Komal Mikaelson

Okay, so first confession time: I don't like books by Indian authors. I hate [a:Chetan Bhagat|61124|Chetan Bhagat|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1255919964p2/61124.jpg] books with a fiery passion and I DNFed [b:The Immortals of Meluha|7913305|The Immortals of Meluha (Shiva Trilogy #1)|Amish Tripathi|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1334659192s/7913305.jpg|11196793].
All the authors seem capable of are cheesy lines, haywire stories, flat characters and all in all, lackluster stuff, which fails to impress big time. So, I was skeptical to start The Guardian Angels in the beginning, what with all of my past experiences with these books. I hadn't read any other books by the author previously and didn't know what to expect.
So, safe to say, I gave it a fair chance.

Now getting to the review.

The Guardian Angels is love story. NOT a love story, people.
Aditya Mehta, the heir of a billion-dollar conglomerate, Mehta Groups, first meets Radha Deodhar while he was being scorned and thrashed by school bullies at the age of 12. She outwits the bullies and saves Aditya and thus begins their story. The novel spans 30 years and delineates the interwoven threads of their lives.
How their lives come together, coalesce into a resplendent relationship and subsequently moves apart.

The story line was fairly engaging. Not keeps-you-to-the-edge-of-your-seat engaging, but neither wouldn't-pick-up-for-my-life dull. Just walks the fine line between the two.
The prologue was a disappointment of sorts. And safe to say, I wasn't really impressed. But as the story progressed, it sure gets interesting and I found myself leaving other books to complete this one.
The entire novel is written in POV of the two protagonists. And here lies a major problem. I couldn't distinguish between their monologues if it hadn't been clarified right from the beginning of the chapter. Both Adi and Radha have similar voices inspite of being polar opposites of each other.

The author keeps the story simple and succinct. No copious amounts of teenage angst, no superfluous drama, no bitchy antagonists.
I loved how Radha and Adi remain friends and don't jump headfirst into a relationship. Because, really, all relationship DON'T HAVE TO BE ABOUT LOVE.
It was sweet, but not disgustingly saccharine.

Aditya/Adi Mehta is a child starved for attention. The father and mother are too busy running their business to pay an iota of attention to their child. Consequently, he is closed-off and terribly shy. He finds a great friend in Radha, who supports him, encourages him and doesn't hesitate to call him on his bullshit.
Adi's chracter was easy to understand and relate to, which is more than I can say about Radha.

Radha is born and raised in a strictly urban middle class family. Her father is a socialist and safe to say, they reside in a sphere glaringly far from the Mehtas. I understand the fact that it is uncomfortable for her to live in Adi's glamorous world, but seriously, she went way overboard with the uncomfortable thing. She would rarely visit Adi's house and even if she did, she wouldn't wander far from
his room in fear of god knows what. She comes off bitchy at times, when she incessantly scorns Adi for his father's wealth. Give the guy a break. It isn't his fault his family is filthy rich.
The characterization was okay, I guess. Not really attention grabbing but not drab either.

And now, the major letdown that resulted in slashing of 2 stars straight: the writing.
*sigh*
Whenever the going would be smooth and the story engrossing, BAM! A grammatical error here, a misspelled word there and all the magic would be leached away. It was like being woken up rudely to the reality. And I absolutely loathed it because the story had some true potential. The amateurish writing and awkward sentence construction made it really hard to get into the story. The sentences were choppy and just didn't go with the setting. All this and the terrible editing kept the story strictly at a superficial level and prevented from evoking any real feels, which in turn ensured that the book stays away from my favorite shelf.

Conclusion: The Guardian Angel is a good novel much much better than Chetan Bhagat according to me. If you can condone the writing and are looking for a light, breezy read, the novel's just right for you.

*The copy was received free of cost by the author in exchange of an honest review*