11. Shweta Ka Swayamvar is inspired by the practice of Swayamwar in ancient India of choosing a husband, from among a list of suitors, by a girl of marriageable age.
12. Pappa’s Girl is about daughters of Industrialists taking over fathers’ businesses.
13. Mythology romances intrigue me; Love Match For Velan is my take on Lord Murugan falling in love with his consort Valli. 



Sundari Venkatraman

About SUNDARI VENKATRAMAN:

Even as a kid, she absolutely loved the ‘lived happily ever after’ syndrome as Sundari grew up reading all the fairy tales she could lay her hands on, Phantom comics, Mandrake comics and the like. It was always about good triumphing over evil and a happy end. Soon, into her teens, she switched her attention from fairy tales to Mills & Boon. While she loved reading both of these, she kept visualising what would have happened if there were similar situations happening in India; to a local hero and heroine.

Her imagination took flight and she always lived in a rosy cocoon of romance over the years. Then came the writing – a true bolt out of the blue! She could never string two sentences together. While her spoken English had always been excellent – thanks to her Grandpa – she could not write to save her life. She was bad at writing essays in both school and college. Later, when it was time to teach her kids, she could manage everything from Science to Mathematics and History & Geography.

When it came to writing compositions, her kids found her of no help at all. All this changed suddenly one fine day in the year 2000. She had just quit her job at a school’s office and did not know what to do with her life. She was saturated with simply reading books. That’s when she got home one evening after her walk and took some sheets of paper and began writing. It was like watching a movie that was running in her head – all those years of visualising Indian heroes and heroines needed an outlet and had to be put into words. That’s how her first novel, The Malhotra Bride, took shape.

With the advent of self-publishing, Sundari is the proud author of five books as on today. 


PUBLISHED: MATCHES MADE IN HEAVEN – a collection of Romantic Short Stories. eBook on Amazon (December 18, 2014)

PUBLISHED: THE RUNAWAY BRIDEGROOM – another contemporary romance set in Delhi & Jaipur. One more ebook book on Amazon (September 13, 2014)

PUBLISHED: A contemporary romantic fiction – MEGHNA, the story of Meghna & Rahul set in Mumbai, India. This is a full length novel of 50000+ words. Thank you once again Amazon for this awesome self-publishing opportunity. (June 8, 2014)

PUBLISHED: A completely revamped 2nd Edition Kindle version of THE MALHOTRA BRIDE on Amazon! Thank you Amazon for your wonderful self-publishing opportunity. I just loved the experience. (February 12, 2014)
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