Blog Tour: MARRIAGES MADE IN INDIA: BOOK #1: THE SMITTEN HUSBAND by Sundari Venkatraman

Marriages Made in India

Book #1

THE SMITTEN HUSBAND

by

Sundari Venkatraman

Blurb

Ram Maheshwari is a successful jewellery designer who has a huge showroom on MI Road, Jaipur. He’s tall, dark, handsome and a billionaire to boot. He’s twenty-nine and falls in with his parents’ wishes when they try to arrange his marriage.

The lovely, stormy-eyed Sapna Purohit is from Pushkar. She’s managed to finish school and makes a living by doing mehendi designs during weddings. She’s always dreamt of a Prince on a white horse, sweeping her off her feet.

One look into Sapna’s grey eyes and Ram is lost. Only, Sapna’s unable to see her Prince in Ram. Being from a poor family, she has no choice but to go along with the tide when the Maheshwaris offer to bear all expenses of the wedding. 

Does that mean that the feisty Sapna is all set to accept Ram as her husband? She puts forth a condition, after the wedding. Will The Smitten Husband agree to it?

*MARRIAGES MADE IN INDIA is a five-novella series that revolves around the characters you have met in The Runaway Bridegroom.

Read an excerpt...

“Good morning!” said a sleepy voice. “What are you doing so far away?” called out Ram, before reaching out with a long arm to pull her to him.

A startled Sapna gave him a shocked look that was lost on her husband, whose eyes were still closed. His arms went around her waist like steel bands, his breath hot against her cheek. “Sapna...” he whispered in her ear as his hard lips pressed into her petal soft cheek.

Sapna tried to pull out of his arms, only to have them pull her closer. Her breasts were flattened against his solid chest. Her traitorous body seemed to enjoy the pressure as her nipples perked up. She did her best to hold on to the control that was slipping fast.

“Ram,” she called out loudly, hoping to wake him up. She couldn’t free her arms that were trapped against her own body, as he held her in a crushing grip. His mouth was busy exploring her face, moving inexorably towards her lips. His eyes continued to remain closed, while his hands moved restlessly at her waist. “Ram...” her voice came out in a whisper, as she felt his tongue trace the edge of her lips. Tortured, she made the final move to capture his roving lips, breaking free her hands to hold his face steady.

“Sapna...” sighed Ram, kissing her gently, his tongue first tracing her upper lip and then her lower one. He gently bit the luscious curve. Sapna instinctively opened her mouth to let him explore the velvety cavern with his tongue. Shyly, her tongue reached out to mate with his, making Ram groan with need.

His hands moved restlessly on her body, her nightie bunching up. His muscular legs tangled with her slim ones, making her sigh with pleasure as his hard and hairy skin brushed against her soft and silky one. His hands cupped her lush bottom, caressing it lovingly.

Sapna suddenly became aware of his hardness pressed against her belly. Coming to her senses, she turned her face away, breaking the kiss. “No Ram.”

His wet lips continued to caress her, his tongue exploring her shell-like ear. Even as her heart thudded loudly, Sapna pushed against him. “Ram, please, will you stop it?”

His black eyes opened a slit, desire and slumber at war in them. “Sapna?” If he hadn’t been fully awake before, he was now, as he stared at her lovely face that was so close to his. He slowly recalled what had been occurring over the past few minutes. He had at first thought he was dreaming about kissing the luscious woman in his arms. How had she landed there in the first place?

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About The Author

The Smitten Husband is the eighth book authored by Sundari Venkatraman. This is a hot romance and is Book #1 of the 5-novella series titled Marriages Made in India. Other published novels by the author are The Malhotra Bride, Meghna, The Runaway Bridegroom, The Madras Affair and An Autograph for Anjali—all romances. She also has a collection of romantic short stories called Matches Made in Heaven; and a collection of human interest stories called Tales of Sunshine. All of Sundari Venkatraman’s books have been on Amazon Top 100 Bestsellers in India, USA, UK & Australia many times over.

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VARSHA DIXIT, AUTHOR OF RIGHTFULLY WRONG WRONGFULLY RIGHT, SPEAKS TO SANCHITA SEN

Interview with author Varsha Dixit about her latest romance 'Rightfully Wrong Wrongfully Right'

Romance found her. Yes, it did! Here's the author who weaves magical tales of love, especially by the night when there's pin drop silence, and here she talks about love, romance, stories and how they all happened.

Sanchita: Is Varsha Dixit a romantic at heart? How did you happen to choose ‘Contemporary romance’ as your genre?

Varsha: Heck yes! Varsha Dixit is a romantic at heart but only when she is plotting her stories. Otherwise she is just downright silly and sunny. I think the genre chose me for when I sat down to write my first book, I had planned a murder/horror story. But then Nandini and Sneha’s character popped in my mind and I wrote about them instead. I abandoned my ghouls and killers. 

Sanchita: What was the story behind getting started with your first romance novel? That one signal which made you conclude that you had to be a romance writer?

Varsha: There was no signal as such. When I wrote my first I was grappling some big emotional changes in my life. My father, whom I was very close to, passed away suddenly. Writing helped me fill the big void to an extent and helped me overcome depression.

Sanchita: According to you which genre sells the most and why?

Varsha: I really have no idea which genre sells or why? What I believe is that a good story sells because those are the books readers get attached to.

Sanchita: As a bestselling author, what would be your best advice to upcoming/ debutante authors for marketing their books?

Varsha: Don’t give up on your dreams, don’t whine and don’t be shy from being your worst critic.

Sanchita: What time of the day are you most romantic? In other words when is the best time of the day for you to sit down and pen magic in the world of romance?

Varsha: I’m most creative in the night. Once everyone has gone to sleep, and the house is quiet, is when I like to write.

Sanchita: What would be your one-line definition of love?

Varsha: Love cannot be limited not even by death.

Sanchita: Who is your favourite couple that epitomizes love? And why? Could be anyone, real life, reel life, known personality, friends or family members?

Varsha: I don’t have one but three favourite couples, Nandini and Aditya, Sneha and Nikhil and now Gayatri and Viraj. For their love is based on acceptance, unconditional adoration and is sexy and supportive.

Sanchita: Sneak peek into your next project?

Varsha: Another book which will primarily be about romance and something else. Will have to keep the readers guessing for some time..

Rapid fire round (First thought at the mention of these words):

a.       Stem glasses: Wine

b.      Red: Blood

c.       Valentine’s: February

d.      Pen: Yes, please!

e.      Plot: Scratch my head

Varsha Dixit's book 'Rightfully Wrong Wrongfully Right' is available at:

Amazon.com |  Amazon.in  | Amazon.co.uk

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About the interviewer Sanchita Sen

Sanchita Sen is a journalist who has worked with several leading national dailies in India. Currently, based in Phoenix, Arizona she is finding her space in the world of authors and has co-authored two anthologies named 'Crossed & Knotted' and 'Rudraksha'.

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SUTAPA BASU, AUTHOR OF DANGLE, SPEAKS TO SANCHITA SEN

The realist, yet magical writer

A writer whose stories don't seem like stories, rather they seem like real life happenings. That is the power of her pen, she pens stories that are so realistic and close to your heart that they will live with you forever. An author, poet and publishing consultant, Sutapa Basu also dabbles in art and trains trainers and is a compulsive bookworm. During a thirty-year old professional career as teacher, editor, and publisher, she travelled the Indian subcontinent, Nepal and Bhutan. She has visited UK, USA, Dubai and Singapore while working with Oxford University Press, India and Encyclopædia Britannica, South Asia until 2013 when she decided to start writing seriously. Recently, her short story was awarded the First Prize in the Times of India’s nation-wide WriteIndia Contest, under author, Amish Tripathi.

The author gets talking:

Sanchita: When and how did the seed of Dangle get planted in you?

Sutapa: It’s difficult to pinpoint when the seed of ‘Dangle’ was planted. After shunting around the country and beyond it for about 20 odd years as an army spouse, I finally took root in Delhi. Here, my work, travel and interactions with people gave me the opportunity to observe many urban neuroses. It set me thinking and wondering why such intelligent and obviously talented people gave in to their own devils or remained dangling, strangled by their own indecisions. But they were not the only ones. I also met people who had decided to come to the big city to find their destiny. Many of them had come from small towns and adjusting to the demands and restrictions of the city was overwhelming for them. Many had to deal with barriers of an unfamiliar language and unprovoked dissonance so typical of Delhi. Yet they stayed, worked and found their feet. As I had attempted to look under the surface, I found in them the strength of determination, undaunted tenacity and unwavering faith in themselves. I wanted to bring all these different and often contradictory elements together on one stage. Gradually, the seed of ‘Dangle’ began to grow until it took over all my waking and sleeping moments. So in 2014 when I sat down to write this novel, I was putting into words a multitude of thoughts that had been fermenting inside me for a while. Drafting it was like a catharsis for me. Often I would be at my laptop well into the wee hours and sometimes I would get up in the middle of the night as a phrase or an idea would occur to me. I would key it in before it passed from my memory. So it was not ‘Dangle’ that was planted in me. It was I who was planted into ‘Dangle’!

Sanchita: While character sketching your lead female protagonist who was your inspiration?

Sutapa: Several smart, gorgeous, independent and outspoken people were role models for my lead female protagonist. As I mentioned, many of them were women I interacted with in my daily life at home, on the street and in my work place. Still there were others…personalities who left me with indelible impressions such as my sister Sanghamitra Bose who I saw growing from a toddler to a highly successful international corporate honcho and yet remain grounded as a wife, mother and friend. Debarati Sengupta, a colleague and friend, proved to me now you can build edifices from nothing. My daughter, Priyatna Basu who never fails to remind me that the world can be improved through a little compassion and my niece, Ipshita Bose who is just learning to fly her nest. My vignettes of life in the army and much of the protagonist’s emotions about the life in Manipur and its trauma of insurgency are from my own experiences in the Forces as a child and being the woman behind my soldier husband.

Sanchita: I always like the layers that you add to the characters in your stories, gives that realistic touch. The characters are not all black or all white. Is it a conscious effort or it just happens in the flow?

Sutapa: I seriously believe that Literature reflects Life. So during my own readings, book characters that appealed most to me were have ones who were like real people. And living, breathing people are never black or white. Whenever I write, I consciously make my characters grey. While aspects of their personality could be inspiring, the flaws must be there. How else will readers identify with them? I love it when my readers say, ‘I felt I was reading my own story.’ And this is true for all stories I write not just for ‘Dangle’. Also I don’t stop at this perspective. I always throw the gauntlet at myself. Can I make the character, despite his/her flaws, appealing to my reader? Can I arouse empathy in the heart for a character who may have gone against established norms, ideologies or social boundaries? And when I succeed in doing that, I congratulate myself. I go over and over my drafts until I believe I have been able to create the layers that need to make my characters 3D (three dimensional).

Sanchita: Which is your favourite genre, be it reading, writing or watching?

Sutapa: Relationship dramas played by realistic characters. The stories could be placed in any setting, historical, contemporary, satirical or fantastical but the ones that I love are those that prove that relationships are complex, intriguing and human whatever the story, whichever the period.

Sanchita: How did fiction writing happen to you? Where do you trace the beginning of it?

Sutapa: That’s a difficult question to answer because I wrote my first drama/story when I was around 8 years old. I believe I wrote plays those days because acting plays was a game I played with my brother and friends and we needed scripts to act out. So I just sat down and wrote them in old school notebooks. My mother found them flying around the room when we finished with our games and preserved them for posterity. Ever since, all through my school and college days, my jaunting around with my husband, raising children, working at teaching, training and publishing I have been writing fiction, poetry and features. A lot of school textbooks that I designed, developed and published at Oxford University Press and Encyclopaedia Britannica, South Asia carry my stories and poems. I would write them on the spur of the moment when we could not find suitable stories for the textbooks to teach English language to students. It was 2013 when I decided that now I cannot but listen to all those voices chattering in my head and focus on giving birth to their stories.

Sanchita: When not writing, what do you love doing?

Sutapa: When I am not writing, I am usually reading. Other than that, I love travelling. Seeing new places gives me great pleasure and I always discover people, tales, art, places in nooks and corners that are not the usual touristy stuff. Eventually, they become part of my stories. Music, especially Tagore stimulates, inspires and calms me. I often go to sleep with a CD softly playing in my room. Designing interiors is also a hobby I indulge in whenever I get the opportunity.

Sanchita: Who is your favourite author and why?

Sutapa: There are so many favourites but if I name a few, they would be Jhumpa Lahiri, Chitra Divakaruni, Indu Sundaresan, Thomas Hardy, Margaret Mitchell, Irving Wallace, Harper Lee, Phillipa Gregory and Michel Moran. Their writing absorbs me because their characters are alive and whatever may be the context, they live lives that have inspired me immensely.

Sanchita: A sneak peek into your next project?

Sutapa: My next project is a long fiction whose protagonist believes she is so strong that she can fly without wings. That is all that I can say right now.

Rapid fire: The first thought that comes to mind when you hear the following words

a. Emotions: make the world go around

b. Stories: make you soar to reach the stars or collapse in a storm of tears

c. Ambience: necessary as it makes all the difference

d. Air: my son, daughter and my grandson. I need them to breathe

e. Dangle: never…I refuse to sit on the fence

Sutapa Basu's book 'Dangle' is available at:

Amazon.com | Amazon.in | Flipkart

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About the interviewer Sanchita Sen:
Sanchita Sen is a journalist who has worked with several leading national dailies in India. Currently she is finding her space in the world of authors and has co-authored two anthologies named 'Crossed & Knotted' and 'Rudraksha'.

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