Prajakta Koli’s Too Good to be True offers nothing fresh

Without interesting main characters, then, the hope is that at least the writing is interesting. But unfortunately, when Avani travels, “a cool breeze” and the “fresh smell of earth” hit her. As Aman whizzes through South Bombay in his car (we don’t know which one), “the city lights blur into streaks”. Avani and Aman talk about “video games, comic books, pet peeves, twerking and just about anything”. Even the scenes aren’t well- established.

Take the classic makeover scene — the staple of many a romcom. Here is how Koli describes Avani’s best friends helping her prepare for a meeting with Aman’s family: “The next hour was a classic rom-com montage. The one in which lively music plays in the background as the dorky girl’s besties give her a makeover while chugging alcohol directly from the bottle and she walks around modelling outfits and making goofy faces.”

In theory, a makeover scene is a great idea — a hat tip to the genre classics. But as the passage shows, the writing becomes bland, unimaginative and simplistic, leaving no scope for any kind of reimagination to take place.

Another romcom staple is the climactic misunderstanding. But in this book, that tension fizzles out in just under 20 pages. And when the couple does get back together, you get no peek into what they are feeling or thinking. There’s potential in dynamics like the 10-year-age gap between the leads: he owns a company, she is finishing college; she cannot communicate well and is afraid of commitment while he falls in love too easily. But none of these ideas are fully developed and, in the end, the book ends up offering nothing fresh.