Book: Parrot Under the Pine Tree - A Mental Trip to Kausani

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Title:  Parrot Under the Pine Tree

Author: Surendra Pratap Singh

Publisher: Invincible Publisher

Pages: 252

Price: Rs. 240

My Rating: 3/5

Blurb:

Parrot under the Pine Tree is the powerful expression of love. In the girl's heart; it's subtle, sublime and eternal. But in the boy's heart; it's earthy, insecure and restless. The anxiety brings the two young hearts close. In the clean and tranquil environs of Kausani, Vedanta inadvertently meets Saranga under bizarre circumstances and both fall in love with each other. But Alas! Their happiness doesn't last long. On one fateful night of temptation, the storm that blows up not only consumes his heart and soul, but also shreds that of Saranga into pieces. On insistence of her grandma Saranga agrees to give a second chance to a repentant Vedanta. But misgivings remain in her heart. Will Kausani rework the magic again between the estranged couple?

Review:

Some people are meant to be together, but what they do later is totally up to them - this is the theme of the book.

The story revolves around Vedanta (aka Ved) and Saranga (aka Sara). Ved meets Sara in a small village known as Kausani and immediately falls in love. Things turn out well for them, they get married and are blessed with a beautiful boy, Dhruv. However, their marriage starts to fail and Ved -our so called loving hero- betrays Sara and cheat on her. The story takes a full U-turn from there and focuses on rebuilding their relationship. I wont reveal what happens next...you have to read it yourself. Sshh!

One of the best thing about this book is narration. Author has so wonderfully and vividly portrayed the beauty of Kausani that you feel like you are actually there. 

Characters of Ved and Sare are built well but there are too many side-characters which don't really serve the purpose. They feel like a distraction.

What I didn't like about the book is adultery (yes, it was the core of the story, but it was a turnoff for me). Too many characters kind of irritated me. Also, at times there is so much narration that story starts lacking. I agree narration is well written but it is an overdose.

Overall it is a pretty good read and I would recommend it to every romance reader. 

You can grab your copy at below link:

Love and Cheers

Book - Karma: A quick ride of Paranormal

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Title:  Karma - The Insta Read

Author: Kevin Missal

Publisher: Kalamos Literary Services

Pages: 88

Price: Rs. 99

My Rating: 3.5/5

Review:

This is my first of two: first Insta Read (and as can be seen on cover, it is also the first of the world 😉) and my first paranormal romance. When Kalamos offered me this book to review, my first question was, 'what is Insta Read'. Well, it is bigger than a pocket book, but smaller than a novella. Which makes it interesting.

Talking about the story, it is pretty interesting and engrossing. From start to end. Perfect thriller and mystery. The end is pretty surprising. It revolves around two characters, Karman and his dead wife, Urvi. What makes it interesting is the fact how all others are linked.

It touches upon the various issues of society like love, betrayal, rape, religion etc. I liked reading the book, but there are a few things I didn't like and could have been improved. To start with, the narration could have been much better. I understand the purpose was to write a quick story, but it shouldn't be at cost of narration. Also the end was a bit abrupt. And, the editing could have been much better. There are no mistakes as such, but writing could have been much polished.

Overall, it is a nice read and I liked it. I hope Kalamos will take care of narration in the next edition.Love and Cheers

Words Watch #5

#WordsWatch  #HindiShayri

वो कहती है, अब तुम निभाते नहीं हो,

मैंने भी कह दिया, अब तुम पहले की तरह चाहते नहीं हो ...!!

P.S.: authored by my father-in-law, who is an excellent hindi shayar. Please do leave your views :)

Interesting Facts #4

#SomeInterestingFacts

Apples are 25% air.

No wonder they make you burp. LOL!

Book: The Highway Man - 3 power-packed short stories.

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Title:  The Highway Man: Short Stories

Author: J Alchem

Publisher: Kindle Ebook

Pages: 49

Price: Rs. 46

My Rating: 4.5/5

Blurb:

The whole world is upside down. People are walking in the sky with the ground moving above their heads. And the reason is simple; a bestselling author is in love. But why the whole world is inverted? What's so special about this love? Or worse?

A man throws his masculine brain and heart aside and fixes a feminine one there. And the reason is simple; he wants to live the life of his lover, for 24 hours. But why does he want to do that? What's the need?

A man, neatly dressed in a suit, is playing with his bowler hat, on a highway at dawn. And the reason is simple; he needs a lift. But why does he need a lift? What's his purpose?

Review:

This ebook is a very quick read, and believe it or not these 46 pages consist of 3 power-packed short stories.

Let me break down each one for you:

1. Catherine: a brilliantly written story about a best selling author who is in love with his own fictional character. It is a rather quick and well described story. What intrigued me about this story was the end. I loved it.

2. Sidzy; for a day: a simple story of love and passion. It narrates how a man can surprise his woman and repay her for everything by just one loving kind gesture. It is nice, but honestly, I liked this one least (well if I have to compare).

3. The Highway Man: A nice story with sad beginning and happy ending. It is story of loss and tragedy, and is written in way that initially you want to kill the lead for being so selfish. But later you understand his pain. 

Overall it is a very good read and I strongly recommend it everyone. I loved it. And you can grab your copy below:

Love and Cheers

Book - It Ain't College, It's War!: Relive College Drama

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Title:  It Ain't College, It's War!

Author: Subhodeep Mukherjee

Publisher: Notion Press

Pages: 386

Price: Rs. 350

My Rating: 2.75/5

Blurb:

What happens when an engineering college fresher:

• confronts his violent seniors on the first day of ragging? 

• tries to woo a beautiful senior who has a nasty boyfriend? 

• is heart-broken when his past causes his break-up with the girl he loves?

• goes boozing for the first time?

• is involved in a bloody inter-hostel rivalry with dire consequences?

In his debut novel, It Ain’t College, It’s War! (Book 1 of the It Ain’t trilogy), Subhodeep Mukherjee tells the story of Rahul Arora, an outspoken Delhi boy with a devil-may-care attitude that always gets him in trouble. 

Amidst the politically charged atmosphere of his college and his many adventures, Rahul seeks true love, friendship and a job. Will he manage to find balance in his life? Will he make peace with his teachers, classmates, seniors and father and find what he is looking for or will his attitude get the better of him?

Loosely based on true events and also touching on various social issues, this book explores the meaning of love, friendship and career as seen through the eyes of the narrator and protagonist, Rahul Arora.

Review:

The cover says it all, by looking at it we can expect what it holds. And it holds the story of Rahul Arora and his college and hostel days.

The story  sounds interesting in prologue and it is fine till mid. But post that, for me it just drifted apart. Got really monotonous and made me feel that it is nothing but a college story.

Hostel life and ragging part is hilarious. I finally got to know what my husband says about hostels of Engineering colleges. If they all are as author has narrated in the book, then they are real fun.

Characters are finely depicted. There have been times when I felt real pity for Rahul and there were times when really irritated (how can someone be so lame, duh!)

Twists and turns are fine as well, however, more or less expected.

Overall it is a decent book but it does have some cons. What I really didn't like about the book is the flow and narration. It needs much more polishing. I felt story was dragged at times and sentencing needs more maturity.

I read it till the end and unfortunately it couldn't take me to another world (which is the expectation when reading a book). Sadly, my review to the book is 2.75/5 (An Okay-okay read).

If you want to relive college life, you can give it a try as well.

Love and Cheers

Happy Mother's Day

Book: We Decided on Forever - Love, Relationship and Teenage Drama

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Title:  We Decided on Forever

Author: Nida Ahmed

Publisher: Kalamos Literary Services

Pages: 202

Price: Rs. 149

My Rating: 3/5

Blurb:

What if your life end up like the lyrics of a song? What would you do? What if all you could think of is about the one you gave your heart to? Would you swing to the 'let's move one side' or wait for your 'magical' moment? Alfisha was a regular happy-go- lucky Delhi girl. The only thing extraordinary about her was her devotional love towards Rayan, her Ravz. But would loving someone so close yet so far away be enough for them? Is -LOVE- the only ingredient to a -Happily Ever After

Review:

The title is intriguing and the cover looks very soothing. Even the inside cover of the book is good -reminded me of J.K. Rowling. Out of all the books I have read so far, only she has her image on inside cover and now Nida has too. :) Very good attempt by Kalamos.

Talking about book, while reading it I remembered my school and college days. I hardly know a person who hasn't met a crush on Orkut/Facebook. But in this case, the lead in book Alfisha meets her true love, Rayan, on fb. They meet, fall in love and it is epic but there are complications, like always. And those complications and challenges are the ones that author has penned down in the book.

What I liked is that the story is very simple and soothing. You can totally relate to everything a person goes through in a relationship. The essence of love is also beautifully portrayed.

Characters - of Alfisha is finely defined but not of everyone else. At places names are just thrown out and left me wondering - now who is that? Even Rehan and Rayan caused some confusion, at first I thought that author wrote Rayan's name wrong, only later I realised they are two people -LOL.

Talking about weird part - On two occasions Alfisha faints and is admitted to a hospital. I wonder which hospital admits a twelfth standard girl for blood and glucose (separate occasions) and does not call her parents. And how can the girl afford? 

There are few more but one can let go of them as a part of story. But this hospital one made me like really?

What I didn't like about the book is how in general girls are portrayed. 'I am a boy, main sambhal lunga, par tum...' - this is mentioned twice and it is too bad that girls in general are portrayed in such weak manner. I understand the love part but I felt it was too much. Anyways, Alfisha is only in twelfth in the story, maybe girls that age are so naive. :|

At times story was a little too dragged and narration was missing. But dialogues kept moving and conversations between leads was cheeky and interesting.

There were some spelling mistakes which can be corrected in next edition and ignored.

My overall rating to the book is 3/5 (Its good)

It is a quick entertaining read. And you can grab your copy below.

Love and Cheers

Being Mom #1

#BabyDiaries

Please share your opinions on same.

Love and Cheers

Words Watch #4

#WordsWatch  #HindiShayri

बेचैनियॉ बाज़ार में, नहीं मिला करती यारों,

बॉटने वाला, कोई अपना नज़दीकी होता है...!!

P.S.: authored by my father-in-law, who is an excellent hindi shayar. Please do leave your views :)

Getting Rid of 'LaunchPage.Org' Virus

#HowTo  #SelfHelp

Last week I started noticing that my chrome was bouncing me to various search engines. It was very irritating.

I looked everywhere, I thought maybe I have installed these weird extensions accidentally but it was whole other problem. Apparently a virus called 'launchpage.org' had crept in my laptop and was infecting my browsers. I have a very strong anti-virus in my laptop and believe me this is the first time any virus had broken its firewall. I was worried.

I looked up for solution but every time I was ending up with another risk.

Some wanted me to touch my operating system's files (which is very risky) and some wanted me to install some new softwares, which was another risk. So I did couple of things. Followed multiple steps, used some common sense and got rid of the stupid virus.

Below are the simple steps I followed.

It really helped me and I hope it helps you too.

And please do share your views on same.

Love and Cheers

Book: RAFFLESIA The Banished Princess - Not Just a Fairy Tale

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Title:  RAFFLESIA The Banished Princess

Author: Gautam

Publisher: Leadstart Publishers

Pages: 398

Price: Rs. 395

My Rating: 3.5/5

Blurb:

The curtains draw up. Lights are dimmed. The musical is about to begin. As the beautiful princess descends on stage, the mythical creatures from her kingdom come alive. Flickers of brilliant colours

blaze across as mesmerizing music pulsates from one corner of the theatre to the other. A fairy tale is about to unfold…

As young children, we often come across things that stay in our hearts forever. For Appu, it is a fairy tale about a beautiful princess.He lives with her in a world filled with the magical creatures from her kingdom until the real world beckons. A reluctant Appu steps into it as a striking young man and struggles to find his place.

What follows is an evocative tale of love and loss, friendship and betrayal, as the story travels through the snow-peaked mountains of Arunachal to the golden deserts of Jaisalmer, the tulip gardens of

Holland to the lush greens of Kerala. Does Appu find what he had set out for? The answer lies in Rafflesia — The Banished Princess because in her story, lay his!

Review:

The cover doesn't justify the tale book holds. By looking at cover I thought maybe it is a story of a girl, her struggles etc. but actually it is much more than that. 

The book is a story of a male i.e. Appu and although name suggests like a 'fairy tale' but it doesn't seem like a fairy tale to me, instead it is more of a story of his losses, struggles and every step of life. 

What I liked about the book is the detailed description of every aspect. The author has done a wonderful job in explaining everything with grave detail. 

However, at times it did get slight boring as I wanted to read what happened next -its positive point as well because author has written such an amazing story that it grips you and makes you curious.

The characterization is wonderful and well connected. Very few books develop characters so well.

What I didn't like are two things:

1. The story is rather slow... as said, at times narration got boring and I wanted to get on. There are certain aspect of storyline that are dragged out too. 

2. The book has grammatical mistakes. But I am sure author will take care of it in next edition.

Overall the book is a decent read and my rating for it is 3.5/5 (i.e. a pretty decent book).

Hope you find it same too.

You can grab your copy at:

Love and Cheers