#BookReview Love Stories That Touched My Heart edited by Ravinder Singh

About The Book

We’ve all experienced the first flush of love and remember the lingering fragrance of it.

For all ages Love has remained one of the most cherished experiences that everyone wishes to live through at least once.

Humanity, time and again, has coined many definitions to describe this beautiful emotion, but this small word is a feeling that can't simply be defined. It has to be narrated . . . in the form of stories—love stories.

Love Stories That Touched My Heart is a collection of such stories from readers who have a tale to tell, shortlisted from over 2000 entries that were submitted in a competition conducted by Penguin India.

My Thoughts

I got this book as a wedding gift from my brother. The book is really special for me.

I do like to read anthology series a lot, on top of it, it is a romantic book, and hence, I was in for a treat.

The stories that I touched my heart are:

The Girl Behind the Counter – Omkar Khandekar (Love this)

May God Bless You, Dear – Yamini Vijendran (❤)

Bittersweet Symphony – Jennifer Ashraf Kashmi (❤)

Heartstrings – Dr Roshan Radhakrishnan (❤)

Book Links

Amazon India | Amazon USA

About the Author

Ravinder Singh is a bestselling author. I Too Had a Love Story, his debut novel, is his own story that has touched millions of hearts. Can Love Happen Twice? is Ravinders second novel. After spending most of his life in Burla, a very small town in western Orissa, Ravinder has finally settled down in Chandigarh. He is an MBA from the renowned India School of Business and is presently working with a prominent multinational company. Ravinder loves playing snooker in his free time. He is crazy about Punjabi music and loves dancing to its beat.

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#BookLove Ordeal by Innocence by Agatha Christie

About The Book

Evidence that clears the name of a boy sentenced for killing his adopted mother arrives too late to save his life – so who did kill her?

According to the courts, Jacko Argyle bludgeoned his mother to death with a poker. The sentence was life imprisonment.

But when Dr Arthur Calgary turns up a year later with the proof that confirms Jacko’s innocence, he is too late – Jacko died behind bars from a bout of pneumonia.

Worse still, the doctor’s revelations re-open old wounds in the family, increasing the likelihood that the real murderer will strike again…

My Thoughts

I am really ashamed to say, I haven’t read any books written by Agatha Christie. In my defense, I primarily read Bengali books.

The best part of the book is the pace of the story. It’s really fast and I just wanted to know what happened, who is the killer. I was not able to spot myself from finishing it in one go. How the murder is planned and executed is very good.

However, the main issue I felt is that the culprit's identity seems too obvious towards the climax. Hence the revelation seems to lose the thrill.

Overall it is a good book, and I will definitely read more books written by AC.

Book Links

Amazon India | Amazon USA

About the Author

Born in Torquay in 1890, Agatha Christie began writing during the First World War and wrote over 100 novels, plays and short story collections. She was still writing to great acclaim until her death, and her books have now sold over a billion copies in English and another billion in over 100 foreign languages. Yet Agatha Christie was always a very private person, and though Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple became household names, the Queen of Crime was a complete enigma to all.

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#BookLove The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri

About The Book

Born just fifteen months apart, Subhash and Udayan Mitra are inseparable brothers, often mistaken for the one in the other, in the Calcutta neighborhood where they grow up.

But they are also opposites, with gravely different futures ahead. It is the 1960s, and Udayan—charismatic and impulsive—finds himself drawn to the Naxalite movement: he will give everything, risk all, for what he believes. Subhash, the dutiful son, does not share his brother’s political passion; he leaves home to pursue a life of scientific research in a quiet, coastal corner of America.

But when Subhash learns what happened to his brother in the lowland outside their family’s home, he comes back to India, hoping to pick up the pieces of a shattered family, and to heal the wounds Udayan left behind—including those seared in the heart of his brother’s wife.

My Thoughts

The book depicts the lives of 4 people in their thick and thin times spanning almost 70 years.

The book starts with a controversial and one of the most bloodshed times of Indian history, Naxalite movement. The depiction of the Naxalite movement is good. There are many other books that depict this time period with much more depth, however as this book is not totally based on this time frame, hence I am not complaining.

The best part of the book is its characters. Not just in this book, I have read other books written by Jhumpa Lahiri, and she really put her heart into every character. Without giving any spoilers, just want to mention that there is one character who is going to surprise the readers in the end.

Now, this book is not for everyone, one needs a mature mind to understand the characters and their circumstances.

Overall, I enjoyed reading it.

Book Links

Amazon India | Amazon USA

About the Author

Jhumpa Lahiri was born in London and raised in Rhode Island. Her debut, internationally-bestselling collection, Interpreter of Maladies, won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, the PEN/Hemingway Award, The New Yorker Debut of the Year award, an American Academy of Arts and Letters Addison Metcalf Award, and a nomination for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. It was translated into twenty-nine languages. 

Her first novel, The Namesake, was a New York Times Notable Book, a Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist, and was selected as one of the best books of the year by USA Today and Entertainment Weekly, among other publications.

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#BookReview You Beneath Your Skin by Damyanti Biswas

About The Book

Indian American single mother Anjali Morgan juggles her job as a psychiatrist with caring for her autistic teenage son. She is in a long-standing affair with ambitious Police Commissioner Jatin Bhatt - an irresistible attraction that could destroy both their lives.

Jatin's home life is falling apart: his handsome and charming son is not all he appears to be, and his wife has too much on her plate to pay attention to either husband or son.

Across the city, there is a crime spree: slum women found stuffed in trash bags, faces and bodies disfigured by acid.

In a sordid world of poverty, misogyny, and political corruption, Jatin must make some hard choices. But what he unearths is only the tip of the iceberg.

My Thoughts

I am a sucker for anything thriller, mystery suspense and psychological thrillers. However, to my disappointment, most of the books are below average.

For this book, I heard rave reviews and decided to buy it (I bought a paperback, but I rarely buy paperbacks nowadays, primarily because they are pricey). I am Very GLAD that I brought the book.

As the book is a psychological thriller, I will not discuss the storyline in detail. However mark my word, the story is brilliant. After a long time, I read a book where all the characters are well written.

We all love the hero, here I love the villain. The only reason for it is how his character is developed. Every motive of his to commit the crimes is clear. There was a chapter where the antagonist is talking with his father, his emotions, the raw rage, the anger, feeling of being abandoned is brilliantly portrayed. I loved that part.

This is a must-read book for thriller lovers.

Book Links

Amazon India | Amazon USA

About the Author

Damyanti Biswas lives in Singapore and works with Delhi's underprivileged children as part of Project Why, a charity that promotes education and social enhancement in underprivileged communities. Her short stories have been published in magazines in the US, UK, and Asia, and she helps edit the Forge Literary Magazine. Her debut crime novel You Beneath Your Skin has been optioned for the screen by Endemol Shine, and her next, The Blue Bar, will be published in October 2022 by Thomas & Mercer.

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