Janvi Manchanda reviews Anjali Kirpalani’s romantic novel and learns a new motto for her life –  “Never Say Never”

This novel narrates the story of a girl, Nikita Kumar, a twenty-five year old unemployed, sarcastic and witty girl whose love life is as messed up as Lindsay Lohan’s. She lives with her best friend Aziza and is dating a boy named Deepak. At the same time, she’s infatuated with her best friend’s boyfriend, Raghav who’s an RJ, and thinks that she’s in love with him. But she’s actually in love with the thought of being in a relationship with a perfect guy. Tired of her life going nowhere, Nikita promises herself to never do things like doubting her abilities, to never marry for money and never to feel for an unavailable man. As life has different plans laid out for her, things hardly go according to Nikita’s vows. Consequently, she learns a lesson that one must never say never.

She vows to never marry for money but breaks her pledge. She swears to never doubt her own abilities yet she doubts her abilities as she’s unemployed and has no direction in her life. She’s sick of her life going nowhere. She vows to never have any feelings for an unavailable man but isn’t able to stop herself from liking someone who’s unavailable. She swears to never stay in a relationship with someone she doesn’t love yet she dates a guy she doesn’t love. She vows to never get drunk and embarrass herself in public but ends up doing that too.

The author’s writing style and setting creates a realistic narrative. The protagonist might seem as a hypocrite at first, but her way of dealing with life could have been anyone else’s too. You can never be fully prepared for the many twists and turns that life will throw your way – this is a lesson that the reader learns along with Nikita. On the whole, the story is very relatable as it portrays the ‘it’s complicated’ love lives that we see around us. Never Say Never is a light hearted, must read for all rom-com lovers.