Books, Lipstick and Whatever Love Means with Aditi Mathur

When was the last time we had some girl talk? Well, dunno about the last time, let us have some girls talk and bond over some fabulous lipstick and a wonderful book.

Talking about books, I am such a bibliophile but have become a meagre reader these days. Notwithstanding my regular reminders to self, I could barely read a book these days. My excuse is as usual- a book needs to be as tempting to make my lazy bum sit still on my couch and lust my eyes to turn pages post the first chapter.

So when my WhatsApp Blogger Friend, a gorgeous woman, a travel blogger and a published author [oh yes, that many and some more adjectives in one woman] asked me to read her second book, I almost said No. But then I saw the splendid cover and I could not resist the temptation to check it out. She turned a deaf ear to my usual excuse of being a meagre reader and decided to risk it with me.

Her patience paid off, and if you have seen my Instagram stories [needless to say, you should be fortunate enough to follow me on Instagram], you would have seen me hooked to this book since last 2 days. 

Aditi Kumar Mathur is a fellow blogger. Her first book was "Soldier and Spice", and if she is not travelling around the world, she stays at Dehradun- Delhi-Dehradun.

Love, Whatever that Means- the Book

Love, Whatever That Means is Aditi Mathur Kumar's second book and it is a good mix of romance plus women's fiction genre. 

This is the story of Tina. Tina works at a TV news Channel and got promoted as Assistant producer recently. She has quirky, adorable friends and kind of dating a Mr Army, charming kind of guy before she finds everything going wrong in her life, job and relations. She goes through the same battles as a lot of us do, like a pervert boss, a meh job and above all- all friends getting hooked. 

Tina is engaging and fun. The book is written in a first person present tense which is Aditi's trademark and is very quick to read. But, at times you want to roll your eyes at Tina and her overthinking. She tends to get hyper at times but I guess it's all a part of the story.

One of the best parts of this book is Virat, the Army Officer who is as dreamy as he is handsome. I love the fact that Aditi has built up the Romance in the story, unlike the quick and easy sleeping arrangements that seem to be the trend in writing these days. The book is gripping but may have some typos or editing errors at some places. But that is ok for it is a chic lit and not a story to learn and practice grammar by Wren and Martin! If the story is good and engaging, I doubt you may want to blame flawed editing.

It is like a pretty lipstick, that looks good, smooth to apply and has a great pigmentation. Drat the packaging is not that fancy but it is cost effective.

The book costs Rs 175/-

Did you just say Lipstick?

Talking about the lipstick, Tina [the main character in the book] speaks about her love for lip colours a few times. If I have to attach a lip colour to this chic lit, I would relate it with The Body Shop Colour Crush Lipstick, that I tried recently and it fits perfectly well with Tina and her quirky sojourns.

The shade is deep maroon plus mauve mixed to it. It is good for a casual outing, or a cocktail meeting. I like the feel of it and the fact that it kept my lips moisturised for long. It is smooth and just pigmented my Macbook trackpad in a bid to gain more visibility. Lolz. This happens when you read a fun book and find yourself transported into a chic-flick setting, a la Bridget Jones? Naah! a la Aditi Mathur.

The lipstick love Tina has throughout the book is adorable, and I like how the character doesn't shy away from her femininity, in a world that constantly tells us to be more 'man like' in order to succeed. If you know me, you know that I value success, happiness and peace as much as I cherish a good hair day or, in this context, a good lipstick to turn the day around. 

Do check out this lipstick and this book and let me know what you think.

Love,

Ekta