Category: Fiction

Name: Sometimes It Happens

Author: Karan Sharma

Publisher: Srishti Publishers & Distributors

Blurb: What happens when two adults with a vast age difference fall in love?

Gautam is a twenty-five-year-old upcoming professional and Roshni a senior management member working in the same multinational bank. More than a decade apart in age, they cannot help but feel attracted towards each other.

However, can two people with such a vast age difference be compatible?

Sometimes It Happens explores the fun and turmoil as they fall in love, get laughed at by their friends and then develop cold feet, thinking about the repercussions their age difference could have on their relationship.

They say love is blind. So will two smart professionals decide to listen to their hearts or will they listen to their mind to avert what may be the biggest blunder of their lives?

 

My review

Sometimes It Happens is a romantic fiction written by battle-hardened businessman cum author Mr. Karan Sharma. The story is beautifully written by the author and very well narrated. Love has no boundaries, not even age. This a common saying in every language and this book justifies this fact to the extreme.

The plot of this story revolves around Gautam and Roshni where they are facing hurdles in their love-life due to their age difference. This is a tale of various relationships and their level of acceptance, sincerity and believing. Through this story, the author points out that how badly other people’s opinion influence us and we often make a decision according to that and they will eventually prove to be a blunder in our life.

The story accounts the firm role of typical society in our lives. often we make decisions based on fear to go above the so-called society mannerisms and eventually drifts our lives in its after-effects. This love story is based on an unofficial taboo structured by Indian society. This is the best thing I like about this plot. Big hats off to the author for his courage to come up with this kind of plot and a justifiable storyline.

This the best thing I like about writing, creating a positive impact with your writing which will surely make waves.

Highlights

*The way, the love has been explained between two individuals of different age groups absolutely beautiful.

*The story is narrated in a perfectly smooth manner till the end.

*All the characters included seems to very relevant, relatable and developed.

*It is a very short read and complete in one sitting. But sadly the cover didn’t appeal me much. The cover design has to be more creative to catch the eyes of readers.

*A special mention goes to the writing style of the author which and narrated the story in a perfect manner.

Rating: 4/5

Name: My Aadhar is My Identity

Author: Shabana Mukhtar

My Aadhar is My Identity is a humorous tale of an Aadhar enrolment. Manohar Lal who is described as a patriotic Indian is facing numerous hurdles during the process of his Aadhar enrolment. This is partially due to his laziness and unwillingness to accept a change. Eventually, he is facing many problems along with continuing discussions on the safety of Aadhar.

At once, many people faced this situation when the government proposed the Aadhar enrolment as a mandatory measure. Most people hurried to get their newly implemented unique identity. But some hesitates and this is the story of that some people.

The author has done a commendable job on writing a good piece of short story which is partly fiction and partly real life experiences.

As the story unfolds, the emotion which the author tried to express is fear. The fear of Manohar Lal on his losing identity. This drives the story further.

Overall it is a good short read which is narrated in a simple style

Rating 3.5/5

Money Money: How demonetization changed our lives

This is the story of 4 girls whose lives were suddenly drifted due to the announcement of demonetization in India. These 4 girls come from 4 different corners of the country and have their own unique features. Throughout the story, these unique characteristics of them are emphasized properly in detailing the story. The long queues and frenzy for withdrawing the cash is an experience which so many of us have. The fear of being a cash-less in a single day is the emotion explored in this story. The story is narrated as a blog post written by one of the characters.

However, some character development and continuation of the story are missing on certain points. At certain points, it feels that it is purposefully lengthened and it needs some editing to omit recurring monologues.

Overall the author tried to express the situation many of the people faced during demonetization with a pinch of humor.

Rating 3/5

Name: A Drizzle in the Desert

Author: P C Balasubramanian

Publishers: Inkstate books, Leadstart publishers

Pages: 232

Genre: Fiction

Blurb: Abhi has no reasons to complain – he lives in the Land of the Dreams, the United States of America. He is working in a large retail conglomerate and has the trust and respect of his management. He is being offered the opportunity to set up India operations for the company. His best friend from IIT is his colleague. He is married to the girl he loves. And he has an angel for a daughter. And yet, he suddenly finds his life spiraling down. His wife Anjali suspects him of having an affair with his bestie, Deepali, who is undergoing marital problems. And she does not like Abhi’s father Sundaram dedicating his life to an unrelated person Vasudevan – a man whom even Abhi loves like a father. Abhi is also burdened by a request – Vasu’s last wish that Sundaram hopes Abhi will be able to fulfill. Will Abhi be able to fulfill it? Will Anjali understand and accept him? Will Deepali find happiness? Will there be a drizzle in the desert, will life bring back the lost happiness.

My review

“A Drizzle in the Desert” is a good family drama with a pinch of romance, affection, and friendship. The story mainly revolves around the protagonist Abhishek “Abhi” Sundaram. He has a perfect life that everyone longs for- a high profile job in the USA, being married to the girl whom he loves for seven years, a toddler loving daughter. But this picture-perfect life of Abhi takes a rift after his company agreed to start their new office in Indian with Abhi as its head. Anjali likes to stay in the USA and don’t want to move back to India, but Abhi loves this idea because he wants to rekindle his relationship with his father. The situation becomes worse when Deepali, Abhi’s best friend and classmate joins with him as a colleague. Deepali is married to Karthik and they are suffering from some marital problems. Abhi reaches out a helping hand to her unknowingly creates problems in his life. This act of kindness leads Anjali suspecting him of having an affair with his best friend affair. Abhi’s father Sundaram has dedicated his life to the care and service to his friend Vasudevan and this further complicates Anjali’s misconceptions. Vasudevan is also expecting a favor from Abhi too. How Abhi sort out this ever-growing complication in his family is the rest of the story.

Highlights

$The beauty of relationships- between wife and husband, between father and son, between friends, between boss and employees, between colleagues- is portrayed very well throughout the story.

$The relationship, I personally like is between Abhi and his father Sundaram. A son who wants to reconnect with his father, who has been separated by the distance and a father who completely understands and believes in his son.

$The story is well crafted with a good amount of character development. The author certainly has a convincing narrative style.

$Language of the story becomes bit conversational on certain points which take away the soul of plot sometimes.

$The title and cover apt for the plot, however it can be made something more creative. The guy with his open hands and facing a desert hoping for a drizzle is what exactly covers the whole story.

$A small act of kindness is all we need in our life and this will sometimes feel as a drizzle in the desert. The author has expressed this idea very beautifully through an engaging family drama.

Overall it is a good read with an unexpected twist and turns and a satisfying epilogue.

Rating 4/5

 

 

Name- Just Missed

Author- Himanshu Bhatia

Publisher; Petals Publishers

Genre- Fiction
Blurb: While we try to arrange marriages by matching horoscopes and compatibilities, we forget at times that “marriages are made in heaven”. We all love to say that Bollywood romantic movies are silly and that they go overboard in their depiction of love, we actually secretly fantasize to be characters in them. Siddharth Gupta (lovingly called Sid) is an ISB alumnus, who is an ambitious perfectionist. He wants to go up the corporate ladder at a faster pace than his age and is doing pretty well. In his matrimonial search, Sid meets Shreya Malhotra, who herself is an IIM graduate and very career oriented. He finds Shreya the epitome of the “Beauty with Brains” tag and develops a crush on her almost instantly. Shreya and Sid are going steady towards what looks like a ‘soon to be married’ state, but when has life been that simple! On her way to Bangkok for her friend’s bachelorette party, Shreya meets Shivam Malhotra, an IITian, with a living flirting tiger inside him. While Shivam’s cheesy lines ignite hatred in Shreya, it’s only the beginning of a story that doesn’t end in Thailand. “Just Married Missed!” is the journey of a practically arranged crush, chased by crazy filmy love

My review

“Just missed” is a contemporary love triangle connecting Siddharth Gupta (lovingly called Sid), Shreya Malhotra and Shivam Malhotra. The author Himanshu Bhatia has done a commendable job by penning down a good romance story which is a very light read with a satisfactory ending.

A notable feature of this book is obviously its cover. Instead of giving an ordinary title as “Just Missed”, the word “Married” is depicted as intentionally cut off and the guy standing with eyes of hope, looking towards the girl. The blurry image of the girl is quite unique though. This will surely raise the question “what happened between them?” and then the story begins. The story is a combination of friendship, love, parent –children bonding and the dilemma of taking decisions. The language is simple and easy which helps every reader to connect with the characters.

The story also explores how Indian parents hunt the spouse for their children and how their thoughts and wishes impact on the life of their own children. The characters are developed well enough which is also a plus point. There is only a limited number of characters in this story. The author connected these characters so well to move forward the plot with quite an easiness. Pictorial representation of every scene is another plus point, especially the emotions, be it dilemma of Shreya about her feelings, love of parents, feelings of Shivam, crave for love, sacrifice, betrayal, ups and downs of relationships, everything is portrayed as picture-perfect.

The touch of sarcastic humor throughout the story gives a smooth flow which indeed helps the reader to engage with the plot. Initially, the story has been set in Delhi but as it progresses it covers a wide range of places like Gurgaon, Bangalore, Mumbai, Thailand, Amritsar, Goa, Jaipur, Tirupati, Paris.
Overall this book will give a roller-coaster ride of a Bollywood flick which will satisfy everyone’s, romantic heart.

Rating: 3.5/5

Name: Men and Dreams in the Dhauladhar

Author: Kochery C. Shibu

Publisher: Niyogi Books; First edition (3 August 2015)

Paperback: 284 pages

Language: English

Blurb: A Hydel project in the remote Himalayas- three people brought together by fate.
Nanda an engineer from Kerala at the dam construction site, hiding from his past, from the law, torn between the love for his dear ones, and the Kalari code of revenge.
Khusru, a youth displaced from his native village in Kashmir, a gambit in the terror plot that threatens to blow up the dam, working as a labourer at the site. Rekha, a Kathak dancer at heart, a doctor by profession, arrives at the campsite as the consort of Khusru. A village that accepts the dictates of modernity with a heavy heart, its population steeped in superstitions and religious beliefs.

All throng the campsite like moths to a flame, some escape untouched, successful; some miss a step and perish. each has a story to tell and a dream to realize. Men and Dreams in the Dhauladhar are about the aspirations of these people, with their cares and worries woven to the site life. The fury of nature and hardships of project life have no mercy for the weak and no time for the dead.
Like an eternal spectator, the Dhauladhar watches as men risk their lives and limb in the quest to fulfill their dreams.

My review

For every book I read, the first thing I notice will be its cover and the title font.  This title cover shows the beautiful Himalayan mountain range and being a travel wanderlust, it strikes me very hard. Because of this appealing cover, I always picked it to read and re-read so many times.

The story revolves around three main characters Nanda, Khusru, and Rekha. Nanda is an engineer from Kerala who comes to Dhauladhar for supervising a dam construction on the Dhalaudhar mountain range. Khusru is a Kashmiri who is a part of a terrorist group which is planning to blow up the dam. For that purpose, he joins at the construction site disguised as a laborer. Rekha  is a doctor and a classical dancer who is in search of an ideal match for herself. All these 3 protagonists meet at a certain point in the novel. The rest of the story revolves around the problems they’re facing as their lives intervene with each other

Men and dreams in Dhauladhar is a character-driven book, because the author Kochery C Shibu, has invested a lot of effort to develop each and every character to the fullest. The aspirations, the dreams, the thoughts, the background of all main characters are given in vast detail. It is one of the best quality of a book I personally like. The book opens with the travel of the protagonist Nanda to the construction site. From the first chapter, the book is written in a way to create suspicion and mysteriousness in the character. Thus the book kicks off promisingly to every reader and does keep the entertainment graph high throughout the book.

One-third of this book covers the technicalities of building a dam and I liked those parts very much because of my engineering background. Technical fiction is one of the genres most of the authors feared to engage because it only appeals certain group of people from a particular technical background. But here the author mixed this technical fiction with an accurate formula that makes it readable to all the kinds of readers.  Also, being a Keralite, I loved the description of Kerala and the family backgrounds of the protagonist Nanda.

Another notable quality of the book is it has large number of supporting characters.  But the author cleverly has woven all their lives with the beautiful regional description of their home and dreams, goals which makes the story a full circle.

Overall, the book is well planned and well written which is worth your time.

My rating: 3.5/5

Name- DareDreamers: A Start-up of Superheroes

Authors- Kartik Sharma, Ravi Nirmal Sharma

Genre- Fiction, Adventure

Pages- 288

Publisher: Rupa Publications

Blurb: India’s first start-up of superheroes with a mission of saving lives is here to kick ass.
Rasiq is riding the highs of life thanks to his successes as an investment banker. But his arrogance soon gets the better of him and he ends up losing everything he holds dear. Managing to salvage only his grit from the wreckage, Rasiq reboots his life and teams up with five uniquely talented superheroes to start a rescue venture
– DareDreamers.

These superheroes Nick: a crazy inventor; Halka: an inhumanly strong man; Arjun: a champion shooter; Natasha: a Bollywood stunt-double; Dr. Vyom, a medical Sherlock Holmes; and, of course, Rasiq: the mastermind combine their unique talents to deliver spectacular rescue operations. Their skyrocketing success, however, comes at a price an enemy hell-bent on tearing down their fame and reputation.

Will DareDreamers defeat its wily adversary? Or will it become yet another failed start-up?
Treachery, action, and adventure come alive to make DareDreamers a page-turner.

My Review: Before turning the first page of every book, I will always examine the cover and the blurb given in the back cover. These two things always should appeal the reader to take that book and read. So in this point of view, “Daredreamers” perfectly adhere to the plot and sincere to its blurb!. A special mention goes to the father-son duo who penned this interesting read

The protagonist Rasiq has a lucrative job which everyone in his age group eyes for. But the fat check at the end of the month given at the prize of all his time. This grueling job nearly kills his life and he resigned his job to achieve something which has value more than money. This character is an absolute reflection of every one of us. Every fresh-out college graduate aims only higher and higher packages of money only. The higher the package you got, the more success you’re and of course vice-versa!! I know this because I’m also lived in these situations. The high money package always comes with high workload because nothing will be free ever in our life. It is obvious that everyone who has joined in this rat-race feels numb at a point in their life. Most of them I know just go on with their job because of personal and professional commitments. But when comes to a film or a book, the plot-twister will grab the attention of readers from here.

Creation is about diversity.

So Rasiq launches a start-up with a unique idea of rescuing those who were in danger and named it “Daredreamers”.Like the name, the team behind the venture is the people who dare to dream which every other finds impossible. This team consists of Nick – a crazy inventor, Halka – a strongman, Arjun – a champion shooter, Natasha – a Bollywood stunt double and Dr. Vyom – a medical Sherlock Holmes and the mastermind Rasiq. But of course, how a story becomes interesting without a villain? Rapid success and fame is the dream everyone eyes. The success will always come with a prize and without obstacles, there will be no improvement so far. Rasiq has to battle with his revelries in this field to save the team from being a failed start-up. How the villainous force rift the lives of this team and will they able to overcome these trouble? The rest of the story answers the question.

My life in this urban jungle feels like that hare in the race with the tortoise.

Highlights

$This is not less than a thriller and surely surprise every reader with a unique plot.

$ All the characters are well developed and has there own space in the story

$ Very interesting naming of characters: A mixture of modernity and traditionality is applied to brought uniqueness in names such as Rasiq (instead of Rasik), Rakeysh or Halka.

$ Writing is simple and lucid with lots of twists and turns

$ A twisted tale of hare and tortoise welcomes you at the first page and this surely indicates how the thought of author(s) twisted a common tale to an interesting read

$ Motivating punchlines

Overall the father-son duo has managed to come up with a very interesting read which will satisfy any kind of readers.

Rating: 4/5

The book ‘If God Was a Banker’ is a nice little corporate story. It was written in simple language and can be like one in the genre of Chetan Bhagat’s books. The story mainly revolves around two characters, Swami and Sundeep who works at New York International bank. Both are IIM graduates and they joined at the bank same day. We could say that Swami is the epitome of humbleness and honesty. But Sundeep is just opposite to Swami. Sundeep aspires to be successful in much shorter time and he is cunning for achieving it. But he hides his true personality behind a nice little mask. Because of that, he got promotions also. Swami was just opposite to this and he fails in this race initially. The question is, will the evil always win at the end? No. Sundeep eventually gets punishment but there is a good suspense element was awaiting for readers at the end. It was worth of time and a good read. The end of the tale takes all credit.
Furthermore, the author was good at depicting the Banker life and job circumstances. I can much relate to this story because we all have an ambitious heart. But unscrupulous means and dishonesty never win. The way you walk to the success is equally important.
Rating: 4/5