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Friday, 29 April 2016
  18 Via Teen
         “Be yourself”   Reviewed by Aditi Srivastava

Year Published: 2016
Publisher: Dream House Publication
Pages : 114
Format : Paperback

                                            Book Synopsis

'18 Via Teen- Be yourself' the name says it all. It enumerates the various phases of a teen and the hopes, aspirations, apprehensions, ambiguity, insecurity, dilemma, restlessness and sensitiveness, associated with each phase. Each story vividly depicts the psychological aspects of a teenage girl/boy and how the intuition helps her/his to overcome the hurdles one after another, which in teen makes her/his matured.

                                              My Review
18 via Teen “ Be Yourself “ by Shreyasi Rhittika Phukon , is a book which deals with that phase of life which is not untouched by anyone of us i.e. TEEN . Teen , which means age which will make us experience the forthcoming vicissitudes of life but all we got to have equipoise on our mind and the intonation in the surroundings . The book is about teen and it will be a ride which will take us to the our teenage and yeah ! those who are teen yet they will their reflection too .

When I picked the book I didn’t know the Author’s words are so magical that I actually see myself in some of the stories . I was abash !! Let’s begin with the introductory note that the Author write to us about teen , it was impeccable mam ! She has beautifully penned her thoughts and which isn’t a fiction . Each story was different from the other and yes the stories were part of us . You will feel it like me !!

Stories that touched my heart

1.The Different Barks – Story which reflects hidden tale of girl’s heart , how a girl face when she’s out and how worse she could feel herself shedding apart due to eve teasing . Apart from it , it will tell you how actually our parents reacts due to our sudden change in our behavior . Being the opening story , it is very interesting and eye opening . A Good Start . !

2. Thanks for Nothing -  Child first teacher is their parents but what if our parents neglect us and only gets involved in their personnel issues . Yet another story which I truly loved and enjoyed .  The story was gripping but it couldn’t better if any other title would be given to this story .

3. Full Stop – Full stop is story about when a transfer effect teen mind . A teen leave behind everything and is asked to accept the surrounding but what he/she needed the most ? Support . Yes . Dear Author , a much thanks for writing this story , if felt that you just pooped into my heart and pen down my own tale . Nostalgia.

4. Teenage Crush – While I was reading this story , “ Fifteen “ song by Taylor Swift was constantly humming in my mind . First crush , first heartbreak but it’s not the ending . Lyrical story !!

5. Speak Dad Speak -  A soft story about when a child loss his mother and how beautifully and in a gusty way his father played both the roles . Strongly recommended  to those parents who have suffered loss of their better half . Trust me it’s a guide story for you .

6. Justice Doesn’t Mean Satisfaction – When we say tit for tat it’s not always justified , every action has equal and opposite reaction but the damaged can  be minimized . A story about a sister whose wrath and revenge which turned her life turmoil but still she wasn’t satisfied .

Negative Punch-

In the entire book I only found one negative point in the story “ I returned for you “ how a dead person can return ? This story could have been written with more twits to justified the title and which can be acceptable in reality otherwise the whole book was fantastic .

18 via Teen is on the teenage but I personally recommend you all to read it once , twice and thrice . The book is not less a guide for a teen , parent and teacher . You will surely take down notes at the end of the day . Good  Job Miss. Author .

I would like to rate this book 4/5 . A must read book . !!!!

Reviewed by Aditi Srivastava 




Thursday, 21 April 2016
Yama Reviewed by Aditi Srivastava 


Story Name: Yama
Written by: Kelvin Missal
Published by: Half Baked Beans
Genre: Suspense/thriller
        

                                                                Blurb 

What will you do if you have 24 hours to save someone?

A violent saint…

A man who claims he is Yama is punishing sinners by killing them according to the twenty eights hells prescribed in Bhagvat Gita. Who is he? What does he want? Is he a vigilante or a psychopath?

A delusional hero…

Iravan Rajpoot, an Ex-Black Cat Commando with a dark past is receiving letters with names and time limits. It’s no sooner that he learns these people will die within that time frame. He needs to do everything, risk everyone to save them.

An ambitious reporter…

Swati Kaushik, a widow and a woman who can do anything for success must team up with Iravan to stop the god of death and justice.

Will Iravan Rajpoot be able to find Yama while balancing out his personal life? Will Yama be able to fulfill in spreading his twisted message to everyone?

With twist and turns in every short chapter, Yama grabs the reader and plunges them in the heart of human consciousness.
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                                             My Review


Yama is a story of an every ordinary people who find themselves sick of our ruthless system , who wants to punish the slur of the society but all their agitation and wrath remained within themselves  but here in this story you would meet a man emerging as a light , a ray of hope and tries to bring change . This is a journey of wailing cry of man which turned himself into Yama the God of Justice , a commander Iravan Rajpoot who swirl between his pasts and presents keeping pace in his life and a reporter Swati Kaushik who struggled for her own existence and one day Yama knocks the door .

When I picked the book I wasn’t sure I would turn out to be a book which will make you dig inside your heart , trust me , your sins will flash once before your eye. When I read the epilogue the level of curiosity doubled inside me and I wasn’t able to take off my eyes from the book .  Someway or the other I felt the Author has really researched a lot , I really appreciate this efforts for choosing a genre which we hardly mention in our daily lives more than that his hard work reflects in this book . Hat’s off sir .

From the book , the two persons really had left positive impression on my mind . Iravan Rajpoot and the Yama . Iravan Rajpoot , an  dedicated army commander , a caring husband , a good father and a man with perspicuous mind who went on chasing the Yama and discovered himself. He was most gripping character of the story .  The second one , Yama , the god of justice ; the man around which the story revolve . Yama , is my favorite because I learned about different mythologies , their nadir , the sins and the punishments and the best of all is the character building of Yama by the author .

Overall the story and presentation was out of the box , the book wasn’t guessing at all . The book consist of threads which are connected to each other and at the end all threads were tied together .  But yes , the book require three to four settings to be completed , the reader must have patience before opening it but the book will keep you hooked .

The incidents from the book was lively , I could observe the characters from the real life but my favorite part was , the depiction of hell made my Yama , all sins are categorized and each sin have it’s own way of punishment and Iravan way of working with each clue that Yama had provided and the Yama himself . It was really fascinating !!!

Apart from all , the book could have been proved much better if the chapters were less and the author could have summed up the few plots into one . The large sum of chapter is a drawback which I found and unnecessarily stretched portions . I hope Author would work on it in his next novel and won’t take negative punches as a criticism.
Readers , if you’re really fond of reading thriller I would definitely recommend you this book . The book is actually a gripping one in spite of the portion I mentioned above . The book is really a pack of hard work and research and a strong story . A must read book though one time .

I rate this book for perfect narration , characters and the story 3.5/5 . Dear  Author I am looking forward to read more thriller work of yours .


Reviewed by Aditi Srivastava   
Sunday, 17 April 2016
The Fictitious Five
LOVE and other enchantments

Year Published: 2016
Publisher: Blue Rose Publishers
Pages: 186
Format: Paperback

                                                Blurb

Drag, it can, from the splendours of dawn to the gloomy even-fall; sooner or later, but, it touches us all - LOVE.. indeed. "Love and Other Enchantments" is a collection of fifteen heart-rending love stories wherein each will reveal a new facet of love and will arouse a new set of emotions and even newer perceptions of relationship, sacrifice, devotion, depression, hurt, lust and madness. Lose yourself in a whirlwind of emotions, only to be rescued by that thing called love. The Fictitious Five is a group of five writers, Maliny Mohan Ishan Dafaria Tanima Kedar Anuj Kumar Akash Deep Gupta All united by their unabating passion for writing. They believe in the power of words and aspire to keep weaving them to create delightful stories that touch the hearts of the readers. Contact them at www.facebook.com/Love-and-Other-Enchantments

                                             My Review

Love and other enchantments is a book coined by various fantastic authors ;TanimaKedar , IshanDafaria , Akash Deep Gupta , MalinyMohan and Anuj Kumar. The authors has beautifully penned down their each story and all reflects different shades of love ; the stories will take you high as well as low ; the stories will let you know love can happen anytime , it didn’t  inform you by knocking and even let you encounter with the harsh veracity about lives .

TanimaKedar : Falling in love and loosing it forever , struggle not always will make you win the battle of love and when the obsession leads to self destruction ; all these feelings are perfectly reflected by the author in her stories – Till Death DoUs Part, Together Forever and The Dairy . Each story was heart warming and the endings will leave you ponder into a land of love .The author stories were right start for the book .

IshanDafaria:‘Pain demands to be felt ‘the quote from of my favorite author John Green, flashed into my mind as soon as I complete reading the stories – Closure , Different Things and Hatred , Crime and Love ; until you feel pain and agony in love then you have not known the love completely , its another side of a coin . The stories are about when love become lacerating wound and it tends to last forever , you’ll look for answers but again you will find the same question is thrown back to you again . When you least needed the love it will vanish into the thin air , when you wanted other to know they will simply walk out of your life and when you only have to leave your love of life for their own goodness sake. The best part about the stories were endings and the way they were delivered .

Akash Deep Gupta : Tales penned by author were not less than any magical spells and mystery , each one were written in a lyrical way which keeps me hooked in all three stories more over the author holds an accent while scribbling the poems ; they actually touched my hearts .
The Poem , a story of a geek who falls for a beauty with brain , the story is more like a conundrum which gets solved at the end , the ending is something which awestruck me . Charm of Those Eyes , a story of an army man who develops feelings for a girl who is full of mystery and end up being loner in search of those twinkling eyes . It reminds that we human sometimes need someone around us .The Lake of Love , what will happen when you both love each other completely but yet you wish to be part of each other in other world , it’s a story about love , compassion , death and wait . A must read story of the book .

Maliny Mohan-  Author has  represents emblematic view in all stories , the style of writing was something catchy and eye soothing for me . A mature piece .
At the Bus Stop  ,love will make you feel content and that’s all one desire in life , a few good words and it can make your heart bloom . At the bus stop is a story about ‘ being loved even little means a lot ‘ . The Revival , story about friendship and love , but the protagonist realized it when she looses everything , never feel chugged when you know its already present . He Loves Me Not ,a simple story where one shelved to get over with love and when needed the most its gone .

Anuj Kumar–The author attempted to present different view about love but this part could have been done better I strongly feel .
So Mad in Love , a story which reflects the current scenario where a devotee who is a strong believer of Almighty but then she found herself under spell bounded  of a imposter , people believe these people are actually sent by God but in reality it’s a big myth . Its not Soothing Everytime ,a story of a guy who is obsessed of being loved , when rejected turned out a psychopath , the story was quiet unreal because who a criminal can stay out of reach of cops . Known Unknow ,story about a boy who was madly in love but looses it love when his love of life realizes . Yet another my favorite story .

The overall the book was good and  each segments were perfectly written .  I rate this book 3.5/5 , the book is recommended to those who enjoy reading love stories .

Reviewed by : Aditi Srivastava




Sunday, 3 April 2016
                           The  Justified Sin by Harpreet Makkar

Year Published :2013
Publisher:Petals Publishers
Pages :200
Format :Paperback


                                             Book Synopsis

What do you call it when three beautiful women come in your life , but you are still single ? What if they all , at some point , tried to entice you , but you still feel like committing suicide because of loneliness ? What do you call it when you made no mistake , but still , you feel guilty as sin ?
Jay had a common life until Saloni ,Pranchi , and Varshha came in his life and changed everything . At times , he avoided the love that knocked at his door , but when he actually needed it , the same love knocked him .
He betrayed … He got betrayed ..
He rejected … He got Rejected ..
From being shot , by Prachi’s father to getting intimate with Varsha under the influence of alcohol , his life was spicy as those masala Bollywood movies …
He was getting used to his life , until , one night , he decides to jump off a building and end everything …
Will there be love , or will it end ?
Find out what happens when love has to pay its price .

                                                My Review

The Justified Sin is a story which revolves around a boy name ,Jaydeep . Jay fall in love but feared to accept his feelings and tag it as  ‘  love ‘ . A story about an ordinary boy who somehow walked towards the dead ends and started living a life of regression , despondency , mistakes who he called and thought ‘ sin ‘ . When Jay hopes for the best he faces the worst . It is a story which will make you to wander into his world and which will compel you to do the calculations of wanting to know more about him and his life .

The author ,HarpreetMakkar has done a great job from choosing up the most appropriate title to the catchy book cover to the story line . But my take , I truly believed the story justified it’s title . Hence , it kept me hook till the last . The urge of knowing the sin made by the protagonist was the trademark of the book . Not only the story but the characters were also good .

From the book , the three characters left the impression on my mind and I loved them the most . Jay , the Punjabi guy ; brought up in an affluent family still very down to earth. He reflects all the emotions which one boy have and go through .  Jay somewhere changed my perception regarding boys but still somewhere I felt disappointed by his acts like being baffled when he knows he could have made the situation a better one . The second one ,Saloni ; she is not a girl whom you should fall once but daily . Mark my word ‘ daily ‘ . She was a strong character gripping the entire thread , as a best friend , as a person you will always count on . Lastly , Jay’s father ; indeed a true gentleman and a good father .

The overall story was good but it got disdain in the initial pages but still it hooked me till the last . It let me do a lot of mental wok from the beginning to the ending . You will be flummoxed but the climax will be flabbergasted .

If you ask me personally the most beautiful part of the story , I would tell you the relationship shared between Jay and his father . It was a lyrical , these two were so synchronized ; that I felt the author has portrayed his bonding with his father into this lovely tale . I feel connected to this very part .

The rhythm of the book was simple as well as the language was simple and readable . As I flipped the pages the book send me positive vibes , the love of family , love of friends and feeling of being together with that very friend and yes it made me believe in love again . Love will simple follow you , you just have to listen to your heart .

In spite of all , I felt there were few sections which could have been worked out in a more better way . Author have kept it in his mind to make the book understandable but still he could have tried more crispy language .

If you think you’re so just unlucky to have your loved one in our life , I would recommend this book to you ; the lost faith can be regained .  Girls , if you think all boys are same , then read this book ; trust me some boys do feel and live in a life of guilt .

I rate this book a 3.5 out of 5 . I am thankful to know about the importance of everything in our life  .


Reviewed by – AditiSrivastava