Book Review: Little Tales of Big India

Author: Sabra Patni

Language: English

Publication: The Write Order

Blurb:

The land of ascetics and poets, call centres and Silicon Valley aspirants, smiling street children selling flowers, smartly dressed professionals travelling in overcrowded trains, celebrities and their star kids…India! A land of many dreams and tales, some big, some small. Here are 3 such stories, which will touch your heart and leave you wishing that the happy endings of these quirky tales were always true.

About the Author: Sabra Patni is a first-generation author, singer, song-writer and composer living in the bustling city of Mumbai, India with her husband and daughter. She has been writing from an early age but it was only after the birth of her daughter that she decided to share her passion with the world. Having travelled across the globe, she uses her experiences to spin tales that cross boundaries and geographies. She intersperses real-life events into her stories and stretches the human imagination to accept the unimaginable. Influenced by apocalyptic themes she believes that in times of great calamitous events the human race will eventually rise like the phoenix and survive. Her stories portray strong characters that display the strength of the human resolve in times of great distress.

My Review:

Truly saying that I chose this book to read just because of its title ‘Little Tales of Big India’ and without reading the blurb of the book I thought the book may contain stories all around the India. But when I received the book I found that it contains only three stories but that was not disappointing to me, in fact I enjoyed the book and to my own surprise I finished reading this book in just 4 hours after long long long time. The book is not to enjoy but to learn about our society, The Indian Society. Though the first two stories of the book are set in the city of Mumbai but they represent the society of whole India.
Let’s discuss each story one by one. Starting from the first story, it is not new for women to experience sexual harassment in public places, some stays quite, only some do the needful against it. Not only women but men do experience it too. Social media is now an undividable part of our lives but as we all know even rumors spread like fire on it. But truth wins at the end in every story. The narrative is very simple, there is nothing like spice or twist in it. That’s something very real when the protagonist doesn’t even open up to her friend about the incident but to her little cousin, that shows the bondings and the grown up new generation, who understands quite well.

Jumping to the second story, we all see poor children either begging for food or selling some goods for livelihood on the roadsides, we all feel sorry for them but we don’t do anything for them for we have our own reasons. Only some rare souls are ready to do the needful for such children. A childless couple builds affection towards a flower girl is pure feeling for love. The ending of this story is something like a dream, A dream, which must come true…

Now when we talk about the third story, we get to know that in this society people are still ill minded, they have problems with girls wearing short and consider it to be the reason for rape. Castisms comes first than the actual facts. Politicians play with people’s feelings to win their elections.

The flow of first two stories was constant. It’s just a chapter of third story ‘Of Mullahs and Pandits’ that was a bit confusing. I mean I couldn’t really get it in one read, I had to reread it two times in order to understand the events.
This book is a good short read for anytime, anywhere.

Star Rating: 4/5

Book Link: Click Here to order your book.

Thanks for reading.

-Arti Manekar

Book Review: Thoughts become Things

Author: Sushil Hinge

Format Available: Kindle, Paperback

About the Book: Today in this competitive world, where people are running for money, fame and success, they are losing excess time, health, love and peace of mind. On the other hand, there are people who are peaceful, but in their comfort zone with no goals and purpose in life. The Magic of this book “THOUGHTS BECOME THINGS” will help people to achieve success in life along with the purpose, peace of mind, health, wealth, love, happiness and abundance in all spheres of life. 

You will find many of the fundamentals from this book already read in the other National Best seller and International Best Seller books. However, the uniqueness of this books lies with the combinations of 3 important aspects which are Spiritual, Scientific and Practical fundamentals. 

Spirituality to connect your higher self and following the truth by some of the life’s amazing secrets. One of the greatest mediation techniques which enables to develop a higher focus and also to see the things as they really are. Such spirituality helps in opening all the mental blocks and makes the law of attraction to manifest things faster. 

The Secret of Science is already known. Science it is what we are made of and it is what every human being believes. It explains the power of your subconscious mind and conscious mind as a standard operating process on how your mind works. The book gives wisdom on the power of positive thoughts and affirmation process along with gratitude and visualization as the three major powerful processes that help people manifest their dreams and desires. 

Practical approach are the very basic foundations that we need to apply for everything in a right way. It includes some of the aspects including the power of habit like waking up in Brahmi Muhurta that is in the 5 AM. All the basic practical approach are very critical that creates and gives a long term highly impactful results transforming the entire life.

My Review: “Thoughts become Things” is a selfhelp book with an amazing book cover, which looks like the actions of electromagnetic signals in mind. Though people find self help books kind of boring, but this book is a short read with simple and understanding language with lots of story type examples, which doesn’t make it much boring. Calmness of mind is a must need for everyone in today’s era, hence I found the book a helping hand to this generation. Author started the book with easy methods of meditation like Anapana and Vipassana. Author described everything about the courses, even about the availability of them and the benifits of them, which shows the tough research of the author towards the topics. Author tried to explain every topic and method with interesting and motivating examples.
There are some flowcharts/block diagrams in the book which show the relation between various mentioned topics. Motivational quotes at the starting of every chapter was a very good thing done by the author.
Author even talked about our eating habits in order to get a good mental health.
Author’s narration style is reader friendly. Language is error free.

Backlog: Not Found.

Recommendation: I recommend the book to everyone out there, because the time we are going through is really tough and to maintain our mental health, we should do the things mentioned in the book.

Star Rating : 5/5

Book Link: Get your copy here.

Thanks for stopping by…

-Arti Manekar

Book Review: Where Oceans Meet

Author: Himanshu Chhabra

Genre: Romance Thriller

About the Author:
HIMANSHU CHHABRA is a Tax Advisor and a Consultant, who had no intention to be a writer. There is no back story to it. Writing just happened one day on its own and kept on happening again and again. Then he started to enjoy it and realized that it was what he had wanted to do all along. He started with blogging in 2012 with a blog named ‘Purple Pen’, which had over 4.5 million views. The blog left a stirring impact on the blogging industry and thousands of readers appreciated his writings. He has been part of many anthologies such as ‘Uff ye Emotions 1 & 2’ and ‘25 Strokes of Kindness’ and has also been a part of various projects as a ghost writer. Beside writing, he also enjoys an intimate bond with photography. He is from Hisar, Haryana. If you want to get this book signed you know where to find him. As a hybrid author who enjoys stiff drinks [read: water], music, late night drives, romance with universe and five-star reviews on his books, he can be found on facebook.com/HACwrites and would love to hear from you at Himanshuchhabra@gmail.com

Blurb:
L O S T Jai, who doesn’t know his name yet, wakes up every day in a struggle to know his identity. Battling and tossing between his nightmares and crowd of Mumbai, he grabs onto his hope tight. Three months in the forest of Humans, he keeps on looking for his could-be name, his could-be identity, and his could-be life. He is a survivor. meets Radhika, L O S T Radhika fights against her odds, steadfastly struggling through her own battles. She is a warrior. Radhika recognises him in a bar and initiates a conversation. You look familiar, she tells him. They get drunk and subconsciously end up in an apartment, their Apartment, where they get to know that they have been married to each other for years. This book takes you on a journey of a survivor’s breakthrough, a warrior’s zenith, their past, present and future.

My Review: ‘Where Oceans Meet’ is a Thriller Romance story.
I loved the book cover for it has all the significant elements which the story holds with it. Author started the book with small chapters and then slowly, he increased the length of the chapters, which let the readers get into the story and this won’t let the reader get bored.
The story covers most parts of India as the protagonits keep traveling in search of their true selves.
There are 2 protagonists- Jai and Radhika. Jai has a hunger to know his past. He’s an introvert and a very caring man. Radhika is full of life. A girl who can light up Jai’s mood, even readers will love her character as she is full of thriller and creative ideas to live life in a joyful way.
The book cover helped me imagining Jai and Radhika very well.
At some points the story left me confused as how they came to the apartment, how Radhika was able to message Naman. But these didn’t stop me loving the story.
I recommend the book to both romance and thriller lovers.

Star Rating: 4/5

Book Link: Get your copy here- Where Oceans Meet.

Stay connected.😊

-Arti Manekar

Book Review: Inkredia- Luwan of Brida

Book blurb: When Luwan finds himself in a grave danger, he has to make a daring choice. The village that kept him safe all these years can’t protect him anymore. Either he can stay and die or he can step into the dangerous world outside and make journey to a city that will keep him and his sister safe. But there is a good chance that this journey itself will kill him. He sets out, but only to find that his peril is far greater than his calculations. He heads into a mysterious new enemy, a band of legendary assassins that are sent to bring down men of great power. Luwan is clueless why they are after his head, but they don’t offer him the luxury to find an answer to that question. He is thrown into a relentless run across a great distance. As he travels, he learns about the fascinating places in Inkredia, about powerful relics and… about the dark side of Inkredia. He faces the great force of Ilmor that gives birth to incredible nonhumans, the demons that he must face. Little does Luwan know that he is part of a great conspiracy that shall shake the entire kingdom of Fal Doram, a vast land best known as… Inkredia. What is the force of Ilmor? Can Luwan protect his sister against such powerful enemies? Will he find answers to all the mysteries? Order your copy to find all the answers.

My review: Inkredia! A mysterious title for a magical book. The book cover is super attractive, I like touching it again and again. And thanks the author for the map on the very back page on the front cover. That helped me understanding what the title is saying. So the book is not from Indian region. Luwan being the protagonist of the story is a well developed character. He seems to be real.
Plot is very well constructed but at some points I feel that the author made the book a lot more than imagination. The story has suspense with it, which makes readers excited to turn pages. I loved Luwan’s relation with his sister. Very caring. Language was good, but vocabulary was average. Narration was smooth. The story may amaze you at some point.
Overall an engaging story, one should read.

Star Rating: 4/5

Book link: Click on the link and get your copy- Inkredia-Luwan of Brida.

-Arti Manekar

Book Review: USAma

Is USA the world’s largest terrorist?

Author: Amit Bagaria

Genre: Non-fiction

Blurb: NO! This is NOT a book about Usama bin Ladin (aka Osama bin Laden). Though he was considered the world’s No.1 terrorist for nearly 10 years, bin Laden was responsible for the deaths of less than 6000 people.
The protagonist in this book is responsible for the deaths of at least 7.3 million people since World War II, not including an estimated 177,000 people killed in the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings.
In this spine-chilling book, Amit Bagaria takes us through an extraordinary journey of illegal/immoral acts carried out by Unjust Satan America (USA) against 82 sovereign nations, which are mostly unknown to the average reader even within USA. He tries to show us how, in one way or the other, USA has bullied its way to global dominance – interfering in our day to day lives, working perhaps for the benefit of only its super powerful Military Industrial Complex – which he describes in detail.
“USAma” is a term Bagaria has coined to describe USA. Either through drones or airstrikes, surgical strikes or full-scale military invasions, USAma has created havoc in more than half the world, he says. In other countries, different types of weapons have been used – from porn films to poison, from blackmailing to torture, from fake news to fake public protests – all through CIA.
Even the most educated amongst us have been made to believe that USA is justified – as the global policeman – in helping weaker nations fight evil, whether in the form of Communism or Islamism. This is despite the fact that, to serve its own selfish purposes, USA has supported some of the most brutal dictators, helped in the establishment of fundamentalist Islamic regimes, and even supported Communist regimes in some cases. THAT is the power of American propaganda.

My Review: As soon as I read the title and the blurb of the book, I chose it for reading and reviewing, as I was sure, the book is gonna be very informative.

Title and cover both suits each other. The cover reflects the content inside. However, I found that the effect given on the book cover are cartoonish, it could be animated.

I was already thinking that how can USA be responsible for such a big issue, but then the author really forced me to rethink on this.

The author really did very hard work and intense research to write this book, his efforts are clearly visible.

Narration style and language is simple. I loved that the author gave the vocabulary before the main chapters. And it was very convenient that reader can read any chapter he/she likes to read first, there was no boundation of reading it by sequence. Each chapter tells a lot about the whole world.

It’s said about USA that it has no permanent friends or enemy, it has it’s personal interests. And after reading the book this saying seems to be very very perfect on USA. The data in every chapter is presented in such a way that the book could hold reader’s interest.

I recommend the book to those who take interest in world politics.

Conclusion: The book helped my developing mind in knowing more about the world politics.

Star Rating: 5/5

Book Link: Get your copy here- USAma .

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-Arti Maneka

Book Review: Seductive Affair

Author: Rishabh Puri

Blurb: Prisha Khatri is a regular college graduate, focused on her career, desperate to finally move out of her parents’ house and freshly dumped by her successful fiancé. When she lands a job at a prestigious media house, she’s glad to have something to take her mind off her heartbreak. What she doesn’t expect is to be landed on a business trip with a famously fiery reporter Rajesh Lagheri. He’s travelling to a business conference for a story and doesn’t seem impressed by her involvement. But as soon as they’re out of the office, things change and it becomes clear that there is more to Rajesh’s trip than meets the eye. As Prisha is drawn into the story he’s trying to hide from their editor, their hunt for the story grows more intense and she finds herself growing closer to Rajesh. As their chemistry threatens to overwhelm them and Prisha is pulled deeper into the Seductive Affair, she must decide what matters most to her matters of the head or of the heart.

My Review: The attractive thing about the book is it’s cover and the title. Both totally suits each other, the dark color of the cover makes it as bold as its name. The female protagonist Prisha is a determined girl, who moves on in life even after a major heartbreak. The author described her outlook so beautifully that she becomes the center of attraction.
Rajesh is also a confident and a point to point man, he was a bit arrogant at the begining but later he transforms and becomes a sweet heart, a person everyone will love.
The book has a story powerful enough to make it realistic, it’s actually the words of the author to make it so. But someway in the middle the story become a bit boring, also it was somehow difficult to identify its genre.
There were some editing mistakes, which disappointed me a lil, also some statements are contradictory there, which I’ll not mention, I’m leaving it on other readers.
However the conversation was strong enough, narrative style was good too.

I expect a better book next time by Rishabh.

Conclusion: Good enough book for casual starter readers.

Star Rating: 3/5

Book Link: Get your copy here- Seductive Affair .

Stay connected.

-Arti Manekar

Book Review: YATBTTHTM

You Are The Best Thing That Happened To Me

Author: Sushil Kumar Rana

About the Author

Sushil Kumar Rana is a Mechanical Engineer work in an MNC company in Odisha. He belongs to a middle class family, was born and brought up in Bolangir District, Odisha. He always tried to inhabit the life in his way and his parents always support him. He is an aspiring author, contributed in an anthology is published by Purlit (Rainbow of Womanhood). A second anthology is “ Twisted Tales” published by the Authors ink publication. He is the author of “In Search Of Happiness” Anthology. He was in the habit of writing a diary which consisted of his college experiences and memories. Currently working on his second novel based on crime thriller. Apart from writing, reading and book reviewing, he is a music and movie geek. His motto in life “never give up your dreams for others, be happy and spread happiness”. Currently he resides in Sambalpur District

Blurb:

Sushil: A successful writer and an engineer from a Middle-class family. Anjali: A gorgeous and smart girl. Anyone can fall in love at the first sight of her. Aashish: Sushil’s Best friend, who loves Anjali one-sided. Anuradha: A journalism Student and doing research on Writer Sushil Pandit is a mechanical engineer. He is also an author of two bestselling novels. Now, he has everything in life, except his love, Anjali. Love is a blissful and everyone has to experience it once in a lifetime. Love makes life lively and also give a reason to live. There was a time when these two lovebirds were an example of two bodies, one soul. But a turning point in their lives sets them apart, with their soul still united and strong. Experience a roller coaster of emotions in this story. Find out how Sushil changed into a successful person from an ordinary boy.

My Views: “You are the best thing that happened to Me” is a title very romantic. Book cover is attractive enough. Such a scene can be read in the book. After reading the prologue, I felt, any book should start like this. I like the way author gave different title for every chapter. He even mentioned dates, which made the book more realistic. It’s basically a love story and like every love story, there are many sweet scenes. Sushil and Anjali are the leads of the story. Aashish being Sushil’s best friend played his role well. Determination and caring can be learnt from Sushil, where Anjali teaches to be happy. A person, starts doing mad things when he/she falls in love, Sushil does the same and that author penned beautifully. Story goes with the flow. All the scenes are necessary happenings.
Some drawbacks are there…
Some scenes are there which needed to be mentioned.
There are some scenes
which contradict each other. I’ll not enclose the story. Some hindi dialogues need polishing.
Sushil was the elder son, there must be some scenes with his siblings in the book, but there is no mention of them or the mention came way too late and way too little.
Anjali fell for Sushil way too easily, she should have taken some more time.
I didn’t like the ending so much as it seems incomplete, but I can wait for the sequence of the book.

Overall an average book, will not let you bore.

Conclusion: Love makes you do stupid things… Read all the stupidity in the book.

Star Rating: 3/5

Book Link: Get your copy- You Are The Best Thing That Happened To Me .

Stay connected…

-Arti Manekar

Book Review: My True Angel

Author: Irshad Thalakala

Blurb: This is a sweet tale of finding true love. Iqbal, who works in IT company meets a beautiful girl Rubina. Iqbal falls in love with her, but Rubina does not reciprocate the same. When he is trying to overcome from Rubina, he finds his true love from Payal. Were these meant to be together?

Whether they could be able to crack the religion barrier? Does destiny has other plans for Iqbal and Payal?

My View: I like the way author has written the introduction chapter of the book. Iqbal is the protagonist of the story, who is a common man with ambitious heart. His character is well developed. Also it felt good to know his family through author’s pen. The story is written in Iqbal’s perception, it was like an autobiography of himself as the story is based on true story. Kerala state is in background and based on Muslim culture. It’s a usual love story. One side love, got ignored, found someone else, got true love, faced ups and downs, finally succeed. Besides this what caught my attention was that what one has to bear due to the religious walls made in people’s mind everywhere in India. This is something which I myself don’t like. The motto of the author is to try to break the walls of casts through this love story and he’s successful in doing so. The characters are well portrayed as they seems to be real life people.
The burning issue of a time ‘love jihad’ is mentioned there. There were some scenes, which made me laugh, where some scenes made me think. So I can say it’s a perfect mixture of emotions. Some grammatical/editing errors are there, which could be taken care of. At middle of the book, it couldn’t catch my attention much, but the end made the book worthy.

Book cover and title are simply good, suits story. True love always comes back.

Conclusion: A very strong message is given in the book through the love story. I want every reader to read the book being a human and not a Hindu/Muslim.

Star Rating: 4/5

Book Link: Here is the link you can find your book at- My True Angel .

Stay connected.

-Arti Manekar

Book Review: Crazy Vazy 4-Love

Either you self-destroy like Devdas or become immortal like Radha.

Author: Devayu

Blurb: When Keyur and Mitul were looking for someone to fill their proxy (fake class attendance), a smart and gorgeous girl of their class agreed to do so in exchange of tennis sessions. Mitul fell in her love while teaching tennis but she chose Keyur (a star player).
The heartbroken Mitul was asked not to self-destruct but to transform his pain into dedication and fight for a position in a Davis Cup team. Keyur, unaware of his friend’s feeling, guided him to achieve his dream while fighting with his inner demon of jealousy.
The story took a major turn when Navya realised her love for Mitul. Will Mitul go against his bestfriend and accept her? Who, between Mitul and Keyur, will be in a Davis Cup team?
The story will redefine friendship, longing for true love and passion for excelling in life.

My View: The book title suggested me to hold my laughter as there may be many funny scenes. The book cover also tells that how crazy can one be in love that one can even climb the mountain. When I read the blurb, I already started creating the story in my mind and I was unable to find an end to the story.
It’s a story of college life, friendship, love and passion. Surat City of Gujarat state is in background. I found many comedy scenes in the story, which made me laugh. The crazy fights between friends on silly things, buttering to friend’s mother are some incidents, which happen in everyone’s life. Fantastic characters created by the author, every single character is giving it’s best in development of the story. Keyur, Mitul and Navya are the protagonists of the story. Thrice of them are one of their kind and all are really impressive. There is a love triangle among them, which makes the story different from others. It’s actually the craziness about something which later turns into passion. I saw the extreme high level of craziness cum passion in the story. There are many shayaries in the story, which I loved. Also there are many useful teachings in the story. The story is going to be famous amongst all the Tennis lovers, as there is very detailed description of the game. Language and narration is as usual good.
The ending of the story is very weird. I was amazed if the story could take a different turn then it could fill some more pages. There are many things similar in this book to that the first book of Devayu. I want him to write every story with different essence.

Conclusion: It’s a short read book yet interesting. You can easily and happily spend your weekend reading this.

Star Rating: 4/5

Book Link: Find the book here- Crazy Vazy 4-Love .

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-Arti Manekar

Book Review: The Blue Moon Day

Five Men’s Magical Discovery Enroute Life

Author: Santhosh Sivaraj

About the Author: Santhosh Sivaraj is a banker based out of Chennai who had worn many hats in life- sailor, teacher, trainer and entrepreneur. He considers the journey of life to be the destination in itself and that pushes him to seek newer avenues in life. Absurd Economics interests him and he loves doing standup comedy. He laughs at his own mistakes and loves life unconditionally.

Blurb: Things were never the same for five ordinary individuals who got struck at cross roads and there was no way they can run back. They had no other choice but to take a plunge into their deepest fear and leave the rest to destiny. Their characters was tested out of their comfort zone and it witnessed abstruse results; a PhD scholar fights to win a pizza making contest and a tennis prodigy running for his life in a war torn, bloodied Island. Extreme circumstances and their consequences made these ordinary individuals extraordinary . Was the test imposed on them by someone? Or did they invite it on themselves. The Blue Moon Day is that Once in a Blue Moon day story which questions an individual’s priorities, ridicules the worldly routines and finally redefines happiness.

My View: It’s really a tough book to write review for. On the cover, there is a silhouette of a man, who is carving himself from a stone, while there is a big blue moon in the background. Very meaningful book cover and book title, Both attracted me. I was amazed at why did the author gave this title to the book, but at the end, it got very clear to me. There are five stories in the book, totally different from each other, but all are the true glimpse of reality. You will relate any story with your own life, for sure.

The first story, The Pizza Engineer, has two characters, one is Abhinav, a man of versatility in his career and hence totally messed up, I could easily relate him with myself. Another character is Mr. Pillai, his would be boss, a man of solutions for every problem. This story taught me a lot in just 44 pages and I even adopted its teachings in my own life and I must say, life is getting less messy now. After completing story of Abhinav, I was amazed at from where did Mr. Pillai came and where did he get disappeared! Many lil noticeable things are there, which if adopted by us, can make a big change in our lives.
The second story is The Messenger. I had first connected the title with God and magic and later I realized there was indeed a God in the face of man. Deepak loved Priya and loved her forever, but somehow couldn’t give his 100% to his love. Ajay, his friend, encouraged him and let him get his love. This story teaches us to try till the last for the thing you love. I’m still amazed about Ajay. He’s the God in this story and true friend indeed.
Not Today is another story in this sequence. Vivi, a man who loved his family a lot, but couldn’t make balance between family and job, hence messed up and fell in a big life trouble. An old man , became his God in the story. The story teaches to have a balance in life and to come out of comfort zone to be happy.
Next one is The Storyteller. A story of an old man named Sankaran, who lost all the hopes of living life, after death of his wife and ignored by his only son. An old man of his age became his friend and changed his life with his words and thoughts. Discover your true self, give time to what your heart wants you to do and be happy, this is the teaching of the story. Sankaran’s friend also disappeared at the end like miracle.

The last story is The Heaven. Story of a small town boy Prabhakaran, who has a talent and big dreams but destiny played its brutal game, when he came to know about his death, he got totally depressed. An old man helped him to understand the true meaning of life. Death is the ultimate truth and happiness is the ultimate goal. He died and got the happiness.
All these five stories are different, but at the end they all got connected because of the same old man, who changed their lives in some way or other. All the stories, all the characters are very interesting. Magical is the character of that old man, who had been mystery in everyone’s life and also for me. Even till the last sentence of the book, the old man became a mystery and remained the same. Language, narration, events, background, emotions, character description everything is just too good. Author recommended to read the book slowly, so I read it slowly and felt every story. I also recommend you all to read the story, it will definitely make a change in your life. Though I have written a very long review, but still I feel, the emotions I got from the book can’t be described in words.

Conclusion: The best English story book, I have read till date. Many things to learn from and a never ending impact on mind. Perfect book in every aspect.

Star Rating: 5/5 ( If there were more stars, I would have given them all.)

Book Link: You must buy the book here- The Blue Moon Day . A book, worth spending money on.

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-Arti Manekar