Review: The Suspects




Author: Katherine Johnson.
Genre: Mystery.
Rating: đŸ«đŸ«đŸ«đŸ«

Blurb:

Shallow Grave meets The Secret History in this quirky psychological thriller.

When you're bound together by secrets and lies who do you trust?

Bristol, 1988.

Five young graduates on the threshold of their careers buy a house together in order to get a foot on the property ladder before prices spiral out of their reach. But it soon becomes the house share from hell.

After their New Year's Eve party, they discover a body - and it's clear they'll be the first suspects. As each of them has a good reason from their past not to trust the police, they come up with a solution - one which forces them into a life of secrets and lies.

But can they trust each other?

Cover Review:

Perfect for a mystery thriller. Love the black and white feels.

Book Review:

The Suspects had an intriguing start. The funeral was very amusing as well as it set the scene and created a lot of suspense around Xanthe's death.

The middle dragged a bit as the author introduced us to the various characters who played important roles in the story. Sometimes, it lagged to much, but most of the time it proved crucial to the story.

But the climax more than made up for it. I loved the ending, though I hated the fact that Stuart had to take the fall just because he had a record. (I know he wasn't completely innocent, but none of them were.)

Zak was probably my favourite character, because he was strong and flawed and stayed till the end. 

All in all, The Suspects was slow, but good.


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Review: Incidentals


Author: Vinayak Pattar.
Genre: Short Stories. 
Rating: đŸ«đŸ«đŸ«đŸŹ

Blurb:

Just like unison of a male and female giving rise to a new generation, two rivers meet at a fictitious village called Koodala. Set in this Koodala, Incidentals is a collection of 17 short stories that touch your chords of nostalgia, love, relationship, humor, childhood, adventure, culture, and superstitions. Overall, each story reminds us of incidents that most of us experienced, in one or the other form, during the course of our lives.

Cover Review:

The cover is beautiful. I love its simplicity. 

Book Review:

Incidentals was a collection of 17 quirky short stories set in the fictional town of Koondla. Some of the stories were funny, some ironic and some were too short to make much sense.

I liked most of the stories, but there were a few that read more like musings than stories, like that last one about death. 

The book, in my opinion, was a good attempt by the author, but it needed a bit more work to really stand out. There were instances where words were used out of context or where tenses kept changing with each paragraph. 

Overall, it needs a bit of work, but it could be a superb collection with some editing and TLC.


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Review: Voice of the Soul


Author: Shreyans Kanswa.
Genre: Poetry.
Rating: đŸ«đŸ«đŸ«đŸ«

Blurb:

How does it feel to lie just by yourself and delve into the silence? The silence that is a path to deeper self, a self that is unexplored. That same unexplored self can also be regarded as the soul. While the time ticks on the clock, a bond with your soul is timeless. Such metaphors are rendered powerless when a conversation is created with oneself. These poems mean more than just words, they scream soulfulness. It is rather weird that we go looking for answers outside when all that we have to do is seek deeper within ourselves. The poems are experiences that the poet shares with the world and these experiences are nothing fancy- they are all moments that the poet experiences with himself. They are questions risen from inquisitiveness and introspection.

Cover Review:

The cover is beautiful and it was what made me pick up this book. I wish I could have a paperback!

Book Review:

Voice of The Soul is a collection of thought provoking and insightful poems about life. It covers a multitude of topics from life, to success, to growing up, to death. 

The language was mostly easy to understand and yet, the poems resonated deeply within me. Every poem brought a smile or a frown on my face as I understood its meaning, and the whole process of figuring it out was a pleasant experience.

The only thing that annoyed me was the way too frequent use of some words. The words weren't particularly poetic, which added to my irritation.  Eg, "halcyon", "munificence", etc.

I can't pick a favourite poem, because there were so many poems that I adored! Here's a list of my top favourites:
¤ Finding the Blue
¤ Devil
¤ 5 Years Old
¤ The Song of Life
¤ The One You Think
¤ Sand & Stones

All in all, Voice of The Soul was a beautiful collection of poems, and I loved how each one of them gave me a different message. 


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Blog Tour: Montgomery Manor



Author: Allie Harrison.
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Psychological thriller. 
Rating: đŸ«đŸ«đŸ«đŸ«

Blurb:

Welcome to Montgomery Manor, a beautiful Bed & Breakfast complete with gorgeous guest rooms, a five-star restaurant, and a haunting history of true love, betrayal, and murder...

When soulmates Quint and Meg Falkner inherit moldering Montgomery Manor, they are in way over their heads. With a bit of faith and strange push they cannot ignore, they jump head first into bringing the large, compelling house back to its original grandeur.
But something is different...something is...wrong. Quint isn't acting himself, and Meg keeps seeing visions, images of the past seeping into her very soul. When Meg becomes the target of a mysterious, dangerous admirer, her world implodes, leaving her vulnerable to the otherworldly inhabitants of the house...the very house calling out to her, its secrets begging to be uncovered.

Endless corridors, echoing darkness, and hidden treasure weave together in this tale of everlasting love and second chances.
Can Meg and Quint make a new life for themselves in Montgomery Manor, or will Montgomery Manor's secrets tear them apart forever?

Cover Review:

The cover looks spooky and intriguing. Can't say I don't like it.

Book Review:

The best thing about this book is that it's a fusion of my two most favourite genres i.e. Paranormal Romance and Psychological Thriller. This book was like a Christmas gift to me; totally unexpected. 

Meg's story was spooky and intriguing as well as smoky and sensual. The best part? Meg owns a bookstore! 😍 And shs gets to live in a huge manor that's known to be haunted. 
And haunted, it is.

I loved the excitement that always kept me one edge, and the way the whole storyline worked out. I especially loved the ending, it was scary, hopeful,  completely unexpected and so good.

All in all, Montgomery Manor was a definite page turner, and I'm regretting not signing up for the rest of tours (for the books in this series, I mean).


Giveaway:


$10 Amazon – 3 winners

Follow the tour HERE for exclusive excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!
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Review: Once Upon A Reunion


Author: Nithya Sashi.
Genre: Literary Fiction. 
Rating: đŸ«đŸ«đŸ«đŸŹ

Blurb:

Have you ever sat late into the night, going over hundreds of 'what-if' scenarios?
Have you loved someone to the point of losing your mind?

Like most Indian women who have loved, lost, and settled for an arranged marriage, Nirmala secretly pines for her ex, Suresh, even as she leads a happy, mostly peaceful life with Sreenivas, her husband.

Memories of her first love resurface occasionally, disturbing her present life.

Unable to fully love Sreenivas with the insane intensity she had felt for Suresh, she is conflicted and living in a parallel world, always tormented by the probability of a what-if!

It is at this time that her school friends plan a high school reunion, which Suresh would also be attending. Nirmala sees this as an opportunity to bring a closure to that chapter of her life. But she is torn by the uncertainty and the upheaval this might cause. She fears that her meeting with her ex-boyfriend might ruthlessly tear apart the delicate fabric of her marriage.

And at the reunion, her world turns on its head.

Suresh is found dead.

Was it suicide? If not, who was the murderer?

Nirmala is crippled by the shock. But blame quickly falls on her as the ex with a motive and before she realizes she is in the police net.

How does she manage to escape? And what effect does this have on her marriage?

Cover Review:

Simply said, the author needs to get a new cover. Maybe a professional one?

Book Review:

Reading the blurb, I'd thought the story would be a lot of mystery (who killed her ex-lover?) and a bit of drama (why can't she stop thinking about her ex?) But unfortunately, it turned out to be the other way around. The murder takes place when the book was already 80% done, I kid you not.

The writing itself was pretty well thought out and interesting and frankly saying I'd have enjoyed this book a lot more if I hadn't been expecting it to be a suspense novel. 

I found some parts of the book too melodramatic. For example, there was a whole page (kindle wise) that talked about nothing but the smell of the protagonist's lover's saliva. Honestly. 

All in all, I think it could've been a lot better if the murder happened before all the drama and if, as a reader, I'd been given clues as to who could be the murderer and also a chance to solve the mystery myself instead of dumping it all on me in the last 10% of the story.


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Review: Divyastra


Author: Nimish Tanna.
Genre: Fiction,  Suspense. 
Rating: đŸ«đŸ«đŸ«đŸ«đŸŹ

Blurb:

Thousands of years ago, Indian Yogis possessed the knowledge to obtain the weapons of the gods. However, this knowledge could only be transferred from a Guru to his disciple by word of mouth. In today’s world, one mystic, who calls himself Guruji, still possesses this knowledge and is using it to empower an innocent person’s life. Only, this empowerment could be a deception and the innocent person is a thirteen year old boy with a stutter...

In this intertwining tale, an ambitious yet unsuccessful Shankar, in search of his identity, is manipulated to embark on a never-told-before fantasy tale; only to rediscover the father he never knew and unmask the mystical Guruji.

Amidst this confounding concoction of ancient myths, deluding personas and dispersed emotions, will Shankar ever be able to separate fact from fiction and find his true identity?

Cover Review:

The cover is simple, yet a bit intriguing. I like the abstractness of it.

Book Review:

Divyastra was so deceptively good. I knew the moment I finished the first chapter that I was going to like it. It had all the elements you look for in a good book.

I started reading this book yesterday and finished it this morning,  because it was one of those books that you just can't stop reading. 

I loved how the storyline was divided into two threads and then intricately woven back together. It felt like such an adventure,  especially the ending when you start realising what the story was all about.

The only thing I could find lacking was character development. The characters in Shankar's grandpa's stories were well developed but his own character seemed pretty hollow to me.

Other than that minor setback though, Divyastra proved to be one of the best of the Indian literature I've ever read. So I wholeheartedly recommend you to go check this book out. You'll love it, especially the ending.

(P.S. I don't think the blurb does justice to the book.)


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Review: Song of Life


Author: Anuradha Singh.
Genre: Poetry, Mythology. 
Rating: đŸ«đŸ«đŸ«đŸ«

Blurb:

Mahabharata, India’s legacy, longest written poetry, stories interlinked into each other, with so many characters, events and places. Each character has a role to play, which is vital for the story to go ahead. This Mahakavya, which is written by Krishnadwaipayana Vyasa is imprinted on Indian mind. It has been translated world wide, every region of India has its own narration, interpretation and connection with Mahabharata. In song of life the author has created poetry which can be read and understood easily by young generation who have not read or heard of Mahabharata much. Along with the young even the elders can read and relish the easy flowing poetry of the verve.

Cover Review:

The cover is pretty simple and not too intriguing. I'd have preferred something livelier. 

Book Review:

Song of Life was the story of Mahabharata told in the form of modern verses. I say modern because the writing style did not include any of the words you'd usually expect in an Indian mythology. Simply put, the language was really easy to understand. 

Reading it, I felt as if I was doing a crash course on the Mahabharata. It was a feat, boiling down such a long saga into the few pages, and even those in the form of verses.

Song of Life was a delight to read, and it focused on almost all of the major events of the saga. 

My favourite thing about the book was its simple language. I loved the fact that the English was mostly modern, and though it reflected the richness of the story, it was also new enough to feel refreshing.  

Overall, Song of Life was a quick, enjoyable read, and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to know the story of Mahabharata but doesn't have the time/resources to read the whole saga.


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Review: A Monster Tale


Author: Cornelia Funke. 
Genre: Children's Books.
Rating: đŸ«đŸ«đŸ«đŸ«

Blurb:

A furry red monster called Ruffleclaw moves in with a family of humans after he tires of eating bugs and living under the toolshed. He unabashedly climbs right into bed with a young boy named Tommy. Ruffleclaw is messy, spits, drinks shampoo and eats the plate along with the food! Will Tommy be able to teach Ruffleclaw to behave and maybe even keep him as a pet?


Cover Review:

The cover is beautiful and sweet! I love all the details and the illustrations. 

Book Review:

A Monster Tale is the story of Ruffleclaw, a monster who turns into a pet. 

The story is cute, with enough details and pace to keep a child entertained.  The illustrations were awesome and gave the book a whole new theme.

My younger brother loved reading the book too. He loved the fact that the family eventually warmed up to Ruffleclaw, and I loved that part too.

All in all, A Monster Tale was a sweet, magical read and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. 


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Review & Giveaway: A Heart In The Right Place



Author: Heidi Goody and Ian Grant.
Genre: Horror Comedy, Fiction.
Rating: -

Blurb:

All Nick wants to do is take his dying father for a perfect father-son weekend in the Scottish Highlands. It’s not much to ask, is it? A log cabin, a roaring fire, a bottle of fine whisky and two days to paper over the cracks in their relationship.

However, Nick didn’t plan on making the trip with a dead neighbour in the back of his car. Or the neighbour’s dog. He really didn’t plan on being pursued by a psychotic female assassin intent on collecting body parts. And he really, really didn’t plan on encountering a platoon of heavily armed mercenaries, or some very hungry boars, or a werewolf.

A Heart in the Right Place - a horror comedy about setting out with the very best intentions and then messing everything up.

Cover Review:

The cover is okay, not overtly interesting, but the idea of the cover did spark my interest.

Book Review:

Unfortunately, I couldn't read the book in time for the tour because of some personal issues. But I can tell you that I've read another of the authors' books, and it was really good! So I'm hoping this one will be too. 

You can read my review of the other book here: A Spell In The Country.


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Heide Goody is the stupid one in the writing partnership and Iain Grant is the sensible one. Together, they are the authors of over a dozen books. The Clovenhoof series (in which Satan loses his job and has to move to Birmingham) has recently been optioned by a Hollywood production company. Heide and Iain are both married, but not to each other.

Twitter: @HeideGoody and @IainMGrant

Giveaway:


Win a gorgeous Moleskine Passion Traveller's Journal (Open Internationally)

The Moleskine Travellers Journal is a structured before and after record of every journey you make, from weekends away to life-changing trips and everything in between. Note down your travel plans before you leave and list all the things you hope to see and do, then add maps, photos, tickets and keepsakes when you return. The Travellers Journal is a place to dream, get practical and create a unique and lasting paper archive of your travels that youll want to revisit again and again.

• Premium box with themed graphics related to your passion

• Hard cover with themed debossing, rounded corners, elastic closure
• 2 ribbon bookmarks
• Double expandable inner pocket
• Front endpaper with in case of loss noticeivory-coloured 70 g/m² acid-free papertabbed sections to guide your note-taking
• Themed introductory pages
• 400 pages 
• Themed stickers to customize your journal
• Moleskine S.r.l. creates and sells FSC®-certified products 

Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome.  Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below.  The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachels Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachels Random Resources will delete the data.  I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

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Review & Giveaway: Return To Hiroshima




Author: Bob Van Laerhoven.
Genre: Historical Fiction.
Rating: đŸ«đŸ«đŸ«đŸ«

Blurb:

1995, Japan struggles with a severe economic crisis. Fate brings a number of people together in Hiroshima in a confrontation with dramatic consequences. Xavier Douterloigne, the son of a Belgian diplomat, returns to the city, where he spent his youth, to come to terms with the death of his sister. Inspector Takeda finds a deformed baby lying dead at the foot of the Peace Monument, a reminder of Hiroshima's war history. A Yakuza-lord, rumored to be the incarnation of the Japanese demon Rokurobei, mercilessly defends his criminal empire against his daughter Mitsuko, whom he considers insane. And the punk author Reizo, obsessed by the ultra-nationalistic ideals of his literary idol Mishima, recoils at nothing to write the novel that will "overturn Japan's foundations"....

Hiroshima’s indelible war-past simmers in the background of this ultra-noir novel. Clandestine experiments conducted by Japanese Secret Service Unit 731 during WWII become unveiled and leave a sinister stain on the reputation of the imperial family and the Japanese society as a whole.

Cover Review:

The cover is grimy, but also a bit intriguing. It goes well with the storyline, so that's a plus point too.

Book Review:

If I had to write a one sentence review, I'd say that "Return to Hiroshima is not a book you should take lightly." With scenes describing the Hiroshima-Nagasaki bomb blasts and the destruction thereof, it was a gruesome, goosebumps raising read. 

I'm not much of a Historical Fiction buff, and the ones that I do read, I usually don't enjoy. But Return to Hiroshima was a welcome change, and it made me think that I just might enjoy the genre if I read books set in histories that might interest me. 

I appreciated the details, since I'm completely unfamiliar with Japanese culture and geography, but sometimes, the descriptions felt like they could've been avoided.

Also, one of the characters, Xavier, was almost unrelated to the main plot, and I couldn't understand what was his role in the story. Also, his sister's death—which was a topic of suspense until the end—wasn't clarified, and it annoyed me to not know what happened. 

All in all, Return to Hiroshima was gruesome, chilling and real, and I'm glad that I got a chance to read it. 


Buy Return To Hiroshima Now:


Giveaway:



To Win 2 x Return to Hiroshima Paperbacks (Open Internationally)

Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome.  Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below.  The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then I reserve the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time I will delete the data.  I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

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Review: Catch Me If You Can


Author: Rafaa Dalvi.
Genre: Comedy, Short Story.
Rating: đŸ«đŸ«đŸ«đŸ«

Blurb:

What happens when the world's best detective realizes that his prodigy has become a wanted global con artist? Prepare for a wild cat-and-mouse chase around the world.

Cover Review:

The cover is okay, a bit intriguing, simple and nice.

Book Review:

This is going to be a short review since the book itself is just 16 pages long.

Catch Me If You Can was funny, not the kind that makes you roll on the floor laughing, but the kind that makes you giggle in awkward places (like public transport?)

It was a short read, as I said earlier, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I read it over tea, and it was the best way to read it, I believe. I finished the book faster than I finished my tea 😂

Overall, Catch Me If You Can is a short, fun read and I'm sure you'll enjoy it!


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Review: Not Worth Living For


Author: Shreyan Laha.
Genre: Science Fiction, Romance.
Rating: đŸ«đŸ«đŸ«

Blurb:

Ishita Singh, a student of an esteemed college in Mumbai was living a normal life along with her group of friends, a caring senior and scarily enough, a creep who stalked her.

Shweta wakes up in an unknown planet with an advanced civilisation and sets out with Alexander Ishutin, a former spy of the RSV to discover about the far future.

Underlying the lives of these two girls in different worlds, there lies a dark secret. Will they ever come across this dark secret or will it be so chilling that it won't be worth living for? Prepare yourselves for a psyched, dystopian adventure. Not for the faint hearted.

Cover Review:

Frankly saying, I don't like it. It looks like a badly edited collage of pictures, not an actual cover. I'd suggest the author to invest in a professional cover or get an interesting picture for the cover at the very least.

Book Review:

Not Worth Living For is a Sci-fi romance, and I don't usually read Sci-fi, but I decided to give this one a go because I liked its blurb. 

The story is of two girl, Ishita and Shweta, and follows them in their own worlds—Earth and a futuristic planet called Isthenope.

There was enough mystery to keep me hooked, but the narration could've been a lot better. I think the story would benefit a lot of it were properly edited. Even though there are no grammatical errors, the story didn't flow as smoothly as it should. 

The characters were pretty well crafted, with relatable quirks. Though the naming system of Isthenope really annoyed me—names of people were in numbers, like, 45, 46, etc—because I couldn't, for the life of me, remember who was who. 

Overall, though, Not Worth Living For was an interesting read and I'd recommend you to check it out if you love Sci-fi and don't mind a bit of romance.


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Review: DareDreamers: A Start-up of Superheroes


Author: Kartik Sharma, Ravi 'Nirmal' Sharma.
Genre: Comedy, Fiction.
Rating: đŸ«đŸ«đŸ«đŸ«đŸŹ

Blurb:

India’s first start-up of superheroes with a mission of saving lives is here to kick ass.

Rasiq is riding the highs of life thanks to his successes as an investment banker. But his arrogance soon gets the better of him and he ends up losing everything he holds dear. Managing to salvage only his grit from the wreckage, Rasiq reboots his life and teams up with five uniquely talented superheroes to start a rescue venture
- DareDreamers.

These superheroes Nick: a crazy inventor; Halka: an inhumanly strong man; Arjun: a champion shooter; Natasha: a Bollywood stunt-double; Dr. Vyom, a medical Sherlock Holmes; and, of course, Rasiq: the mastermind combine their unique talents to deliver spectacular rescue operations. Their skyrocketing success, however, comes at a price an enemy hell bent on tearing down their fame and reputation.

Will DareDreamers defeat its wily adversary? Or will it become yet another failed start-up?

Treachery, action and adventure come alive to make DareDreamers a page-turner.

Cover Review:

The cover is totally in tune with the storyline, though it isn't as attractive. Still, it's a good enough cover. 

Book Review:

I received a copy of this book through the Book Genie Review Program.

DareDreamers was the story of Rasiq and his struggle through a life consuming job to a startup that he dared to start with a bunch of people that had nothing in common except the will to do something big. 

The story was full of fun incidents, sweet dialogues and had a firm storyline. There were no plot holes, and the story itself was pretty interesting. 

I enjoyed reading DareDreamers thoroughly, especially the scenes that included Rasiq's father. He might just be my favourite character, despite his few appearances. The dialogues between the father and son were the highlight of the book for me. I guess it has something to do with the fact that the authors are also a father-son duo, don't you think so?

I loved the DareDreamers team too, because all of the characters had a special 'power' each, and it reminded me of Marvel movies and Avengers, only without the actual "super powers."

I read the book in two sittings, because once I began reading, I couldn't stop myself. It was engaging, entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable. I liked that the romance wasn't the central theme of the story, even though there were many couples among the characters. 

All in all, DareDreamers was a light, fun read and I'd definitely recommend you to read it!


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Review: It's Got To Be Love


Author: Prashant Kaul.
Genre: Romance. 
Rating: đŸ«đŸ«đŸ«

Blurb:

Meet Dev Sharma, a young student, who has a unique ability – he has nightmares that unfortunately come true. 

It’s Got to Be Love weaves around Dev and his friend Vikram. Dev is initially smitten with Carol, a college girl, but due to various reasons, they part ways. He meets Vaani through Facebook and a steady friendship develops between them, which soon blossoms into love. However, Vaani turns down Dev, for reasons known only to her. 

Will Dev win back his love? 

Will Carol come into his life again?
 
Join Dev on his emotional roller-coaster ride in Chandigarh, Delhi and Mumbai.

Cover Review

The cover is simple and cute, and fits the story well.

Book Review:

It's Got To Be Love started with an interesting premise. A guy whose dreams come true everytime? Such a good plot. But I was really disappointed to know that this particular arc is given more importance in the synopsis than in the story itself. Even after dreaming a number of times, and realising they come true, the character doesn't care too much about why it happens. He's more focused on chasing a girl who's made it clear she's not interested in him.

The characters are well written, though not all of them are likable. At times, I found myself disgusted by the main character, which made me enjoy the story less and less.

The storyline was okay, and I liked that there weren't too many descriptions. But I wished the author had given more importance to the "nightmares coming true" story arc. 

Overall, It's Got To Be Love was okay, but it wasn't the kind of story that you'd remember for too long. 


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