HER PRINCE CHARMING
(Prequel to The Malhotra Bride)
by
Sundari Venkatraman
BLURB
It’s instantaneous attraction when Tanuja Bhatia from Delhi meets Raj Malhotra from Bombay at the Bombay Central Station.
The mutual attraction soon blossoms into love over the next couple of meetings.
Tanuja and her simple father fail to see the crisis brewing in their own home. Her not-so-nice stepmother Gurinder is totally against the idea of Tanuja meeting her Prince Charming which would make her step-sister Harpreet seriously envious. By the way, Harpreet’s main aim in life is to simply make her half-sister miserable.
While Raj’s parents and Tanuja’s father try to arrange a marriage between the two with a help of a mutual friend, the evil stepmother comes up with a plan of her own—to marry her stepdaughter off to Sonu, a good-for-nothing idiot.
Can Her Prince Charming lift Tanuja out of this life of drudgery and boredom and give her the happiness she deserves?
*A prequel to THE MALHOTRA BRIDE, this book is also available in paperback in India.
Author Interview
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TBC: What made you decide to write the story of the previous generation?
Sundari Venkatraman: As you must have noticed, I enjoy writing series and books that interconnect characters. Over the past couple of years, I have been toying with the idea of writing historical romances. Actually, I wrote a bit about the 1940s in my book called Rose Garden International. It was then that the idea came into my mind: Why not write a story about Akshay Malhotra’s (the hero of my first book The Malhotra Bride) parents, Raj and Tanuja Malhotra, who are so obviously in love with each other? I also found the idea exciting because I was personally young in the 70s, (in school, actually) all dreamy and dewy-eyed about romances. Hence, setting a story in that time was so much fun. And that’s how Her Prince Charming was born.
TBC: What difficulties do you face when you write a series?
Sundari Venkatraman: Oh yes! While I love writing series, there are some difficulties that I do face. To begin with, I try to create a vague plot for the second or third book in the series. Believe me, the plot is vague because I don’t know how to plan my story too much in advance as I flow along with my mind while writing, go wherever the characters take me. After that, I go back and read the first book from beginning till end. I also have a list of the basic features of each character listed on an excel sheet under the book title. Each time, it’s extremely important to make the connection seamless.
Let me share an example from Her Prince Charming. I had planned this as a love match between Raj and Tanuja. When I read The Malhotra Bride, I came across this dialogue between Raj and Akshay, when the former tells his son that his marriage to Tanuja was arranged. I had a minor dilemma in my hands. I didn’t want to let go of the idea of it being a love marriage. But then again, I couldn’t let my first book become a lie. So, I decided to create a love-cum-arranged marriage for the protags of Her Prince Charming.
Hence, the main thing is to ensure that the connection between the stories is smooth. For that, I need to keep an eagle eye out while creating a sequel or prequel as in this case. It’s easier if I write the whole series in one shot, one after the other. Imagine writing Her Prince Charming nineteen years after I wrote The Malhotra Bride! It was a challenge, definitely. Though, I think I’ve done a good job in tying up the lose ends.
TBC: Your cover is beautiful; has an old-world charm. Please tell our readers how important is the design of a cover.
Sundari Venkatraman: Thank you so much. A lot of people have appreciated the cover, especially for this novel set in the 1970s. As for the importance of having a great cover, well, we have millions of books out there, especially on a website such as Amazon. How will a reader zero in on one particular book? What will make the reader click on that particular link? I strongly believe it’s the cover. Once the cover catches their attention, they will want to check the blurb and then the sample chapter. But to get to that point, there is a need for a great cover that will grab a reader’s attention. And that’s the reason I pay a lot of attention to this particular part of my books.
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About the author
Sundari Venkatraman is an indie author who has 42 titles (38 books and 4 collections) to her name, all Top 100 Bestsellers on Amazon India, Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada and Amazon Australia in both romance as well as Asian Drama categories. Her latest hot romances have all been on #1 Bestseller slot in Amazon India for over a month.
Even as a kid, Sundari absolutely loved the ‘lived happily ever after’ syndrome as she grew up reading all the fairy tales she could lay her hands on, Phantom comics, Mandrake comics and the like. It was always about good triumphing over evil and a happy end.
Soon, into her teens, Sundari switched her attention from fairy tales to Mills & Boon. While she loved reading both of these, she kept visualising what would have happened if there were similar situations happening in India; to a local hero and heroine. Her imagination took flight and she always lived in a rosy cocoon of romance over the years.
Then came the writing – a true bolt out of the blue! And Sundari Venkatraman has never looked back.
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Hi Alka, thank you for presenting my interview on your blog :)
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