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Saturday, January 3, 2015

Book Review: Butterfly Season by Natasha Ahmed

First of all, thanks to IndiReads for providing me a copy of Butterfly Season to read and review.

Butterfly Season was an enjoyable affair for me, best thing being a novella and I always love reading novellas, especially because it will be sweet and short. To be honest, this is the second book I read from indireads, the first being Done with Men which I had enjoyed a lot. 

A short summary from goodreads -

On her first holiday in six years, Rumi is expecting to relax and unwind. But when she is set up by her long-time friend, she doesn’t shy away from the possibilities. Ahad, a charming, independent, self-made man, captures her imagination, drawing her away from her disapproving sister, Juveria.Confronted by her scandalized sister, a forbidding uncle and a society that frowns on pre-marital intimacy, Rumi has to decide whether to shed her middle-class sensibilities, turning her back on her family, or return to her secluded existence as an unmarried woman in Pakistan.We follow Rumi from rainy London to a sweltering Karachi, as she tries to take control of her own destiny.

My thoughts on butterfly season -

It's the story of Rumi, a Pakistani girl, who comes on a vacation to England and meets Ahad, a charming guy and the life she has known changes in a few weeks time. There were lot of positives for me in the book mainly, I loved the author's writing, how smoothly she has delivered the story and characters! As i am from India, I know and could relate to the cultural and conservative family convictions explained in the book but it might be difficult to someone from outside to accept it. And the author has explained the situation with clarity so the readers can understand it. I enjoyed Rumi and Ahad's characters so much that I loved their dates, was really engrossed in their relationship when the ugly scene happened and i was disappointed with Ahad. He was so awesome until that, but suddenly the way he reacted to Rumi, I was annoyed with him. Rumi, with all her "baggage", was so open  and sweet but was not treated fairly. But, Ahad redeemed himself, even though he was an idiot, going out on dates with another woman, but realising soon what he wanted and went for it. I loved how Rumi became confident in herself and decided to open her wings like a butterfly and fly away, free of any responsibilities. Last chapter was sweet, except again this part of story I had some issues, even though Ahad proposes, he does not declares his love or anything, oh, come to think of it, both are not declaring their love, just discussing about marriage and all. I know they have strong their feelings for each other, but still I would have loved some declarations of love, some cheesy stuff :) ! What to do, I'm a big romantic! Okay, that was a long review, with lot of spoilers, couldn't control. Oh, sorry forgot to mention, Rumi's sister Juvi, I hated her, such a selfish character. Maria and her husband were great, nice characters. 

Overall, I liked Butterfly Season and would definitely read more books from the author. And my rating, I was confused whether to give it 3 or 4 stars, so giving it 3.5 stars!

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