Book Review ~ The Girl From The Woods by Amar Shekhar

The Girl from the Woods by Amar Shekhar
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book was way better than I was expecting it to be! Really! :')

It is about a photographer, Niam, who goes to Shimla and falls in love with a local girl, Siya. Simple plot. But what makes it good in the writing. I loved all the different styles so I will mainly  discuss them in this review :-)

A. NATURE : The photographer goes to Shimla for his project so all the scenery and mountain beauty of Shimla is described so well that you would want to go there to experience it. The natural beauty is described so well.

" The valleys that once echoed our laughter now seemed silent again. The sky seemed to recapitulate the same story with a sad, crimson sunset. Soon, darkness would dethrone the evening skies and the sullen winter night would be back. "

B. CHARACTER DESCRIPTION : Siya, mysterious local girl, is described with lovely words. Her innocence, beautiful eyes and petal lips. You will image her as a small pretty doll. Touching her will spoil her beauty.

"In the dark sky, she was a silvery moon. I loved looking at her face especially when she peered innocently out of aligned bangs lying carelessly on her forehead. She just looked like a child who was lately woken up from her sleep."

C. LOVE : I am not a frequent romance reader, but books like this just make you go all crazy about love. This book tells the real meaning of love. When you are happy to see your people happy. When you are willing to give your happiness and take others sorrow.

"We do not pay too much attention to a person while we are in their presence, but after they are gone, temporarily or permanently, we think of them."

I loved this book a lot! Like I said earlier, I wasn't expecting much. I am very selective about Indian authors, but this book was different. I would recommend it to nature lovers and romance lovers!! :D

*I received an ARC from the Author*

View all my reviews

Book Review : Secrets of Zynpagua: Return of the Princess

2.5 stars rounded up to 3!!

This book wasn't bad. Not bad at all. But it is only meant for kids, I guess. it had all the elements a Children's book should have, but it lacked the execution and placement of its magical and paranormal elements. This book had a lot of loopholes, and hence I found it to be a little incomplete.

The book is about a cursed land, Zynpagua, where the evil king Drudan rules. The real Princess of the kingdom is in India. Her brother comes to take her to her land, so that she can end Drudan's rule and save her people. That's the gist of the book.

*Spoilers Ahead*

I found it incomplete because there were a few things in the book which weren't explained, like when lady carol was captured in the end, she didn't use her magic to run away, but then used it later in front of Leo. Now when she could escape earlier, then why didn't she do that???? Well, putting it aside, Sussaina, the real queen of the kingdom (who is a prisoner of Drudan) can talk to all her kids and Lady carol, and Leo and her nephew, but, she can't escape from the prison. And I have no idea why Sussaina couldn't do that. also Vivian could use his magic only for good deeds, and saving his people was a good deed, still he couldn't use it against Drudan. What's the use of such magic.

There were a few things which, I think, made this book incomplete but, since it is a children's book, it is for a kid's entertainment, it had all the elements to please a kid, I gave it 3 stars :) Recommended only for kids. Like really small kids who don't mind such loopholes and don't see the logical side of things :P :P


*I received a copy in a Goodreads Firstread Giveaway*

Book Review ~ The Girl On The Train

Book : The Girl On The Train

Author : Paula Hawkins

Format : eBook 

 

 

This story is about Rachel, the girl on the train. She is hopeless in every sense of the word. She's lost her job, her marriage is dissolved and she drinks the whole day. She takes the same train everyday to her 'work place' and observes the houses and people who live near the tracks. All those people who live away from the city at the end of the country. She watches Jess and Jason who are usually on their deck having dinner or drinking or simply sending time with each other. She sees her older life in them, when she was happy with her husband. They make her ideal couple. She is happy to see them happy.

While Rachel goes to meet her ex-husband. Something awful happens and she doesn't remember it. Someone hit her, attacked it, but she has no idea who did that because she was drunk. And Jess disappears on that very night. Rachel's Jess disappears the day Rachel is attacked. Rachel knows that her attack is related to Jess' disappearance, but her doesn't remember. The latter half of the story takes a lot of unexpected turns. The truth about Jess' disappearance, Rachel's attack and Rachel's ex are revealed, and the culprit is the most unexpected person. All the while he is in front of you but you won't judge him.

This book was AMAZING, seriously. I still gave it 3 stars because I am new to psychological thrillers and I found it a little stretched and boring. The former half just goes on and one about traveling in train, and watching the strangers and telling about Rachel's hopelessness. The book had 3 narrator, two narrating in the present, and one narrating in the past. So things get a little confusing when the narrators shift that fast and tell about their own lives instead of telling about the main problem, which is Jess' disappearance. But the story had some clues in between for us to guess the culprit. So it had both love and hate elements.

I am again saying, don't go by my stars, because this book is very nice and obviously I don't oppose those 5 star reviews by other readers. Only, psychological thrillers are not for me.

 3 Stars!!

Something Big : A Short Story

She was standing by the window. She always stood there, looking out at the oaks, mists or may be something beyond. And I knew she liked standing there, enjoying the music of silence. The light in her eyes told me that she liked being there, she liked dreaming. Dreams that transcended to an unreal horizon, dreams that were hard to reach out to. I let her dream.

But when I look at her, I see something else too. She is alone, in a world of her own. I want to make her happy. She never asked for any anything but I want to give her something… something big.

So I finally decided. I decided to give her the stars.

I travelled the world and beyond. To the gods and the demons. To get the brightest ones from the princess’ crown and biggest ones from the heaven’s thread. I want to see her smile after seeing those stars. Those stars which shared memories with her and added happiness to her loneliness.

She is still standing at the window. Her window. Peeping out. Watching the oaks, mists or may be something beyond. And she is lonely. She will be happy now. I give her the glittering stars held inside the glass jar. Her face reflecting the sweet light. But she wasn’t happy. I wanted her to be happy.

She opened the jar and the stars came out like free birds going up in the sky, decorating the night sky like a lamp in a dark room. She was happy. Now. Still standing at the window, telling her stories to her favourite audience. Looking at the oaks, mists or may be something beyond, enjoying the music of silence and the stars bringing happiness to her loneliness.

The stars look beautiful in the sky only. They keep secrets and share memories. Looking at these stars is like sharing good memories. We can take can give easily but sharing our happiness and someone's sadness is very difficult.....

Book Review : War Kids by H. J. Lawson

Book : War Kids
Author : H J Lawson

*I got this book in YA Spring Fling*

This book was very different from all other books I have read so far. I cried, laughed and even rolled my eyes, but this book just made me think about the kids who don't even know if their parents are alive. They don't know about their future. This book is about those small hands which hold guns. This book is about those innocent eyes which see their dear and near ones' corpses. This book is about those young brain which will never feel secure.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

JADA, a 15 year old girl and ZAK, a 16 year old boy. They, along with a kid TILLY, set out to find their fathers who were kidnapped just before they mothers were shot. This book talks about their journey and the struggles. Things they go through and things they see through those innocent eyes.

I really loved the former half of the book. It just fulfilled my expectations. The latter half was a little weak and stretched, I think. The character building in this book is very weak. In the former, a character is intelligent and observant, and as the story ends, the same character is shown so weak that the story sound abrupt at times. also, I really didn't like the blooming love in the middle of a war, this really did affect my rating a little bit.

Overall, it was a great book. I am really looking forward to read the second book. I hope it turns out to be good like this one!!

4 stars!!! :)

Book Review : Order Of Seven by Beth Teliho

OMG! What did I just read?!
All this fangirling started by getting this (autographed) book in a Goodreads Giveaway. Let me brag a minute :P
 

So, while reading this book, I went through a lot of different emotions...

*reads a chapter*
*takes a break to repeat 'OMG'*
*reads another chapter*
*takes a break to repeat 'This book is so awesome'*
*resumes reading and completes one more chapter*
*opens Goodreads and tells her BR buddy to read it ASAP*
*repeats all this again*

I will keep this fangirling for the end, and quickly move to the plot. So, this book is about Devi and her brother Nodin, who have special powers to see visions and effect a person's emotions (respectively.) They set out to find others of their kind to complete an important task to save the whole mankind with the help of their powers and natural elements and animals.

I really loved the plot, a new theme and magical concept, a very good and unique fantasy after a long time. I enjoyed every part of it, and didn't want it to end. Scenes about energy channeling are described so well that I felt I was actually there, standing in the woods, watching them 'play' with energy. And, oh, I loved all the characters and those last chapter twists were amazing. And epilogue just killed me. Beth Teliho, please write more. I wanna know what happens after this.

I can fangirl endlessly about this book, so I guess I should not extend this review further, otherwise it will trun into a fan post (if it already hasn't)

Okay, saying this for the last time, I loved loved loved this book! This book is my I-will-re-read-a -million-times type of favorite. This book is shelved as YA, but it has some expletive usage, so recommending it to all 15+ I guess :):)

Anyway, it is a very nice book and I love it a lot

And that just turned lame.

Okay, I think I will really stop typing now... bah...

5 stars!!! :D

Abridged VS Unabridged!!!

Let the war begin!!!!

Bookworms have different opinions over bookish matters. Many debates like 'Books VS Movies' or 'New Adult as a genre' are quite popular among readers from all over the world. I was recently reading The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas when a friend suggested me to read the unabridged version since I was finding it to be boring. It was on my school syllabus, so reading this book was mandatory for me, so I chose the abridge edition because it is shorter.

 

One of the main reasons why people do not read classics is that they are only familiar with the abridged version of classics, so all they really know is the summary of the book and not the whole book itself. Being humans, we will simply juxtapose the books to actually make a choice. So, comparing Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (whose unabridged version, I read) and The Mill On The Floss by George Eliot (whose abridged version, I read). I like Jane Eyre a lot more than The Mill On The Floss. Even if the story was quite similar, strong female protagonist, struggles, then a loving husband, I still liked Jane Eyre better. And the main reason, I think, is the difference in editions. Classics need time, and reading abridged versions is like taking shortcuts.

 

I really refer unabridged versions over abridged versions. You can read my review of Jane Eyre on Goodreads, and as for The Mill On The Floss, well, I really didn't care writing a review -_-

 

Do share your thoughts and experiences of Classics and your preferred versions in the comments below!! :)