Cringe or cute: Chetan Bhagat’s new book 12 Years: My Messed-up Love Story

Chetan Bhagat’s upcoming book 12 Years: My Messed-up Love Story sparked lively debate in our community WhatsApp group recently. What began as curiosity quickly turned into a conversation about marketing tactics, how we read romance tropes in 2025, and the line between fair critique and pile-on.

The conversation surfaced useful questions for readers and reviewers alike. 

The provocation

“He’s 33. She’s 21.” As a launch line, it is ruthlessly efficient. It is short, polarising, and built for reels and comments. The internet promptly split into teams cute and cringe, often before anyone had a chapter in hand. That is not a bug of modern book marketing, it is the feature. The line does the heavy lifting so the campaign can ride the aftershocks. 

Harshita saw it exactly: “More of a click-baity promo, better to be ignored.” 

The problem is that outrage and curiosity are twins online. You can dislike the framing and still feel pulled in.

Beyond the hook

Age-gap romance is a trope, not a verdict. The question is whether the novel treats age as a setup or as the whole story. Craft shows up in how the book maps consent, power, money, and life stage, and whether the younger character has real agency and goals. 

As Noor put it, “It’s how you deal with the romance that matters.” 

And as Vikas added, “One will have to read the book to see how he has executed this dynamic.”

If the gap becomes a poster and nothing more, that is thin writing. If it creates conflict that the plot actually works through, the device can earn its keep.

The algorithm at work

The early conversation around 12 Years also exposes a familiar loop. People perform their stance because social media rewards heat, then pick the book up anyway to stay inside the conversation. 

Kavita admitted the FoMO calculus: some will “find it cringe yet would read it just to be a part of the discussion.” 

That is crowd behaviour. It inflates visibility while flattening nuance.

Where critique should land

There is a second trap, the slide from reviewing a text to prosecuting a person. It happens faster with pop figures who are brands as well as authors. 

Roshni’s reminder is the north star here: “our discussions should be limited to the book and not go into personal attacks.” 

You can question a marketing choice, you can interrogate a trope, you can demand better execution. You do not need to make it personal to be rigorous.

Character over labels

A line about the heroine’s dating history drew mixed reactions in our discussion. Unless it shapes the plot in a clear way, it risks oversimplifying her. Stronger writing tends to reveal who a character is through choices and change rather than quick tags.

A simple reading checklist

When the novel lands, read past the hook and ask five plain questions.

1. Is consent explicit and consistent, not just declared once.
   
2. Does the younger protagonist make choices that move the plot.
   
3. Are money, career stage, and social power acknowledged on the page.
   
4. Is the age gap a catalyst rather than a crutch.
   
5. Does the book avoid purity bait and build real interior lives.
   

If most answers are yes, the device is doing honest work. If not, the issue is not cute versus cringe. It is weak craft masked as controversy.

Bottom line

Right now we have a blurb and a reaction. Name the marketing for what it is, then reserve judgment for the pages. 12 Years: My Messed-up Love Story will either meet a basic standard of storytelling or it will not. Either way, let the review be about the work.

Join our community WhatsApp group to be part of more such engaging discussions every Friday.