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 #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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Review #714: I Am Thunder by Muhammad Khan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“These terrorists are the antithesis of Islam. They’re not Muslim. Violence has no place in religion, and the terrorists are responsible for their own crimes, not the religion and not us.”

----Samira Ahmed

Muhammad Khan, a British author, has penned a very intriguing debut YA novel called, I Am Thunder that revolves around a teenage Muslim girl living with her parents in Britain where everyday she wakes up to find a new challenge or bully to overcome with, but her life drastically changes when her family moves to different part of the city and she is admitted to a posh school, and there she meets a charming Muslim boy. Little did she knew that behind that charming smile, a sinister motive is awaiting for her and that would not only ruin her life but would ruin the lives of millions of souls, if not taken care of.

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Review #713: Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“I have a million things to talk to you about. All I want in this world is you. I want to see you and talk. I want the two of us to begin everything from the beginning.”

----Haruki Murakami

Haruki Murakami, the international bestselling Japanese writer, has penned a heartbreaking coming-of-age young love story in his book called, Norwegian Wood that reads like listening to a sad, sad song about two young hearts beating for one another, yet separated by hopelessness and pain and where the readers know that they are never destined to be together, yet grasps on to that torturing pain of their longing for another till the very end, until an unpredictable tragic climax will shatter the millions of hearts reading or listening to this tale along with the protagonist. Yet the readers will keep reading/listening to this sorrowful yet enlightening tale of love on repeat till the end of time.

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Review #712: The Kissing Booth by Beth Reekles

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


“A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.”

----Elbert Hubbard


Beth Reekles, a bestselling English author, has penned a sweet and pretty entertaining teenage contemporary fiction called, The Kissing Booth that revolves around a female high school teenager, who with her bestie, plans to run a kissing booth for their school's summer spring carnival, sadly, the girl, who has never been kissed or ever dated anyone, falls a victim to her bestie's older brother's Casanova charms and hence in secret, they begin their summer fling, but what happens when her only best friend for life finds out that she is dating his older brother? A cheesy and cliched rom-com drama is what this book has to offer, one time read, but I guess, the story could have been much better. And certainly, please not a movie on this book! It's a total pain.

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Review #711: This House of Clay and Water by Faiqa Mansab

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“But you can only lie about who you are for so long without going crazy.”

----Ellen Wittlinger

Faiqa Mansab, a Pakistani author, has penned an extremely evocative contemporary fiction called, This House of Clay and Waterthat revolves around two women and one transgender searching for love, freedom and identity, set against the repressed yet exquisite backdrop of the city of gardens, Lahore. One is chained and married to a man of extreme political power in a loveless marriage, while the other is a feminist and is destined to be with a man with whom she can't explore her sexual desires and passion and then there's this transgender who knows that God almighty has made him the way he is destined to be and that he must find his love in Allah only, but their lives forever changes when they meet at a dargah (Mosque) and gradually a forbidden relationship begins to blossom under the holy roofs of that dargah.

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Review #709: Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“Take responsibility of your own happiness, never put it in other people’s hands.”

----Roy T. Bennett

Julie Murphy, an American best-selling author, has penned an entertaining and thoroughly inspiring young adult contemporary fiction called, Ramona Blue that surrounds around a confident white 6 foot 3 in' tall blue-haired high school teenager who has forever been sure about being a lesbian but when a childhood friend who has become tall dark and handsome arrives at the seaside town, her feelings act in a rather different way. Blue-haired Ramona has always been taking care of her good-for-nothing dad, pregnant elder sister and her sister's boyfriend, without giving a second glance to her dreams or ambitions. But will love and the arrival of a new baby save her from all the real-life drama?

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Review #707: Fall from Grace by Danielle Steel

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“There is scarcely any passion without struggle.”

----Albert Camus

Danielle Steel, the #1 bestselling author, is back with her new adult fiction book called, Fall from Grace that revolves around a mid-aged woman whose perfect life shatters when her husband dies but the worst part is that, after his death, she finds herself homeless and jobless. With little luck, she gets in the fashion industry, only to be falsely incriminated in a legal case by a trustworthy friend, despite her daughters' several warnings about her friend, but can she pick up the pieces of her life and rebuild it? Steele's new book will leave the readers heartbroken, as the protagonist's life is struck by one bad luck after another.

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Review #705: My Old Faithful by Yang Huang

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“Families are messy. Immortal families are eternally messy. Sometimes the best we can do is to remind each other that we're related for better or for worse...and try to keep the maiming and killing to a minimum.”

----Rick Riordan

Yang Huang, an award winning Chinese writer, has penned a handful of short stories about a family in China in her new book called, My Old Faithful. The stories explore the lives of each family member and their secrets, desires, dreams and passion beyond the facade of a society stirred up due to China's one-child policy. Each family member opens up their heart about certain events of their lives that either affect the lives of their close ones mostly in an emotional way. The every day life and the struggles attached to it for a very simply family of five consisting of a mother, father, and three children, against the backdrop of China and America.

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Review #701: The Sky at Our Feet by Nadia Hashimi

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“If you don't take risks, you'll have a wasted soul.”

----Drew Barrymore

Nadia Hashimi, an internationally bestselling author, pens a heart wrenching and extremely intriguing tale about two kids' fearless adventures around the city of Big Apple to get to an address in her new book, The Sky at Our Feet. The story revolves around a young Afghan-American boy, goes on a quest to find his beloved aunt in New York City along with a friend whom he met at a hospital, when his mother is taken away by the police on the pretext of illegal immigration issue. But on their way the two kids face a lot of challenges and dangers, and how they overcome that has been brilliantly portrayed by the author.

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Review #696: Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“Paranoid? Probably. But just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face.”

----Jim Butcher

John Green, the international best-selling author, created yet another masterpiece and this time it is called, Turtles All the Way Down and no trust me, this isn't a book about turtles, so sit tight while reading this book, as it might spiral you down to the soul's and mind's curious world about the existence of your own "self" within you. Sounds philosophical?! Yeah I know, this book is going to hit you hard in the right places and will awaken you from the deep slumber of your ignorance about the very existence of your own "self" with the help of the 16 year old teenage anxiety-stricken, OCDed female protagonist.

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Review #693: The Nine-Chambered Heart by Janice Pariat

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“Love, it never dies. It never goes away, it never fades, so long as you hang on to it. Love can make you immortal”

----Gayle Forman

Janice Pariat, an award winning Indian writer, has penned an evocative and mesmerizing "fictional" biography through love called, The Nine-Chambered Heart that narrates the life story of a woman through nine characters, who has previously loved her or whom she has loved, either briefly or longwindedly in her life. The readers will only get to know this woman through the varied perspectives of the nine characters. And the one thing is clear from reading this book, that love never stays permanently in reality, but it lives on inside one's heart for as long as time goes on, and that is aptly captured by the author in this book.

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Review #692: A House for Happy Mothers by Amulya Malladi

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“If I were asked to define Motherhood. I would have defined it as Love in its purest form. Unconditional Love.”

----Revathi Sankaran

Amulya Malladi, a bestselling Indian author, has penned a thoroughly refreshing and alluring contemporary fiction called, A House for Happy Mothers that surrounds around two women, one wants a baby desperately thus choosing the surrogate route to India away from her posh Silicon valley life with her darling husband and aristocrat friends, and the other is desperate to provide a good schooling and education to her highly intelligent son and also to keep the wolves away from the doorstep of her poor household by selling her womb. A journey that connects two mothers in different yet in emotionally similar ways that is vivid, raw and extremely heart-touching to read about.

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Review #691: Austenistan by Laaleen Sukhera

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.”

----Jane Austen

The Jane Austen Society of Pakistan started by the journalist-cum-author, Laaleen Sukhera payed a homage to our very dear and favorite 18th century author, Jane Austen, by penning some Austen-themed stories about the rich, some feminist and damsel-in-distress type, dramatic, haughty aristocrat Muslim women, who are way past their "marriageable age" of a posh society based in Pakistan, through a book called Austenistan featuring a collection of seven short stories written by the members of the Jane Austen fan club and is edited by Laaleen Sukhera.

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Cover Reveal: Love in Lutyens' Delhi by Amitabh Pandey

Hey y'all,

Hope everything is going great and awesome for you guys. As for me, life has never been much better.


Get ready for a touchy-feely romantic journey of two realistic protagonists in a coming-off age contemporary love story.


So let's do a quick cover reveal for this super awesome book (I bet its gonna be super awesome just by reading its synopsis!) that is going to release on 22nd December 2017.

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Review #685: The Weight of Him by Ethel Rohan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“Don’t grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form.”

----Jalaluddin Mevlana Rumi

Ethel Rohan, an Irish author, has penned an extremely heart touching story called The Weight of Him that revolves around an obese father's loss over his elder son who has committed suicide, and his journey to deal with grief and heal over the loss of his loved one lead him on a path to weight loss but sadly that pushes him away from his dear family and his wife. Set in an idyllic back ground of Ireland, this deeply moving story is going to inspire the readers dealing with loss and grief thoroughly.

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Review #683: Demi-Gods by Eliza K. Robertson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


“People say teenagers think they're immortal, and I agree with that. But I think there's a difference between thinking you're immortal and knowing you can survive. Thinking you're immortal leads to arrogance, thinking you deserve the best. Surviving means having the worst thrown at you and being able to continue on despite that. It means striving for what you want most, even when it seems our of your reach, even when everything is working against you.”

----Francesca Zappia

Eliza Robertson, a Canadian award winning author, has penned a subtly compelling historical fiction called, Demi-Gods that revolves around two teenage sisters who find themselves caught in the charms of two blue-eyed, slim and terribly handsome teenage brothers who are the sons of their mother's new beau. Together the four patrons discover sexuality, first love, summertime adventures, life and themselves through mistakes and sun-kissed beach side drama. The exploration of teenage-hood is well captured through this sunny story set in the 1950s British Columbia and California.

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Review #681: The Astonishing Thing by Sandi Ward

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.”

----Ernest Hemingway

Sandi Ward, an American author, has penned a heart warming debut contemporary fiction called The Astonishing Thing that is centered around a regular family of four and with one pet cat and a pet dog, and this pet cat narrates the story of this family from her perspective and how suddenly the marriage of the husband and wife shakes the ground of each one, including the cat itself, and how the cat makes an effort to repair this family. A truly enlightening and refreshing tale told from the point of view of a pet female cat whose emotions run deeper than the roots.

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Review #647: A Hundred Little Flames by Preeti Shenoy

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“To the loyal and to the blood-lovers, in the good families and in the fiery dynasties, life is family and family is life. It is the same people who give advice and their vices to live well who turn out to be the ones who give resource and reason to live long.”

----Criss Jami

Preeti Shenoy, an Indian bestselling, pens a heart warming family drama in her new book called, A Hundred Little Flames that centers around the bond of friendship between a young man, who has recently lost his job in the city, and his aging yet humble grandfather, living in his ancestral home in a small village in Kerala. When the paths of the two collide through trust, love, and through a beautiful story, of two friends whose fates never let them to tie the knot in a holy matrimony, the young man and the grandfather learn a lot about life from one another and also learn to live for themselves.

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