I have read many books written by Sundari Venkataraman and every single time I say this, she always brilliantly addresses some social issue or other through her stories. I think that’s the USP of her books. The Runaway Bridegroom is no exception.

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Review of Sundari Venkataraman’s The Runaway Bridegroom:
The story starts off with a real-shocker. 13-year-old Veerendra and 8-year-old Chanda get married. But then the bridegroom runs away soon after the wedding is over. Fourteen years later, Chanda is a young Delhi college girl who lands an internship at RS Software where the dashing Ranveer is the head. Both are drawn to each other but Chanda is skeptical. After all, she is married! Will the ghosts of her past come haunting her? Or will love find a way?
Sundari nails this story by bringing to light the social issue of Child marriage in India. The vanity and futility of forced child marriages will make one ponder whether it still exists in our society. So, hats of to her writing about it in the pretext of a sweet love story.
The characters are, as usual, bang on – the protagonists had my heart and Ranveer is hot as hell. Smart and gentlemanly, he had my heart from the word go. It is no wonder that Chanda fell for a self-made man like him. Their chemistry is sizzling hot and it gets better and better.
I loved the family values Chanda’s family became her solid support system. With an understanding family like hers, she went on to become an educated, smart girl even after being left at the altar at the age of eight, and in this case, after her wedding.
I also loved the friendship between Ranveer and Abhimanyu, the latter becoming Ranveer’s confidant when things take a downward spiral.
If there is one thing I wasn’t too keen on while reading the book was Shikha and her point of view. I believe, her side-story was introduced in this book as kind of a prologue to another book where Shikha and Abhimanyu are lead characters. But there was too much information about her that I feel was unnecessary. Again, this is just my opinion, I believe there are many who found it welcome to get an insight about Shikha while the main story was overpowering.
The characters are etched to near perfection and the narration is beautifully paced. A light and breezy read on a rainy evening!
Thank you, Sundari Venkataraman and Westland Books for providing me with a review copy.

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Hi, Shalini. Nice review. You had laid the summary in a beautiful way and presented your criticism on some parts which would be very helpful to the author. I hope the author gets to read this review.
I have always had that question in mind if child marriage still exists in your country. I hope not anymore.
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Child marriage is a very relevant issue and it’s nice to see an author weave a story around that.
I like your balanced review, Shalini.
Child marriage is a very relevant issue and it’s nice to see an author weave a story around that.
I like your balanced review, Shalini.