Love Detective. At least this is what Alexandra Potter’s Ruby Miller likes to think about herself.
Honestly speaking, there are love stories and there are love stories written by Alexandra Potter. The Love Detective is the second novel of the author that I have read till date. The first one was Love From Paris (it is a sequel of The Love Detective though). I must admit that I have become a fan of Alexandra Potter right after reading Love from Paris. From that day onwards, an Alexandra Potter novel is like a treat to me. It means a solid fiction filled with humour, suspense, thrill and love minus any cheesy romance or candle-lit dinners.
The novel is available in Amazon and costs INR 260.00. You can visit the Amazon site directly by clicking the above image.
The story starts with Ruby Miller sitting in her cosy flat in London with her dog Heathcliff on a chilly rainy day. Although Ruby is an author of happy-ever-afters, but she doesn’t believe in love. She called off her wedding an year ago after her fiancé, Sam cheated her. This is another reason why Ruby cannot buy the idea of being in love anymore, let alone write about it.
Seeing her writer’s block, Diana (Ruby’s agent) persuades her to go for a vacation. Although she is reluctant about a holiday in the middle of so much chaos in her life, still Ruby gives in to Diana’s suggestion. She decides to vacay for a week in Goa, India with her younger sister, Amy already holidaying there.
Goa welcomes Ruby with a warm hug of 35 degrees celsius temperature and a terrifying tuk-tuk ride. She spends a week there with Amy, participates in a fruitless yoga session, meets Shine, an interesting yoga instructor and explores the exciting local markets.
The day the Miller sisters are about to return to London, Ruby waits for Amy at the airport. Amy doesn’t come. Rather she calls Ruby in her phone announcing that she is eloping and marrying Shine. Ruby freaks out at the thought of her sister getting married to a man she barely knows. Moreover, she has seen Shine in the market once arguing with another woman in a car.
Who is that woman?
Ruby has already faced a heartbreak and doesn’t want Amy to endure the same pain. Ruby chooses to miss her flight and stop her sister from making a big mistake.
Her hunt for Amy takes her from Goa to Delhi and then Rajasthan. She sustains a train journey, comes across Jack, an irritating American passenger and Vijay, an Indian teenage boy in love. Ruby loses her luggage, passport and mobile phone while going to Delhi because of her stupidity. Finding no other option, she gets hold of Jack and requests him to help her.
With two complete strangers, Jack and Rukminesh Singh aka Rocky (Jack’s Ambassador driver), Ruby plunges into a road trip of her lifetime. Each passing day, she discovers something new and fascinating in India, suspects something weird about Jack and feels hypnotised by Rocky’s hazel eyes at times. The journey meant for a relaxing vacation in India soon turns for Ruby into something unforgettable.
She comes to know about love which is the greatest mystery of all to her. Else how can two complete strangers fall in love ?
The Love Detective also contains series of surprises till it’s end whether it is coming from Cindy, another American traveller, the receptionist girl in the Udaipur, two ladies sitting in the flight, Rocky or Jack.
The novel covers bits and pieces of India beautifully. I wish Alexandra Potter had chosen other parts of India as her plot. Goa, Rajasthan and Delhi are anyway all-time favourite attractions for foreigners. At the same time, I am eager to know what made Jack realise his ‘unexpected love’.
Being a ‘prefer-to-sort-things-out’ person , I totally loved Ruby’s character. She likes to be tidy and organised, yet finds herself in clutter most of the time. Ruby says that she is a big fan of to-do lists and reveals:
I love that feeling when you get to cross something off. It makes me feel all super-organised.
And confesses the very next moment:
I sometimes even put things on there I’ve done already, just so I can draw a line through them.
I could not stop smiling when I read this because it was so me. Same things happen in my mobile phone everyday. And I cannot forget about Ruby’s ‘rising trot‘ camel drive in desert which made my sides split by laughing.
Overall, The Love Detective has everything a fiction lover can expect. Even if you don’t like reading love stories, I can guarantee this one will keep you engaged. It’s engrossing story, fun and adventure elements play a great role.
Grab a copy to enjoy 🙂