Review: A Monster Tale

Author: Cornelia Funke. 

Genre: Children's Books.

Rating: 🍫🍫🍫🍫

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.

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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.

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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: 🍫🍫🍫🍫

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. 

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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: 🍫🍫🍫🍫

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: 🍫🍫🍫

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: 🍫🍫🍫🍫🍬

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: 🍫🍫🍫

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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Review: Never Been A Loved One

Author: Sivaranjini Ramamurthy.

Genre: General Fiction.

Rating: 🍫🍫🍫

Blurb:

If we are not loved by anyone, it doesn't mean that we will be in the same way forever. One day our life will change, we would be the special person for someone waiting out there, we would be their life, we would be their soul, we would be their breath as we wanted to be, we two halves will become one. But we should move on for that to happen in our life. This is a story of real female protogonist in an unreal story of love, pain, adventure and thrill.

Cover Review:

The cover is pretty generic, and doesn't even have the author's name on it. I'm definitely not a fan. 

Book Review:

Never Been A Loved One starts with the birth of CK—Chandra Kanth—and the death of his mother. His father, unable to bear to be with him, sends him off to live in a boarding school overseas. 

The storyline was actually pretty interesting, and I can say I'd have enjoyed the book if only the narration had been better. I couldn't get into the story at all, because there were no true feelings in it. And even if there were, the author hasn't managed to get them across to me. 

Most of the chapters read like reports, with not many dialogues. As they always tell us in writing class, we're not supposed to 'tell' the readers what's happening. We need to 'show' it to them. That's where this book lacked the most. There was more telling and almost no showing. 

All in all, I believe that the story had potential, but the narration did not.

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Review: The Panchatheertha Part I

Author: Rajiv Mittal.

Genre: General Fiction, Folklore.

Rating: 🍫🍫🍫

Blurb:

The Panchatheertha (five pilgrimages) Part 1 is a facetious, satirical revision of sections 1 & 2 of The Panchatantra, the masterpiece Vishnu Sharma wrote between 1200 BCE to 300 CE. The stories are primarily about statecraft and full of wisdom and morals. Despite that, youngsters found them very entertaining. In the tales, animals act and speak on behalf of human beings. The series begins with a parent story that unfolds story after story; each strung to the other by a narrator.

Vishnu Sharma’s reincarnation Shiva Varma has, in this redraft, revived the ancient Indian tradition of parampara (continuation of knowledge from one guru to the next). In his excitement, he forgot the younger age group of his shishyas (students). His characters now try to explain the motives for their actions, also express their feelings; something The Panchatantra had cleverly avoided doing. Within its pages, animals are still made to think and behave like human beings but have not otherwise been harmed in any way.

The Panchatheertha was considered lost but the discovery of two altered strategies ‘The Loss of Friends’ and ‘Gaining Friends’ should create hope within the large and growing community that has had considerable success with the first and complete failure with the second. Those wanting to meet Shiva Varma are hereby informed he dislikes economists, preferring astrology. He is in samadhi, (seclusion / deep meditation) and not in hiding.

There are many intriguing characters not known to Vishnu Sharma in this adaptation; from a sex consultant plying his trade in the locality Ajilundpenodhoka in district Makasam… to a devadasi (courtesan) wanting to conduct the temple prayers because she is bored… to Sage Narada Muni!

Bibliophiles are urged to read the original Panchatantra (which Shiva Varma did consider including as an appendix), to truly appreciate the extent to which history gets distorted when it is made to explain itself. Historically, the appendix has been viewed as a vestigial organ with no real function. This is why Shiva Varma chose not to include it… or so he claims.

Cover Review: 

I DO NOT like the cover. I mean, there's nothing to the cover except some badly edited images. 

Book Review:

Panchatheertha has been loosely inspired from the classic panchatantra stories we used to read as kids, though this collection has a much more developed, modern form of those stories.

Though the narration reminded me of lores and classic writing style, the dialogues sometime reflected a modern time. Also, the mention of modern gadgets with kings and queens kinda confused me. The timeline of the stories was never clear. 

I liked the stories, but it wasn't something I enjoyed thoroughly. The stories were intriguing enough, but I guess they just weren't for me. 

Even so, it was a good enough read to make me want to finish it. If you enjoy folk/classic takes like the Panchatantra, you might enjoy this book!

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Review: Bestseller

Author: Ahmed Faiyaz.

Genre: Satire, Humour.

Rating: 🍫🍫🍫🍫

Blurb:

Akshay Saxena, an out of work editor of a defunct literary magazine in the UK, is told to move to India for a year to help shore up the value of Kalim, an ailing Indian publisher.

Akshay finds himself in a job where he has to do the impossible. Angus Lee, the new owner of Thomson Lee Books, wants at least five bestsellers in the coming year, failing which the business would be wound up.

He has to find a way of making a success out of books he would never publish or would never even read. To complicate things further, he has to contend with motley crew of has-beens and misfits working for the publishing house as well as wannabe writers, dealing with their follies and derisive tactics, and battle his own affections for Zorah Kalim, the impulsive daughter of his former boss.

Will he succeed in bringing out that one ‘bestseller’ from his publishing house? And what about his own life and love in office? Find out in this riveting read.

Cover Review:

The cover is simple, a tad intriguing, but not enough to make me want to pick the book up. 

Book Review:

Bestseller is the story of a guy who ends up in an almost dead publishing house in India after the magazine he used to work for in London shuts down. And to make matters worse, his boss dies on the first day of his job. 

Akshay's story was hilarious and at the same time it reflected everything that is true about the publishing industry in India as well as Bollywood. 

Bestseller was a light read, the kind of book you can read over tea or while you're looking for an easy book that doesn't demand much from you.

My favourite thing about the book was that the romance was only a subplot and that there were better and more important things at play. I also appreciated how the author casually introduced a queer character. 

My least favourite thing could be the fact that the book was so short, but then again, I think it was better this way. 

If you're looking for a peek into the publishing world in India, reading Bestseller would be a good idea. You should also read it if you're looking for a good laugh. 

All in all, Bestseller was witty, short and I'd definitely recommend you to check it out. 

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