Book Review: Finding The Angel by Rubina Ramesh

Blurb: All She wanted was love...
Shefali is a die-hard romantic. Having lost her parents at a very tender age, she is in search of a place which she can call home. Her passion for Art lands her a job as an art curator to the famous artifacts of the Ranaut Dynasty. When she meets the scion, Aryan Ranaut, she feels that her dream might come true until…

All He wanted was to trust…
Living the life of a modern day Prince is no easy task for the young and dashing Aryan Ranaut. Having lost his father to a rapacious woman, Aryan has severe trust issues. But upon meeting Shefali, he feels he could let down his guard. Until…

All They need is to find The Angel…
Just as Aryan realizes his love for Shefali, one of the most precious artifacts, The Angel, goes missing from the Ranaut collection. All fingers point towards Shefali—more so because she leaves the palace without telling anyone on the very night of the theft. 

Finding the Angel is a story where duty clashes with love and lack of trust overrides passion. Under these circumstances, can The Angel bring the star-crossed lovers together?


Review: I have read Ramesh's first book Knitted Tales which is a completely different genre. The author has surprised me with Finding the Angel.  For romance lovers who love to read love stories in Indian settings, this book is also a must-read. What I loved about this book is the fact that Rubina has brought up a topic- about ancient artifacts and precious idols being stolen from India. This premise makes this a riveting read. 

Shefali is a strong woman, passionate about her work and on Gitanjali Devi's behest arrives at the palace of the Ranauts to catalog the artifacts of the dynasty.  While Shefali is diligently working and fighting her attraction for the Ranaut Prince Aryan, sinister things continue. When Shefali decides to protect her heart and leaves the Ranaut Palace little does she know that it would coincide with the theft of a famous family possession.  

And the Aryan is torn between duty and the love that he has for Shefali.  

The supporting characters have been fleshed out beautifully, each with a distinct persona. But my favorite in this is Gitanjali Devi. 

Book review : 1857 DUST OF AGES by Vandana Shanker

Blurb : 1857. Captain Richard Smith watches the walls of the Red

Fort as death and mayhem rage on the streets of Delhi. Somewhere in the city is Princess Meera, the ruler of Navgarh, his wife of three years. 

2016, Shiv Sahai, a young Indian art historian and Ruth Aiken, a British scholar discover an excerpt from the journal of an anonymous British soldier, searching for his wife in the chaos of 1857 Delhi. As they begin investigating the scandal, they become aware of the vague rumours that are told in the bylanes of Navgarh – about a princess who married a British soldier to save her kingdom. 

In 1857 Dust of Ages: The Forgotten Tale, the pages of time turn backward in search of the lost history of Navgarh. 

Review : I have always been fascinated by history and India's struggle for freedom, in particular, has been a constant favorite. Off late however, I have questioned and wondered if all that the historians have written is all authentic. As Walter Benjamin had said — 'History is written by the victors.' Well in India's case not the victors maybe but certainly history is written to chronicle only certain regions. For example the Indian freedom movement and lakhs of men and women, our heroes. But only a few names are chronicled. 

And this is why I would like to congratulate the writer of 1857 DUST OF AGES , Vandana Shanker for taking us back to a time when the first war of Indian independence was fought. Shanker has a very lucid style of writing and has created original characters and no rewritten characters we already know about. 

 Vandana’s writing made me want to exchange places with Shiv Sahai. When does one get hold of an original piece of history? Shiv is the passionate student of history and I like the way he goes out of his way to unravel what the document doesn’t tell him.

The story keeps moving back and forth into the present and back to 1857 and the descriptions are so beautiful that one can almost see the events unfold, feel Meera’s rage, her need to protect the kingdom.

Meera makes me wonder about how many heroes we have failed to come to know. How many of them made sacrifices for what we today call independence.

The book ended too early and I wanted more of Meera and Captain Richard. I would read the other parts of the book for sure.

P.S – The book reminded me of two creations- a film Junoon and a novel Heat and Dust. There is something about that period of Indian history.

Book Review: FINDING JULIET by Toffee

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FINDING JULIET

by

Toffee

Review : It was the book cover of Finding Juliet that made me sign up for this tour. The title of the book is also interesting and promised to be a light read.  There is a very film feel to the story of the protagonist Arjun. There are a plethora of emotions love and lost and longing, pain and humour etc.  The plot remains true to the title of the boo and we trace Arjun’s journey is his process of finding his Juliet, his love. This Arjun is pretty much many young men around, the geek who is clueless of what women want or how to impress women.

Well well, such geeks do get useful advice from friends and enter Krish. A change of city- Hyderabad to Bangalore leads Arjun to Krish’s friendship and Krish is his guide from here on. 

But my favourite character in this book is Anjali.  There is a silent strength about her that makes her adorable.

The book is a light read and will connect to the younger readers. The use of easy language is a plus, since the plot is also easy flowing. Looking forward to read more from Toffee.

Blurb

Arjun is an incredibly nice guy who believes in true love and is waiting for it with open arms. He falls in love, not once or twice, but thrice. And every single time, happiness – like the girls he fell for – comes very close to him before pushing him away. His only pillar of strength in all his moments of grief and dejection is his childhood friend Anjali. Dejected by the games played by girls and fate, he leaves Hyderabad for Bangalore and ends up meeting Krish, an irresistible flirt. 

Krish understands Arjun's predicament, pacifies him with his words and enlightens him about the most complicated species ever created by God – Women. And then, Arjun's life changes forever. Will Arjun find the one he has been waiting for, or will he end up becoming a flirt? Will he ever taste lasting happiness? Join Arjun as he tries to figure out women and discovers the meaning of love, lust and life… all in his journey of Finding Juliet.

Read an excerpt here from Finding Juliet...

‘I have fucked you enough. Now you can fuck off!’ I said furiously, as I pushed her away from the bed.
‘You are such an asshole!’ she said, looking angrily at me as she stood up. Her cheeks were red with anger.
I saw her as she stood naked, with her hands on her hips. She was expecting me to say something, but I didn’t. It simply doubled her anger.
‘All you guys are the same. You want women only for sex,’ she stated furiously, pointing a finger at me.
I could have refuted her point easily and proved that she was being a hypocrite, given the fact that she had a boyfriend and yet she had slept with me a few moments ago. But I didn’t bother to respond and I just looked away from her. Disgusted, she let out a deep sigh and began picking up her undergarments, which were lying on the floor and started wearing them hurriedly. She moved towards the door where her black denims and purple tee were. She wore them in an instant and fished for her comb in her handbag. She brushed her hair and then wore the earrings I had removed before kissing her ears. She took some more time to get ready, gazing at herself in the mirror and adjusting everything, and I wondered how girls gave so much importance to their looks even during moments of distress.
Eventually, before leaving, she threw me a disgusting look and said, ‘I will never see your face again.’
‘Thank you. Now get lost,’ I said as she slammed the door shut.
After she left, I pondered over what had just happened and what had been happening in my life. ‘You shouldn’t have been so harsh on her’ – a soft voice from inside my heart said. But I strangulated it in an instant. I had lost enough in my life by listening to my heart.
Just a few moments ago, I was rolling in bed with Aditi, and after we came together, she began talking to me endlessly, like most girls do after sex. I was more interested in looking at the fan on the ceiling and wondering why it was spinning anticlockwise and not clockwise.
While talking, she had grazed her finger over my shoulder and moved it slowly towards my arms and said, ‘Behind these strong muscles, there is a weak heart, yearning to be loved and dying to be cared for. You can hide your pain from the world, Arjun, but not from me.’
That was when I had pushed her from my bed and I didn’t really understand why I had reacted so strongly. Was it because I had been hiding my true face from the world successfully all the while? No one had ever tapped the underlying guy inside me, except Krish. But when Aditi said those words, I became very defensive. The last thing I wanted was someone knowing about the void inside me.
I got up, splashed water on my face and looked at myself in the mirror. My eyes were crimson red. And even though I was nowhere near smiling, I saw an evil grin on my face. I splashed water once again and looked at myself. The grin grew wider and scarier. ‘How had I been and what have I become?’ I asked myself. I saw the image in the mirror once again. I couldn’t look at it and smashed the mirror with my hand. Pieces of glass got stuck on my knuckles. A big piece made a deep gash, but it didn’t hurt as much as the scars on my heart did.
I then riffled through the shelves to find weed – my temporary solution to permanent problems. I rolled a joint hastily and lighted it. After a few puffs, I felt feather-light and forgot everything that had been going on in my mind. Surreal images flashed in front of my eyes, and when I closed them, I saw myself waiting at the gates of heaven, even though I was, in fact, right in front of my bathroom door.
I tried to get in as I had to pee, but I tripped and fell on my face, my forehead hitting the tap find. The thud sound was what I remembered last, and I woke up to see myself lying on a hospital bed the next morning, with Anjali standing beside me.

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About the author

Toffee is a simple guy who loves the complications of life. He used to write code by the day and books by the night earlier. But currently, he is busy writing assignments and chasing deadlines in his Master's in Business Analytics from the University of South Florida. Toffee loves narrating interesting stories with subtle insights. Through books, he wants to share beautiful stories, reach out to people and touch their hearts. Finding Juliet is his second book, written specially for India's Generation-Y.

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