The Book Critiques

BOOK – The Ultimate Gift
AUTHOR – Jim Stoval
GENRE – Fiction
REVIEW – No matter how many times I thank @libroreview for this book it always feels less.

The Ultimate Gift came into my life at the perfect time. When I was lost and had zero ideas where my life was going I won this book in a giveaway and as soon as it reached me, I started reading it but that time instead of sharing my review I applied my learnings to life. And recently while recommending some books to a friend this book pop’s up and I just picked it up for a re-read.
Now coming to what this book is all about.
Red Steven was the richest man who ruined his family by giving them everything and never letting them work. After his death, his friend and attorney Mr Hamilton, as instructed in Red Steven’s will, divided all his estate of oil companies and cattle ranches among greedy and self-serving relatives but one member was singled out and that was Jason.
For Jason, his great uncle has a grand plan. Red Steven, instead of giving Jason any part of his estate, left some tasks to be done in 12 months so that he can get his Ultimate Gift. At first, Jason was frantic but as per his great uncle’s will if he wanted the ultimate Gift he had to go through the process so he complied.

Under the guidance of Mr Hamilton, month by month Jason did as instructed, initially, he was not delighted and found everything absurd but after a few months, he started enjoying the process of his transformation and in the end was altogether a different person. At the end of the 12th month, he was not the same Jason who never lifted his fingers for any work and who took everything for granted.

Through Jason, the author shares the 12 most beautiful gifts with all of us which we while growing up have somewhere forgotten. There will be lessons you already know about but at the same time, this book has something new to offer to everyone.
The author has used simple language to have a great impact on his readers. The book is written in such a lucid manner that at both the time I ended up reading it in just one sitting.

If you really take my recommendations seriously then you must read this book.

BOOK – Imperfect Love
AUTHOR – Jaishree
GENRE – Poetry
PAGES – 90
REVIEW- Imperfect Love is a collection of 85 poems and musings coming directly from the heart of the author. And as the title of the book suggests, the theme of the book is love.
In this book, you will find through the words of the author different shades of love. Each poem has a story to share about joy, hope, separation, heartbreak and one-sided love.
Love is the purest and most beautiful emotion in itself and just like it, the poems and the musings in this book are written in a beautiful way.

With her simple words, the author pierced your heart and touches your soul.
I occasionally read poems and when I do when I make sure to pick a poetry book with which I can connect and to my delight ‘Imperfect Love’ is one such book. The raw emotions shared by the author in her book are worth praising.
I finished this book by taking all of the time in the world, devouring every poem, and feeling the love, happiness, sorrow and pain expressed elegantly in the book.
It will be wrong to tell you one or two of my favourite poems as I loved reading all the poems equally.

This book is a must-read for those who are or were in love or those whose heart was broken by their beloved.
RATING – 4.5⭐

#qotd – What is love for you?

BOOK – The Fourth Kiss
AUTHOR – Dr Abhinav Atul
GENRE – Fiction (Romance)
PAGES – 186
REVIEW – A very lucky few fall in love and find their partner in just one meeting and then there are a few who need two or three dates to clear out their mind. And then came legends who take years and being with the wrong people to realise whom they actually love.
Hrishi and Preety, our protagonists, fall in the last category. There first meeting ( which was arranged by their parents) didn’t go as expected, Preety made Hrishi reject her for the marriage as she was in love with someone else. After their first meeting, they met a few times again for one or another reason and those meetings made them good friends. But time and distance took a toll on their friendship and the chemistry which started brewing between them was engulfed by the choices they made in their respective lives.
Where Preety left her home to be with her man, Atif, Hrishi too left his home but because of his toxic father.
However, destiny has some grand plans for them. It took almost everything dear to them to give them back much more.

Am I going to spill the beans for you?
haha, you know the answer!

With his elegant writing style, the author takes you on a ride of various emotions where you will find yourself sobbing and grinning and praying for Hrishi and Preety.
The language used by the author is simple and lucid, though I find the narration a bit slow-paced and the ending was quite predictable for me and it was no less than any typical Bollywood Romance Movie.
All the characters, be it the leads or side ones are well sketched and felt too real.
The author has narrated the story from the perspective of both the protagonist which of course helps the points and the emotions they were going through at the given point in time.

If you are looking for a light read then do pick this book

RATING – 4⭐

#qotd – Love Marriage or Arrange Marriage?

BOOK – Mystical Dew Drops
AUTHOR – Bhina Pillai
GENRE – Poetry
REVIEW – Mystical Dew Drops is a collection of 41 poems and some quotes directly coming from the life experiences of the author. These poems and excerpts are segregated into 3 themes which are Life, Love and Nature. Along with these poems and quotes, readers also get to see pictures which give the book a personal touch.
Some of the poems worked like therapy for me, with her mesmerizing words author hit the right chord in my heart. There are certain poems which really moved me, one of them is ‘Rest a while, but don’t quit’. And there are some poems which left me pondering where as a society we are heading.
All the quotes by the author are worth re-read, in the dark days, her motivational words will take you towards the light.
The author has used simple words to put forth her thoughts which makes this book also a perfect read for beginners.
I have read the author’s earlier work and just like in them, here too author has done magic through her words.
It took me a long time to finish this book as I was savouring every poem, read one poem in a day, and re-read many poems.

But just like the pros, this book has some cons too, one of which is that some of the quotes are repeated and the other one is the black and white images, those pictures tell a story and if they had some colour then they could have made this book more magical.

RATING – 4⭐

BOOK – Notes of a Fatherosaur
AUTHOR – Saheb Sahani
PUBLISHER – Notion Press
GENRE – Notion Press
PAGES – 116
REVIEW – Father, the unsung hero of a family. Father who loves and cares for his kids in such a way that the world fails to notice. Father who fails to witness so many firsts of his kids yet never ceases to provide the best to his offspring.
We, from time immemorial, are celebrating motherhood, appreciating the sacrifice a mother makes but at the same time shunning to acknowledge the unending efforts of a father.
There are so many books on motherhood and in the abundance of such books, Saheb Sahani brings a book for fathers.
‘Notes of Fatherosaur’ is a book for fathers from a father, where you will get to experience the beautiful journey of parenting. In 33 chapters, the author not only talks about the struggles of being a father but also busts some age-old myths. Through his own journey, the author threw light on the importance of equal parenting and how fathers too should take an active part in the upbringing of the child.
The language used in the book is such easy that for a  non-reader too the knowledge inscribed in the book is easy to understand.
Living in a joint family allowed me to witness the birth of a child(my niece) and because of this I could relate to the book so much, I have seen my brother struggling between his work and playing with his daughter, and I even have seen my family believing in superstition.

This book is a must-read for not only fathers but every man who will become a father tomorrow, read this book to know that bringing a new life and raising it isn’t the job of a mother only.

#qotd – What are your plans for the weekend?

#bookreview #nonfiction #father #family #fatherhood #parenting

BOOK – Happy Soul Work
AUTHOR – Pracchi Parihar Saxenna
GENRE – Non-fiction (Self-help)
PAGES – 105
REVIEW – Is your soul happy? Or do you know what it takes to make your soul happy? Are you satisfied with your life?
We all are working towards achieving materialistic happiness and hardly cares about the needs of our soul. We keep on accomplishing one goal after another yet didn’t feel content within. Have you ever wondered why?
Pracchi Parihar Saxenna in her book ‘Happy Soul Work’ provides you with a practical step by step guidebook to carve away towards unlimited happiness.
Divided into 9 chapters, the book touched on topics viz, self-love, forgiveness, power of journaling, gratitude, taking responsibility, ego etc. These are some topics which most of us have ignored in the name of our busy life. However, working on these points can make our lives more smooth and more satisfactory. And the author not only shares the importance of each topic but also focuses on how to achieve it. In each chapter, you will find a stepwise plan to work towards the topic of the chapter.

What I really like about the book is the honesty with which it is written, the author didn’t sugarcoat anything, she presented the facts as it is. And taking examples from her personal life this book become more approachable.

Written in easy yet impactful language this book will hardly take 3 to 4 hours to finish but to grasp the essence of what’s in it you must take it one chapter a day only.

BOOK – My Little Blue Bird
AUTHOR – Nandaki
GENRE – Fiction
FORMAT – Ebook
REVIEW – How far can you go for your best friend? How much can you sacrifice for that special friend of yours? I don’t know about you but Mona surely sacrifices a lot for her dearest friend Myra. Mona changed her city to Pondicherry so that her only friend Myra can elope with her love without worrying about Mona.
In Pondicherry while trying to move ahead in life Mona reminisces her time spent with Myra. When she was trying to settle down in the new town, strange incidents started taking place. Mona has an etching that someone is following her but she needs to find out. During her stay in Pondicherry Mona met many beautiful and kind souls. And when Mona was focusing on her stalker she heard the news of Myra being missing.
Are these two incidents interconnected? Does Mona have any role in the sudden disappearance of Myra?

With the fusion of many characters, the author tries to bring an engaging thriller in which he succeeded completely. For me, the book was surprising and unpredictable. There was a slight point when I thought that the story is going nowhere but all of sudden the author blow me up with sudden twists which I thoroughly enjoyed.

The story is well executed with minute details which makes it more interesting. However, if this book have gone through crisp editing I would have enjoyed it more.

#bookreview #authorsofindia #bookstagrammer #bookblogger #thebookcritiques

BOOK – The Woman Within
AUTHOR – Nitya Ravi
PUBLISHER – Invincible
GENRE – Fiction ( psychological thriller)
PAGES – 250
REVIEW – We can never imagine what goes on in someone’s brain, the happiest person can be the most depressed person from within and yet you can’t point out anything odd in them as they portray a different personality in front of the world.
The Woman Within, a psychological thriller, shares story of Abid and Zia, their life seems as ordinary as it can be but it’s only they who know what’s wrong. Where Zia boldly carries her past, Abid pretends that his life is absolutely normal. As teenagers, most of us have faced bullying and Zia was no different, her school became hell for her at a point of time but with the entry of Abid, her life took a change that too a good one, however, destiny has different plans for these teenagers and separated them after a brief period. After 14 years of seperation, they both reconnected by sheer luck and started having strong feelings toward each other.
But things are not as straightforward as it looks, they both are hiding secrets which if revealed can destroy their beautiful bond.

Thrillers always excite me and when they are written in an awe-striking manner they just stole my heart. The Woman Within proved to be such a book. From the first page, it caught my attention and kept me hooked till the end. The twist and turns were unexpected but well executed. This book will tell you how a traumatic past can change someone’s life, and how certain horrific incidents of childhood can ruin adulthood.

BOOK – Scrabble Babble Rabble
AUTHOR – Bruno Beaches
GENRE – Fiction
PAGES – 262
REVIEW – Have you ever given a thought to those who spend part of their lives in prison? Like why do they end up there, what do they do in the prison, and how do they deal with the ordeal? I know you have never, no one ever does as we all believe that prison is the right place for any criminal.
Scrabble Babble Rabble is a story that gives you glimpses of a prison. The story takes you to a prison in the UK  where 4 prison inmates, Kevin, Liam, Denis and Terry come together by a sheer chance to play a game of Scrabble during their association time. They played the game just like anyone play scrabble but the twist in their game was that they had to narrate a story using word present on the scrabble board. What started as a game between four complete strangers ended up building a strong camaraderie. Through their stories they share their life journey, what they were outside the prison and how did they end up there.

With the top-notch narration, the author has narrated a wonderful tale. Using his personal experience as a police officer, the author surprises his readers by giving minute details of the prison which in return helps to understand the story better.

The cover and title, both are catchy and give a basic notion of the story.

There is no doubt that the story is full of emotions and the characters seem real and natural but there were certain scenes that I find over-explained and if they weren’t there in the first place this book could have become more engaging for me.

RATING – 4⭐

#bookreview #thebookcritiques #scrabblebabblerabble #scrabble #authorofinstagram

BOOK – The Truth in its Essence
AUTHOR – Veena Sheker
GENRE – Fiction (Contemporary)
PAGES – 239
REVIEW – A lie, how small it is, can change not only yours but other’s lives too. And a life built around lies is bound to crash.
Why am I talking about lies? As this book ‘The Truth in its Essence’ is all about lies and secrets if comes out has the power to ruin everyone’s lives.
The protagonist Savithri along with her husband Madhavan adopted a child, named him Suri and from their begins her journey of lie. Soon after Suri, Daya was born and after his birth, the happiness of the family knew no bounds but their happiness was cut short after the sudden demise of Madhavan. Savithri after losing her husband lost interest in life but for her children she started everything all over again. However, life again played her cruel game and snatched Daya from Savithri. The death of her second child came as a blow, yet Savithri keep moving for the sake of Suri.

But the things are not as simple as it seems. Everyone, from Savithri to Suri and the neighbours Patel and Narayanan hiding a secret, telling lies to protect their secret. What will happen if their deepest secrets are unveiled?

The truth in its Essence is a story jam-packed with various emotions, throughout the book you will cry and laugh and feel the pain of the characters, you will sympathise with them and at the same time their acts will make you angry. The author has weaven such a realistic story thst will make you believe her every word and will keep you engaged till end.

There are certain books where stories from the first page grasp your attention and even after knowing what will happen next you read it but sometimes over explanation of some scenes can ruin your mood and this is what exactly happened in this book. I was thoroughly enjoying the plot, narration, the suspense, but some over streched parts made the middle part boring for me, however the way the story moved to the end it regained my interest.

With the easy language and simple yet descriptive narration, the author has presented a perfect book for beginner but if you are an avid reader then at one point this book will become predictable for you.

RATING – 4⭐