Yogaalakshmi Rameshbabu

'Madhuleena' is a fast-paced, gripping tale of love, drama, crime and betrayal, set in the fictional town of Rajapur in which two stories run parallel to each other. The first story is of Akash who has been wrongly accused of stealing an humongous sum of money and is on the run to evade the police. Akash has a troubled past in which he used to be a petty criminal. One day, he meets Madhuleena and is immediately smitten by her breathtaking beauty which sets him on a completely different track. The other story is of Dr. Chawla who was honey-trapped by a girl named Sonali and had to endure three months of jail even after paying her a hefty sum of one crore rupees. These two stories are connected and how they are connected forms the rest of the story. The plot mainly revolves around the term -"honey-trap". The language is lucid and the plot is realistic despite its unique theme. The unravels in a simple yet elegant manner and is full of unexpected twists & turns and some deep messages too. I especially fell in love with the climax as it was totally unexpected and surprising. I also liked the brother-sister relationship between Akash and Mithi and how Akash at one point of time, had to choose between sister's future and his pure love for Madhuleena. I highly recommend this novel, especially for fans of contemporary romance. I thank Govind Sharma sir for giving me this amazing opportunity to read and review this spectacular novel. All opinions are my own.

The ghosts of Sherwood is a short story, a quick read and I loved everything! Being a fan of Robin of Locksley and Marian, and their talented friends and allies, I couldn't not want to read this book. Robin and Marian are married and live with their three children, Mary, John and Eleanor. Almost two decades ago they beat the Sheriff of Nottingham. Now Robin has sworn fealty to King John in order to protect his family, friends and those who look up to him. It's an uneasy truce and everyone knows it and when Robin's and Marian's kids are kidnapped they are ready to do anything to get them back safe and sound. Even with the help of the mysterious ghosts in Sherwood. It is a really quick read (112 pages I think) but is thrilling and action packed nonetheless. I found this book really interesting. I just don't know what genre to categorise it in because of everything (and that's why I love it). In short, it is a must-read book and I totally recommend it to everybody. It was also very interesting and amazing reading about Robin and Marian as parents and their children, who are inventive and very resourceful. Marian,Mary and Eleanor are not the ladies of the stories, not damsels in distress, but strong and determined, able to fight and full of resources. Robin is brave, generous, a legend, but also sometimes impulsive, little John is decisive and stubborn and I loved the cameos of Much, Scarlett and the others. I thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing me this amazing read.

Even though the title of the book makes it sound like a courtroom thriller, it is certainly not. The story of this book is very, very unique. Its a story of the fight between good and evil, between the truth and falsity. The message 'Satyameva Jayate' (Truth alone Triumphs) has been delivered to the reader in an elaborate manner. What I really loved about this book is that it has many philosophical messages here and there like the basic character of a person can never change, only a man of action is a wise man and so on. Now coming to the story, the story takes places in the fictional town of Rajapur and unravels the story of two generations from 1990 to 2016. The story is divided into two parts- the first part is about Upendra and Sohan and the second part is about their children, Amrit and Ajay. I loved the way the story has been blended with Indian culture. Also, the character-building of each and every character was very realistic (especially Amrit's). The story is fast-paced as it takes you through two generations in just 158 pages. The novel starts of with the student council elections in Rajapur College and takes us through corruption, treachery, crime, sufferings of the good people and ends in a really good note. I personally feel that the main idea or value delivered by this book is that 'all the wealth of the world is a waste unless one has strong moral values and love for fellow human beings' (as said by Ajay in Page 156). I highly recommend this book to everyone, especially those who are looking for a unique read that could be both entertaining and enlightening.

I found this book really amazing. The story revolves around Jonathan Sterns, the 'youngest and most rebellious of the three sons of Edward Sterns', a business mogul. Jonathan comes into contact with a drug (the petals of Chong Lotus) which brings the past life memories of the person intaking it only for a short time. He realizes the worth of this lotus at his very first experience and also realizes why the Buddhists monks have kept it as a secret for all these centuries. He along with his girlfriend, Erin, explore their past lifes, which in turn, unfolds trouble. I loved the chemistry between Jonathan and Erin. Their relationship was very intense. This book was a mixture of adventure, thriller, romance and a pinch of spirituality and sci-fi. I am really happy that its the first book of a series as I really want more of Jerin. Although, one thing that I did not like about his book is that I found the story to be slow-paced and that's what made me give 4/5 stars for this book. I surely recommend this book and I feel this book is really underrated as I was the first (and the only) one to review it on NetGalley.

The Unblessed child is the first of the Blessed Chronicles and I can now say it is such a fantastic story to have such a great twist to it, I have never read something like this before so it was so fresh to me and I loved it!! Aardriyah has grown up bullied and treated like a second class citizen in a works divided in 2: The Blessed and the unblessed. The Blessed have power over the ”four elements “: earth, fire, air, water; while Aardriyah does not. This, however, does not stop her from wanting more out of life and does she ever get it. During her adventure she learns more about herself and the world around her than she believed possible. This story was well written with a great plot and beautiful world, but I found it was a slow start. The first half of the book was slow but the second half felt rushed and I would have happily devoured another 100 pages of details. Aardriyah was such a fantastic character I cannot wait to see what the rest of the books will be like!!

This book is a really well written book. It's adventurous, action-packed and the write influenced me in such a way that I was able to imagine myself from the main protagonist's shoes. The story revolves around a seventeen year old boy, Áed, who lives with his partner, Ninian and an orphaned boy, Ronan. The story is really well-written and is able to convey the right amount of feelings that the author wanted to convey. In short, this book is a fast-paced thrilling, coming-of-age adventure. I would totally recommend it to everybody! I finish this review off because I don't want to give out any spoilers and spoil the story. Also, this book is the first book of the series 'The Coming of Áed', so I am really looking forward for the upcoming books in the series.

This mystery novel centers around a woman, Ivy, who works as a front desk clerk at Hotel 1911, a period hotel in modern day. Mrs Swain is a rude and overbearing guest at the 1911 hotel. When she dies from her seafood allergy suspicion immediately falls on the chef, George. Ivy Nichols, a receptionist with secrets of her own, decides to investigate and clear her best friend, George’s name. She tries to uncover clues to what actually happened to Ms. Swain; was she murdered or was it a careless error by her friend, the chef, George? The novel shows Ivy looking into each of the guests who were staying at the hotel, as well as some other people who are associated with the hotel, for clues to the death of Ms. Swain. She apparently is very good friends with George, the chef, but we don't see much character development on this angle, so it felt rather forced that we were to just assume it to be true. While I found myself enjoying the novel for the first half, during the second half I kept thinking there wasn't much more plot to be explored, and what characters had been explored were shallow. I was wondering if I had missed something like a previous novel with these main characters where I could better understand who they were? Some back history was alluded to, but the little explanations there were did not clear anything up.There is a subplot about Ivy’s mother who was brought up in the house that is now the hotel and went missing many years ago. I have absolutely no idea what happened to her mother and am completely baffled by the last chapter of the novel. Perhaps I’m just too thick to understand all the inferences. Overall I was disappointed in this novel. It seemed like the author could have developed this intriguing premise a lot more, into a much more satisfying book.

Seeing the cover itself gave me chills! And the story! MY GOD! It is one of the scariest stories I have ever read! I read the whole book in a single sitting, because I don't know what possessed me, I wasn't able to stop myself from turning the page. This book was so full of gothic horror that my whole body got goosebumps while I was reading it. This book is creepy, scary, frightening, terrifying, petrifying, daunting, disturbing, hair-raising, spine-chilling and what not. If anybody thinks that they can't be scared by anything in this world (or other world to be precise) give this book a try! Sam Wakefield lives in a haunted house at the edge of a swamp with her mother. This is place where ghosts and memories appear daily. When pregnant sister Elizabeth comes to escape an abusive husband something changes. Rather than just being haunted by the images of the dead Sam is seeing what looks like the future. I enjoyed the idea of just accepting and dealing with living in a haunted house. For example the furniture never gets moved. It can be confusing to walk into a room that is currently haunted by images from years past, you don't want to trip over the coffee table! Poor Sam wonders if shes going crazy with all the changes, wonders if she has always been crazy. The imagery is dark but the plot is very predictable. Still, even knowing how things will end you want to keep reading to see it play out. Its old fashioned and atmospheric But this book (according to me) has only one flaw: the slow pace. Apart from that this book is really good and I would recommend everybody to give it a try. P.s.- I hope the faceless boy isn't after me while I write this review