Review #722: The Forest of Enchantments by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


"I do not wish women to have power over men; but over themselves."

----Mary Shelley

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, an Indian best selling novelist, has penned an evocative and timeless tale of one of the greatest love story that our Indian mythology has ever given to us in the form of Ramayana in her new book, The Forest of Enchantments. But its not a retelling of our favorite mythology on Lord Ram, rather its told and primarily focuses on the life and time of Lord Ram's wife, Sita who is not just a Goddess who we all worship to, but a fateful woman with a heart full of only love and kindness journeying through a path of thorns till her death.

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Review #721: The Knife Slipped by Erle Stanley Gardner (Cool and Lam #1.5)

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“The truly scary thing about undiscovered lies is that they have a greater capacity to diminish us than exposed ones.”

                                                                              ----Cheryl Hughes


Erle Stanley Gardner, an American lawyer and author, writing under the pen name of A.A. Fair for his sassy detective series, Cool and Lam. A hidden gem have been discovered after almost a decade with Gardner's book called, The Knife Slipped which was never published due to scandalous story line that revolves around two detective duo, one being the sassiest queen of her investigation agency and the other being her part time detective whom she loved to dominate with her orders, who find themselves muddled in a cheating man's deadly lies and his fateful murder.

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Review #720: I Didn't Expect to be Expecting by Richa S Mukherjee

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


It's a great thing about being pregnant - you don't need excuses to pee or to eat.

----Angelina Jolie

Richa S Mukherjee, an Indian author, has penned an extremely hilarious and a captivating tale about motherhood and its mistakes in her new book, I Didn't Expect to be Expecting. This book revolves around a happily married, cool couple who amidst of their busy jobs, meeting deadlines and tackling weird bosses and colleagues in office, they always find time for each other and also for their crazy set of friends, and a kid is no where close in their 5 years blissfully married life's radar, until they become pregnant, and gradually their perfect life takes a slippery road and so the protagonist's body and mind.

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Review #719: I Tagged Her in My Heart by Anuj Tiwari

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


“I think you still love me, but we can’t escape the fact that I’m not enough for you. I knew this was going to happen. So I’m not blaming you for falling in love with another woman. I’m not angry, either. I should be, but I’m not. I just feel pain. A lot of pain. I thought I could imagine how much this would hurt, but I was wrong.”

----Haruki Murakami

Anuj Tiwari, an Indian bestselling writer, has penned an uplifting story in his new book called, I Tagged Her in My Heart. Unlike its cheesy title, the story is somewhat inspiring enough for all those who are either finding a way to give wings to their dreams and passions and also for those who want to pick up the pieces of life after a messy and painful breakup. The story revolves around mainly two protagonists, where one is finding a way to publish his first novel while managing his hectic job schedules and keeping his feelings for his best friend in his heart, while the other has gone through a breakup and is meaning to find a way to give wings to her passion of making chocolates, even though the happy memories of her ex is hurting her.

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Review #718: Sidney Sheldon’s The Silent Widow by Tilly Bagshawe

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“Never allow someone to be your priority while allowing yourself to be their option.”

----Mark Twain

Tilly Bagshawe, the New York Times bestselling author, is back with a bang with another gripping Sidney Sheldon mystery called, The Silent Widow. This story revolves around a top shot psychiatrist, whose husband died in a car crash a year ago, and is still in grief, but soon her patients and acquaintances are dropping dead like flies, and the local police mark the poor widow as the prime suspect, even though her life too is in danger. Eventually forcing her to take help of a local PI, who uncovers a lot of dirt about a missing girl case 10 years ago to her husband's tragic death to the serial killings of her patients, which might even make him a victim out of it.

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Review #717: The Wild Folk by Sylvia Linsteadt

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“Through our eyes, the universe is perceiving itself. Through our ears, the universe is listening to its harmonies. We are the witnesses through which the universe becomes conscious of its glory, of its magnificence.”

----Alan W. Watts

Sylvia Linsteadt, an American author, has penned an incredibly beguiling fantasy novel, The Wild Folk that centers around an enchanting land filled with the power of magical star-gold that can the divided city prosper with wealth and health, where two young kids accompanied by two young hares, must save their land and its dwellers from getting ruined by the Brothers from the city, who are hell-bound to destroy everything beyond the walls of the city that was once pulled up to save the humans from the wild folks and the diseases. Two kids and two hare embark upon a deadly journey through the villages and forests of the land of wild folk to save it.

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Review #716: The Last Watchman of Old Cairo by Michael David Lukas

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“The heart of a father is the masterpiece of nature.”

----Antoine François Prévost

Michael David Lukas, an American bestselling author, has penned a compelling historical fiction called, The Last Watchman of Old Cairo that revolves around an American part-Jewish-part-Muslim student exploring the roots of his father's side family in Cairo where his father's forefathers used to be the watchman of an ancient synagogue, protecting its secrets and faith with their courage and sacrifices. The author has spun this tale around three shifting timelines about a young Muslim boy, two twin sisters from Cambridge on a mission to Cairo and a young American student picking the clues his father left for him after his death.

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Review #715: The Bitter Pill Social Club by Rohan Dahiya

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

----Leo Tolstoy

Rohan Dahiya, an Indian author, has penned a satirical contemporary fiction called, The Bitter Pill Social Club that revolves around a family based in Delhi, India, who lives for their selfish reasons and most importantly for their social status amongst their friends, relatives and Instagram followers. The sarcastic yet very vivid portrait of a filthy rich family who lives on their own terms, without realization that they are destroying lives as they go on with their Insta worthy life. But soon tragedy strikes this family and it is high time for the family as a whole to realize their mistakes before they lose themselves to the social media frenzy.

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