Destination Chile is the 3rd book in the series called The Lonely Heart Travel Club by the fellow travel blogger Katy Colins. Other two in the series were from Thailand and India. I am now keen to read her book on India.
This is a chick-lit book with a backdrop of a travel entrepreneur couple. It is the story of an average Western Hemisphere girl, whose life revolves around her business and her boyfriend cum business partner. Till the two third of the story – it sounded like the story of a girl who is just waiting for her boyfriend to pop the question. The story began with her accidentally discovering a ring in his stuff. From that moment on, it is all about imagining moments when he would ask the question.
The couple travels to Chile for a travel reality show with 3 other couples. What follows is a brief introduction to Chile and the flow of reality TV. The fake relationships, the fake smiles, and some interesting angles to see the destination. The couple discovers each other but by the end, they break away. They break away as they say all that they have in their head under some harsh circumstances. What follows after coming back from the reality TV trip is slow reconciliation where each discovers what they love about each other. I was hoping to get more of Chile. But on the hindsight, I think Katy Colins chose the right mix of story flow and background descriptions. I do want to see Pablo Neruda’s house now, as and when I get to go to Chile.
Destination Chile is a new age telling of an age-old story – the trend started with Mills & Boons. Just that the women now are no longer weaklings that they used to be. They have careers and they have personalities. So, the dynamics are that of a 21st CE couple, but the emotions are eternal. It is not ‘love at first sight’ but love with the current partner where the ex-partners and experiences with them do make frequent appearances. The underlying love story remains the same even when the partners are yet to commit to each other.
Since Katy Colins is a travel blogger herself, there is a lot of mention of the internet and social media. And the pressures that it brings for people who work with it. If you are someone who works on the web, you would associate a lot with that part of the book. If you are casually on social media, you would understand what your likes or comments mean for the people professionally on the web.
As a travel blogger, I think it is a neat strategy by Katy Colins to write a fiction book on the destinations she explores. While most travel bloggers are focused on writing guidebooks and reviewing hotels and restaurants – Katy shows the destination through a romantic love story. Readers love to read fiction. Non-fiction is usually boring for them and they read it only when they need to. Fiction is entertaining even when it is exposing you to new knowledge. My guess is the genre of chick-lit would have a lot of female readerships. We, as women, love to get into the dreamy romantic state – it takes us away from the reality. And or helps us re-live those tender moments.
Language is engaging and contemporary. The narrative flows very smoothly. Even when the story gets predictable, you still want to read it – you have to admire the writer’s craft for that.
Buy Destination Chile – The Lonely Hearts Travel Club by Katy Colins at Amazon or Flipkart.
Read it when you are in a mood for some light read.

very nice article. thanks for sharing