Book Review: Dinner Date by Ishaan Lalit

“Dinner Date” by Ishaan Lalit is another release by Author’s Empire Publications. I have seen many new publication houses joining and leaving this industry but this one is surely planning to leave a mark on book publishing industry. 

Coming to the cover of the book, it is design by Amol Karambe. The cover is simple but at the same time witty.  I felt awkward when I saw Stutee Nag’s comment of the top center of cover. I mean who is Stutee Nag? Does anyone know her? The answer is NO, unless you read the next few words after her name. She was an MTV Splits Villa contestant. Does anyone know her now? The answer is still NO. Google it Please...! 

Why a Splits Villa contestant will give a comment for book? Answer is simple. She is a blogger and as she says ‘I moonlight as a wanna be writer.’ It should be rectify as ‘Stutee Nag, Blogger’ instead of ‘Stutee Nag, MTV Splits Villa’

Coming behind the book, this book is an attempt to prove a blogger who criticized Ishaan’s previous book saying, “He is no writer. He writes Science fiction because he cannot write anything else.” And to shut that one mouth, he wrote this book.

Coming to the Story, this book revolves around Sam Thomas, A lawyer. The book opens up the story on a Dinner Date, where the protagonist is trying to impress a girl ‘Malika’. She was about to leave the date when Sam asks her for her just 15 minutes. She agrees and he starts narrating his story.   

It all starts with his failure in first kiss when he was twelve. He gets a tag of gay after that incident. School life becomes painful for him. He plans revenge and finds himself in more trouble. Somehow, his school ends and he joins Law-school at Shimla.  

His problem never ends and he finds himself almost expelled from the school. He gets his chance in form of court trial and he nails it well. He becomes the star of law school. Hundred pages cover his journey, difficulties, fights and crush, love and sex. He gets to meet his godfather Alex and he comes to know about his family secrets and problems. The godfather part was interesting. I really enjoyed it.

He makes a girlfriend Aditi and he stays happy with her for three long years in law school and after that too. I will not disclose the latter half. You will have to get the book to complete the story and to know how he slides from Aditi and finds himself on a Dinner Date with Malika.

Narration: It is a smartly narrated book.  It is humorous and Author zigzags story around nicely. However, I found the story thin. There is no sub-story to entertain readers. Author could have worked over few more details. This book could have been something very good. 

Final Verdict: This book is a light read. If you are looking for an ok-ok story with good narration then pick this book. However, if you are search of a book you can call novel. Then skip this book and go for something better, as this book offers nothing new to read. You can pick it if you are bored of those romance novels and want to read humor and when-assholes-meet-kind-of story.

I will give it 2.50 out of 5.

 Buy the Book here

To the Author: I think it was a lame attempt to write a book to prove something. People will always criticize. Write what you love, it will be better for all. However, still if you want to go for this genre again, please do a little more homework. Your competitors are awesome and you are lagging behind. Anyways, a good attempt. 

A Review by Team Purple Pen.

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Book Review: The Justified Sin : Some Call it Pleasure, Some Call it Betrayal and Some Call it Sin

On the Cover: 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 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, Prachi and Vineeta came in his life and changed everything. At times, he avoided the love that knocked at his door and when he actually needed it, the same love kicked him. He betrayed, He got betrayed, He rejected, He got rejected. From being shot in the back by Prachi's father to getting intimate with Vineeta under the influence of alcohol, his life was as 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

Book Review:

Is it possible that two persons have a same writing style? It was a normal book and I was supposed to review it. I started reading and after few pages, I felt like I have a Kind of the same writing style. I try to be simple and more expressive. Evidently, my writing will not ensure you a new word in every line but I hope that it expresses well. 

Coming to the review, the title ‘The Justified Sin’ is not suitable for the story line like this but maybe appropriate, that is why the author used it. Reading the title, I felt as if it is a crime thriller. However, it turns out to be a very sweet and mushy romance fiction. Cover is beautiful, but again it has nothing to do with the storyline. 

Jay, the protagonist has a disbelief in the existence of the word, Love. For him, love is something that can never happen to him. Even if it is happening, his disbelief will take it out of his mind. Like most of the romance fictions, this book also revolves around jay’s different encounters with love.

Story opens up with a person trying to commit suicide. Standing on the top and thinking to measure the distance from top to the floor with the inch tape of his life. Until a girl stops him... (I do not know why girls stop the guys all the time.)

He, postponing the date and time of his future death certificate, decides to narrate his story to her. Girl smells the gossip and listens to him, all ears. 

A rich dad, a caring mother, and a gorgeous girl ordering him all the time, life seems picture perfect for Jay. Horrified of the board results, Saloni, his best friend, wants him to stay with her in those crucial moments. Jay, being a caring guy, does every possible thing to make her smile. Then comes a day when she proposes him and expresses her extreme love towards him. Being a disbeliever, he tries to avoid Love and then things do not work between them and they drift apart. 

Then he meets a new girl Prachi. Again being a NICE GUY, he supports her emotionally. She needs him as a friend and he becomes one. He understands her, umm… more than her own boyfriend does, which was Jay’s best friend, coincidentally. Things maze up. She falls in love with Jay and Jay screws all his relationships. His disbelief on love helps him in deciding what to do.

Then, he falls in love. His life turns good and mess at the same time. Will he believe in love? Will he be ever happy? Karma is a Bitch, it returns and flirts and fucks our life. To know all the answers, you will have to buy the book.

Author of the book has got talent. He just needs to polish it well. Book has few mistakes and few areas need some real editing. Initial scenes where Jay goes on roof to commit suicide, could be written more nicely and the last scene could be written more nicely also. Actually, it is needed to be written again. It ended so quickly that it killed all the emotions. I wanted to feel the last moment but could not, as I reached the last word.

For me, it is 3.25 out of 5. I would love to see his second book with much more imagination, a unique plot, and a little more homework.

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A Review by Team Purple Pen

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Pre-release review of My Glass Of Wine

"Of the many forms that silence takes, the most memorable is the dry husk of the cicada.” ― Jon Davis

"When Kiriti Sengupta approached me for review, I was little hesitant. I must not end up being judgmental but then a book review is always subjected to personal judgment of the reviewer through her experiences of fine reading. 

You'll not only have a heady drink of "cascading thoughts, gliding ideas and effervescent memories", but also dive into a narrative of common man's life who has taken the road less traversed.

Being an existentialist by nature, I, quite involuntarily get into the basics of an idea, of a thought or even a metamorphosis. It sort of reinstates my earthing with the apparent and the imaginary. When I walked into the insides of Kiriti's work, I felt that reassurance once more. I believe it is quite simple to be complicated and complicated to be simple, eloquent and mellifluous. The way Kiriti has purposefully retained ordinariness in his language is a show of humility with innate sense and respect for the aesthetics. 

Kiriti has very precisely mentioned about the inflamed serenity of North Bengal. If Bengalis were birds, they would reject the urban offers of Kolkata to find their exclusive nests on the tip of North Bengal's pines and vegetation. He even employs pithy to denote the earnest of not 'being God'. 

"Thankfully I was named (Kiriti) after an important character of the Mahabharata. And he was no god."

In this beautiful sojourn of a writer's personal encounters of life, Kiriti has imbibed in him the art of "preparing Ghee out of milk." Pg. 55. A good meal of prose and poetry leaves you with a lingering aftertaste of good literature. Kiriti, I am sure will continue to develop his art of storytelling in days to come and with newer dimensions that would make reading the 'in-thing' for a wider mass. 

I would leave you with this beautiful excerpt from 'Southern Affiliation' ~

"Faulty are my limbs,
they tilt even on the steady floor;
I readily realize
it is all in my mind
as the sky swings." Pg. 51 "
---------------
Sincerely,
Linda Ashok 
Poet, Founder-President
Rædleafpoetry India 

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Book Review : Kashi by Terin Miller

Kashi

Synopsis of Book:

Kashi is a tale of clashes of cultures, relationship experiments and religious and moral differences in the holiest of Hindu cities, just at the time Indias second generation of independence comes to adulthood in the form of Sumita Meetha Sharma.

Meetha Sharma, educated, attractive, worldly, the daughter of a wealthy importexport businessman in the nascent new Indian middle - class, desires to be like her American and other expatriate friends. She chafes at old world ideas of behavior and conformity and longs to be seen as an equal in society. But her desires have consequences she doesnt fully realize, especially for the traditional Hindu musician to whom she was promised when she was 13.
 
A story of a generation of Indians unlike any that has come before them born in a free and independent country, a country only granted its freedom after much effort and sacrifice by their forebears, a country only granted the opportunity to rise in the world as its former colonial status fades into history.

First self-published in the United States as From Where The Rivers Come, Kashi won in the category of Multicultural Fiction in the Best Books 2010 contest, sponsored by USA Book News.

It has also received honorable mention recognition in Writers Digest 2010 International Self - Published Book Awards, the 2010 Paris Book Festival and Beach Book Festival in the fiction category and the 2009 New York Festival, the London Book Festival and New England Book Festival.


Review:

‘Kashi’ is a book written by Terin Miller. I couldn’t even think of using a place like Kashi and name of a Non-Indian Author in one sentence. However, I just did it in the first line of this review. This book is something new to Indian literature by a non-Indian author.

With his interesting communication skills, the author narrates a story of Banaras or Kashi. From the very first word, Terin Miller has maintained the essence of Indian tradition. I loved the narrating skills. It binds the readers and forces them to read. I am an Indian still, I haven’t yet visited Banaras and now I think that I don’t even need to visit it. It was all in front of my eyes.

The book open ups with a four lead characters i.e. John, Chet Bardus, Liz and Meetha. I loved the was author portrayed Meetha’s character. The book talks about Meetha, an independent woman still somewhere tied with the ropes of typical Indian society.

Story takes you to India of 1980s. Unlike today, Indians had huge belief in baseless traditions and they were following them blindly. This 160 pages book talks about the struggle and that one-step taken by Meetha against those rituals and traditions which winged her life and made her free of fly.

Heart breaking thing about this book is its pricing. The book priced Rs. 175 which isn’t looking appropriate with the thickness of this book. I mean the costing of this book is actually very low.  However, there are many criteria based on which the final pricing of book is decided. Publishers know it better, but for a reader, it is too expensive.

Another thing I think I felt after 50 pages that the writer was trying to drag the plot and increase the word count. I noticed it just once. However, I can’t deny the fact that apart from these minor flaws, the book is really good.

I will give it 4 out of 5

A Review by Team Purple Pen

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Book Review: Touch of Mist (3 out of 5)

Every Book teaches us something. Following the trend, the last book I read also taught me something. The cover proclaims a couple standing near a beach at the time of twilight. The book is titled ‘Touch of Mist’ and the one who gave it this title and wrote it is ‘Deepika Muthusamy’.

Talking about author, she is blogger and avid trekker. ‘Blogging is something which fascinates me.’ I also went through her blogs after finding the address of it in book. Don’t worry; I won’t bore you with my experience with her blog.

We will come straightly on the book I am holding right now. Let’s flip some pages. Well I failed to find any publisher’s logo on the cover. It’s a self-published book. Whenever a self-published book hits any reader he generally concludes that that the book was not enough good to get published and no publisher was ready to invest its money in the book. Avid readers avoid self-published books. 

However, these days trend is changing, even good books are getting rejected by publishers, which add to the pain in life of a writer.

Frankly speaking, even I had the same presumptions in mind but then AMISH thrashed my assumptions badly and I stopped judging books on tag of publishers. Oops! I blabber a lot.

Once again, we will come straightly on the book…

Plot: This story is another cubicle love story, happening somewhere in a cubicle of an IT company of Bangalore.  First half of the plot is boring. Boring because, it has been already used in many books.  While going to the office Gautham, sees a girl, Reena, coincidentally sitting next to him and falls head over heels at first site.

 With little turns and twists they get married. Her parents were seeing another guy for her. However, all is well if end is well. They get married. Most, of the stories end here. However, for me this book started from here.  

How couple’s individual ego and misunderstandings lead their relationship and they trail it with wet eyes and broken hearts.  This book covers almost every aspect and problem after marriage. 

Little Adam and Eve conversations in the book reminded of me of that movie ‘Hum-Tum’. I loved those conversations between Adam and Eve.

 Observation and Opinion:

Public Transport + Love at first Sight = Too Common Love Story.

I wonder when Indian’s will stop falling in love in public transportation.

He meets her in bus. Leaving his job, he follows the girl. Coincidentally, they are working for a same company and the girl in new employee in the company. Again coincidentally, she becomes his teammate. So many coincidences makes the story look little unreal. More to it, I have read around 7-8 books exactly with the same plotting.

Second half of the book carries something new for readers. This book is focused to the concept of ‘Misunderstandings’, ‘Assumptions’  ‘Ego’ and ‘Aftermath of marriage’. I loved the way author wrote routine fights of a married couple and how come these little fights expand and shrink in the relationship.   

As the author says ‘Always remember, the real devil is not somebody else. It is our own mind. Life is meant to teach us lessons about living – through joy, struggle and grace’, Life is all about joy, struggling with difficulties and then the reward is grace. 

The book teaches us to struggle; no matter how bad is the situation we must struggle to bring back our life to normal.

Narration: The narration was quite good and the book is an EASY READ.

Characterization: There were very few characters in the book which made it easily understandable. Not a world class characterization, but a good one. Characters described by Deepika, failed to leave an impact in my mind. 

Good wishes for the book.

For me it definitely deserves 3 out of 5   

Review by Team Purple Pen.

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Book Review: A Wild Rose : Love Blossoms Until the Thorns Prick

Finally, I finished this very beautiful book “A Wild Rose” of the very beautiful author “Uzma Jafri”. Being a Feminist, Uzma wrote this women-centered fiction.

First Look: Cover of the book is beautiful and seems fit to the title of the book. Book is decorated with a very catchy mixture of red and black color, displaying the color of rose with the disturbance of thorns. Cover depicts love and betrayal. After taking a detailed journey of front cover, I turned it to the other side and found Mahesh Bhatt’s comments and indeed a very long but still attractive blurb. It was like reading a short story. She could have used more impaction words with less space acquiesce. The Blurb of the book says…

 

 Ritu Anand. Vivacious television anchor envied by many, makes the biggest mistake of her life. A man is at the center of it all. Who is he? And why is he after her?

Ritu Anand is a strikingly beautiful and wealthy divorcee, all of 25 years. None but her parents and best friend in life, Sumbul, know the truth of her divorce. Her career too, had gone to dust thanks to her failed marriage and traumatic ill-health. To the rest of the world, Ritu maintains a faade of still being married. In an effort to piece her life together again, she goes back to being an anchorperson after 3 long years

And a very important part of this new life becomes the enigmatic Anshuman Sinha. Not very tall and with an average physique, deep hazel eyes and sharp intense features, Anshuman is dangerous and irresistible he is the very picture of 'Ritu's Man'. The devastatingly dashing casanova soon has thelove starved- Ritu eating from the palm of his hand and dreaming of a picture perfect life with him. The gullible Ritu is soon weaving the tapestry of a picture perfect life, of a happily ever after with her lover. But there is her hidden past to deal with. What was the truth behind her sordid marriage? And coming to the present, what did she know about Anshuman at all? Will this new life be the chance Ritu was hoping for? Or is this some deep, dark hell?

Has she fallen from the pan straight into the fire?
Is love blooming or have the sinister thorns torn the petals to shreds?

Watch the bookshelves for this fascinating book, a look at a different side to love. After all, are there really any guarantees in love for a happy life ever after?

The lyrical Urdu poetry of greats such as Ghalib and Momin adds an ethereal passion to the heartfelt prose of Uzma Jafri. A truly spellbinding book, a truly impassioned effort.

The Review: Pages of the book will take you to the journey of Ritu Anand’s life. She was a once upon a time successful journalist and then something unusual happened with her and everything crashed. Story begins after the end of two years of her successful carrier; she finally comes out of her trauma and joins DAG. In addition, on the very first day she gets attracted to a DAG employee Anshuman. Eventually, they interact and love holds them both together into a serious relationship. Anshuman becomes a savior and rescue her from her nasty and inescapable past. Apparently, Ritu falls blindly in love with Anshuman.

However, Ritu’s friend Sumbul was not blind. She knew under what conditions, Ritu went through once.  She warns Ritu about not getting serious for Anshuman, but Ritu never listens. 

Like everyone, Anshuman has another side too and Ritu was unaware of that. What happens when Ritu meets the COMPLETE Anshuman?        

‘Rose’ is used as an binding element in the book. Ritu loves roses and every morning her bai brings roses for her. From childhood, she believes that roses are the real symbol of love and one day her soul mate will propose her with the roses only. It looked a little childish in the beginning but then authoress was never lacking behind in giving justice to it. I liked the way she used the theme in the latter half.

Narration: It was not so awesome read, but yes, it was a perfect read. Writing was clean and there weren’t any irritating flaws; which can be found in any debutant Indian author’s book. This book stands as an exception. 

Nevertheless, for me it wasn’t a page-turner. I like books having enough potential to make me laugh or at least smile. A book full of witty characters is the best one for me. I didn’t find much wittiness in the book. Hope, authoress keeps that in mind while writing her second book. After all, we are all here to improve.

Characterization:  With a fine grip on language, Authoress did a great job in making the characters alive. I liked the characterizations; Specially, Anshuman’s character. Authoresses’ writing skills are great and yes, I felt the characters. Kudos…!

Verdict: First half of the book is undoubtedly better than the second half of the book. Anshuman’s character is the real charm of the book. Story will take you to the happenings of two year back where Ritu got married and lived in an illusion and then it comes back to reality, where things are different yet relatable. This book is a decent treat for the book-eaters seeking for unique story lines with proper narration. But, if you are a classic reader and like to read books again and again then this in not for you. 

I will rate it 4 out of 5 (1 less for lack of humor. Will wait for the next book of the authoress)

PS: The Authoress is beautiful.

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Book Review: Chakra: Chronicles of the Witch Way

Overview - Chakra: Chronicles of the Witch Way

The Japas are a race so secretive that their existence is dismissed as a myth. Tales of them abound in our mythology, telling of these men and women, possessing physical abilities beyond belief, playing with elements, with the power to curse and cure. They exist among us, mingle with us, ride our metros, visit our malls, and even go to the same schools and colleges as us.

 Parineeta Mohan is a powerful Japni who has turned her back on The Witch Way. She has even brought up her niece and nephew as ordinary people, unaware of their heritage. 

 Their life changes when the kids disappear along with their cousin Roma.

 A shocked and desperate Parineeta has to find them before enemies of her family do, and has no one to turn to but Jorawar, a man she is attracted to but can’t trust since he belongs to the sinister organization Pax.

 The only way she can fight, win and survive is to embrace her heritage, return to The Witch Way.

They say “A New Book is a New world” and “Chakra: Chronicles of the witch way” undoubtedly confirms the statement. Authoress “Ritu Lalit”  dons many hats; she is a keen observer of life, a voracious reader, a parent, a blogger, an author and also an office worker.  The last is most important since it pays her bills!  She has written two books, A Bowlful of Butterflies published by Rupa& Co and Hilawi published by Popular Prakashan. Chakra is her third book.

The Review:

This book is indeed a huge risk; a very new plot, with a very new publisher, and an already established writer, with a 250 rupees tag on the back. When I picked this book, I knew it would be difficult for me to read it. The cover of the book itself says many things about the story. Opening it was like opening door of a strange world. I wasn’t worried, I was somewhat unprepared.

I finally started reading it. First 17-18 pages took the hell out of me to understand what exactly was happening, Kudos to the powerful imagination of Ritu Lalit. Initially, it was a slow read but once I was into it, it became a quick read with imputable urge. Page after Page my mother kept shouting for the dinner and all I was wondering about was awakened kundalinis and japnis. Eventually, I skipped my dinner to feed my urge of reading. 

The book is not an ordinary pick. For the first time I failed to predict what’s gonna happen next, not first time ummm… may be in Harry Potter and Vampire Diaries too. With an explosive plot and a lighting narration, this book becomes a perfect treat for the SMART readers.

This tale will take you to in the world of japas and japnis along with the five elements Varuni for wind, Bhoomars for earth, jalaj for water, Pallav for vegetation and Agney for fire.. It’s a supernatural tale with nail-cum-finger eating suspense, turns and twists. It’s a magical journey, which will turn this book into a new world you can open and step into. It has magic, romance, politics, unimaginable twists, and every other ingredient to keep readers busy.

 It takes years to develop a plot like this (but few hours to read it), to fill all the loopholes, and to bring those What-the-Feck twists. I haven’t read any book of Ritu Lalit. But she definitely earned a fan today. I will wait for its second part.

Final Verdict: A highly recommended book for Harry Potter and other supernatural story fans. And If you are a dumb reader and like Romance fictions, then this is just not for you.  

I will give it 4.50 out of 5.

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-A Review by Team Purple Pen

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