Book Review of Eighteen By J.A.Huss

Eighteen by J.A. Huss
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A smart girl, a genius teacher: perfect recipe for a Taboo escapades!!!

But it is much more than that... J.A.Huss made the most boring Math and Trigonometry feel like an exciting subject through Eighteen!!!

I have read #Follow by her and it was not that interesting for me but Mateo and Shannon were Fantastic!

"Are you my problem, Mateo? Or my Answer?"

"I don't just want the solution, I need the process."

These are my favorite lines from this book. And I love how Shannon stands for herself while not giving a flying fuck about how she gets there but everything changes when Mateo forced her to learn how to earn those results and it makes much more sense.

Sadly, I would have loved to read further about Mateo and Shannon and don't forget Sunday!!!! The famous Daniel Alexander demands his own time and I think he deserves that.


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Book Review of ‘Hey Dad! Meet My Mom’ – Sandeep Sharma & Leepi Agrawal

“Everything you see is a perspective, not the truth and just because it’s ‘all in your head’ doesn't make it any less real.”

It’s an illusion all right, created just for you to feel better when things are out of control and you are trying to hold on. It makes life easy and manageable, even though subconsciously; you know that there’s something wrong with the situation but you don’t want to delve further; scared of what actually it is.

‘Hey Dad! Meet My Mom’ is a masterpiece in itself. I don’t want to talk about the story here because I want you to sense the intimacy Roshni, Puneet and Myra possess personally but I would like to tell you about who they are for sure;

Myra

“You know when we feel afraid of something that is not physical like for instance love, care, taking responsibilities in our case; we give these fears a physical face.”

This is Myra, a Bubble Guppy in #HDM3 who paints the world red for Puneet, you see he thinks “Red is a very strange colour, it gets noticed by men only after they fall in love.” So I think you all got my point? She was not only there physically but a strong emotional pillar for Puneet when he was in another world; a world full of pain and deception. She was not an easy person to get rid of mind you but she is what gave redemption to Puneet in her own manner.

Puneet

A mumma’s boy trying to make sense of his life at 30, a life which is confusing him to no end and forcing him to succumb to his sub-conscious mind which shows how a possibility of something can encourage us for a memory and it becomes your living dream inside you.

A little man knocking him over now and then with his creepy talks and maturity level of a saint! Yes everyone this is Rishi am talking about who is on a mission. You need to find that by reading this book please.

Roshni

What do I tell you about her? Selfless, Strong, Sublime, Self-ruling and Stalwart is what Roshni is. She loved everyone fiercely and abandonment was never in her veins, even when she was on the verge of getting bankrupt. Her love for children was shining throughout the journey of #HDM3, and what happened to her was ruthless. Still, she was the stronger one amongst her and Puneet when all hell broke and they got separated. Her determination was so strong that medicine, theories and history had to bow down to her and brought Puneet where he belonged.

That is what LOVE is…

It is said that your subconscious is 30000 times more powerful than your conscious mind and this book makes you believe it. The way Roshni and Puneet were connected; with no logic and proof, they attained the impossible (atleast in medicine world). Roshni’s sheer determination and her love for Puneet, brought him back to life; a life which was suppressed by his own uncle in the name of helping him with the situation.

The short term pain of accepting the truth is much better than the long term pain of believing an illusion which Puneet lived for a decade.

Author’s Work:

Hmm Sandeep Sharma & Leepi Agrawal, I never expected this type of storyline from Indie Authors that’s for sure so you can imagine the surprise I felt in 2^nd part of #HDM3 where Roshni’s story is revealed. The plot reminded me a work of Aleatha Romig, who is a pro at suspense! (Do read her work in #Consequences please and you’ll get my point). Characterization is powerful and justice was served to all of them by this duo.

What Made It Difficult:

Given as a ‘Review Copy’ by Sandeep Sharma I would say it didn’t had that appeal in the beginning chapters, to be true I kept on reading because I needed to review it, but Oh Boy! This duo took a U-Turn and brought goodies for a suspense & twist sucker like me halfway through the book! It is full of bollywood type comedy as some dialogues are typical bollywood and made me roll my eyes for sure.

Impact on my life:

“Secrets are like rust on a relationship. They only make it lose its strength.”

I am a firm believer in TRUTH, I want the truth no matter what situation it is or how critical the truth will prove to be. A lie, an omission will always come back and poke you through that veil you have strategically created to hide the truth and that will hurt like a bitch no matter how long it’s been.

“Accept changes quickly. Time will flow away and you have to flow with the stream to keep up with time.”

As you know truth hurts, but it’s always better than a lie, it will do you good if you accept the changes occurring in your life. I am not telling you to accept what’s wrong but change is inevitable in life, you do not want a permanent guilt residing in your being for the lifetime just because you took a change as an end of your life.

Till date after around a month when I read this line

“He erased everything about Roshni from my mind but forgot to erase Rishi, my ‘dead’ son.”

It gives me Goosebumps all over.

Title: Hey Dad! Meet My Mom

Author: Sandeep Sharma & Leepi Agrawal

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Gargi Publishers

Edition: January 2015

TOC: Categorized in 22 beautiful chapters with an Epilogue as a cuddle.

Pages: 157 pgs.

Price: Rs 150

Rating: 4/5

P.S. I am sorry for horrible delay of this review but please don’t discard me from your reviewer list because am eager to read your other books Sandeep Sharma!

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My journey through ‘When The Heavens Smiled’- by Ritesh Arora

“Everything that we see, observe, sense and do is all pre-scripted. The future is pre-scripted as well. The next page of this invisible script of destiny gets unfolded in front of us and we simply play to its tunes, perceiving that we are the doers when we are not.”

Feeling frustrated that your future can’t be in your own hands? That it’s not you, that matters because it’s all written already? Destiny, a word I love immensely makes me immune to my surroundings because I know I’ll reach where am supposed to be. But at the same time, I am scared as much any human being shall be; scared of my unknown circumstances, scared of the unknown in short.

When it is all pre-written as said, what do I need to do? How should I proceed with my life? Some say I should take each day as it may come, but when I know each day is just a dot to the pre-scripted end of mine, why should I even bother!

“Though the future is pre-scripted, it does not mean that we can’t change the script!”

See what I mean when I said feeling frustrated? Confusing as hell, this statement contradicts the first one head on. Same as what Sarthak Arora, the main character of ‘When The Heavens Smiled’ feels and I was with him in this state of confusion. But what this book unveils will sate your hunger for these answers.

With your pure heart, good deeds, selfless sacrifices, helping hand, and by being true to yourself; you can change any pre-written scripts of your life.

“When you start giving selflessly to others, good fortune starts coming back to you ten-folds.”

We believe we are the ones enduring great amount of pain or we are the only ones dealt with the unfortunate cards in our life, what we don’t ACCEPT is you’re just a bleep in this whole world where people suffer each day; just not necessarily similar to yours but they do as well. This book doesn’t encourage your beliefs; it will open up the gates to your inner self where purity lies, a purity which helps you to reach out to the people in need, people who are unfortunate just like you but YOU can help them and in return, God will help you in any shape or form unknown to you.

So, this is what this book is all about!

Summary

A strong, independent, Mumma’s boy named Sarthak Arora enters into his professional career where he meets a beautiful Bengali girl named Sarangi and falls in love. Falling in love is not the hardest part, holding on to it is what breaks or makes you. How Sarthak holds inevitable and forced the Gods bend to his wishes is a good read and for that you need to experience this book yourself.

Idea Behind The Book:

In my opinion, ‘When The Heavens Smiled’ was all about these above preaching and I loved this part of the book, not the whole love story weaved around it. But you can’t just throw out these beautiful lessons of life without taking a dip into the journey so; you have to bear with it!

What makes this journey interesting is how the author Ritesh Arora has provided a detailed background about each and every character introduced in the book; no matter major/ minor, credit is given to all equally.

Character’s personal experiences are just like us; a regular guy/ a girl which helps us to connect better. It gives you a feeling of belonging. Cherry on the cake was how Sarthak met Rajan, his boss for the first time; it was epic and humorous in spades! The way whole scene was crafted is appreciable, that too in humour!

What could have been better:

When author gives you a little peek into the future while you’re riding along in the present, was a bit confusing for me. We all know that author is the one ‘Know It All’ person and we want the story to unfold at a certain pace, not after every other paragraphs. It made me frustrating at times because it tempted me to just jump on a particular chapter and unfold the suspense myself. It breaks the concentration from the current scenario and your attention span is severed. Pace of the story was a bit fast in my opinion which made me feel like running in joggers!

It is shown in the beginning that Sarthak is close to his mother and shares every major event of his life with her. So when he is transported to a different place for work and falls in love with Sarangi, it felt a little bit odd that he didn’t contact her even once.

Conclusion:

A problem remains to be a problem till you keep on accepting it, but the solution comes when you take it at a face value and become desperate enough to try any and every avenue to save your loved ones, and yourself. With the help of your family and support from your loved ones, you conquer every obstacle in life.

A fascinating read which forced me to become a fan with just one chapter in the book and sadly that came at a much later in the journey so please have patience and do READ it! It came to me as a review copy and I read it just because, but after reading this, I suggest everyone should read it atleast once!

Title: When The Heavens Smiled

Author: Ritesh Arora

Publisher: Srishti Publishers

Publication: 1^st edition, 2015

Genre: Fiction, Romance, Self-Help (for me)

Table of Content: Distributed amongst 8 chapters with NO table of content.

Pages: 157 pgs

Price: Rs 195

Rating: 3.5/5

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Book Review of Hidden Husband- some secrets never leave you... ByShikha Kaul

We had a discussion about Soul Mates at some point

I believed and didn't believe in it because not all paths join.

For instance, I know well that situations can change one’s mind

So when someone tells me he loves me, I should not become blind.

The night he walked on a different road I've proven it right

I stumbled upon a dead end when he gave up the fight.

-Yolei Yang

These words are always there in the back of my mind since I have read it somewhere. Soul Mates are not necessarily your life partner, but a permanent resident in your heart because no one can touch your soul the way your Soul Mate does. They seep into your being, they live, breathe and grow no matter where, with whom and for how many decades you live on this earth.

Today, after finishing up my latest book Hidden Husband by Shikha Kaul, I understood exactly what the above quote meant for two people in love.

Here goes nothing!

Aisha, an independent woman living her high as an HR head in an MNC, who is loved by her parents and best friend Piyali.

Piyali, who is a fierce character in the book with whom I can relate myself immensely! She is Loyal, Possessive, and Trustworthy to the core with full of life.

Sameer, a Flamboyant, Loyal, Fierce, Dedicated, and an outspoken version of a meek little guy in Aisha’s school days having a crush on her, who is introduced in an alluring manner at the beginning and for me, he managed to remain in my good books till the end!

For me, a guy should be like Sameer’s character in real life rather than Raghav Mishra, whose journey in Aisha’s life starts from being a Candidate in her firm to her Colleague to her Boyfriend to her Hidden Husband to her Ex-husband and finally Future in-law of her son Shreyas! He loves fiercely but at the same time he is scared about the consequences, which is a human nature but when you want someone or should I say need your partner with you, you have to take a front and let the ball roll out not hide behind a society, religion and their beliefs.

Raghav had powers amongst his family which he could have revoked and save some hassle for his family, and definitely for Aisha, whom he loved with all his heart.

It’s a story of a normal couple who met and fall in love with a hope of being together for this life. What they never thought is: a true relation builds on truth and trust; a building block which supports your foundation throughout the journey of your life. Here Aisha supported Raghav on every step and stumbled together but what their hidden marriage could not handle were all the lies and hidden problems, which Raghav thought will hurt Aisha. In turn it ruined their beautiful love and respect towards each other and made him a Hidden Husband; a secret for them to suppress in their heart and never reveal.

Dearly quotes:

“I didn't know what felt so good about being with this new friend, maybe it was an easy way to distract myself from my prevalent concealment or maybe I was genuinely looking for a friend who would understand me; at least one more person in this world with whom I could share my eclipsed picture.”

It’s beautifully expressed in a way how you sometimes need someone, or anyone, even a stranger would work who can listen to us, connect to us in our prevalent condition.

“It’s easy to acknowledge but difficult to forget the past.” 

Rightly said and experienced by probably everyone in their journey called life.

“It had changed the real me and I was living with a stranger at every juncture of my life – a stranger called ‘me’! 

This is the part which I can relate to in my real life. Over the course of few years, this is what exactly my life has become. It helps to know am not the only one I guess!

“Something was very different for the first time.”

That very first inkling of something good happening makes you soar high and feel like untouchable, sadly which is a biggest myth.

“Everything amongst the two of us was always supposed to be right.” 

A badly mistaken Aisha.

What all I love about the book:

The way +Shikha Kaul has embedded a common thread of creativity through staging general issues in our country regarding Religion, Caste, Superiority, and Terrorism and managed to balance through her own past stories, perspectives and experiences in life. The way she has given relevant and precise information regarding Court Marriage, Divorce, and their loopholes as well (Am sure it’ll be helpful for prospective couples “Wink”). I loved how she managed to bind us through all the 4 different Parts of the book with intriguing events in Aisha’s life and how each part concludes and starts with an important aspect of her life.

The part I enjoyed the most:

My favourite part of the book would be when Sameer took it upon himself to introduce their parents and smoothly click every piece of puzzle irrespective of Aisha’s consent because according to her nature, I know she would never want to hurt anyone intentionally, especially her parents. The way Sameer took that option away from Aisha which not only reflects his domination or what we call an Alpha Male nature (I love them!) but he was sure of his own feelings and 200% sure about all the unconditional happiness and security he could offer her.

The bitter sweet pill to swallow for me:

The ending or a conclusion of this book managed to give me Goosebumps all over! It was a surprising factor all right but even if a reader could possibly imagine this scenario, Shikha Kaul managed to drop that bomb precisely by actually making us shiver through that 12:13 factor!

I would love to know what happens next but at the same time, I do not want any more misery on Aisha and Raghav’s life. For once, I want to leave them to live in peace, even if it means an end of their journey through this book. They both have been rotten in hell enough for all the coming centuries on this earth!

Conclusion:

This book is in Aisha’s POV but I would have loved to listen and understand Raghav’s turmoil which may have helped us better through his POV. I feel like I never understood who Raghav actually is because there are just so many things we don’t know about him and his family.

I would definitely recommend everyone to read this book at least once! It’s not only about a couple, but how their family, upbringing, love, nurture, and society make them. The issues discussed in this book are for everyone and one should try to tackle them in a mature manner.

What made this book:

Title: Hidden Husband- some secrets never leave you

Author: Shikha Kaul

Place: Amritsar, Punjab

Publisher: Gargi Publishers

Publication Date: June 2015

Table of contents: 4 parts

Pages: 239

Price: Rs. 195

ISBN: 9789384382070