Amina Thajudeen Book Review, Fiction, Young-Adult

Anticipation by J.N. Eagles | Review

Anticipation is a novelette length story that follows the ups and downs of Briana and Dillon’s relationship. When Dillon plans a special night together on his boat, he’s actually planning to ask her to take the next step in their relationship. The evening doesn’t go as smoothly as he hoped, and his question isn’t exactly what Briana had expected.

Title: Anticipation

Author: J.N. Eagles

Pages:55

My review

A slowly unwinding romance that feels like a cool breeze from the scenic secluded beach.

This story touched the bottom of my heart and lingered there reluctant to leave for so much time. I could not turn the last page without dissolving into tears. It was that much filled with emotion. True to the title, anticipation is a beautiful slice of romance. With each taste, it will cover you in the eternal feeling of love.

I could not emphasize more on the beauty of writing in this novelette. It is accurate, structured without dragging any emotions too much and progressing at a steady pace. The author has poured her magic through very few words. It is hard to believe that she had weaved a beautiful tale without losing the intensity inside this novelette. This is a perfect example of craft and talent.

Dillon and Briana lives among us. Their love is true and deep. They hit few dead ends, but eventually their love prevails amidst all odds. It bonds two hearts into one. Their relationship has ups and downs. They have their indifference. But both of them know one thing beyond any doubt- they are meant to be together. This is the heart of this story. I loved the characters and how the story was framed.

Amina Thajudeen Book Review, Fiction, Memoirs, Self-Help, short story

My happily ever after by Sanjay Sharma| Book review

Title: My happily ever after 

Author: Sanjay Sharma

Blurb

Keshav is a small-town guy, who lands up in Delhi for his engineering degree in a well-known college. The twist in his tale is – he does not want to be an engineer. He wants to be an author. When fate brings him face to face with Aditi, he is stumped by her beauty and heavenly voice. Like him, her dreams lie elsewhere. She aspires to be a singer, and not an engineer.

They bond over their dreams and passion, and a deep bond is forged. But just when things are going great between the two, a turning point pulls them apart. While she leaves him to pursue her dreams, he plunges into depression and anxiety.
My Happily Ever After is a heartwarming tale of electrifying friendships, life-altering dreams, and everlasting love which will motivate you to live the life of your dreams.

My review

Romance stories always bring calm and gratitude to everyone’s heart because it is a story that we can relate to. The peace that they pour to our hearts is unmatchable. Keshav and Aditi’s love story is indeed a beautiful one. It is also narrated passionately. Everyone can pick up this book and read them without any hassles.

I must say, it is not an entirely a love story. I liked this plot very much because it is more relatable to our lives. We all are trapped and living a life that others want to. We have dreams and we bury them because of unbearable stress and expectations. But some will stand straight until they achieve their dreams. This is the story of that someone.

An inspiring read indeed. The simple yet powerful language is the biggest plus point. Overall a good and nice story.
Rating:4/5

Amina Thajudeen Book Review, Fiction, Indian Authors, Indian Mythology

Queen of Hearts by P.G. Van

51M8+o4J2oL.jpg

  • Title: Queen of Hearts
  • Author: P.G. Van
  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • Print Length: 223 pages
  • Buy now: Amazon

Blurb

Waking up in a strange place and not remembering anything, not even her name, she remembers him, not as her husband as she is told, but something about him seems familiar!

Why does her mind remember only him and nothing else?

In an unexpected change of circumstances, he has to bring her home as his wife. She becomes vital for him to close a deal, and he needs to make her believe she is his wife until the contract is finalized on his dream project.

What happens when the temporary set-up starts to seem real for him?

When she realizes what he had done, will he still be able to hold on to her?

My review

“Queen of Hearts: An Indian billionaire romance” by P.G Van is a typical romance story with the pinch of suspense throughout. From the title of the book, it is evident that, the story will be something filled with cheesy and steamy romance. But the blurb truly excites me to dive right into the book. It is because they’ve given a good blurb with a hint of suspense. I really liked it. The strength of this story is it is woven on the strong plot. The plot is somewhat seen in typical Bollywood films but I felt this plot is strong. The characters are framed well for a romance story. The usual anti-hero image at the beginning for the protagonist. His character changes to a good one because of the influence of female lead so and so. Every romance novel is filled with a turn and twist towards the end of the story and here also no escape from that. But overall, this novel gives a good reading experience. Altogether it is an easy to read and recommended for all romance lovers.

Amina Thajudeen Book Review, Fiction, Indian Authors

An Unmatched Couple’s Misfit Relationship by Biswajit Mishra

44318939.jpg

Title: An Unmatched Couple’s Misfit Relationship

Author: Biswajit Mishra

Pages: 260 pages

Blurb: All the time she hoped and dreamed of a better tomorrow in her life in a span of six years. Her experiences both good and bad; the man, the mind and the moral… where, repeatedly she failed, woke up and then moved on.
Paayesha, solely grows with the time, experiences multiple affairs, extensively pulling out her inner persona to face the reality, and finally, she leads by conquering her insight while finding the literal tranquility, and reflects a moral… “Accept what it comes and dare to face, not always that comes what we expect.”
Even she went deep through the life to realize, “the time, the reality and the present are the factual ingredients for the life, rest everything virtual, an unseen mirage…!”

She realized four men in a span of five years. While in the search of the fifth man on her sixth year, what she expects, and finally accepts..? Is that a fortuitous Paayesha finally impounded felicitous?

It would be a favorite stuff in a single gulp, for anyone, whoever had experienced a break-up at least once in a lifetime.

My review

“Once loved, once married, once in extramarital; Paayesha didn’t drown. Still, she hopes to excel, even if in the deep ocean, she learned to live with the third side of the coin.”

-Biswajit Mishra (An Unmatched Couple’s Misfit Relationship)

An Unmatched Couple’s Misfit Relationship: Experience a love, never experiment a Break-up by Biswajit Mishra is an interesting tale of Paayesha when she sails through a course of life’s ups and down. Two things surprised me when I started reading this book. First one is it has a female lead because how often you came across a female lead in romance fiction particularly in Indian literature? Surprisingly the author has quite beautifully portrayed the female lead’s emotions, thoughts, and her decisions.

The second thing is this is not a predictable romantic story as I thought of, because at the end you never get that beautiful fairytale ending as we’ve seen in a lot of Bollywood movies. As a female lead, the growth of Paayesha’s character over the pages is so satisfying. The story of Paayesha’s love and breakups started right from college. Paayesha’s first love Abhishek abandoned her because he didn’t have the courage to confront his mother about his relationship. Once Payeesha came out from her depression, she slowly started moving ahead with her job and career and eventually get married to a guy whom her parents arranged for. She eventually realized he is impotent and moved out. In her office, she found solace from her friend Rishav who was like a breeze in a desert to her. But Rishav too wasn’t really good for her. But Rishav has a secret that he was hiding from her for a long time. He actually asks her one thing back for all the support and comfort he has given for her. What will be it? How she will manage this situation? The main crux of the story revolves around this thread.

I absolutely loved the way of writing of the author. The beauty of writing is the one main thing which made me hold to this book until the end. The diary entries of Rishav’s are absolutely straight from the heart. The emotions are conveyed through the words. This quality solely makes this book a good read. This is a fast-paced story which doesn’t give too much time on unimportant characters. I really liked this fast-paced method of storytelling, because it really helped the story from being monotonous and dragged at certain points.

The portrayal of depression and true heart-breaks are my favorite parts from the narrative perspective. Because it is an unlikely subject in romance fiction and it truly decided the author’s ability to convey emotions. The author has portrayed the female lead from a fragile young girl to a career focused- strong women. Truly her journey to womanhood is very heart-touching. The story also pays attention to the orthodox society which we all are lives in. The strong messages like this are inevitable to change the perspectives of society in things like marriage, life, and divorce.

Altogether it is a refreshing story which offers a handful of new thoughts before you close the last page.

Rating: 4/5

Amina Thajudeen Book Review, Fiction, Indian Authors

Bestseller by Ahmed Faiyaz

Title: Bestseller
Author: Ahmed Faiyaz
Publishers: Rupa Publications
Print Length: 196 pages

Blurb: Akshay Saxena, an out of work editor of a defunct literary magazine in the UK, is told to move to India for a year to help shore up the value of Kalim, an ailing Indian publisher.
Akshay finds himself in a job where he has to do the impossible. Angus Lee, the new owner of Thomson Lee Books, wants at least five bestsellers in the coming year, failing which the business would be wound up.
He has to find a way of making a success out of books he would never publish or would never even read. To complicate things further, he has to contend with motley crew of has-beens and misfits working for the publishing house as well as wannabe writers, dealing with their follies and derisive tactics, and battle his own affections for Zorah Kalim, the impulsive daughter of his former boss.
Will he succeed in bringing out that one ‘bestseller’ from his publishing house? And what about his own life and love in office? Find out in this riveting read.

img_20190223_073937.jpg

My Review

The story revolves around Akshay Saxena, who is recently returned to India after he has been fired from his job in the UK. He joins ailing Kalim publications as an editor in a mission to revive its fortunes. As an editor, he is thrown to an almost an impossible challenge of producing 5 best sellers in a year. Gradually this challenge changes Akshay from an honest editor to a manipulative and cunning editor who is determined to achieve his goals. How and what transforms him back to being a honest one is the backbone of the plot.

This book really gives an insight into the drama behind publishing books. How they are manipulating books to make them well-intended bestsellers, deserving or not.
This is a very interesting book solely because of its plot. The author has picked up a subject which is almost untouched for years. Using his remarkable ability to craft good stories, he turned this plot into an engaging one. This “bestseller” has the ability to become a bestseller. It is quite an irony that a book which is dealing with writing and publishing become a “bestseller”. The thing which got me fascinated is, how brilliantly he crafted a story out of this unique background.

Though this is short-read, I’m satisfied because the novel is crisp and not in one point it became flat and unenthusiastic. The intent of the author to make this a fast-paced story is indeed to make the book more engaging. The narration is good because it gives the reader a complete visualization of the scenes. If the background is carved this good, a story based on it will come handy. The story also has some hints on real-life publicity stunts that we’re all familiar with like celebrity-who-writes-the-autobiography and a banker who is now broke and writes inspirational books etc.

I believe the  primary aim of a book is to provide entertainment as far as laymen concerned. In that sense, this is one of the best book released in 2018. The author has given a sarcastic touch all over the story to make it much more interesting. I found this is a growing trend in India, telling a story in the capsule of humor. I like this capsule because it breaks monotonous narration in many books.

The cover is truly amazing, Rupa publications have done a good job in designing it.

Overall, it is a very good engaging story to all the readers who are curious to know what is going on behind in the publishing industry.

Rating: 4.5/5

Purchase here: Amazon