Life is the Flower, Love is the Honey by Surabhi Sharma / Books Teacup and Reviews

Life is the Flower, Love is the Honey by Surabhi Sharma

Publication Date: August 21st 2018

Read Date: September 6th 2018

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Pages: 133

Stars: 3/5

‘You are so much more than what you think you are. You are infinite. You have the power to achieve bigger things.’

This is a story of a dream; a story for every dreamer.

Shubh is a dreamer. He wishes to become a nature photographer but submits to his parents’ wishes who want a secure future for him. He fears he will disappoint his parents and gives up on his dreams.

Monica is a dreamer. She is a painter who paints the canvas with the inspirational colors of life. She let go of her fears and inhibitions one day when someone helped give her paintings a purpose.

What happens when fate brings these two dreamers together?

A unique tale of love and life in the form of tiny tales about the dreams and challenges we face.

It was contemporary fiction with mix of drama, love, passion and philosophical insight. It was about two characters Shubh, a photographer and Monica, a painter. Both were dreamer and passionate for art but they have their setbacks. With help of each other, they came out of their fear and lived the dream they were born for. The theme of the story was dream and passion, hurdles in life that one has to jump over to achieving them.

Shubh was ideal son and didn’t want to disappoint his parents and so joined a form to earn money according to their wish and buried his dream of becoming photographer. He lacked confidence and courage to go against his parents and listened to all who never understand passion and art. I felt he was a bit too idealistic and weak who feared failure and in a way I blame his parents for feeding him with fear and failure and talked only about importance of money. I don’t appreciate weak characters but I liked the way he filled his emptiness by visiting art exhibitions that gave him strength to move on in life.

Monica was much stronger compared to Shubh as she had a great friend and parents who supported her in time of need. Her ex-boyfriend who showed her path of pursing her dream was no longer with her which robbed her happiness and peace. Painting helped her to come out of depression but she was still stuck in past. When she met Shubh she found direction in life again. I liked her efforts in putting her mind into something that she loved, even though she was grieving she was moving on.

The story was short written from both Shubh and Monica’s perspective. Short chapters made it quick to read. The in between philosophical chapters gave the book mix of contemporary and nonfiction feel. Writing was easy and smooth.

Ships between Monica and Shubh had a touch of innocence. I liked the way they supported each other and how they pulled the other out of their misery and pushed forward in life. Many readers can relate to their life story.

I liked author’s attempt of inspiring reader to follow dream, listening your heart, and motivating to move on in life, to live free and happy. Importance and true meaning of friend, love, and life was nicely represented. Some philosophical chapters reflected my own thoughts, they were relatable and realistic.

Story was nice and sweet with happy ending both characters growing with their passion. But it was clichéd. It was every Indian’s story- parents forcing their children to do what they want and what they feel is right for them, use melodramatic tactics, hurt their feeling and ultimately make them to follow dream they have seen for their children, and if children turn rebellious they break all ties with them. A story and theme that I have seen and heard in Bollywood movies many times.

Another reason is, both characters were okay. Shubh was contrary to my nature. At first, Monica felt good but when the actual drawback of her life was revealed, I felt she was naive. She was crying over something that she looked with narrow perspective. Her ex did exactly the same she was wanting Shubh to do!

Overall, it was straightforward, realistic, inspirational story. It was okay for me.

Author Bio:

Surabhi Sharma was born and brought up in Jaipur, Rajasthan. She began her writing journey as a freelance writer, writing short stories for magazines and newspaper. In 2016, she started her blog to share her love of writing and reading. Her tiny tales on blog garnered great reviews, love and appreciation from readers.

To learn more about her, read her tiny tales that she publishes every Sunday, visit her blog: www.thereviewauthor.com . Subscribe to her newsletter to get all the updates on upcoming releases in your inbox.

Links: Website / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram: @thereviewauthor

Buy Link: Amazon.in / Amazon.com