Adite Banerjie is our very own Indian entrant into the rocking Harlequin world of romance. Here is the blurb for her debut novel The Indian Tycoon’s Marriage Deal:

Krish Dev needs to find a bride and quick! With a marriage arranged by his father looming, Krish finds the key to his freedom in Maya Shome, but is this dazzling beauty really all she seems…? Maya has only one thing in mind: revenge. But when the host of the most exclusive high society party asks her to dance what is meant to be an innocent tango, it leads to an engagement with Krish—her enemy’s son! Arranging their own marriage could work to their advantage…if they can resist mixing business with pleasure!

Here’s how Adite describes Maya Shome: stunning in sleek stilettos and a black halter dress that dipped dangerously low, revealing acres of silky smooth skin. And this is Krish Dev: dark, dancing eyes set in a face that was all sharp angles, framed by thick cropped hair; a deep cleft that dented his chin and a lopsided sexy smile.

He calls her a lavender rose, exotic and rare. She is intrigued by his flamboyant demeanour and his sassy banter. They meet at a party held in the glittering ballroom of New Delhi’s spanking new seven-star hotel, The Dev Residency, part of a conglomerate run by Krish’s father Kamalkant Dev, better known as KD. Sparks fly and desire sears their veins. But all is not what it seems.

Krish needs to get himself a wife at once, so he can preempt his father’s plan to trap him in a loveless marriage. Maya burns with the desire to take revenge on KD, against whom she has nurtured pure, unadulterated hatred, for thirteen of her twenty-three years. KD is the man who cheated her father and sent him to jail on a false charge, driving him to an early grave.

A marriage to suit their own hidden agendas… can it succeed? Adite sets the scene beautifully and her hero and heroine start off on a fast-paced tango of emotions ― misunderstandings, betrayal, separation, distrust. Underlying everything is a growing frisson of attraction that draws them to each other, while the secrets they harbour tear them apart. Maya sets out on her mission of revenge, trying to find proof of KD’s vile machinations.

Will she be successful in pushing through with her plan even if it will hurt the man whom she has come to love? Can the bitterness of revenge be overcome? Does Maya take revenge in the name of her father? Will her marriage survive her agenda? Events draw to a swift climax, keeping the readers in suspense about whether a happily-ever-after lies ahead for this star-crossed pair.

This love story is appealing, set as it is in our own country, in a milieu that we can relate to. Adite’s language is evocative and finely tuned to express the swiftly changing thoughts and desires of the protagonists. She weaves an absorbing tale of two strong-minded individuals trying to strike a balance between their personal devils and their mutual love. The book keeps you reading on eagerly to find out how it all ends.

My one quibble with the book is with Maya’s decision on how she will use the materials she gathers against KD. As a thriller writer, perhaps my expectations veer more to the bloodthirsty side! But you will have to read the book yourself to find out how the plot unfolds!

So my rating of this book? Definitely four stars out of five. A must-read for romance readers around the world!