About The Book

You Were My Almost doesn’t feel like a book that was written to impress people. It feels like a book that was written because the author had something real sitting in his heart and couldn’t carry it anymore.
What makes it work is not the romance itself, but the honesty. Dev’s hesitation, his jealousy, his hope, his fear of saying the wrong thing—none of it feels manufactured. It feels lived. The story understands a painful truth that many love stories miss: people don’t always lose each other because they stop caring. Sometimes they lose each other because they wait too long.
The strongest part of the book is its emotional atmosphere. Moments like the farewell night, the rain, the hilltop, and the small conversations stay with you because they feel like memories rather than scenes. Jiya also feels human—warm, imperfect, guarded, and real.
At times the prose is overly reflective and could be tighter, but even then, the emotion never feels fake.
When I finished reading, I wasn’t thinking about plot twists or dramatic events. I was thinking about all the people who had an almost in their life.
And that’s the book’s greatest achievement:
It doesn’t just tell a love story—it reminds readers of the one they never got to finish.

About The Author

Devashish Ikhar is a corporate professional who found — and never let go of — his first love: storytelling.
His writing gravitates toward the emotional undercurrents of everyday life. The conversation that ended one sentence too early. The person you thought about long after you stopped talking. The feeling that had no name but stayed anyway. You Were My Almost is his attempt to give that feeling a home.
He grew up believing that ordinary moments, looked at closely enough, contain everything. That belief became this book.
When the laptop closes and the workday ends, you’ll find him somewhere between a half-packed bag and a fresh notebook — travelling, observing, and quietly turning life into sentences.
You Were My Almost is his debut novel.

He’d love to hear what the book meant to you.
Instagram: @dev_ikhar_